Are you holding back a product because you think it doesn’t have enough content? Although there is no set length for a book, ebook, audio program, home study course or other content, people do make judgments about the value based in part on the amount of content provided. Size matters.
Some people deal with this by adding fluff: They make the margins extra wide, double-space everything, use a large font and make what they have written take up more space. Others add pages of useless garbage, such as one product I bought that had page after page of photocopied junk that added nothing of value. Or they bonus the offer with a collection of ebooks that have nothing to offer. People see through these stupid content tricks.
Several years ago, I coined the phrase “useful fluff,” meaning stuff you can add to fill out a product and make it larger, but only if it is useful and of value to your customers. One client who used this advice doubled the price of her manual, and doubled the number of sales, too.
The idea of useful fluff is to add more volume without adding a ton of extra work. Here are some examples of useful fluff:
Resource lists. List books, products, organizations, websites and other resources that will help your customers reach their goals.
Table of contents and index. Make it easier for customers to find what they are looking for.
Content produced by others. I gave my client a special report I had written, and told her she could include it in her manual. I didn’t charge her for this, as I considered it good exposure. You could ask a number of people for their best tips or advice and include a roundup of wisdom from other experts. If you see an article (in print or online) that you think would fit well in your product, ask the author for permission to use it.
Content produced for other purposes. Do you have an ebook, teleseminar recording, article, or other content you already created that would fit into this project? Use it!
Transcripts. Many people like audio and video, but others prefer to get it in writing. With transcripts, they can quickly scan through to pick up the important facts, or refer to the transcript to find a piece of information without having to re-listen to an entire audio. If your product includes audio or video, include transcripts to increase the perceived value.
Bonuses. Most of the products offering resale rights are not worth much. They are old and out of date, or nothing but advertisements for the original offer. However, there are a few that are worthwhile. Make sure they are also relevant to your audience.
Public domain content. There is a lot of great information in the public domain, meaning that it is not covered by copyright. Get your hands on public domain material your audience can use, and include it as part of your product or as a bonus.
Personal access. Include access to you, via a personal consultation over the phone, email questions, teleseminars, forums or other. Some of these can be time-consuming, so be careful about what you promise. However, many customers will find the personal attention very attractive.
Adding one or more of the above types of content will not increase the amount of your work (with the exception of personal access) but will increase the perceived value of your product.
