Is it lazy for a WSO not to have a pdf?

Just my two cents, but I think most wso's or info products in general would benefit from a pdf as well as videos/audios. Not everybody wants to wade through 15 or 20 videos to refer to certain information.

Agree with Jim, all products should come with a PDF to satisfy everyone, it also allows you to easily find what you want a lot easier with the title page.

To me it depends on the course and how the video is done. I have purchased video courses that were downright painful, because the presenters took so long to convey the information. In that case a pdf sure would've been nice. Other times the videos have been short & concise and I did not miss having a pdf.

With all that being said, I think people are more likely to buy a WSO if pdf's are also included.

I don't know about lazy but it is very short sighted. There are still LOTS of people who won't buy an info product unless it's in some text format.

video marketing is one of the most effective ways to deliver your content. Ive already read here about how people flick through content in a matter of minutes and thats the problems that newbie marketers have, they scan the information rather than take it in properly which is what i think video methods do more effectively. We all work and learn in different ways so its whatever best suits the purchaser.

I definitely think that products should be available as text, audio and visual so that people can get the best out of it. Whether its travelling in the car listening to the audio parts, sitting on the train reading the pdf version or sat down on the home computer at night watching the video to it.

Whichever way the user best takes the information in will hopefully lead to the maximum output. Personally when I work with people I dont want them just scanning the content I put together, I want them to put it to the best use possible in terms of results for themselves.

Just my two cents =)

I totally agree. It is a rare video that rates more than "playing in the background while I work", but I can absorb the key info from most PDFs very quickly.

That being said, including transcripts / PDFs takes a lot more work than just a video -- or requires an investment into a transcription service. If we really want both, then we need to pay for it. (of course most times I'd settle for JUST the pdf )

One of my best-selling products is a series of videos. However, each of the 10 videos is no more than 5 minutes long.

Many of the things I teach in that course are best shown via video. Writing a straight transcription wouldn't make sense because it would be a lot of "see here" "look at how..." and "this is where you want to click".

However, the videos move fast, and each one focuses on a single step of the course.

BUT...

I also included a quick start type of guide that boils each step down. It's still best to watch the videos first, as the more fully describe the process and give context, but a person could probably make a go of it using nothing but the quick start guide.

So, it may not always be laziness, it could be a matter of relevance. On the other hand, I have seen some of those 30 minute videos where your mind starts to ache after the first few moments. It was because of those that I made an effort to keep things short and focused.

All the best,
Michael

It's just a different mode, You can quickly scan videos too at greater speed and only go slow on things of value ..

VLC media player , windows media player all go up tp 3x speed, anything more of course does not make sense as the words are toally not clear...

End of the day it's your preference as a customer on the mode vs value, if you think it was the just the exact info you need to take your biz to the next level and is avbl only in video will you say no ? of course not .... just chill..have fun ... and make money

I think it's important to have a pdf for a couple reasons.
1. Some people just perfer to read over watching, and if you want to appeal to a wider audience its important to include everyones preference.
2. As mentioned before it can be a lot quicker to skim over the pdf than watch the video.
3. It adds value. In the eyes of the consumer they have two things to buy at the same price. One is a jsut a video while the other is text anda video. Given they're bot quality products which do you think they'll buy? It might not always be the case, but generally people will buy what comes with more.

I actually have to agree with this post.I'm not a big fan of WSO's in video or audio format. I prefer a simple pdf document that I can simply read through

I don't buy anything without a written version. I dislike watching videos as I like to read things over and over.

It depends how the videos have been created. Yes, I agree that sitting through an hour long video is a real pain in the backside. If they allow you to download the video then this makes it a little less painful because you can easily skip through sections that do not interest you.

However there are times when videos are needed. I create a lot of 'how-to' type videos and I very rarely provide a PDF version of those videos... and I've never had a complaint out of thousands of people.

The trick is to cut your videos up in to much shorter videos. So rather than having a 20 minute video walking someone through a process you would instead have 3-4 shorter videos of 4-5 minutes long. This way people can easily find the information they are looking for and skip over any information that does not interest them.

I also don't like the garbage a lot of people put at the beginning of their videos just to fatten up things and make the video longer. They sit there and ramble on about their whole life story and to be honest, I don't care. Just give me the information I paid for.

In this day and age if you are saying you will never buy a product that doesn't offer a PDF document then I must say I feel sorry for you. You will end up missing out on some good products if that is your stance. Video is here to stay and more and more people are going to use it. I don't think video is flawed, I think the way in which some people use video is flawed.

I don't like a crappy long-whinded PDF document anymore than I like a crappy long-whinded tutorial video. It's not the format of delivery that annoys me.