Looking for a Free PDF Catalog Creator? I Have Found the ULTIMATE #1
Tired of spending hours looking for the perfect catalog creator? I felt the same. There’s a seemingly never-ending number of software providers that promise you to let you create the best free catalog — but that’s oftentimes not the case… BUT I ultimately found a few services that keep what they promise. The best of them all? The free catalog creator software Yumpu Publishing.
(But more on that later on)
Have you ever wondered why you can’t seem to find new potential customers?
Of course, you have!
As the proud owners of small (and not so small) businesses, we’ve all been there.
Frustrated because we know there are customers.
Bemused because we know there’s demand for our service. Angry because no one is actually buying from us!
That was me a few months ago — when I learned about this free catalog creator software.
I took a look and liked what I saw. But if owning a company has taught me anything it’s never believed the hype.
So, I looked again and again and compared the results.
And that’s when I stumbled across the free online catalog creator Yumpu Publishing.
Sales rocketed with digital catalog
What was going on?
I racked my brains and searched for clues in my market research and analytics data. Where was it all going wrong?
I felt like a failure. Like I was swimming uphill through molasses.
My product was good.
Even allowing for it being my product I was certain it was as good, if not better than my competitors.
I had a webpage. I had social accounts and I made sure queries were dealt with promptly.
But somewhere it was all going wrong.
Time and time again the most visited site on my website was the landing-page.
And time and time again they were browsing away again.
I just couldn’t seem to grow my company.
So, I tried the stranger test. That’s when you pretend to be a customer and try to evaluate your user experience as a customer. So, I opened up my website and took a long hard look at it.
And that’s when I saw what was missing.
My website looked old and dated.
There was no user interaction, nothing to pique a visitor’s interest and get them to hang around to read .
Just a load of boring pages full of boring text. Yawnsville!
What did my webpage need?
It needed a makeover!
It needed easy to access information.
And it needed it in an interactive format that would keep visitors reading.
One big thing it needed was more info on pricing.
I wondered if I could somehow replace the downloadable pdf files that contained product information with something a bit more up-to-date and modern.
Well, most of my stock is listed in catalog form so could I do something with that?
I looked for an online catalog maker tool .
Which is how I learned how to create a product digital catalog from a pdf file and how to get it published .
How to make a product catalog?
It was such a simple solution!
With the free online catalog creator (I will share with you my favorite one further down below) all I needed to do was upload a PDF file.
I already had a pdf of my product catalog.
Once converted to an interactive catalog online I could share it and really get into social media too. — The benefits were amazing.
Within days I was seeing more traffic through the website.
More new visitors were arriving, and they were looking at and read more pages, staying longer and engaging with the content I was creating .
Naturally, sales picked up.
We could tell things were getting busier, but I wasn’t prepared for the sales figures at the end of the month.
And the next month was the best I’d ever seen!
I was astounded by the change I was creating !
I hadn’t really done much to the actual website style itself.
All I’d done was replace the buttons to download pdf factsheets and product catalogs with links to online, interactive catalogs.
Instead of my visitors downloading a pdf (filling up precious space if they had a mobile device like a phone or a tablet) and firing up the pdf reader (assuming they had one) the site simply loaded the information there — immediately!
It looks really professional.
The page flip effect is really smooth (it’s kind of cute and has a swishy feel just like when you flip through a magazine in a waiting room).
There’s no waiting around for the site to load and no lag when you turn a page.
Paid-for quality without paying for it!
I’d looked for the best catalog maker to make my stunning digital catalogs and to be quite honest with you I’d broken the cardinal rule of buying a new product — I’d omitted to shop around.
The new digital catalog maker I found for my test run was just a free trial and there were some features I wasn’t quite happy with.
I didn’t need a full-scale digital publishing platform, just an online product catalog perhaps with some videos demonstrating our products and with some links to our shop.
Maybe even links on the items themselves so my customers could click on anything they liked the look of and buy it immediately!
What is an online catalog?
We’re all familiar with a paper catalog. A big thick book with everything you need to know about a product, pricing and other things our customers are looking for.
Maybe some pretty pictures too. Sometimes there’s a online brochure section that displays the products and encourages your customers to buy a particular item.
Usually, you’ll need to pay a printer to print your flip Pdf files to printing paper and get them neatly bound into physical volumes.
That’s before you’ve thought about how you are going to get boxes of product catalogs to the people with cash in their pockets.
Put simply an online catalog is a digital product that simulates a paper catalog.
Your catalog pages are displayed either singly or side-by-side (just like in real life) or in a scrolling list (like a word-processing document) and you even get a page flip effect to complete the illusion.
But that’s only the beginning.
Firstly, if you have online catalogs it’s obviously going to be simple to share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks.
The online catalogue creator has handy buttons, so you can share instantly (and you can embed into your WordPress site and publish your catalog on your blog).
Secondly, they are interactive catalogs.
When you create a product catalog you can easily customize your existing or new publication/ brochure and add audio, video, images and even hyperlinks.
The hyperlinks could be between pages of the catalog or to any location on the internet meaning you can link to a YouTube demonstration video with a button or take your reader to the actual purchase page.
