Udemy

RonErez · ‎11-25-2023

Hi Ann Yves, I've been on Udemy for a little over a year and have published 6 courses. One of the courses is quite successful and the rest gain some but very very little income. So my answer is that it might be worth it but one has to be fully aware that you might put in a lot of work with very little results. I'd recommend looking for topics in demand and create a really good course. It has to outshine your competition or at least be as good as others or maybe offer something new. Another thing to note is that your course will be available for the first two months as "hot and new" where it will get a lot of exposure. If (from my experience) your course does not sell much in those two months then when that period is over your course might be several pages back or even vanish from the search. Here's another tip. If you have several courses then you can cross sell between courses. For example in my case I have one very successful course. So one or twice a month I recommend my other courses to these students. Bottom line. It might be worth it but it also might be a frustrating experience. Even my successful course is very far from allowing me to quit my day job (honestly I do not want to quite my day job). One more tip. Audio and video is crucial. Make sure to send Udemy a test video. They give great feedback. Good luck and perhaps others could offer useful advice. Ron

RonErez · ‎11-20-2023

Very impressive. Just wondering. Is your course on Udemy for Business? Also the intro video is amazing. Where did you get the music from (artlist, youtube, somewhere else) ? It looks very professional. Also what software are you using for the intro? Screenflow or some other software? I definitely need to work on my intro videos. Your video is truly inspirational. Finally how do you manage responding to students? I respond immediately to students and am active in the course Q&A, however my course only has 1400 students and very very few students are actively asking questions. I imagine over 220000 students in a course where even a small percentage are active in the course and Q&A might be intense. Over the years you've updated your course. Did you eventually completely redo the entire course or do you have any videos that remain from the very beginning (I suppose 5 years ago). Congratulations for your great success! Ron

RonErez · ‎11-06-2023

Oh, I see. I actually wrote to Udemy that I'm worried about the whereabouts of my missing student. I don't know how one can take seriously a review from a student that is no longer with us.

RonErez · ‎11-06-2023

In that case I ask them in which lecture was the issue. For instance someone asked a valid question in the review. I responded and recommended they post questions in the Q&A instead of the review. Another student complained that the course is shallow. I asked in what sense, which topic, if they feel something is missing they can just ask and I can see what I can do. The majority of reviews are very good and it's easy to focus on the bad reviews. I think it's cool that you have some Jazz music in the background. They could have simply wrote to you in the Q&A of that specific lecture. Best to focus on the positive.

RonErez · ‎11-06-2023

Hi Dan, I respond to the student and in addition I message them directly and ask them if there is anyway I can help, etc. Obviously if they don't leave any comments then it's much harder to address the issue. I did actually have around 3-4 students the later updated the review due to my changes. But these were usually students that actually wrote something or at least responded to my message. My course has been out for a year. Started around 5 stars. After several months in a two week period I received several bad reviews taking it down to a 3.9. Sales drop for the next two months. Suddenly the course rating went back up to 4.8 for two reasons I think. People left good reviews again. Oddly enough there were some days that no one left a review but that rating went up so maybe old reviews expire depending on engagement of the reviewer? Still haven't figure that out. Now my course is down to 4.4. Towards the end of last month two students left bad reviews and immediately sales dropped. The worst case when a student left a really bad review and when I tried to contact the student he was no longer part of the course. I asked Udemy to remove the review since I have no way to remedy the issue since the student is gone. Udemy was not willing to remove the review. Hopefully you'll get better reviews and I hope the bad review will go away. It's definitely significant when the course is new. Just a tip. There was a review that I responded to in detail but no matter how I phrased it one could feel my anger. So I asked chatgpt to rephrase my response in a friendly manner. Pretty amazing. Good luck and I hope you get better reviews

RonErez · ‎10-17-2023

Hi I sent a promotional e-mail out about an hour ago however I received no e-mail that my announcement is on its way. Has anyone else had issues sending out promotions ? Thanks !

RonErez · ‎10-17-2023

Great, thank you ! Ron

RonErez · ‎10-16-2023

Hi I have a student that for the sake of anonymity I'll call Aleksandr Savvopulo. He left a bad review and his review contained a question suitable for the Q&A. I responded that he can contact me directly with questions and even responded to his question within the review itself although the Q&A would be better. Anyways a week has passed and I tried to directly message the student to address his concerns, but alas Aleksandr Savvopulo has gone missing ! On a serious note he/she probably returned the course since they no longer appear as a student in the course. That is perfectly fine, however since Aleksandr Savvopulo is no longer with us I want his/her review to begone too. (Bad reviews are fine if it is from an actual student, otherwise it is irrelevant). Any ideas how to banish Aleksandr Savvopulo's bad review since he is no longer with us? Thanks Ron

RonErez · ‎09-07-2023

Thank you. Just started watching the webinars

RonErez · ‎09-06-2023

Hello Does any one manage to get sales on student coupons? I'd be happy to hear your experience. I get some sales from cross-promoting between my courses but outside of that, like on facebook, I get no sales. Thanks !

