How to Create a Free Resource Library for Your Website in 5 Simple Steps

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Make a digital resource library in WordPress for your opt-in freebies

Do you offer your readers freebies? Are you making so many opt-ins that you can’t keep track and are swamped with the different automations? Have you thought about having a restricted area for people that sign up for your PDFs, images or ebooks?

Why not set up a WordPress resource library for free right in your website!

But if you’re asking yourself, “How on earth do I actually do that, Sasha?”. I promise it’s so easy to do. If I could figure it out, you can too. And, hopefully, by the end of this article, you’ll know how as well and have yours all set up too!

This is one of those questions I get asked all the time in my Facebook group, Blogging Babes Collective. In fact, in the past two months, I have helped three people set theirs up and explained to countless others how to do it. Clearly, a tutorial is in order lol. So, here it is!

1. Create a Password Protected Page in WordPress for Your Resources

The first thing you’ll need to do to set up your free resource library is to create a page for all your opt-ins. To set up a new page, in your WordPress dashboard, go to Pages>Add New.

Once the page is created, you’ll want to give it a name – something like “Free Resource Library” (don’t you find blogging so literal sometimes? lol). Once you’ve chosen a name, you’ll want to head over to the top right in the editor and click on the word Public to see the settings for post/page visibility.

Set the visibility to Password Protected and click on the button to “use a secure password” for your page. Choose something that will be easy to remember but not too easy so that someone could potentially guess it.

2. Upload or Link Your Freebies

Now that your page is created, you have a blank slate to work with and fill it up with all your goodies. There are two ways you can handle this.

You can use the block (or classic if you’re still there) to add graphics of your product that link to the freebie. You could just do links, but it looks alot prettier if you have a fun graphic image to make it stand out.

Another option is to use a page builder like Elementor (WHICH I LOVE) because of the total customization options. This is definitely my preference! If you’re not sure how to use Elementor, here’s a quick video to show you how!

The graphics don’t need to be complicated, just head over to Canva and use a social media template and add the name on the top as an overlay. Or, if you’re savvy, you can try to add your actual opt-in image right to your Canva graphic! Super cool!

Once you have added your graphics and a quick description, link the graphic directly to your download using a cloud-based source, like Google Drive or DropBox. This way it won’t take up unnecessary space on your website or slow things down.

3. Collect Subscribers

Using freebies, opt-ins and content upgrades are great ways to grow your email list – and a freebie library is an amazing tool to help with this. If you’re new to email marketing, start with this quick guide on email marketing for beginners.

You’ll need to be set up with an email service provider (ESP) in order to collect and manage your emails. I have been using Mailerlite since the beginning and love it. They offer everything that the expensive ESP’s have but offer it free for your first 1000 subscribers!

If you have subscribe forms already created in your ESP, you can continue to use those but in the next step (#4), you’ll want to make sure that all your forms trigger the free resource automation.

If you don’t already have forms set up, you can easily create an email form or landing page for your new library. Most ESPs have some simple templates available to get you started thankfully.

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5. Create a Welcome Email Sequence

Now that you have a way for people to subscribe to your library, you’ll need a way to deliver the login details to them.

The best and easiest way to do that is to create a welcome or nurture sequence that is automatically triggered when they sign up.

Usually, this is one of the first ways that people will get onto your list and so it’s a great opportunity to share the free offer as well as take an opportunity to start a relationship.

Most welcome sequences have 3-5 emails in them. Here’s an example of how you might set one up:

1. As soon as they sign up – “Hi- here’s all my freebies”, introduce yourself and what you are all about
2. 2 Days Later – “Did you get your freebie”. You wouldn’t believe (or maybe you would lol) how easy it is to lose things in your email!
3. 1 Week Later – “How’s things going with that freebie library”. This is also a great time to mention some of your other great offers and freebies

Obviously, if you want to extend the sequence, you can write a bit more in between or add other things. The idea is to offer value so they look forward to your emails, so use the opportunity!

How to Create a Online Resource Library if You’re Not Tech Savvy

Another way to create a stunning resource library for free is through a platform called Beacon. In just a few minutes, you can easily create a free account, create PDFs straight from your content and use them as a content upgrade.

I created my resource library super quick and I’m super happy with how it turned out. It was really easy to customize the layout, colors and fonts to my brand as well. Check it out my resource library design here if you need some inspo or want to see what it’s all about.

Don’t Forget to Market Your Opt-In Library

It’s no use in creating all those great freebies making a beautiful page to share them all if no one sees it, right!? So, now that you have all the pieces in place, go ahead and shout it out to the universe! (Okay, at least a few platforms lol)

Here are a few ideas for sharing your new freebies:

• Use the free AdInserter plugin to automatically insert into all of your posts and/or sidebar
• Use HelloBar (free) to create a sticky bar at the top of your website with a link to your landing page or sign up form
• Create a Pinable image and hide it in your post
• Share it on Facebook share threads (make sure that you set your featured image so it looks pretty!)
• Tell your email list about it and make sure they get the new page login details and password

Do you have a free resource library set up on your WordPress site? How did you set it up, I would love to hear!

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