One Month. No Sales. Now What?

Jonathanwylie

It has been one month since I published my course on Udemy, and I have no paying customers. How long did it take for you to get your first sale? What do you think you did to elicit that sale? Do I just need to be patient, or are there things I should be doing to help move things in the right direction? Any and all advice appreciated! :)

RonErez

My advice is do not give anything for free. The best way to get a sale is through Udemy. Most of the sales I get are directly from Udemy or cross promoting between my own courses. My first course start selling in the first week or two. I think I was lucky with my timing since my course was the most up-to-date course on the topic at the time it was published. My other courses were not as successful as my first course. I may have just got lucky. I would also suggest updating your course from time to time. Good luck!

RonErez

I found your course. It looks like you gave out 1000 free coupons. Chances are no one will watch the course. I gave out thousands of free coupons for one of my courses and two this day I could probably about 10 people actually started the course and maybe only 5 actually completed it.

Perhaps you could find a subreddit on productivity to promote your course. For example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/

PuneetGupta453

While Udemy is an excellent platform—far ahead of its competitors—it could benefit from exploring additional ways to promote new courses. Just as every ecosystem thrives on freshness, the platform also needs a steady influx of new content to remain dynamic and engaging. Although older courses have the advantage of being established, with substantial student enrollments and ratings, newer courses often struggle to gain similar traction. It would be unfair to assume that older courses are inherently superior simply because of their longevity and larger student base, as newer courses may offer updated content and innovative approaches.

One potential strategy to support new courses could involve bundling multiple new offerings and selling them at a discounted rate. This approach not only makes the courses more accessible but also encourages learners to explore fresh content. Additionally, enhancing the visibility of new courses is crucial. While Udemy currently labels new courses with a "new" tag, further measures could be implemented to highlight these offerings. For instance, the platform could consider featuring new courses more prominently in search results, recommendations, or promotional campaigns.

Ultimately, determining the most effective strategies to promote new courses would require careful analysis and planning by Udemy’s course marketing team. By prioritizing the visibility and accessibility of new content, Udemy can continue to foster a vibrant and inclusive learning environment for both instructors and students, while retaining the underlying principle "best course to have better visibility"

RandyMinder

Hi @Jonathanwylie - It looks like you may have made the same mistake(s) almost every new instructor makes:

1. Not checking to see if there is any demand for the course you created
2. Not checking to see how many other courses exist for the topic your course covers
3. Thinking it's pretty easy to create a course, publish it and students will come rushing to purchase it
4. Giving out free coupons is a good way to attract students.

Udemy has become a brutal place to try and make any significant money. This is especially true for new instructors because almost every topic or interest is saturated with courses. And, giving your course away almost never works. In fact, it's often counter-productive.

Udemy will probably not market your course in any meaningful way until it gains some traction and has 10-15 (good) ratings, at least. This means you will need to market the course yourself, at least initially.

Jonathanwylie

Hi @RandyMinder,

Thanks for the tips.

1. I agree that this course could be seen as a niche topic. However, see point 2.
2. I did check to see how many other courses cover my topic, and there were none that I could find. Maybe there was a reason for that?
3. I didn't assume students would come rushing to my course. I was just looking for advice on how to try and market or attract an audience because this is my first course on Udemy. If this is par for the course, so be it. I am just trying to get a feel for things here. My expectations are low.
4. Yes, I gave out one free coupon, and quickly learned the folly of that venture. There was zero engagement among those students, so I won't be doing that again.

All that said, I did get one paying customer this month, so I am at least out of the starting gates!