2 Tech Hacks for How to Organize and Share Your Free Resources

Free resources can have a huge impact on your business. Whether you’re working on your email marketing strategy or nurture sequence, free resources and templates can infuse your business with leads.

But when you spend any amount of time on the internet, you know that things are always changing — tools, trends, even ideas.

To keep up with these changes, I’ve done a lot of switching and swapping of things in my business, like…

• Moving my email marketing from MailerLite to ConvertKit

• Updating the free PDF resources I share on my site

• Redoing tutorial videos to make sure they’re up to date

All those changes made my site (and my business) better. BUT I ran into two problems when it came to updating my resources or tutorials:

1. Tracking down ALL the links. I didn’t want to ever have to go back and find each and every link to my free resources in order to replace it with the new one.

2. Forgettaboutit. Never update things at all because that’s too much work and instead let my resource rot away into the internet landfill of outdated materials.

Since neither of those options work for me, I knew I had to do something.

I’m a systems person, so I decided to invest a little time and energy and create a system that would make it super simple to share a resource now — but be able to easily update it later.

So how do I do it??

Lucky for you, I’m going to spill my secret! Here are my two, go-to methods that you can easily implement, too.

How to share your free resources and templates so they’re easy to update later

Create a custom shortcut link for your landing pages

Simply put, I recommend you create a custom URL on YOUR domain that will redirect to your landing page (no matter what email service provider you use).

I call it a “pretty link.”

Here is a 2-minute video on how I have it organized for my content:

Here’s how it works:

On the back end of your website, you can “point” this custom domain (a.k.a. “pretty link”) to any other URL. So when someone goes to this link, they’ll be sent wherever you want them to go (muah-ha-ha!).

Jess over at Jess Creatives has a whole video on how to do that on Squarespace and WordPress. Check it out here.

By using a custom shortcut link, you get more control as the content creator. You’re essentially creating a “home base” URL for your landing page and YOU get to decide where readers go when it’s clicked.

So if you ever want to use a new landing page instead of an old one, you simply need to swap out what URL your custom shortcut link redirects people to.

Plus, a custom shortcut link like “https://duett.co/your-first-welcome” makes it WAY easier to remember than “https://duett.ck.page/firstwelcome” right?

Okay, now the next big question: How do I keep track of the shortcut links?

Simple. I already organize email marketing content, so to keep track of the links, I added a tab to my Airtable Content Calendar where I keep a list with information for each landing page:

• The name of the resource it’s promoting

• The pretty link URL I created

• The destination URL (the landing page URL that the email platform assigns it)

Use the pretty link in any and every instance when linking to your landing page, so you can avoid the case of broken links (eep!) when your destination URL changes.

Ta-da!

How to save your free downloadable resources in Google Drive

This is the second hack to keep your freebies organized.

Talk about SIMPLE, this tip is way easier than it sounds.

When you set up your free resource to be sent to new subscribers, you usually have two options:

• Upload the file directly to your ESP (that’s your email service platform, so this means ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign are essentially “hosting” your file)

• Or send new subscribers to a URL

We’re going to take Option 2 for $500, please.

Here’s how to upload and “host” your files in Drive, and we’ll link to them there:

01 | Create a folder in Drive

When you create a folder in Drive, make it pretty damn clear that these are important files that no one should touch, like what I’ve done:

“RESOURCE LIBRARY – DO NOT DELETE”

02 | Use clear file names

Store all of your public-sharing files in your Drive folder using really clear file names.

03 | Use the public sharing link in Drive

The public sharing link in Drive is found under “Get shareable link” — that’s the URL you’ll use when you deliver your freebie to new subscribers.

Don’t forget! Make sure you have the setting set that “Anyone with the link” can VIEW the document.

Need to update your file?

If you need to swap out the link because you made an update to your file, we can do that!

Don’t just upload a new file. Nooooo, buddy. This is where the magic happens.

Instead of swapping out the link to a new file, we’re going to REPLACE THE EXISTING FILE.

Here’s how:

Right click on the file you want to replace, then click on “Manage versions.”

Once the “Manage versions” box pops up, click on “UPLOAD NEW VERSION.”

It will ask you to find the new file on your computer. Click save, and you’re all set!

Lead gen made simple

Now you have a system where you only need to use ONE link per resource, and it’s super easy to update it when needed!

If you’re confused by the tech side of email marketing, but you know you need a proper welcome and nurture sequence to connect and build brand loyalty with new email subscribers, book a Discovery Call with me to learn how I can help make it happen — from research and copywriting through setting it up for you.

Leave a comment and let me know: Which of these hacks will you use to organize and share your free resources?