A lot of web marketers do one of two things when posting PDF content to their organization’s site - either gate their online content behind web registration forms, otherwise leave it absolutely free. The goal of gating PDF documents would be to generate sales leads from visitors who find enough benefit in the PDF to identify themselves and be flagged as leads. Nonetheless, if used improperly, web registration forms become a hurdle and discourage potential visitors.
Would it be suitable to gate all content? No. Frequently the gated content really should not be used for PDF lead generation reasons, as readers have not been educated to the point where they are encouraged to identify themselves. To put it simply, the content just isn’t valuable enough in their eyes to give up their details for.
There are two kinds of content that happen to be crucial in the PDF lead generation process for internet marketers, educational content and sales lead generating content. Is there a distinction between the two and which should be gated?
Marketers have to populate their websites using educational content that will provide the visitor with sufficient know-how and understanding to encourage them to want more information, generating momentum in the direction of becoming a sales lead. This kind of content should be open and free of barriers to access, so that it is seen by the maximum number of people feasible. The more people that access it, the greater the number of readers who will be interested in learning more information. Examples of educational content can be product descriptions, newsletters, and blogs that inform the reader sufficiently to know that they want additional in-depth knowledge on a subject.
That’s where content that yields sales leads is key. It needs to be “meaty” enough to inspire the visitor to identify themselves as sales leads without them worrying that an aggressive sales person will intrude on their day. The more value that the visitor derives from the PDF document, the more likely they’ll be to provide their contact information. White papers and research reports are excellent examples of content that delivers enough substance to encourage visitors to opt-in and identify themselves.
Marketers need to keep in mind when designing content for websites, that they cannot gate everything nor can they give away everything for free. Identify what the end objective is when designing content – do you want to educate and motivate your readers to learn more, or would you like to give them valuable content for PDF lead generation purposes? Take into account that gating a PDF at the very beginning can be a deterrent for many readers, so ensure that you give them a preview of the document so that they can decide if it is what they are seeking. This will increase the amount of accurate information you gather, strengthening PDF lead generation efforts enormously.

