Hi, I am fairly new

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Hi, I am fairly new

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I joined Udemy about six months ago and posted a single course at that time.  It was priced in the lowest tier but sat there with no subscriptions until I changed it to free.

Within days the subscription numbers skyrocketed.  That encouraged me to publish another free course and a paid one.  Again the latter in the lowest pricing tier.

Subscriptions for the free courses kept increasing to 1600 while nothing for the paid one.  Take it back, yesterday someone signed up for it then somehow withdrew.

I am probably coming to the conclusion that my material must be horrible and that I should give up.  I have been teaching for decades but I think I must not fit this medium and should forget about it.  Or, is it possible that this platform attracts people looking for free stuff and I might as well stick to youtube if that's the case?

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Hi Drewprof, I just looked at your courses and it's pretty clear, to me at least, why you're not getting any traction. I particularly looked at your 'Struct in C' course... if I remember correctly, I think it had 7 lectures and was a little over an hour long. Another had 5 lectures (2 were preview lectures so i'm paying for 3 lectures) and was 50 minutes long and you were asking me to pay 13.99 for it. Please don't take this the wrong way, but in my mind they are not courses, more like snippets from a course... something you would find on Youtube. IMO, I don't think you'll get people paying for that. I could be wrong, but I have bought courses in c# and c++ and they are fully blown... learn these languages courses, with 100s of lectures and solid projects to follow.

 

I think you need to take a step back, have a look at your format and research how others have presented thier courses. Your style is OK, I can follow you clearly enough, although I'm sure he's cute, but I'm not sure I want to know about your cat. This type of learning can easily be done on YouTube because you're only offering a tiny fraction.

I hope you don't mind me saying all of that, but IMO, I would certainly start looking there. Also, there a ton of coding course on Udemy, and you need to stand out.

 

Hope it helps...

Kevin...

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AnupShukla
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Hi @drewprof 

 

It's pretty normal.  There are lots of students across the globe waiting to grab free courses. You will get very few students for paid courses. When students pay money , they take many factors into considerations:  your instructor profile, past courses you may have launched, number of past enrollments, reviews and feedback, and your social proof. 

As an instructor, you deliver free courses to gain traction which you have already done. Now comes the real business, talk to you existing students, engage with them, improvise your currently published course, and learn from the feedback from the students. 

Once done, launch newer courses and market them effectively.

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Thank you Anup!

I will give it another push before I move on.

AnupShukla
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All the best !

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Thanks for posting this.  I'm


@drewprof wrote:

I joined Udemy about six months ago and posted a single course at that time.  It was priced in the lowest tier but sat there with no subscriptions until I changed it to free.

Within days the subscription numbers skyrocketed.  That encouraged me to publish another free course and a paid one.  Again the latter in the lowest pricing tier.

Subscriptions for the free courses kept increasing to 1600 while nothing for the paid one.  Take it back, yesterday someone signed up for it then somehow withdrew.

I am probably coming to the conclusion that my material must be horrible and that I should give up.  I have been teaching for decades but I think I must not fit this medium and should forget about it.  Or, is it possible that this platform attracts people looking for free stuff and I might as well stick to youtube if that's the case?



very new to Udemy but I have experience of delivering courses on other platforms and face to face. I'm just about to put a course on Udemy but couldn't decide whether to put on a paid or free course.  Your post, and the answers, have helped me to decide.  The free version is going on first.

KarolyNyisztor
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@Carol / C wrote:

I'm just about to put a course on Udemy but couldn't decide whether to put on a paid or free course.  Your post, and the answers, have helped me to decide.  The free version is going on first.


Think twice - or at least do some more research - before jumping to conclusions.


Karoly Nyisztor - Software Engineer, Author, Entrepreneur, and Life Hacker

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which other platforms you have experience of delivering lectures? Is it possible to share this info?

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I deliver my courses and services using the Thinkific platform.  I like it because I have complete control of my courses and the prices.  The downside is I have to find all my own students and I do this organically through Linkedin and Facebook groups.  The other downside is the cost of the platform but I think it's worth it.

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@Carol / C  I was so tempted to go the Thinkific, Teachable or SkillShare routes, but I wanted to give this platform a chance since I just started, and I don't have a solid marketing strategy to get students on my own.

It's been six months now and zero revenue.  I hoped by adding a few more courses that I will justify my existence in here.  However, even my free courses had a very poor retention in terms of completion.  This could be an indication that I need to revamp my product delivery and content.

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Update: I added two paid courses and a free one during this weekend.  One paid course got published after I was asked to submit a video of myself stating that my videos were mine.  The other one is still pending.  The free one got published and got students right away.  All my paid ones still show zero students.