RonErez · ‎08-10-2023

Thanks for the input. Indeed I also thought that giving out the course for free might have devalued the courses. Just experimenting since the course is turning no profit. Like you said, perhaps I should just move on.

RonErez · ‎08-10-2023

As an aside. I wrote up a response and then asked ChatGPT to improve my response so that it be more respectful towards the student. I got an impressive message: " Hello, Thank you for expressing interest in my courses. I appreciate your enthusiasm for learning. I understand your situation regarding online payment methods. I will certainly look into the possibility of offering assistance. However, I need to inquire with Udemy regarding this matter, as my ability to provide free coupons is subject to their policies. It's important to mention that my livelihood is connected to Udemy, and I generally distribute coupons through official promotional channels. I will reach out to Udemy's support to explore potential options. Please be aware that directly sharing coupons with students is against Udemy's rules, which I must respect to maintain a positive presence on the platform. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy the courses! Best regards, Ron"

RonErez · ‎08-10-2023

Hi This is a two part question: I have three Udemy courses. One quite successful, the other okay and a third crash course which is not doing well although it's on the same topic as the successful course. 1. Long story short, I shared 1000 free coupons in the crash course which is not getting any sales anyways. A couple of students sent me a direct message requesting free coupon codes to my other courses. I don't know how to respond to that. Isn't that insanely rude? I told one of the students that I am forbidden to share coupons directly (I contacted Udemy support about this) and he can get a coupon when I send one in a promotional e-mail. In addition I stated that I make a living from Udemy and I can only share paid coupons. I send the class a $9.99 coupon and no one used it. Today I received another message from a student : " i don't have online payment method to buy your courses but i ask you if you can give me free coupon for this 2 courses https://www.udemy.com/course/deep-dive-ios-16-swiftui-programming/ https://www.udemy.com/course/linear-algebra-problem-based/ " Honestly I don't know who to respond to this rather rude request without losing it. 2. My second question is the following. What do you do with course that are "dead"? In other words courses that have completely vanished from the Udemy search and nobody signs up to them. As you can tell my new strategy is sending out free coupons on Facebook and reddit. They sign up for the "dead" course and then my plan is to send them an occasional promotional e-mail to try to get them to join the successful paid course. Any other recommended strategies for making the best from a course that has not been successful ? Thanks !

RonErez · ‎07-17-2023

Thanks for the tips. I really need to redo the promo. It's also no longer up to date

RonErez · ‎07-14-2023

Yes, very helpful. Thanks !

RonErez · ‎07-14-2023

Thanks for the tip. I'll write to Udemy about the 1080p.

RonErez · ‎07-14-2023

Thank you !

RonErez · ‎07-14-2023

Actually I addressed certain students' complaint and messaged them directly. Some ignored but after I updated my videos in response to their constructive criticism two students updated there review and it seems like a third is on his way. Definitely a bummer to get a bad review though. I had a couple of weeks of really bad reviews followed by amazing reviews. Try to pinpoint the issue on your side if there is any issue. In my case it turns out that my course is not absolute beginner friendly and in addition I overdid it with the zoom in. Of course if someone gives a bad review with no constructive criticism then it's absolutely useless. You could message them directly though and ask how you can help them. Good luck !

RonErez · ‎07-14-2023

Hi I'm currently updating my export settings for Udemy courses. I got a 5K display and decided to export to Udemy at these settings. Is this any good or is it pointless. also I get a warning from Screenflow stating : That the high resolution H264 encoded content may not play back. Is this true for Udemy or just QuickTime Player. I've also attached my settings and wonder if anyone has any input especially regarding the data rate. Thanks ! Ron

RonErez · ‎07-12-2023

Nice. Just out of curiosity could a person work as a developer/programmer in Japan without knowing Japanese? I mean would English be enough? Of course learning Japanese sounds nice, just might take some time. Good luck. Your course topics sound interesting.