Nothing like making a call to action and backing it up by enabling the action!
Thirdly, you can track what your customers are looking at.
Using Google analytics, you can get feedback in just the same way as with any other webpage.
Know what image catches your readers eye and gets them to buy.
The whole catalog is search engine enabled so it can be indexed and searched for which can improve your SEO ranking.
Fourthly, your catalog builder can integrate with your webshop.
A simple way is to link products to their shop pages so clicking on an image will let you buy it.
Your catalog is now taking the place of old-fashioned order forms.
Get your product to your customers faster and with fewer steps for them to struggle with.
Fifthly your catalog is now portable.
Any device with a web browser can access it.
Whether it’s a hefty desktop PC, the latest iPhone or any type of Android devices.
And since it’s online your customers will always have the latest version.
No more explaining that you don not honor prices from the “Winter 2002” pricelist!
It’s so easy — even I could do it!
The great thing about an online catalogue maker is the simplicity.
Although you can access the API, you do not need to know anything about programming, websites or document creation.
I know my limits when it comes to design work, but you can create a great product catalog from Pdf documents simply by drag and drop.
All you need to be able to do is navigate your computer’s filing system and click on a file.
And I’m pretty sure there’s no one reading this who doesn’t have that level of IT expertise.
How to make a catalog?
In the free pdf catalog creator I prefer to use you can be creating any type of electronic flip book from a pdf product.
You can create a different version such as brochures, a flipbook, publication, instruction booklets, promotional magazines, how-to leaflets — the list is pretty much as big as your imagination.
Once you did create your product catalog in a PDF file (you may even find your product catalog software lets you export a pdf file) you simply start to create an account or log in, upload the file and grab yourself a coffee while the catalog creation occurs.
In fact, that last step is unnecessary as the flip book maker is very fast.
But who doesn’t like a good excuse to stretch their legs and grab coffee?
I do not think I’ve ever managed to leave the room before it’s finished to be perfectly honest with you.
All the magic is done on their computers, so you can create an online catalog from pdf free!
And as all you need is the original pdf file and an internet connection you can choose to create your catalog anywhere and anywhen.
What is the best software to create a catalog?
In the field of product catalogue software free and paid-for compete and you also need to decide if you want to use your catalog creator online or download software.
You might think using a flip PDF catalog creator free online is the worst option, but you would be pleasantly surprised.
This powerful online PDF catalog creator free is perfectly good enough for your first attempts at digital publishing and you have the flexibility to add paid-for features if you need them.
I tried a few different approaches to create a catalog free and not so free (well I used the free trial period at any rate).
And my favorite turned out to be the ultimate free PDF catalog creator — Yumpu.
This is an online product which means you upload your PDF file to their servers and they host it for you.
Although it’s created from a file you don’t have online PDFs — the file is converted to HTML5 flipbook which is great for marketing as add videos and audio files.
You can quickly share through social networks, email a link to read the catalog and have it accessible on most devices, large and small with this Issuu alternative.
Even though the professional free pdf catalog creator is, well, free, you get a load of stunning features that other tools make you pay for including:
- Integration with search engines — being HTML5 you can SEO optimize your flip PDF file, and have it indexed like any other webpage
- Share with social media networks (Facebook, Twitter & Co.) or integrate into your blog
- Link within the catalog (for example from a photograph of an item to the order form)
- Link to other pages or websites (for example from an item to your webshop or the manufacturers website)
- Add an audio file for background music
- Embed video and other media (for example to demonstrate the product without sending your customers off to another site)
- Publish from dropbox (great if you hot desk)
- Use catalog templates (different design templates)
- Drag and drop creation — unlimited number of pages
- WordPress plugin and developer API
- Unrivalled support service — even for free accounts!
If you find yourself outgrowing a free pdf catalog creator, then you can opt to upgrade to one of the reasonably priced paid plans.
Other features you might need are:
- removal of advertising — you can have a complete white label service if you prefer
- using your own template — include your own logos, slogans, banners and other visual brand cues to make your product catalog your own
- password protection — maybe you’ve got some special offers for special clients? Keep them safely in the VIP area by setting a password
- manage downloads and printing — decide whether to allow it or not and whether it applies to one specific site or the whole catalog
Great Customer Service with this Free PDF Catalog Creator
Usually, you get what you pay for.
If you opt for a free pdf catalog creator to create interactive online catalogs you would expect to be out on your own.
No support to contact, trawling through “knowledge bases” or waiting for a very, very, long time for support response.
Not so with Yumpu Publishing!
What I love about them is that they have a huge library of support articles covering pretty much any custom query you have.
And should you happen to find something that isn’t covered, or, like me, can’t quite get your head around it, you can always chat with someone and get sorted straight away.
It really is that simple.
It’s so simple I keep thinking it can’t be real!
But it isn’t a marketing dream.
Turning your boring paper or pdf product catalogues into an immersive, shareable, interactive experience is possible even if you have the computing prowess of a thumbless gnu.
So, if you are looking for an awesome free pdf catalog creator then you know to best go to Yumpu Publishing.
I honestly don’t believe you can get better value for money!
