58: Secure Content Sharing: Unlock the Power of Google Drive and Vimeo
In this episode of ThinkInsideTheSquare, you’ll learn how to leverage Google Drive and Vimeo to efficiently share your lead magnets, client contracts, and course materials.
I'll walk you through:
Setting up Google Drive for easy file management and version control
Using Vimeo's powerful features for secure video hosting
Creating a maintainable system for content delivery
Tips for keeping your content secure while still providing value
Whether you're just starting out or looking to streamline your existing processes, this episode is packed with practical tips to help you build a content delivery system that grows with your business. Let's make your content work smarter, not harder!
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[00:00:00] Whether you're crafting irresistible lead magnets, managing client contracts, or creating a comprehensive online course, you've got one thing in common. You're going to need a reliable, secure way to deliver your valuable content without breaking the bank. In this episode of Think Inside the Square, I'm going to break down the tech stack that I use to host my lead magnets and my course content.
[00:00:27] If you've got PDFs to share, this setup can help you save a lot of time, hassle, and hopefully some money too. Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you build an online business that you're proud of. In this episode, I'm talking about the file sharing part of my business and how I host and share content for two courses and over 20 lead magnets.
[00:00:48] For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to the resources mentioned, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast. I've got a budget friendly solution that you can use to deliver your [00:01:00] content securely and efficiently. Google Drive and Vimeo. These powerful platforms can be the dynamic duo that your content delivery system needs to shine.
[00:01:10] Google Drive is a cloud storage service, which means files that I put on Google Drive are files that I can access anywhere I access the internet. Google Drive is how I organize, update, and share my lead magnets, my contracts, and my course materials. And Vimeo, it's not just another video platform. It's a professional grade video hosting service that gives you a lot more control over your content than you might expect.
[00:01:35] Now the best part is that both of these tools play very nicely with Squarespace, which makes them perfect for creators and business owners like you who want to keep things simple, secure, and again, budget friendly. Now I'm going to break down the process that I use to combine both Google Drive and Vimeo to host and deliver my content securely.
[00:01:55] I'll talk about setting up the system and how I maintain my content over [00:02:00] time. By the end of this episode, I want you to have a clear roadmap for creating a content delivery solution for your business model. Now let's start with storing your content, PDFs, videos, all of it. I use Google Drive. Google Drive is free for up to 15 gigabytes of data at the time of recording this.
[00:02:19] I've been using my Google Drive for about seven years now, and I will say that for the last four or five years, a lot of that content has been very heavily focused on video, and at the time of recording this, I'm only at 47 gigabytes used. So as you can see, that 15 gigabytes should last you quite a while, but again, you can upgrade it anytime if you do need more storage.
[00:02:41] Now, inside Google Drive, you can also create content, like Google Docs and Spreadsheets, or you can upload files directly, like I do. Adding and organizing things is pretty easy. You can upload your content and organize it into files, just like you would on your own computer. You have tons of nested files.
[00:02:59] [00:03:00] I have one main file for each year, and inside that file, I've got my different programs and other ways to organize it. Now, this episode isn't about me, it's about sharing content, so let's get into this. I want you to imagine that you just created this amazing PDF guide and you're excited to share it with your audience.
[00:03:17] You want to send people to this guide after they fill out a form on your website. And maybe you want to email your existing audience a link to this guide so they can check it out. You can do this with Google Drive. When you upload this PDF to your Google Drive, you have the ability to access specific settings for sharing this file.
[00:03:36] You can change those settings so that anyone with the link can view it. Now when you email your audience, you can email the link directly to that PDF. So they click on it, the file opens. When you set up a form on your Squarespace website or through your email service provider, set up the redirect for that form so that as soon as someone hits that submit button, they get sent to that link to the PDF.
[00:03:58] You point people directly [00:04:00] to this link and they go right to the file that's hosted in your Google Drive. Now they're not going to see the other content in your Google Drive, it's just the link for that specific file. And here is where it gets really cool. Version control. Stick with me here, friend, because this one is a game changer.
[00:04:16] You know how sometimes you'll create a PDF, you'll share it with your audience, and then later you're going to realize there's a typo, or maybe you want to add some new information? With regular file hosting, you'd have to upload a new file and change links everywhere, and it can be a pain. Well, Google Drive has this really cool feature that I use all the time, known as Manage Versions.
[00:04:39] You can update your PDF and then you can upload it as a new version in your Google Drive without changing the link. So anyone who clicks on the original link is going to be directed to the updated version. You don't have to go back into your welcome email sequence to change links. You don't have to hop into your course platform to update the [00:05:00] buttons.
