A white paper alert web page is a web page that provides information about a white paper that will be released in the future, along with a registration form that allows the visitor to submit their contact information so they can receive an alert message when the white paper becomes available.

The use of white paper alert pages provides a key benefit white paper marketing (getting name and email submissions) up front, without the time and cost of white paper development. It can take a short amount of time to create a description consisting of several paragraphs, as compared to a completed white paper consisting of numerous pages. The short description also contains a high percentage of keywords (relatively short copy) which can be discovered and indexed by the search engines. When the white paper does become available, the white paper alert page can be converted into a white paper summary page.

Unpublished White Paper Description - The white paper alert web page contains a description of the white paper that will be released. This may include a description of the key problem(s) the white paper will solve and a solution teaser message (any key benefits the white paper will provide to the reader). The white paper alert page may contain several paragraphs of text.

Alert Registration - An alert registration is the submission of contact information (such as a name and email address) to request the receipt of a future message that identifies when a white paper is available. This may take the same form as the download registration request.

The number of alert registration request messages for white paper alert pages may be used to allow a company to determine which white papers should garner the highest number of registration requests.

Availability Announcement - When the white paper becomes available, an announcement is a message can be sent to people who have registered for the alert message.

This figure shows a white paper alert page for a social media marketing topic. This example shows that the white paper alert web page includes a short description of the white paper that consists of a problem statement, several pain points and a solution promise. Some key section descriptions are also provided along with reference links so the reader feels they have learned something from their search efforts. An alert registration is used to gather the names and email addresses of people who want to receive the white paper when it becomes available.