Udemy

ScottDuffy · ‎07-28-2021

Sometimes it's a bit intimidating to start a whole new Post just to ask a question.

So go ahead and ask your question as a comment in this thread, and I'll do my best to answer. No stress, no worries. No dumb questions. Ask away.

Who am I? I'm a fellow instructor, and I've been on Udemy for about 7 years. Udemy's my full-time income these days and they've been very good to me over the years. I've seen a lot. And I'm here to help. So how can I help you? What do you need to succeed? LMK below.

Salil Dhawan · ‎08-25-2021

Thank You Scott,

For most of my courses its around 7-8% which as per udemy marketplace insight standards is pretty good in my categories. I will look into generating more traffic now. Thank You!

Claudgaranclaudiogara469 · ‎07-21-2022

Hi all! I'm totally new to this platform. Being totally blind, would it be possible creating courses without video lessons but just audio? Thanks for your help. Bye for now.

ScottDuffy · ‎08-14-2022

All courses must have a video component. The video must be moving and not a static image.

Perhaps you can partner with a video editor (a trusted friend) to add some moving video to your audio like slides or relevant stock video in exchange for a portion of the revenue.

Perhaps someone on this forum would be willing to help if you posted on the main message board (outside this thread) explaining your situation and asking for help.

Don't just trust the first person who volunteers. Chat with them and get to know their motivations.

EshantGarg · ‎08-18-2021

My suggestion is, we should have the option to create courses only for UFB or Personal plan, without getting them released on the marketplace.

For example, let's say I want to create a short course on "Azure: Big picture in 1 Hour".

Now, this can be a good option for students having a UFB or personal plan subscription because they do not have to buy this course, and students like to finish the course in a short time to get a quick overview of something and a sense of achievement.

But someone at the marketplace may not like to spend their 10$-15$ for this 1 hr course.

Other subscription-based websites like Pluralsight also have short courses probably for the same reason.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Eshant

ScottDuffy · ‎08-18-2021

Yes, I agree that students in the marketplace and UFB have different objectives.

And a course might do poorly in the marketplace and do well in UFB.

Udemy uses the marketplace to find the best courses for UFB. So I can see why they do it. They don't want potentially bad courses to be in UFB.

I don't know what the best answer is.

NitinWadhera · ‎08-18-2021

Hi @ScottDuffy

Thank you for this opportunity.

Could you please review my courses and share your feedback to guide me on the things that I need to improve, and if you need to choose one course then pls review the latest one. [Please ignore the free coupon stuff], I tried to create courses in the hot topic categories (during the times of creation) as per the market insights tool but I could not achieve enough financial success, Should I start creating courses on certifications categories to get more success or continue the existing path, please advice.

Best Regards,

Nitin

ScottDuffy · ‎08-18-2021

I actually like the way you brand your courses "happens automatically". That's a cool and clever concept.

When I search "Amazon Automatic Translation", yours is the #1, #2 and #3 course. When I search "Amazon Translation", you're #1.

In fact, I can't find any other courses just on Amazon Translation or Amazon Polly. You have the only course on the topics it seems.

So your problem is not "students can't find you". Your problem is that the topic is not popular.

I don't have an easy solution for a topic not being popular. If students are not searching for it, they aren't.

Udemy doesn't recognize these as topics even.

So my suggestion, sadly, is to make a course on a more popular topic that has some existing demand and not enough supply.

Like, what do you know about AWS Rekognition?

Sorry, not the answer you were hoping for. But that's what I have right now.

NitinWadhera · ‎08-18-2021

Thank you for your reply and quick insight Scott, Yes, AWS rekognition is on my to do list 🤞, any tips on finishing a course quicker, or may be how long does it take for you to finish a beginner level course, or say 4-5hour course, may be this one could help me speed up on creating courses on more topics quickly, thanks much 🙏

manishpaulsimon · ‎08-23-2021

Hi @ScottDuffy

Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time out to help us instructors. You're definitely a legend in the course creation space and it'll be great to hear your feedback.

The problem I'm facing at the moment is getting the "bestseller" badge. My course ranks consistently in the top three search results for all the main keywords for what I teach. And I have more students & reviews than my competitors.

But I still don't seem to get the bestseller tag. I would like to know where I need to focus on to get this coveted badge as it would definitely increase my sales.