[00:05:00] You don't have to change anything on your forum so they don't redirect somewhere else. That link points to a new file. And as a person who makes spelling and grammar errors constantly, this feature has saved me so much time and stress. Though I absolutely love it. Now before we dive into Vimeo, I do want to talk about some more sensitive stuff like client contracts.
[00:05:22] Google Drive can actually be really great for this. Instead of setting up a file to be shared with anyone that has a link, there's a Google setting, a file specific Google setting that you can select, so that only people who have logged in with a specific email address can access that file. This adds that extra layer of security.
[00:05:41] Your clients will need to log in with their Google account to view the document. So if they don't have a Google account, then you need to look to an alternative. But in my own work, That hasn't been an issue yet, so I'm still happy with this. I'll include some information in the show notes for this episode on the exact step by step for setting up these two [00:06:00] options, but if you're sticking with me right now, all you need to do is right click on the file, select share, and you'll see the share settings.
[00:06:08] Now to access this feature, as well as the anyone with the link can view feature, all you need to do is right click on the file in your Google Drive and select share. That's going to open up your share settings and you'll find both of those options. So to sum it up, Google Drive is cost effective, it makes updating content a breeze with that Manage Versions feature that I just love, and you can control who sees what if you want to.
[00:06:32] Now whether you're sharing lead magnets, sending contracts to clients, or delivering course materials, Google Drive can handle it. Trust me, once you start using it for this, you're going to wonder how you ever managed without it. Now we want to shift gears and talk about video content and why I pay for Vimeo, especially when I am constantly on YouTube.
[00:06:51] Vimeo offers some really fantastic features that really makes it stand out as a hosting platform for my courses and my workshops, my private [00:07:00] videos. So let's do that. Let's start by talking about the privacy settings. Vimeo's private video feature is perfect for when you want to share your video with a select audience.
[00:07:10] It's good for welcome videos and course content. You even have the ability to limit a video to only be displayed on a specific domain, giving you some really precise control over who can view the content. And another feature it has that's great for people working with clients is the ability to password protect a video.
[00:07:29] When I'm walking a client through a new concept of their website, I don't want anyone to access that video. I want that to be client specific so I can send my client a link to view the video and make sure they know what password they need to know to access it. For those of you using Squarespace, I often like to make sure that the password to access their private Squarespace site before we launch is the same password they use to access the Vimeo video in case they need to check out some content before we launch the site.
[00:07:57] Security aside, Vimeo has some [00:08:00] cool features for what actually displays with the video. First up, full control over the end screen. This is huge for me. You know how when you'll watch a YouTube video and at the end of the video it'll have suggested content trying to get you to keep watching more content on YouTube?
[00:08:15] You can turn that off on Vimeo. You can say, okay, Vimeo, when this video is done, show a blank screen or give people the ability to rewatch the video, have it play in a loop. Or, you can even direct people to have it open a new page when the video is over. There is so much more control with the end screen in video, even with the lower tier pricing plans.
[00:08:37] Now another strong point for Vimeo is accessibility. They offer auto generated subtitles, which is huge for making sure that your content is accessible. Now, are these subtitles perfect? Absolutely not. But is this important? Absolutely. This feature is so helpful for viewers that need to watch your video without sound.
[00:08:57] I do recommend making the time to create [00:09:00] and upload an accurate transcript, especially for course content. But this feature is a great start. Now one more Vimeo feature I want to talk about is the ability that we can control what controls people have for the video. On Vimeo, I toggle off the option for people to save the video to watch later, share the video, or embed it.
[00:09:22] But I do leave the option for them to make the video full screen, see the transcript, adjust the speed and the volume, or even reduce the quality if they don't have a solid internet connection. All of those are flexible and you can toggle those features on and off for individual videos inside Vimeo. Now for a Squarespace users, adding Vimeo to a page on your website is really simple.
[00:09:44] You've got two main options. You can use a Squarespace video block or the embed block featuring the link to your Vimeo video. Both methods are straightforward and result in a really professional looking video on your site and it's going to be responsive. So it will automatically [00:10:00] resize to be the right width for specific screen sizes.
[00:10:03] Now, I also want to mention that inside Vimeo is where you control the color of the video player so you can make sure that it matches the rest of your website. Vimeo isn't perfect though, and very recently I ran into an issue with Vimeo that I was not aware of. It was for a student of mine that's in an area of the world that had restrictions on the Vimeo platform itself.
