Adobe’s PDF format is a popular one for documents and ebooks, especially among sellers of digital products. While use of PDF files has been relatively widespread since the format’s introduction in 1993, there are still many common misconceptions about them. One of them, that PDF files are inherently secure, can cost content providers profits by allowing plagiarism and potentially damaging brand image. Until they’re secured by the author, PDF files can be manipulated and changed significantly. By altering your content, a user can diminish the overall message to damage your reputation as an author. They may also be able to claim the work as their own by making significant changes.

Secure PDF Files to Protect Brand Image

In the world of digital goods, much as the world of physical products, your reputation is of vital importance. When you’re a content creator who specializes in documents or ebooks, your reputation is inextricably tied to your ability to write accurate, authoritative content. Because unsecured PDF files can be altered by any user, it would not be difficult for someone to change your content and flood the market with a sub-par quality version of your painstakingly perfected work.

Discouraging Piracy by Securing PDF Files

Another common problem faced by online sellers of written digital content is the ever-present threat of piracy. When you sell unsecured PDF versions of your marketable content, a single buyer can copy the content to a new device, change the file or offer it in a variety of formats on file-sharing sites. This not only diminishes your profits on the product in question, but may also cause you to lose future profits on other ventures if your name and author credit is removed from the pirated PDF.

How Users Can Secure PDF Files

While PDF files are not protected at the time of creation without special effort to do so, it’s not difficult to take precautionary measures against changes and piracy. Most authors and document creators who sell their files online choose to use public keys, rather than passwords. Public keys offer limited access to users, allowing your customers to readily view the content they’ve purchased but not to make changes or edits. This prevents copying and pasting into another document, removal of your author credit and direct changes to content which may diminish the viability of your brand image.

Password protection can be cumbersome for customers, who must remember a password in order to access files they’ve rightfully purchased. Password protected PDF files can also be printed, though copy and paste capability is removed. Any content creator who sells their files through comprehensive ecommerce and content delivery solutions like PayLoadz.com should take the time to learn more about the steps necessary to secure PDF files. Protecting your content is an important aspect of selling digital files online, and can help to ensure continued profits.

 

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