Let Your Visitors Download Your Ebooks For Viewing

Below are the basic steps on how to download and upload eBooks to your website for visitors to view. Once in awhile, you will come across an eBook that you think is interesting, and you will probably want to upload it to your website for your visitors to view. If you want your visitors to be able to download your eBook from your website to their computer, here is what you are going to do:

• Create a new folder on your desktop and give it a filename...example: “download”
• Place all the information you want zipped into your new folder
• Right-click on new folder and choose from window shown “send to…compressed file” (this   zips up your file)
• Upload (FTP transfer) the entire zipped file (in binary mode) to your server

An eBook is a .zip file, which means you will need an unzipping utility (WinZip) to open (extract) the eBook. If you have Windows XP, you already have one installed.

Choosing Transfer Modes:

ASCII Files (Text – Web pages & Perl scripts): .cgi, .pl, .pm, .txt, .php, .shtml, .html and .htm
Binary Files (Images & Programs): .au, .aiff, .bin, .doc, .exe, .gif, .gz, .jpg, .jpeg, .mpg, .mpeg, .mov, .pdf, .png, .ps, .qt, .tar, .tiff, .tif, .wav and .zip
PHP Programs:  You can use either mode (ASCII or Binary) for execution…ASCII is preferred


Once you find an eBook that you would like to share with your visitors, follow these instructions:

1. Assuming you have already opened (unzipped) the files for your viewing...you have to compress the files (make them smaller by using a zip/unzip utility software).  One utility is called WinZip...it compresses the files and puts them into a self-extracting file.  When your readers click on the file, it will install to a folder they select on their computer.

If you do not have a zip/unzip utility program... download WinZip.

To view eBooks... download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

*** If you are selling an eBook with resell rights (the file, a sales page, images, etc.), you will need to put everything into one uploadable .zip file. You can use the same .zip file that you purchased and downloaded for yourself.

2. Using your web host's control panel (file manager) or FTP client program, create a new folder in your root directory (in with your .html files) on your server for your eBook .zip file.  Name this new folder anything you want...give it a filename "download" or "ebook" for example.

3. Upload your ebook.exe or ebook.zip file to this folder named "download", using either your FTP client program or your web host's 'File Upload' feature in the control panel.  Be sure to select "binary" as the transfer mode (this is a default setting).

4. After your upload (eBook file is online), you need to download the eBook's .exe or .zip file to your website in order for your visitors to get access. See example below:

As an example, let us say that your eBook's filename is "mybook.zip", and your website is <a href="http://www.yourwebsitename.com">. You will need to place a link on your web page pointing to this file; see the filepaths below:

Filepath With Text: <a href="http://www.yourwebsitename.com/download/mybook.zip"> Click here to download this "free" eBook</a>; (This is what the link will look like when using text: Click here to download this "free" eBook).

Filepath Without Text: <a href="http://www.yourwebsitename.com/download/mybook.zip"</a>

Next, test your download link to ensure that it functions properly. If you click on the link and nothing happens...check that the link's path is written correctly, and that the .zip file is uploaded in the correct folder. Once your visitors click on the link, the download begins...your visitors are now able to view and save the eBook file on their computer.

Now, that you know how to download and upload eBooks, continue on reading the next topic titled "Advertising A Website".

Next Topic:  Advertising A Website

Back To Top

Custom Search