How to quickly share an automatic download link to any pdf

One of the fastest ways to disappoint and frustrate a brand new email subscriber is by making it difficult for them to get whatever it is they signed up for. 

Your lead magnet. Your freemium. The gift that you give them in exchange for their email address. 

If they have to go searching for this, after they've signed up, you're going to leave a bad taste in their mouth. And they are going to have a negative first impression of you. 

Oftentimes your lead magnet is simply a PDF and I want to show you how you can create a link that will immediately start downloading that PDF to your new email subscriber's computer. I'm not talking about taking over their computer. I'm talking about eliminating steps for them. I'll show you what I mean. 

This is a file that I have created inside of Canva (affiliate link). If you are new to Canva and would like to learn more about it, check out these videos. 

Once you have created your lead magnet, or your freemium, inside of Canva, it's time to turn it into a PDF.  You do this by clicking on SHARE up on the top right. Then choose DOWNLOAD. And underneath FILE TYPE you'll choose PDF Standard or PDF Print. 


If your people are likely going to be printing this, go ahead and choose Print, otherwise choose Standard to keep your file size smaller. 

Next click on DOWNLOAD and wait for a couple of seconds while it downloads. Save that file wherever you want to keep it permanently. 

Now go to Google Drive. If you have a Gmail account, you automatically have storage for free. You can always upgrade if you need more, but every free Gmail account comes with 15 free gigabytes. 

Up at the top Left, you're gonna click on the "plus" button that says NEW and Choose File. You're going to navigate to wherever you just saved your PDF, click on it and choose Open or double click on it. 


Once that file has been uploaded to Google drive. You can open it, click over here on the top Right and choose SHARE. 


You wanna make sure that under General Access you have this switched this to 'anyone with the link.' That means people don't have to be logged in in order to access it. 


 I'll choose COPY LINK. 

Maybe this is how you typically send your PDFs to people. Problem is, if I paste it doesn't automatically download it for me. It simply lets me view it. I have found that as I get more and more subscribers, I get more questions about how to actually download it to people's computer. That takes time away from me to create new products and new YouTube videos and other things that are important in my business. 

There is a little download link, right over here on the right that people could click, but many people miss it. 

In addition, sometimes based on the type of file people will be asked to log in before they can view. Especially if you have not chosen to allow anyone with a link to have access. 

So, what do we do instead? This is a fun little tool. It creates a direct download link for files inside of Google Drive. Simply paste the sharing link we got from Google drive into this tool. 


You can skip the API key and press the Generate Google drive direct link. That will then give you this link.


 You'll copy that and open it up in a new incognito window. Now, instead of simply letting me view the PDF, it automatically starts a download. Your email subscriber can choose to cancel and not download it. You're not forcing them to do anything, but you are eliminating steps for them so that they can immediately save it on their computer and always have access to it. That way they never have to email you again and say, "Hey. I think I signed up for that freemium, but I can't remember where it was or how to find it" because they have it saved on their own hard drive. 

The final step is to take this link that you just generated and add it to the email that automatically goes out after someone signs up for your email list. You may not use the same email provider I do. I use ConvertKit (affiliate link) and I love it. You'll simply type something like: "You can download your guide or checklist or PDF or whatever here." And then you're simply going to highlight the word HERE and choose the little link button and paste that link in the form and choose APPLY. 

That's how you add the link to the email. If you found this helpful, I would love if you shared it with one of your business buddies who might need it as well.