Why I consider Udemy as the best platform to publish online courses?
I have just read KylePew’s post called “2024 - Quickly coming to a close” which is quite interesting first due to the impressive milestones he has reached and, secondly, because he has been an Udemy instructor for more than nine years.
Well, my numbers are light years away from his but it’s ok. I have started to develop and publish online courses in mid-2020 during the lockdown. I was invited by an academic platform to record a couple of courses based in my expertise and publications (my backgrounds are in sociology and business administration).
Prior to that I had already delivered a number of online lectures (before and during the lockdown) but always synchronous. I did not have the experience of preparing and recording asynchronous lectures. Naturally, the preparation is not that different but I think that the format differs a bit.
Anyway, due to the platform’s business decisions and internal assessments, they have chosen to discontinue the service by the end of 2020.
I then discovered Udemy in early 2021 and decided to give it a try.
I have also tried an array of different platforms (several of them quite famous in the industry and other not well-known but quite good) but I can honestly say that Udemy has been by far the best choice for me.
It is true that if one publishes their courses on their own website and even in several other large platforms, chances are that they will earn much more than what they can earn on Udemy given the instructor revenue share formula applied by the company.
Nonetheless, what no one tells you when you follow the road of offering your courses independently is that it only works if you already hold (or have the technical means and/or the know-how to generate) a large cohort of followers (i.e., a loyal audience eager to purchase your courses). If you cannot count on that, you will not succeed.
On the other hand, on Udemy, you don’t need to have this audience to begin. And this makes all the difference for anyone who’s starting in the business of online courses like myself back in 2021 and without a loyal large audience of followers.
I still did not reach a massive income stream as I read so many interesting stories across the internet and also in the Community Forum. However, despite this fact, I am very glad that at least I was able to kick start my business and keep on growing it little by little in terms of course offerings, earnings and, mostly importantly, in the quality of my teaching.
Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever reach the thousands of dollars of regular income I read that so many have already reached (some even in a very short period of time). But I try to keep my focus somewhere else such as, for instance, what new courses I can offer, what I am really enthusiastic about and possibly meet students’ needs (the famous offer vs demand equation), improving the quality of my courses and keep on going.
Eventually, in the long-run, it might pay off in terms of substantial regular income but overall, I can say that, after three years in the platform and pondering the several pros and cons, the choice to host my courses on Udemy has been the right decision.
Comments
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, its and honest feedback.
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Thank you for sharing your journey! We’re thrilled to hear you’ve found your “online teaching home” on Udemy and wish you continued success and growth! 🌟
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