How To Create Great Looking PDF Files
Question: I am planning
some reports for my website. I just downloaded your
newsletter in PDF format and like the way it looks. I take
it that a 30 page report could be done in this format as
well.
Since I am new to all this, I was wondering if you could
give me a little help. How were you able to write the
report and put it into a PDF file.
Answer: Yes, I'm a big fan of PDFs. Have been for over ten
years. They are a universally accepted format, and
compatible with any operating system. They work equally
well for reports, ebooks and newsletters.
Most of what you need to know is on my downloads page. Look
for the Quick and Easy eBooks report, in the Clickin' it
Rich section. It goes into the details and nitty gritty
about eBook publishing.
Download Free PDF eBooks
==> http://www.cdzn.com/fun
I used to use Adobe Pagemaker for my layout. Then Quark and
InDesign. But these days I use Pages by Apple. If I was
preparing documents for the press, I'd still use InDesign,
but if you're aiming to create PDF files, Pages is the
cat's meow.
If you have Acrobat Pro, you can make a PDF from just about
any application, including word processors. But these text
apps are designed to handle words. It's ok to do your
writing in them, but get yourself a page layout app to
assemble everything.
After the newsletter is written, I go looking for artwork
that matches the articles and helps tell the stories. I do
all my shopping for photos at iStock Photo. It's only a
dollar for the nonexclusive right to use their photos in
reports, newsletters, ebooks and web sites.
Get Great Stock
Photos ==> http://www.cdzn.com/isp
Once I have all the pieces assembled, I do the page layout.
Pages makes it very easy to make beautiful PDF files. You
just drag and drop graphics and screenshots. Size them and
color correct them right in the app.
Hypertext links are a snap. The text formatting is done
with style sheets, so it's really fast when you work from a
template.
You can add drop shadows. Funky type effects. Rotate
things. Text flows around graphics automatically. Then...
when you're happy with the layout, click export to PDF and
you're done.
I do take it one step further though. I load the PDF into
Acrobat Pro and compress the file size and add meta data
for the search engines. It's also a good idea to proof your
work in the Acrobat Reader app as well.
Go download my Quick and Easy eBooks. Then start practicing
making PDF files. It's not hard to do.
Before you know it, you'll be offering more value to your
customers with those special reports. And the more value
you provide, the more abundance you'll get in return.
