PDF Web Pages Without Your Standard Header

• When you look at some site’s sales letters does your mouth drop in awe at the amazing layout, the ongoing variations in boxes, graphics, images and web copy?
• Are you new to the internet and the world of web design and coding?
• What if there was an easier way for those of us who struggle with ‘coding’ pages?

Thesis Theme page without sidebars

Thesis Theme offers great flexibility to offer a single page (no sidebars) where you can focus on your sales letter or other offering without the distractions of other links and widgets in sidebars. But what about when you don’t want your standard header and you just want a simple page?

Page without standard header

You could code a HTML page (if you know how), save it to your server (again, if you know how) – and link to this page from a post in one of your categories.

Alternatively, you could create a PDF file, upload it to your server and link to it from a post. A bit like linking to an image, but it opens in its own browser window. This way you are mixing up your standard Thesis Theme for WordPress pages with HTML pages.

• You can make them look a little like your site by using similar colours, graphics, layout – or make them look unique.
• If you make the page look totally unique, it could even look like it is a separate website.

Using a PDF file instead of coding a sale letter page or other web page

Instead of trying to code a sales letter with fancy graphics – find a great PDF sales letter and reuse the format. Then save it as a PDF yourself, with active links where you need them, and serve this up as a web page on your site.

Check out this great example at Commission Junction. It’s sales page for ‘green products’.

Now compare this to other sales page sites like this one from Blogging to the Bank. A very well designed HTML page sales letter.

Pros of using a PDF page

• If you don’t know how to design and code a sales letter but you do know how to design graphics in PowerPoint, Photoshop or some other program (Paint even!); then do your design work and save it as a PDF from a word processing program, PowerPoint, etc.
• It will look fantastic – probably better than many other coded pages.
• You are guaranteed that it will look just as you intended every time.
• You will finish it in not time. Designing and saving it will be a quick process after you prepare the web copy.
• It loads quickly for readers to your site.

Cons of using a PDF page

• It won’t be indexed by search engines because it has nothing for search engines to ‘read’.

However, not having this page indexed is not the end of the world.

• Your goal is to get readers to provide their email address and/or make a sale. Not having your page indexed does not influence reader’s behaviour.
• Talk your sales letter up in an article on your site and link to it. Get readers warmed up so when they arrive at your PDF page, they will continue reading.
• Other sites will refer people to the page and when doing so will most likely use some of your wording. So, parts of your sales letter will be indexed and you will get second-level referrals from search results.
• If you have good site traffic then you should be able to get equally good traffic to these kind of pages by referring to them in an article, a link or banner on your site or from within an email that you send to readers (including RSS feed content).
• Your emails don’t get indexed by search engines but that doesn’t stop you from using them.
• A PDF page that can often look better than any coded page. It’s just like a large image. You can slice up your PDF into smaller image pieces and use a mixture of images and coded text that search engines can read.

Where to next?

You might like to search for PDFs on the web with great format, content and graphics and use them as a template. The Commission Junction page mentioned earlier is a great example.

If you find the PDF is locked and you can’t copy and paste from it or use it, visit Ensode.

• Ensode is a free service to unlock PDF files. Upload a file no more than 5MB and within a few seconds you will see an unlocked version in your browser. Save the unlocked version, copy and paste from it, reuse the format, etc.
• Rewrite those precious finds when researching for articles directly from the source instead of switching between programs or writing the best words down.

Your experiences and views

If you have tried this or have any other thoughts, share them by leaving a comment.