Many bloggers and website owners offer various perks to their visitors, such as free podcasts, e-books and other downloadable materials. If you are using WordPress to offer your visitors any types of files that can be downloaded, it is best to install a file management plugin that will take care of many steps of this process for you. A good plugin will keep track of the amount of downloads and other stats, as well as allow you to protect your files with a password if you wish to limit access to your downloads only to certain users.
Simple Monitor Download Overview
Simple Monitor Download is a useful plugin that lets you keep track of the file downloads from your site. It has an elegant interface that fits in well with your admin dashboard. The plugin lets you create different styles of download buttons, add thumbnails of the downloadable files, and track such information as download counts, download times and the IPs of users who downloaded the file. You can assign tags and categories to your files, and use shortcodes to display the Download button in either posts, pages or sidebars. A password protection feature is also available in case you want to restrict access to your downloadable files. The plugin also provides a shortcode to display the download counter of any file, which will show your readers how popular your downloadable files are.
Plugin Installation
To install the plugin, get the download monitor plugin from WordPress repository. In your dashboard, go to Plugins menu and click Add New. Select the Upload tab and find the downloaded plugin on your device. Click Install Now and then Activate.
You can also install the plugin by using the search feature of the Plugins area. Click Add New, enter “Simple Download Monitor” in the search bar and click Search Plugins. Once you find the plugin by Tips and Tricks HQ, click Install Now and Activate.
Plugin Configuration
Once the plugin is activated, a new menu item, Downloads, will appear in your WordPress admin area. Click on Settings to control some of the features of the plugin. Here you can change the color of the Download button and remove the SDM Downloads button from WordPress content editor.
Click Add New under Downloads to upload new files that you want to make available for download by your site’s visitors. In this area you can enter the file’s title and description, as well as add a thumbnail image to represent the download. You can also find shortcodes here both for the Download Now button and for the download counter. Once you publish the file, you can also see a basic statistic here, displaying the number of downloads for this particular file. Go to Logs item under the Downloads menu for more detailed statistics, including information on download dates and IPs of users who downloaded the file.
If you don’t want to go back and look for a shortcode every time you need to use a Download button, you can take advantage of the convenient SDM Downloads button in the kitchen sink area of the New Post screen. The button is marked with a blue downward arrow. Clicking it will give you an option to insert the SDM shortcode without having to manually copy and paste it. The button also lets you decide whether or not to include the Fancy Box with the Download Now button. Omitting the Fancy Box will display the button on its own, while including the box means displaying the name of the download, its brief description and a thumbnail image. You can get rid of the button altogether in the plugin’s settings under the Downloads menu if you prefer inserting shortcodes on your own.
You can better organize your downloads by entering appropriate categories and tags under the Categories and Tags menu items in Downloads. You can also view a list of all files you currently have available for download under Downloads, and organize them by image, title, category or tag, among other options.
Possible Uses
You can use Simple Monitor Download to reward your loyal visitors with various freebies, like e-books, or provide free samples of your work with a possibility of a later purchase. Password protection allows you to offer free exclusive content to members only or to newsletter subscribers, among other options. You can offer other downloads too, such as documentation for your programs, video tutorials that can be downloaded and viewed at a later time on users’ devices on the go, or podcasts they can listen to while driving. If you are a graphic designer, you might be offering free packages that include icons, brushes or vectors. The possibilities of downloads you can offer are endless, and all of them can lead to a traffic increase to your site, more repeat traffic and, as a result, more leads.