Should Your Download Files Be Zip Or PDF?
What is the best format for your download files whether they are gifts in a Giveaway, for Adswaps or paid products.
My early paid products were all Zip files. The reason was they contained a bonus PDF file eg resources file that had affiliate links in.
This was recommended by marketers such as Alex Jeffreys (Easy Profit Auctions) , John Thornhill (Planet Forum) and Lee McIntyre (Standing Start Profits).
More recently I’ve noticed a lot of people have direct links from download pages to PDF files. The products given to students in Marketing with Alex 2.0 and also by MyIMMentors used this arrangement and I have done this for my recent free products (except Free Backlinks Generator which has multiple files)
The reasons for PDFs -
It’s quicker to setup, and also apparently easier for people to access since they don’t have to unzip the files (not everyone knows how to do that apparently).
Now I come to the reason for this post – a few people had gifts rejected from a recent Giveaway for using PDFs. I’d entered well over 100 giveaways and never had this happened before.
We were all a bit surprized at this and felt the admin were being over-officious.
Last week I spoke to Rodger Hyatt (who is supervising the Giveaway) on Skype about this and here are the reasons for using ZIP files.
1) PDF files can contain Viruses. Zip files are automatically scanned for viruses.
2) PDFs open directly in browers and some people don’t know how to save them.
Also a browers will be slower and if the PDF is large it will slow down the computer. If a zip file is used then the unzipped PDF will default open in Adobe Acrobat not in a browser.
3) As already mentioned a ZIP file can contain other bonus and resources PDFs or other files like worksheets which benefit both the customer as they get more information and the product owner (form affiliate links)
If you don’t have an unzip program there is a free on here
http://www.camunzip.com/download.htm
(Most people recommend WinZip but that is a trial only)
Having run my own Giveaway I can say it’s harder than it sounds to monitor.
A lot of gifts break the rules and checking everything out takes a lot of
time.
So it’s your choice – will you use ZIP or PDF files?
Filed under: General
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Hi Keith,
I have often been annoyed by the move to PDF downloads.
It is annoying to have them appear in the Browser, and I did have problems saving them.
However, the point about viruses is particularly relevant as there are so many more virus and hacker/malware attacks prevalent nowadays. More protection is called for.
I prefer Zip Files.
John
.-= John Reed´s last blog ..Welcome – to Internet Marketing Reviews- =-.
HI
To download ebook I use only PDF files, otherwise I use ZIP.
Why PDF?
Because this is the faster way to review the book and decide If I will download it.
Great post Keith, thanks
Hi Keith
I don’t mind getting either but I prefer to give out PDF’s because people are more likely to read them if they have it right in front of them but if they had to unzip and extract the file it’s more likely they are going to save it for later which means a higher possibility that it’s not going to get read.
Dawn Kay
Hi Keith,
Reading your arguments in the first half of the post I agreed.
This is self evident reasoning and I have heard the same from other marketers.
Then I was a bit shocked that some organizers demand a zip file.
I think that if that’s the case it should be clearly stated when the JV invitation is sent as well as in the rules.
If it is I don’t mind following the rules.
Vance
.-= Vance@Email List Online Giveaways´s last blog ..Learn How To Build Your Email List Using Online Giveaways =-.
Hi Keith,
I just realized that you don’t use keyword luv when I commented a minute ago.
I’ll remember that next time. You can remove the keyword if you want from there. I won’t mind at all.
I do use keyword luv and have just commented on a few sites that use it too. Sorry for the slip up.
Vance
.-= Vance Sova´s last blog ..Learn How To Build Your Email List Using Online Giveaways =-.
Hello Keith,
Thanks for the info on the controversy over using PDF’s or Zipped files. I often wondered why files sent are almost always done in a zipped format and not sent as a PDF. Your information has clarified this point for me. I seem to prefer pdf but have gotten used now to unzipping files. I am still a little unsure as to how to put a number of files together into a single zipped file. Any helpful tips would be appreciated.
Thanks for all the helpful info that you have posted on your blog.
Alice
I mainly do PDF files, tired of using the single zipped file approach. Makes sense though as technology gets more integrated we might not even need to have this discussion.
Keith@Keith Brown´s last [type] ..Is Alice’s Bucket List Real or just another Hoax