Ask Me Anything - Phil Ebiner, long-time instructor
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Hi Phil, good see you here! When do you re-start your podcast series? I am dying to know!
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Hi Phil
Thanks for sharing your story, and your advice, it's very inspiring.
I am beginning to structure my course on special education and wondered if this is a good strategy:
Produce a 30 min course on the topic - Free course
Follow up with the paid content course. Also, offer free coupons to students who signed up for the free course?
Is this a good way to go or would you recommend a different approach?
Thanks so much!
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Hi Phil,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge! I am just creating my first course for Udemy and my focus has been mostly on learning how to create videos, so far. I'm excited to take the next step. (I read several of your responses to questions.) Your info is very helpful and inspiring!
Best,
Sally
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I have observed you on various platforms such as Youtube, Facebook e.t.c. I understand the hard work that you have gone through. But, as an instructor who teaches concepts other than computer programming, I am very surprised that you have earned such a huge fortune with Udemy. And for that reason, I surely want to hear from you about the practices that made you successful. Apart from that I also want to know the time it took for you to earn 4 figure income on an average per month.
Although my question may seem to be very focussed on the earnings, I know as an instructor I should focus on delivering good content and I am working on it and I am able to differentiate my previous courses with the new ones on the basis of quality.
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That's all becasue of hard working and your consistency
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Very Impressive
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Man, totally inspirational. I notice a lot of ups and downs on the graph... and i’m Currently suffering a very slow feb start. Any advice, from one dad to another?
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Hi Jason,
Thank you for mentioning Phil's OCM podcasts. Very helpful!
Sally
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Hi Phil... great to hear! I would love to contact you and discuss some things I am looking to do to expand my course creation business. Is there a way to get some consultation time from you offline? BTW, my course did over six figures in the first year. I now have three courses and 1 collaborative. I'm planning to make a big push this year.
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We're doing some major work for OCM, and plan on launching the new podcast in Q2 of the year! So hopefully in April!
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The ones that have been most successful for me are having a YouTube channel and building my website and consistently writing high-quality articles.
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Thanks!
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Yes! That's one of the most amazing things about Udemy... I still earn money from my very first course from 2012! Some topics are more evergreen than others, which helps. But, yes!
I would say 10 of my courses generate 50% of my revenue... the other 50+ make up the other half.
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I would suggest recording at the higher resolution. 1920x1080 is standard HD quality. One of my biggest gripes with Udemy has been their slow adoption of higher resolutions. YouTube is already on 4k and beyond! While I don't think 4K is necessary, I think for some courses 1920x1080 is... due to the type of monitor that a student may be using to watch, and the size of things on the screen.
The issue with only recording at 1280 x 800, is that it's already a lower quality of HD... and when in the future, 1920x1080 is the norm on Udemy, you'll wish you had recorded your courses at a higher resolution.
So try to future-proof yourself and start recording at 1440x900. What Macbook Pro is it? Are you sure you can't record at an even higher resolution?
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The plan is April!
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I definitely think free courses are a great way to build your brand and student base. Not only should you put that free course on Udemy, but also on YouTube and potentially on your own website so you can use it to build your email list that you will send the paid course to when it's done.
You'll have to pay attention to the rules on Udemy though, because you can't send free coupons to students in a free course via an announcement. This would have to be done with your own email list or on a website/YouTube channel to your own audience.
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At the end of the day, what ends up making more money is making more great courses. So while I truly believe building your brand (website, YouTube, social media) is super important for the long run, I also think if just starting out, you might want to just focus on creating as many good high quality courses as you can.
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Great question! What I've learned is that those ups and downs are just the normal trends across Udemy for all instructors. November, January, June, August... those are usually peaks. Other peaks will be when I launch a new course.
As for when it's a new month, and it's going slow... I just want to ask what you are doing to improve it? Are you working on a new course? Are you building out a website? Are you growing an email list? Are you growing a YouTube channel? Are you testing out new ways to promote?
What are you doing to grow?
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I was really on my game that day.
Not sure what happened since.
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Some things i’m doing this month to push myself.
1. Launched a new course and reached out with coupons and ads for customers. It’s helping tons with the slow feb.
2. I’ve started re-recording my first course. It’s my best seller, but even after only 3 months, I can see how dated it is. Heck, I recorded all the audio with just my phone memos! lol
3. It’s Chinese New Year.... so took a week of for visiting and eating.
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Thank you for being selfless and sharing with us. What do you have to say about the many sites that promote udemy free or discounted coupons？ Is it worth a try？ If it is, which sites are recommended？
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Hi,
Do you think using Google Ad is uesful for marketing my courses?
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Any advice on getting free courses to convert? I have one free course now, conversions have been poor. Lots of signups, few people moving to paid courses.
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Hey Phil wow! man i've been making courses for the past 4 months. I've already made one which i have just published in udemy and im already working on my second one.
How do you think is the best way to set your course production goals? for example i always plan to make 2 to 4 courses a month but i end up only making one, trough all of the struggle of learning how to make it and how to voice over since english is not my native language. I work from 6 to 9 hours a day usually on courses as my full time new job since novemeber 2018. How do you stay motivated? beat insolation? stay productive? dont get discouraged by the obstacles you were facing at first? feel fullfilled? find work life balance? (sometimes i feel like all i should be doing is working on a course and not doing anything else, leaving my life behind and at the end feeling burned out and overwhelmed), how to dont feel frustrated about not accomplishing any of the deadlines you are looking for? specially if you feel you have to make money to pay debt and make a living while you grow in this. Thank you so much for making a QnA bro!
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Hi Phil congrats on your success. Hard work pays off. I’ve just launched my first course yesterday on Valentines Day at 40% off. It’s a beginners guitar course and I got 2 students (both friends). What’s your top 3 tips for new instructors in getting a customer base? Thx man.
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For new comer, should we publish our course for free for a limited time and then convert it to paid? What is your suggestion Phil?
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Hi Phil,
What's the best video scene/background for teaching?
Deep/big stylish workspace, black background, white background?
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Hi Phil,
How are things going on the Amazon's Prime Video Direct? When it first started you seemed pretty excited about its possibilities, but haven't heard much about it since. Your course on it hasn't been updated since January 2018, so was wondering what your opinion is about it now. Is it worth the effort?
Thanks!
Leisa
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Phil, thank you so much for sharing your success and inspiring those of us striving to get there! Q.: I have a FB ads course on Udemy, updated to Jan last year. Is it worth my time to update it to 2019 in hopes of getting new students, or should I just take it down and repackage/rebuild it and re-introduce it as a new course, and maybe even make it niche specific ie FB ads in 2019 for coaches and consultants? Or should I just start a brand new course? I'm just wondering what you would do:) Thanks so much!!
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Hi Phil,
Love what you are doing.
I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but here it goes. I watched an interview where you mentioned that for a launch of one of your courses you sent personalized welcome videos to your students... how did you do that?
Thanks and congratulations for all your success!
Gus
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