By Nettie Hartsock
ITPapers bills itself as the “Yellow Pages of White Papers” and boasts a collection of links to well over 25,000 white papers. ITPapers is owned by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based CNET Networks, an Internet pioneer and owner of media outlets such as ZDNet, ComputerShopper and TechRepublic. This review will examine ITPapers and what it offers for white paper marketers.
In terms of reach, ITPapers provides white paper marketers a wide arena in which to ply their content. Uniquely, ITPapers offers a broad and diverse audience via CNET properties. CNET has a reach of over 6 million unique visitors on a quarterly basis. Marketers hoping for wide distribution and syndication can also tap the power of more than 50 content sites and e-mail newsletters.
And keep in mind, what really matters in tandem with reach is how easy it is for people to FIND your white paper. Take a “Google” moment, type in the words ‘white paper‘ or ‘white papers’ and the first listing you’ll see is ITPapers.com. Having your white paper in ITPapers means it can be found easily and has a better chance of being exposed to vast numbers of people looking for white papers.
The other big difference between ITPapers and other large white paper syndication vendors such as KnowledgeStorm and TechTarget is that ITPapers has an option to place your paper at no cost. If you don’t have money in your budget for white paper marketing, you can still utilize ITPapers. Peter Spande, director of CNET’s ITPapers, said a number of non-paying listings are seeing great traction.
If you want higher visibility, the initial program pricing is low enough to still be affordable. ITPapers offers programs that start at one month for as low as $3900, for 150 lead registrations. At ITPapers, white paper marketers pay for what they get. “If you’ve contracted us to deliver 100 leads and we only do 90, you just pay for 90. We also provide a cap. If we don’t deliver, they [advertisers] don’t pay,” explained Spande.
ITPapers has a large business-to-business audience that is made up of two-thirds IT professionals and presents two dominant demographics: 43% business decision-makers and 39% computer professionals.
Another benefit to utilizing ITPapers is the amount of time it spends gleaning good data for lead management, which Spande says is a large priority at the site. Spande described, “Lead management against a lot of bad data is not good. Data quality is a key distinguisher that separates us from our competitors.”
Spande says advertisers proactively collaborate with ITPapers to best highlight white papers and promote them to the site’s visitors and members. ITPapers can also bundle your white papers into programs like webcasts, newscasts, newsletter sponsorships, banners, podcasts or white board video sponsorships.
There are several methods ITPapers utilizes to bring attention to your paper. ITPapers alerts subscribers to new content using several different notification methods, including twice weekly topic-focused newsletters and a topic alert system. With the alert system, members are e-mailed new alerts when new titles are added on a particular topic. ITPapers also gives users the ability to pull in content using RSS feeds.
The site sees somewhere between 300,000 to 500,000 downloads across all of the brands, and Spande says ITPapers has strong advertiser renewal rates.
Spande also noted that ITPapers is less dependent on keyword buys than others. “We don’t compete against our customers through keywords.” Spande claimed that other competitors, specifically citing KnowledgeStorm, are competing against white paper marketers by buying up keywords in categories that white paper marketers want.
ITPapers’ audience is impressive and advertisers of any flavor are welcome. Even if you’re a smaller, more niche-focused vendor, keep in mind you can compete and gain some ground on the site.
The site’s visitors are coming to ITPapers to find solutions for specific problems, not necessarily to find a particular company, so good content is key. Spande says he’s seen the reader’s focus in the white paper industry continue its path toward seeking content that provides real value in helping the reader pick a solution.
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