Identify the main problem your audience is facing and which you are proposing to solve.

Identify the main problem your audience is facing and which you are proposing to solve.  

You are writing for a relatively small business owner who is trying to decide whether or not to move to cloud computing.   Basically the concerns are how much of a hassle will it be to move and what to believe about security problems with computing in the cloud.

Identify your audience’s level of expertise and attention span.  Make sure you are neither too simplistic nor too complex for your readers.  Remember that your audience does not have an engineering background.

Decide on the length for the white paper.  A typical range is between 1 and 5 pages.

Use a generic title for your paper, including the term “white paper” and describing the problem at hand.

Begin the white paper by describing the problem you identified in Step 1 in clear precise terms.  Your diagnosis of the issue should last no more than a paragraph.

Move on to listing specific aspects of the problem.  Use figures, dates, names, etc.

Provide any necessary background to the problem, such as recent developments in technology.

Describe the solution(s) you are proposing.  Provide a step-by-step approach that will make it clear how cloud computing can be implemented.

Close with a summary that reviews the problem at hand, your solution, and the result(s) you hope to see.