Today I’m going to show you not only how to upload a .pdf to your WordPress site but to do it in a better way. This is going to be important because next week I’m going to show you how to use a .pdf as a lead capture device.
Let’s start with the basic upload. This part is really simple. Logged into your site, simply put the curser in the body of text where you want the .pdf link to be and click the 
button.
When you do, the popup screen will look like this:
Select the .pdf and click upload. I’m going to use a sample .pdf I just created. When you insert it, make sure you click the box for “Media File”.
Insert into post and you’ll have something that looks just like this:
Not so exciting is it? So let’s do that all better. Ready?
Step #1 Start by getting a screen capture of the 1st page of your .pdf – in my case that would look something like this. It doesn’t have to be full size, they don’t have to be able to read it – (mine is just 400 px wide), we’re using it just to give the viewer a better hint at what they’ll get.
Step #2 Copy the URL for your .pdf upload. You can see that in your media library, or insert the .pdf the boring way – follow the link and then copy the URL.
In my case the upload would be here: https://areweconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/MikesSamplepdf.pdf
Step #3 Now upload the picture to your site and insert it where you want. When you insert the image, you’ll have a choice of what happens when someone clicks that image (the Link To section). The options are None, Attachment Page. Media File or Custom URL. Choose Custom URL and of course for the URL you’ll want to use the destination of your .pdf which you copied in step #2.
I also gave the image a caption, “(Click to Download)” so that the reader knows what to do.
Step #4 Now there’s one more step, and that’s to click on your image again and set the .pdf to open in a new window. If you don’t, they’ll open it up and be off your site. We want to keep them on the site for as long as we can.
When you edit the image you’ll see an Advanced Options section. Just click the box and save! Now you’ll have an image that when clicked opens up in a .pdf and does so in a new window. Here’s what that might look like:
That wasn’t so hard was it?
Remember: Next time I’m going to show you how to use this as a form of lead capture! (good stuff!)
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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