RonErez · ‎06-05-2023

Hi @RandyMinder . Thanks, indeed I shouldn't take it to heart. I also have a hard time asking students for reviews. For instance a student contacted me via Reddit and had very kind things to say about my teaching, etc. I should have told him to leave a review. In general I feel uncomfortable putting pressure on students to leave reviews. It's just odd that lately I've received quite a lot of bad reviews although I constantly update and revise my course and answer the Q&A like there is no tomorrow. As you said maybe the reviews will get better over time. As you mentioned in your response to @MarinaT I do message every student and so far no one has responded accept for one student. Thanks for

RonErez · ‎06-05-2023

Thanks for the response. I do not question my teaching abilities. I know I'm amazing. I will and do analyze the reviews. I respond to every student without exception. I'm on Udemy because I enjoy course creation but also because it must be financially profitable. If such reviews damage my course and I see that Udemy is not financially viable then I won't persevere. I'm giving Udemy a chance and so far it's been a very positive experience. Definitely the amount of hours I put into my course has not payed back. We'll see how things are in a couple of years if it was worthwhile. I do appreciate the response. Thanks

RonErez · ‎06-02-2023

Hi Everyone, Lately I've been putting so much effort into my course as far as expanding it and rerecording lectures due to student requests that I zoom in less. I started out with amazing reviews and now I'm getting more and more bad reviews. I was at 5 then dropped a little and now I'm at 4.0. Also I encourage students to ask me questions in the Q&A. Doesn't help. A student complained that I don't cover enough basics. But this is part of the course description. (I do cover basics briefly and then dive into real-world apps - the course description explicitly states that the course is not an encyclopedic introduction to Swift and that we only briefly cover the language before diving into examples.) I'm so mad I don't even feel like eating Hummus write now. The upside is despite the bad reviews today I'm ranked number one on Udemy but just a few days ago I suddenly disappeared to page 3 when searching for my course topic. Sorry for the rant and Happy Teaching ! Ron

RonErez · ‎05-09-2023

Here are my tips 1. Quality is everything. A high quality course will get around. For instance I have a student that told me my course is amazing and that he is posting his progress of my course on Twitter. 2. I use social media by responding to questions on reddit and Facebook. Usually the response will be a free video in my course page. I'll give a potential student a discount link. Then they end up on my page, watch the video, and in many cases sign up. 3. Don't give away a course for free. At least I have had very bad experience giving posting a course for free which later I converted to a paid course. The free students have never watched a single minute of my course, save 4-5 students. That's it. I have found Facebook not very effective. Reddit has been my best source of getting new students. Haven't tried any other social media yet but eventually will. Happy Course Creation !

RonErez · ‎05-02-2023

Good luck Beila Hope your new job is fulfilling and great. I will continue to create courses and eat hummus.

RonErez · ‎04-20-2023

Awesome. I'd be happy to check it out. Is there a link to the course ? Good luck !

RonErez · ‎03-14-2023

thank you, I appreciate the resources and help. I went through the resources and currently I'm watching the webinar that you recommended. Thanks !

RonErez · ‎03-14-2023

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement !

RonErez · ‎03-09-2023

Hi Anyone making a living from Udemy? I have one course that is ranked number 1-4 depending on the day and it really hasn't increased my sales drastically. I'm doing alright but definitely not enough to pay rent. (My first course was published 6 months ago and the second a few months after). I have another short course (the second course) that completely vanished and no one buys it. Any tips? Any amazing experiences for someone who has created 2-3 courses. I figure the "formula" = number of courses + quality + time on platform + topic demand. I'd be happy to hear what you think? I'm not really planning on quitting my day job, however it would be awesome if I made lots of money to buy more Hummus. Thanks !

RonErez · ‎03-06-2023

Hey Michael, Wishing you well from one person to another. Good luck with Udemy and also good luck with the people around you. Ron

Udemy

Dr. Ron Erez

RonErez •
Specialist

Computer programmer, Educator and Mathematician

Community stats

Re: IS IT WORTH IT TO START POSTING YOUR COURSE ON UDEMY?

Re: How to make a million dollar Udemy course from someone who just did it

Re: First course and the first bad review

Re: First course and the first bad review

Re: First course and the first bad review

Promotional e-mails not working ?

Re: Alas! I misplaced a student!

Alas! I misplaced a student!

Re: Selling Coupons

Selling Coupons

Re: Rude student requests + Dead courses

Re: Rude student requests + Dead courses

Rude student requests + Dead courses

Re: Feedback Thread: Give & Get Feedback on your course here!

Re: Export Setting 5k Screenflow

Re: Export Setting 5k Screenflow

Re: Export Setting 5k Screenflow

Re: First course and the first bad review

Export Setting 5k Screenflow

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Re: Losing Motivation

Re: Losing Motivation

Losing Motivation

Re: Giveaway Alert: Share Your Marketing Tips and Win a Udemy T-Shirt!

Re: Goodbye and Thank you!

Re: Feedback Thread: Give & Get Feedback on your course here!

Re: Is anyone making a living from Udemy. Any tips ?

Re: Is anyone making a living from Udemy. Any tips ?

Is anyone making a living from Udemy. Any tips ?

Re: How do you balance your work as an instructor and your personal life?

Dr. Ron Erez

RonErez • Specialist

Computer programmer, Educator and Mathematician

Community stats

RonErez •
Specialist