How many people do you know to have completed a PDF file making course? I'll make a guess, not that many and most probably, none.

The software is easy to use in basic mode. The results are usually acceptable at first glance. There's absolutely no reason to really learn how to get the best from the software and your CONTENT.

Making money on the Internet is not easy. Generally, you have to work harder and smarter than the competition. The free ride is over.

If you look behind the standard PDF document generation methods, you'll find a rich hidden source of web site promotion, along with document security and version tracking. Document control is becoming more important and can not be ignored. Including a document title, description and a few keywords is the very least you can do to improve your search engine exposure.

Let's work together to make the Internet a better place by making your valuable content easier to find.

Here are six easy ways to get better search engine exposure for your web published PDF content, improve security and document control.

1. PDF really should be text based.

Most document Scanners have an option to convert the scanned IMAGE into a PDF file. Search engines CAN NOT read the content when published as an IMAGE. A much better way to get better search engine listings for your PDF files is to use the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) option. Your TEXT CONTENT will then become readable to search engine spiders.

2. Use the document properties for better search engine exposure and security.

If you open a PDF document and then select:

File : Properties

You'll get an information window with tabs along the top bar:

Click the "Description" tab and then the "Additional Meta Detail" button.

The new window displays hidden fields used by search engines to rate the PDF for relevance.

This is probably THE most important upgrade you can carry out.

Yes, it will be hard work and very time consuming, but your PDF content will suddenly appear on page ONE instead of one thousand.

This window also has a security tab where you set permissions for write, print and a whole lot more.

3. Improve the TEXT content. Publishing the company sales brochure or sales leaflet will probably NOT help you beat the competition. Yes, make the PDF look good, but ALSO include as much unique TEXT content as possible. It should be fairly east to boost paragraph content without destroying the layout.

4. Use links into PDF documents. Make sure you include in-document menu links to your sub pages if the PDF covers more than three pages. Maybe even consider designing a powerful document navigation system.

5. Use outbound links to best effect and promote your HTML web site. Try to build links to your PDF content within the normal web site navigation system. If the file size is large, try to remember to warn the visitor by indicating a likely download speed of actual file size.

6. Influence How Search Engines Display Descriptions for PDF documents. If possible the first paragraph should summarise the PDF content. Search Engines will often pick this content to display under the link sentence. This is your PULL that can persuade a user to actually click the link.

Technically, making a PDF in to a search engine gateway is NOT hard.

It will take time, effort and a will to publish your information in the most effective way possible.