Am I missing something, like doing my own promotions?  I thought that this platform does that for you and that's why they take half of your earning (if any) and change prices at fire sale rates.  My point now, should I even bother publishing a FULL course, something that's usually taught over a whole semester with exams and other resources?

Sorry for the rant but I am not feeling this....

KarolyNyisztor
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Success won't happen overnight. And publishing a course doesn't guarantee you get promoted. Udemy's algorithms need some valid data to rank you.
So yeah, promote your courses wherever you can and try to get the first paid students. Pro tip: create a decent promo video.
Good luck!


Karoly Nyisztor - Software Engineer, Author, Entrepreneur, and Life Hacker

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Must a promo video show my face?

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Yes, the student has to build a rapport with you and they do this by being able to see you delivering your course.  The more places you can put your face the better.  Then, they start to associate you with your subject specialism.  I put my face all over the place.  It takes me out of my comfort zone but I believe it has to be done.  I don't particularly like to see myself on video or hear my voice either.

KarolyNyisztor
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No, it's not mandatory to show yourself in any of the course videos, including the promo clip. But it's definitely better if you do. 


Karoly Nyisztor - Software Engineer, Author, Entrepreneur, and Life Hacker

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@drewprof wrote:

Must a promo video show my fi also want to know if i must show my face

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Hi Drewprof, I just looked at your courses and it's pretty clear, to me at least, why you're not getting any traction. I particularly looked at your 'Struct in C' course... if I remember correctly, I think it had 7 lectures and was a little over an hour long. Another had 5 lectures (2 were preview lectures so i'm paying for 3 lectures) and was 50 minutes long and you were asking me to pay 13.99 for it. Please don't take this the wrong way, but in my mind they are not courses, more like snippets from a course... something you would find on Youtube. IMO, I don't think you'll get people paying for that. I could be wrong, but I have bought courses in c# and c++ and they are fully blown... learn these languages courses, with 100s of lectures and solid projects to follow.

 

I think you need to take a step back, have a look at your format and research how others have presented thier courses. Your style is OK, I can follow you clearly enough, although I'm sure he's cute, but I'm not sure I want to know about your cat. This type of learning can easily be done on YouTube because you're only offering a tiny fraction.

I hope you don't mind me saying all of that, but IMO, I would certainly start looking there. Also, there a ton of coding course on Udemy, and you need to stand out.

 

Hope it helps...

Kevin...

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I think you're right on the money.  I did follow my youtube format of a chapter or topic at a time.  I was hoping by titling it accordingly that the expected delivery was clearly stated.

I have full blown courses with labs and projects but they are mapped for a typical college semester.  I am not sure I would retain anyone with that; and besides, it will end up selling for under $20 since I seem to notice that everywhere on here.

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Hey... what you describe there.... a fully blown course sounds right on the money, so to speak. I have 4 courses (one of them is over 40 hours long) and I can 'almost' live off the income I get from the four of them. You shouldn't under estimate Udemy, if your course is good, or even reasonably good and relevant, it will sell A LOT. Udemy is more about marketing and selling on mass, and they do it very well.

I'm just speaking from my experience, but it takes time to build a student base (I've been on here for around 3 years) and once it starts, you will start to see a snowball effect in terms of students and income. There are wiser instructors on here I'm sure, that coud give you more advice, but you got to think long term. There is no fast route to riches unfortunately. Good luck.

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@KevinOxland I am tempted to make everything that's already published free.  I will work on a paid full course to adapt it for this platform.  I am just not sure if my long videos would keep the audience engaged.  I tend to use hands-on examples rather than slides. Maybe I should switch to power point lectures and just code sparingly.

 

KarolyNyisztor
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Community Champion

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Free lectures may have the unwanted side-effect of lowering your overall instructor rating. 

 

>> I am just not sure if my long videos would keep the audience engaged.
Keep your lectures short (3-5 minute length seems to be the sweet spot) and to the point. Nobody watches a 20-minute coding video unless you hold a gun against their head.

 

You should check out @LawrenceMMiller's excellent post                      How can I market my course?                 .


Karoly Nyisztor - Software Engineer, Author, Entrepreneur, and Life Hacker

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My courses are about coding.  I just need to find a different style that's more appealing for this medium.

There is no way I can deliver in 3 to 5 minutes concepts that take a lot more time to implements and comprehend in the context of the code they live in.

As to marketing, I am here because I don't have time for that until my wife gets up to speed on how it's done so she can help me build my own platform.  It looks like I might have to accelerate that process and move my toys there.

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