[00:10:25] So for this specific student, she wasn't able to access the content inside my course because it was in her country or her region. Vimeo was very limited and she literally couldn't play the videos. So this is where Google Drive saved the day. I uploaded those course videos to a private folder in Google Drive and I sent her the link to the folder so she could still access the content.
[00:10:47] Definitely something I, this is definitely something I wanted to mention because I had never encountered it before, but for those of you out there with an international audience like me, this is a really good workaround that used both of those features. [00:11:00] All right, now that we covered the basics of Google Drive and Vimeo, I want to talk to you about how you can pull it all together.
[00:11:06] Into a secure content system. That's easy to maintain first things. First organization is key, whether you're dealing with lead magnets, client contracts, course materials, having a clear folder structure inside your Google drive is going to save you a ton of headaches down the road. I like to create separate folders for each type of content.
[00:11:27] And again, I create a new folder for each year in my business. So inside my 2024 folder, I have a folder that says lead magnets. I've got a folder that says client contracts. I've got a folder for each one of my courses. And within each of these, I can create sub folders as needed. Now when it comes to naming your files, consistency is key here, and honestly, it's a crucial part about staying organized.
[00:11:52] Even if you didn't give it the right file name on your computer, you can rename that file in your Google Drive. These names will be searchable, [00:12:00] but you can also sort them by A to Z inside individual folders, which will make it really easy to find what you're looking for later on. So try to include terms that you're going to use when you refer to that document again.
[00:12:12] And it's also important to keep in mind that when people open up this file, when they have this link to that PDF, they're going to see that title. So make sure it's user friendly and it's not something that would confuse your audience. Speaking of file sharing, let's talk about that real quick one more time here.
[00:12:28] For the individual file, you want to right click on that file and select share. This is how you control who's going to be able to see that. For your lead magnets or guides, anything that you're sending to anyone with the link, Select the option anyone with the link can view. They won't be able to edit anything, but they'll still be able to see it.
[00:12:46] Now for client contracts and more sensitive materials, you can select restricted view, and then you need to add people by their email address, and only the people that you've added who are logged in with that email will be able to open the link. [00:13:00] These settings help you keep your content secure while still making it easy for your intended audience to access exactly what you want to share with them.
[00:13:08] Now, when it comes to actually delivering your content for PDFs and other documents, all you need to do is send people to that link directly. You can do this through a button, you can do this through a form redirect, you can embed the link anywhere you can embed a link. It's pretty easy to share. But for videos, you need to copy the share link for the individual video from Vimeo.
[00:13:27] And then inside Squarespace, you can either use the video block or an embed block. Now let's do a quick recap about maintaining content over time. This is where Google Drive's version control feature that I talked about comes into play. When you need to update a file, right click on the file, select File Information, and then Manage Versions.
[00:13:47] This is where you upload the new version to your Google Drive, and the link will stay the same, so you don't have to update it anywhere else. Now before we call this a wrap, I do want to address the elephant in the room, file security. While these [00:14:00] methods provide a good level of control over your content, it's really important to remember that once something is online, there is always a chance that it could be shared, whether you like it or not.
[00:14:09] I always include a do not copy or distribute notice on my materials and this is not legal advice in any way But if you're concerned about content sharing look into setting up some legal contracts that can help you enforce a no share policy on your content I'll include a link in the show notes to some resources that can help again Not legal advice, but something that I know a lot of entrepreneurs like to do including myself But the truth is that any file can be downloaded and distributed illegally.
[00:14:36] Even placing content behind a login is not a good way to keep it secure. People can share a login illegally, and again, if you can download a PDF from any platform, that PDF can be sent to someone who isn't supposed to have access to it. So trusting your audience is going to be the most important part of your content security.
[00:14:55] Alright, we covered a lot in this episode, but my main goal was to share with you [00:15:00] The system that I use to share my content. I want you to have a system that's easy to maintain and easy for your audience to access. And I firmly believe that with Google Drive and Vimeo, you've got a powerful, flexible system that can grow with your business.
[00:15:14] If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a review and be sure to check out the show notes at insidethesquare.co/podcast for links to important resources. I hope you found this helpful. Thank you so much for listening. And most importantly, have fun with your website. Bye for now.
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Google drive share settings: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494822
Affiliate link: legal contracts: https://the-boutique-lawyer.myshopify.com/insidethesquare
Vimeo video settings: https://help.vimeo.com/hc/en-us/articles/12426156259473-Video-settings-overview
