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how indepth should a help guide go?

by bryansamuels
8 replies
hi guys and girls,

i have spent quite a while being a ghost on this site and i thought it was time to come alive.

Ive have written an outline/ table of contents for my how to/ ebook guide.

it now has 32 topics of discussion and then there are some sub headings under the main points also. I am starting to dread i have made a mountain out of this. in other words some topics are quite indepth and could take a while to compile.

i believe its might be a fault of mine where i am trying to exceed the expectations of the end user. i have a history of customer service positions.

So i ask for your help where do you draw the line? when is the information you give really just too much? or on the other side is a few paragraphs on each topic, giving a general idea going to be ok? I want to maximise my return and not have to refund to often, so whats the consensus generally speaking?

cheers.
#ebook #guide #how to #indepth
  • Profile picture of the author merlincat
    It's always an idea to over deliver, exceed the expectation of the product. This way you build a good relationship and possible future sales potential.

    I always worry about how much I give away on my site and freebies, i.e if they can get it all for free...why buy!
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  • Profile picture of the author J.M.Wilson
    You should go as indepth as you need to explain the answer to their "How To"... there's nothing worse that a guide that tells you it's going to tell you how to solve X, Y or Z only to find it tells you a little bit and advises you to look elsewhere to find the rest of the solution.

    Meh, if you've created a mountain climb the damn the thing and create the best product that you can
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  • Profile picture of the author warteg
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveFinch
      It's so easy to forget that when we first started out, what seemed ridiculously difficult to master, we now do without even having to think.

      If your product is aimed at those new to computers and IM, go as in depth as you possibly can. Those that are a bit more savvy, and have more knowledge, can simply skip through the parts they're familiar with.

      All the best with it.
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      ***Delisa***, Beautiful hand made products from the South of France
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Ryan
        I think a guide should be just long enough to get your points across and still deliver the expected results to the reader.

        Increasing the size of a guide just so people believe they are getting a good value may often times just back fire on you. The points you try to get across will often times be buried in a bunch of fluff.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Here's a little different angle on the question, from someone who has the same affliction...

          It's great that you want to exceed your buyer's expectations. That's a fine way to build repeat customers and referrals.

          Who sets the expectations, though?

          You do, in your sales letter and pre-sell materials.

          Some sales letters are so over the top that no product could live up to the hype. Others are so timid that it's a wonder anyone buys at all.

          So write your sales letter first. Then create the product to live up to the promises made in the letter, and maybe a bit more. Once your product lives up to the promises made, it's done...
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          • Profile picture of the author bryansamuels
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            Here's a little different angle on the question, from someone who has the same affliction...

            It's great that you want to exceed your buyer's expectations. That's a fine way to build repeat customers and referrals.

            Who sets the expectations, though?

            You do, in your sales letter and pre-sell materials.

            Some sales letters are so over the top that no product could live up to the hype. Others are so timid that it's a wonder anyone buys at all.

            So write your sales letter first. Then create the product to live up to the promises made in the letter, and maybe a bit more. Once your product lives up to the promises made, it's done...
            Thanks John and everyone else

            That is the angle i needed.. the sales page is the product! i so get that! Im going to get crackin on a strong sales page.

            also on the marketing side ive done some preliminary seo research and found there is a lot of pages, 5100000 on the broad term that fetches 610000 searches a month. i wanted to focus on getting the sales page on this search term by using adwords which shows "low competition".

            on the product its a how to guide on making money selling items in a particular offline environment

            have i made a start in the right area here marketing wise?

            my other thoughts were affiliate focussed, or article marketing
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          • Profile picture of the author WiseWebWords
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            Here's a little different angle on the question, from someone who has the same affliction...

            It's great that you want to exceed your buyer's expectations. That's a fine way to build repeat customers and referrals.

            Who sets the expectations, though?

            You do, in your sales letter and pre-sell materials.

            Some sales letters are so over the top that no product could live up to the hype. Others are so timid that it's a wonder anyone buys at all.

            So write your sales letter first. Then create the product to live up to the promises made in the letter, and maybe a bit more. Once your product lives up to the promises made, it's done...
            This is an awesome piece of advice, and I will use this idea for when I put together my own product. I agree that a lot of people can oversell and bring a lot of hype but have a dud product.

            By using the Sales letter as an outline then there are only two things that can happen I can either meet the expectations and then add a bonus.

            As far as the TS, I think that it would be best to keep to the point and keep it precise. Then if you decide to add information or something make it into a smaller guide and add it as a bonus or an up sell if it is really valuable information.
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  • Profile picture of the author butch04
    When I purchase an e-book I'm looking for 1 thing.

    * How can I get the results your e-book claims

    I'm not a big fan of reading long reports that just drag on forever. To me they end up getting confusing and a lot of people will just stop reading. You need to think of the user. Will have really have an hour or 2 to read 30+ page report?

    I see a lot of people now coming out with 10 - 20 page e-books/reports.

    Again the user wants results not a bunch of in between stuff. So skip the fluff and get straight to the good stuff. I think if you do this you'll see better results.

    You can also test. Make 2 versions a short and long copy then ask for the readers for feed back on both versions.
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