Adding Downloadable files

I hate to repeat posts as I know there are several already on here. I have read a number of them but I have to ask, as I am stuck here. For that I apologize…

I’m trying to post a pdf file with a simple text link “Download pdf” in a page. I have read how to do this on the forums but I must be missing something.

I have inserted the link with the exact path to the file, and I have alternately inserted the pdf as an image and linked it that way. I have tried about ten times back and forth this way and the link always results in the same thing: A blank blog page (theme intact) that says “Sorry, No posts match your criteria” …

This seems like such a simple task, what am I missing?