Thanks again & wish you well wherever you're at the moment 🙂

Best,
Manish

ScottDuffy · ‎09-01-2021

Udemy has a document that describes how they award badges.

https://support.udemy.com/hc/en-us/articles/229605188-Udemy-Badges-Guide

* Course with highest recent sales within a particular combination of category and primary topic (e.g., Python - Development, Python - Business, Yoga - Personal Development, Yoga - Health & Fitness).

* Course has minimum of 4.2 average rating."

Does your course have a topic? I see the category is interior design, but what's the topic?

That seems odd. Maybe if you changed the topic to "Sketchup" you'd have the bestseller tag tomorrow.

I think you are not getting the bestseller tag because there is something unusual about your "topic" setting.

Please take a screenshot of the topic setting of your landing page and we can figure out why your course doesn't have a topic displayed on it's landing page.

manishpaulsimon · ‎09-15-2021

Hi @ScottDuffy

Thanks much. You were right. My primary topic is interior design.

My main topic is "interior design". But it seems to be locked and I'm unable to change it to sketchup. Do you know how I can fix this? Should I reach out to Udemy?

ElianaC · ‎09-16-2021

Hi @manishpaulsimon yes, you should reach out to instructorsupport@udemy.com to request an update of your course category.

NextGenHR506 · ‎08-23-2021

Hi Scott,

so good to see your replies to others..

u r doing great job..

kindly help me with below queries..

1. After what % of course/ after how many minutes of watching course, students are asked for course rating?

2. is there a way to know when udemy deals / sales happen each month?

3. what is the best way to approach students to give review with remarks?

Regards , Meghana

ScottDuffy · ‎09-01-2021

1. Roughly after 13-14 minutes of video is the first prompt for a review.

I suggest you watch your own course "preview as student" and you'll see EXACTLY where the review pops up.

2. Sales happen all the time. Not every sale is for every student, so a student in Norway may see your course on sale but a student in Finland does not. You can't predict most of them. Some you can't predict, but some you can. Like I knew there would be a sale in August, and I know there will be another sale in November and another in January. Most sales are not predictable.

That said, if you become an affiliate, Udemy will send you an email every month telling you about the sales. But it's not really worth your time trying to time the sales.

3. I ask students to leave a review inside the course. "Hey, in a few moments, Udemy will ask for your opinion on this course. I really would appreciate it if you would consider leaving a review so that other students might find this course in search. Also, you don't have to leave a review. Here's how to click the "ask me later" button... etc."

EshantGarg · ‎09-02-2021

Hi Scott,

One quick question.

I see that many instructors have two accounts and they kind of tag their courses on both of them.

For example, you have on your name and your website/company name.

What is the advantage of this?

ScottDuffy · ‎09-14-2021

It used to be I created courses under my name that I did NOT want under my company brand. You'll see there is a different number of courses under my name as my company.

For instance, I have a course with Phil Ebiner that is on the Scott Duffy account but not under the SoftwareArchitect account.

It's also a branding thing. I want people to know that I have a company and what the name of that company is.

EshantGarg · ‎09-15-2021

Thank you @ScottDuffy

ItzelDomin100 · ‎09-04-2021

Hi Scott!

Before I ask my question, I'd like to thank you for this post. Being new to teaching in Udemy, I find it just a tiny bit hard to reach out for help.

Anyway, my question is about images. Is it even okay if I put images I got from Google on my slides?

My course is going to be a course for learning Spanish, and I like using images to make my slides pop and help as visuals. Pretty dumb question, I know. But I see other courses I'm in using their own images (which they themselves or an artist they hired made) and I'm not an artist nor have the money to hire a professional to do it for me. I don't know how it does, but not knowing stresses me out and I'd like to make sure it's okay to use images I got randomly from Google.

-Thank you in advance

ScottDuffy · ‎09-14-2021

I wouldn't grab it from Google if I were you. Someone might own that image. The chances of someone caring are low, but there are people out there who make a career of suing people who take their images without permission.

I would find "creative commons 0" images. That means the person who took the picture is providing it for free to anyone to use.

Here is a search tool for "free to use" images:

https://search.creativecommons.org/

Over 500 million images they claim. Not all are great, but you can be sure they are safe to use.

ItzelDomin100 · ‎09-15-2021

Oh awesome! Thank you so much!

Salil Dhawan · ‎09-15-2021

You can also use other free image tools such as pexels, as well as if you get a canva membership, they have most images you could need, plenty of free images portals out there.

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