Udemy Promotion Schedule - Remainder of 2019

Bit of a click-baity title. :)

I've been on Udemy now 5 years, and sold more than $1 million in courses in that time. This is my advice. Take it or leave it. Up to you.

If this is your first year on Udemy, you might be interested to know how the rest of the year will go, so that you can plan your work.

July, bit of a quiet month. People are on holidays in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. But surprisingly, this is not the slowest time of year. I'd rate this in the middle. An "average" month in expected sales.

August, back to school season starts again. As we get to the end of August, people start getting their heads out of beaches and summer, and start thinking of school again. Course sales pick up near the end of August. Udemy runs a "back to school" sale then, and August is perhaps the "third best month" of the whole year.

September, a bit slower. Students hopefully stacked up on courses in August and so September is a bit of a "pull back" in terms of sales. Back to July levels. No major promotions this month.

October, picking up. As we get to the end of October, sales start to pick up a little. Above average month. Udemy sometimes runs a "course creation" contest or incentives around this time. Last year, they paid a cash bonus for launching a course during this period.

November is the big month. Thanksgiving. Black Friday, Cyber Monday. This is the start of Udemy's sale season. November is often the #1 month in terms of sales or very close to #1. If you have a course you're planning to launch, launch it before November.

December, again right after a big sale is the hangover. December is one of the slowest months of the year. Christmas season, and people have other things on their mind.

January, new year's resolutions means New Year's Sale. This is the #2 month of the year, or for some people #1. If you missed Black Friday, launching your course well before Jan 1 is recommended.

General Suggestions:

- July is a great month to course creators (us) to be course creating. August is often the #3 sales period of the year.

- If you've got a new course in the pipeline, launch it by the end of October. That's less than 4 months from today. Move heaven and Earth to get it done. Work weekends and tell the kids to talk to your spouse for a week or two. Missing Black Friday with a new course is like the ultimate Udemy instructor sin.

- If you miss Black Friday, don't miss New Years sale.

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Comments

  • Artemakis
    Artemakis Posts: 50 storyteller rank

    Thanks for the useful tips Scott!

  • As a new teacher this was so helpful! Thank you.

  • Great insight and advice, very much appreciated! Time to start planning my next courses, thanks for the information.



  • Thanks!!!

    Very useful

  • Thank you very much these tips, Scott! I will start working on my new course.

  • So helpful @ScottDuffy

  • Thanks for the tips.

    Unfurtunatly my sales are getting lower and lower...hope it will change.

  • Thanks a lot Scott.

  • NoumanAzam
    NoumanAzam Posts: 10 traveler rank

    Great advice. I will take it

  • SalJade
    SalJade Posts: 43 storyteller rank

    Always love your tips Scott! You deserve your awesome success on udemy!


  • Thanks for this excellent summary, @ScottDuffy
    !

  • Very helpful and VERY motivating!

  • DannyLiu
    DannyLiu Posts: 6 researcher rank

    On point. Thanks Scott!

  • Thank you. I will use this information for planning and launching new courses.

  • ScottDuffy
    ScottDuffy Posts: 888 rolemodel rank

    It doesn't change magically.

    You have to change it. What are you doing to attract more people to your topic?

  • RoseCao
    RoseCao Posts: 2 researcher rank

    Thank you for your advice on planning! I have just uploaded my first course, how can i promote it effectively as the new instructor on Udemy?
  • Alan_Goss
    Alan_Goss Posts: 6 researcher rank

    Thanks for the heads up. I was a little curious how certain months analytics were. I won’t be discouraged now if I don’t do so well in some of these you have listed for my first course.

  • adrianp
    adrianp Posts: 11 traveler rank

    Great stuff! Would it be safe to say that on average, November's sales are 10x more than that of, say, July? Or is that a stretch?

  • This is incredibly helpful, @ScottDuffy
    ! Thanks so much for sharing.

  • ScottDuffy
    ScottDuffy Posts: 888 rolemodel rank

    Double, not 10X.

  • adrianp
    adrianp Posts: 11 traveler rank

    Haha wishful thinking I guess--this is my first month. Still great news to hear.

  • Tips are so realistic and useful. Thank you very much for this scot

  • Thanks! This is really helpful.

  • Thanks Scott for the valuable info.

    This is my first year at Udemy. I started publishing in mid-June this year.

    Will try to publish a couple of more courses by end of October.

  • Hi Scott

    Thanks for this advice.

    Question:

    Top 1-3 things an instructure needs to do to maximize their number of sales per month?

    (taking into account that one's course topics are a combination of high demand/high availability, and high demand/low availability topics...)

    I currently have just over 40k students, of which 99% are free enrollments via coupons.

    I've only recently started working on courses within the high demand/low availability topics.

    I make less than $50 per month currently.

    cheers

    Jerome

  • Thank you for this; it's nice to see that my low months are normal :-D

  • Scott I can just agree and confirm, it's exactly as you depicted it. Great post, thank you for reminding us about things that are so obvious that we alone can miss it. Kind greetings

  • Scott,

    As always you're advice is concise, helpful, and wise. I always find you to be one of the most helpful contributors in this forum and your courses are spot on. Thanks for these tips.

    Thank you,

    Richard Callaby

  • Thank you