By Nettie Hartsock
SecurityDocs.com features an estimated 3,000 white papers reflected under security-driven categories such as application security, disaster recovery, encryption and vulnerability management. With over 80,000 unique monthly visitors, SecurityDocs.com differentiates itself from other competitors by only offering security content.
“Our readership is technical security engineers and I would say primarily more upper-level than most other sites. They count on us to push out and maintain the highest content level and keep our focus on our audience,” says Mitchell Rowton, founder of SecurityDocs.com.
For vendors accustomed to placing advertorial-driven white paper content on larger sites, SecurityDocs.com presents both a challenge. For security-focused white papers, the site provides a better opportunity for placement as opposed to larger white paper sites, as long as the paper is heavy on the education focus and light on the vendor side focus.
“Usually the only papers we’ve turned down are from companies whose real angle is to sell the company’s product,” says Rowton. The papers are listed without charge and Rowton encourages individual writers to submit papers, which make up the majority of the published content on the site.
SecurityDocs.com also offers white paper sponsorships at the top of all categories. There are never more than two sponsored papers at the top of any given category and the site also runs text ads at the bottom of each category. Pricing for the sponsor papers varies according to the popularity of the category. Rowton explained, “You can get started for $100 - $300. This would be one paper for three months, or three papers for a month, whatever is best suited to your needs. That would be a low-end ‘getting to know you’ campaign.”
White paper advertisers looking for detailed leads and viewer contact information will not find it on SecurityDocs.com. There are no preregistration forms and Rowton does not provide any viewer contact information to sponsors. Rowton said that will continue in the future as well. However, the site does offer very specific audience exposure for vendors who can format their papers from an educational standpoint instead of a sales focus.
Of the vendor-based papers, Rowton works with the providers to tailor the papers so that they are educational and not sales-based. “There are companies who now work with us and send us papers that fit our format, and they’ll keep the good information in there but take out half the paper that’s just about their particular product. It’s a collaborative effort to feature useful information to our readership without their sales pitch,” says Rowton. “If the white paper provider has a product or service that complements this audience, then we can offer the very best ROI for them,” he continues.
For white paper authors and security companies, SecurityDocs.com represents a strong technically driven readership base. For advertisers, the site represents a unique opportunity to advertise to a savvy readership base with a solid, security-driven niche focus. To submit a paper to the site, there is a detailed contribution process at http://www.overdocs.com/author-information/.
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