Do you add value to products you're selling?

[PenguinManiac]

Affiliate marketing is a profitable business, but a very competitive one at that. Every product you can even think about selling already has tens, if not hundreds, of well-established sellers with a solid customer base. Competing against them can be disheartening, but there have to be ways to overcome them: by making your product more appealing, obviously.
Do you think this is a good idea? If so, how do you add value to your products to cater to a larger audience you'd normally have access to?

 

[robertosz]

I think valuable bonuses are a great way, I always like when i get bonuses with a product I purchase.

However, when there's too many bonuses, that tends to turn me off sometimes. I personally would rather prefer a few super relevant bonuses rather than 100 unrelated bonuses that don't help me.

I've also gotten advice from some product vendors that offering PLR bonuses doesn't really work all that great, not sure. Just a thought.

One way that has worked for me for example is this: If I'm selling an ebook, I'll add way more helpful and useful content to the ebook rather than offer a bonus.

For example, many ebooks I see are super short, which isn't always bad. What I'll do is I will add 3-4X the content that everyone else offers. If my competitors ebook is 10 pages, I'm putting in way more than that.

Hope this helps!

 

[Rob Whisonant]

I select affiliate products to market that compliment my products. I don't jump on the band wagon of who can give the most free crap with a product. I only promote affiliate products that I have purchased and used.

I also promote my products along with similar affiliate products through free ebooks, articles blog posts etc. So I have never had the need to pray on newbies by dangling tons of bonuses in front of them that they will most likely never read or put into action.

 

[PenguinManiac]

I think valuable bonuses are a great way, I always like when i get bonuses with a product I purchase.

However, when there's too many bonuses, that tends to turn me off sometimes. I personally would rather prefer a few super relevant bonuses rather than 100 unrelated bonuses that don't help me.

I've also gotten advice from some product vendors that offering PLR bonuses doesn't really work all that great, not sure. Just a thought.

One way that has worked for me for example is this: If I'm selling an ebook, I'll add way more helpful and useful content to the ebook rather than offer a bonus.

For example, many ebooks I see are super short, which isn't always bad. What I'll do is I will add 3-4X the content that everyone else offers. If my competitors ebook is 10 pages, I'm putting in way more than that.

Hope this helps!

Bonuses can be a double edge blade. They're not bad per se, but, as you said, they can give off a cheap/unprofessional vibe. It's like those TV promotions where they're offering you tons of free stuff in addition to the (obviously overpriced) product you're getting.
Adding useful content to ebooks seems like a much better alternative. I'd be careful with that, though, because people might think you're just promoting stuff that was supposed to be in the ebook in the first place as a bonus.

I select affiliate products to market that compliment my products. I don't jump on the band wagon of who can give the most free crap with a product. I only promote affiliate products that I have purchased and used.

I also promote my products along with similar affiliate products through free ebooks, articles blog posts etc. So I have never had the need to pray on newbies by dangling tons of bonuses in front of them that they will most likely never read or put into action.

That looks like the most professional approach to it. Free ebooks can be especially welcoming, since people might feel overwhelmed without a guide or a sort of instructions manual.
I agree with the general notion that good products don't really need gimmicks to be sold, though. Thanks for the advice!