Udemy

I'm here to help - if anyone has any questions ask away! ... View more

I just looked at a few of your preview videos and missed the github repo. If it's just a matter of referencing it more often, that's an easy thing to change! I see you do in fact mention the repo in your course description. I might suggest re-wording that so instead of emphasizing that you don't need code for this course, emphasize that the code is available (but if code scares you, that's OK too.) The problem is that the landing page cuts off your course description after the first few lines unless the student expands it, and they only see "no coding is leveraged for teaching these algorithms" which is the wrong message. ... View more

You're certainly off to a good start with your first few student reviews!   I'm also a tech instructor and am familiar with the subject matter of your course. It seems comprehensive, your audio quality is good, and delivery is good.   Some feedback:   - While this is a hot topic, you're up against some very tough competition. The top-selling course in this topic has 28.5 hours of content, and a 4.7 review score from over 23,000 ratings. (How he manages to talk about linked lists for 5 hours while still getting great reviews is beyond me, though - and the reviews shown on his landing page don't support a 4.7 score which is weird. But that's another topic.) The #2 top-selling course has 56 hours of content! Even though you have covered the main things you need to know about data structures and algorithms, students will want to see a lot more content before they'll choose your course over these other ones for the same price. (It is possible this world will change when Udemy introduces dynamic pricing, where shorter courses might be offered a lower prices than longer ones, giving courses like yours a better shot.) But, I'd at least recommend exploring the top-selling courses in your topic to see what you can learn from them, and consider expanding your course over time.   - There's nothing wrong with your promo video, but making it faster paced and more exciting is a relatively easy way to boost sales. The promo video for the topselling course in this topic is frankly kind of terrible, and the #2 course isn't much better, so it would be one way to distinguish yourself. There are some great threads on this forum on creating promo videos if you search for them. - You'll find that tech students want hands on activities. Many expect every course to basically be a learn-to-code course even when it's about algorithms, and will review you harshly if that's not what they're getting.  I noticed you encourage students to "practice with a piece of paper" at the end of your lectures, but they're going to want more. I know your topic isn't language-specific, but showing some examples in some popular language like Python or Java would be a good idea - as well as giving students exercises and challenges they can do on their own.   Good luck. I think yours is a good course and I hope it finds success. ... View more

Students can adjust the size and placement of captions via the video player. Students control it, not the instructor. Play back any video on Udemy as a student, click on the CC icon, and you'll find the settings there.   You might want to consider showing students how to do this in an early video in your course, if the default settings cause problems on your videos. ... View more

If you really want to get deep, perhaps it's time to consider what success really means.   If you're sleeping on a pile of money from all the sacrifices you made to attain it - but you've alienated your family in the process, abstained from doing things you enjoy, and harmed your physical and mental health in the process - is that really success? That's where my corporate career led me, and it wasn't pretty.   To me, success is achieving a balance in life. One where you have the freedom to do the things you enjoy and spend time with the ones you love, and yet not have to worry about having enough money to make that possible. One where you may still work hard, but you do it on your own terms.   And, that's exactly the lifestyle that's possible to achieve as a self-employed, online instructor. ... View more

The Arabic course market sounds like it's really hot. We all wish you success! ... View more

When I started, I figured "let's try this Udemy thing - what do I have to lose apart from a couple weeks' of time?" That couple of weeks turned into a couple of months, and my irrational determination to spend no money in the process made it more painful than it had to be, as I had to work extra-hard to squeeze decent results out of free software and the hardware I had on hand.   Glad I stuck with it though! Udemy changed my life, and also the lives of many of my students. ... View more

It takes me at least 3 months to make one course. As others said, focus on quality more than quantity. That does mean you have to take care in your topic selection in order to maximize the odds of success on that large effort, so you're asking the right question there.  Again the Insights tool in your instructor dashboard is your friend there, and again you need to teach something you're passionate about in order to excel. ... View more

Welcome! I'd get started by reading through the articles at https://teach.udemy.com/course-creation/  If you have any specific questions as you go through that, feel free to post here. ... View more

From a policy standpoint, the only things you can't talk about are listed at https://support.udemy.com/hc/en-us/articles/229233027-Restricted-Topics ... View more

You want to find the intersection of what you love, what you're an authority on, and what students need. I wrote about this in more detail here.   Use Udemy's Insights tool, found within your instructor dashboard, to understand the student demand for your topic, and the existing courses that you need to surpass. ... View more

Great question 🙂 How many of us even remember our 2019 resolutions? Personally, my revenue goals were overly ambitious - but it's still going in the right direction, so I'm not complaining. And I am optimistic for a strong second half of the year - I think the pricing changes will end up making the Black Friday promotion a lot more appealing to students this time around, as well as increasing revenue in itslef. I also resolved to work less and enjoy life a little more. On that I've been somewhat successful; it turns out that "working less" can lead to boredom if not done properly. How about you? ... View more

To echo the others, I'd be careful. You'd be amazed what some students are offended by; some are even offended by the idea of humor in what they believe should be a serious classroom setting. And what might not be offensive today could end up being offensive tomorrow.   As one example, in a video I recorded well before 2016, I used Donald Trump in a snarky context as an example of identifying statistical outliers - having no idea he'd go on to become a political figure. I recently had to re-record that video; quite a few students were upset that I didn't speak of him with reverent tones. Letting your own passion and personality come through in your course should be enough to keep it interesting, and you don't necessarily need to tell jokes to accomplish that. ... View more

Wish I were bi-lingual! From what I can gather from the translated comments, this is a positive story about how what can seem like questionable decisions can lead to big successes in life. My story is similar - I walked away from a position as a successful senior manager at Amazon and from millions of dollars' worth of stock grants, and moved to Florida without a job. Thanks to Udemy, it all worked out just fine.   But, it's important to remind people that most instructors do *not* earn a full-time living on Udemy. We were fortunate. The bigger message, I think, isn't about Udemy, but being willing to take chances (within reason) and try new opportunities that align with your passions and the lifestyle you want. Udemy was one of many avenues I explored for self-employment, and it just happened to be the one that worked out the best. I'd be curious to hear if your story is similar. ... View more

To be even more blunt, you can count the e-learning platforms that won't just straight-up steal your content and never pay you for it on one hand. If you're approached by a Udemy competitor that you don't know, assume you are being scammed until proven otherwise. Agreements with a jurisdiction outside of your own country are essentially impossible to enforce, and even within your country it can be too expensive to bother.   Also remember that if your course has any appeal to a business audience, you're throwing away your opportunity for Udemy for Business by publishing it elsewhere.   Udemy performs an order of magnitude better than any competing platform my content is on. My strategy is always Udemy-first, and focused on the Udemy market.  ... View more

Really it's how you look at it. You could say it's luck to happen to have expertise in an area that customers are looking for, or that it's luck to have the talents needed to be an effective teacher.  And that was my opinion until Lawrence forced me to think about it more deeply just now. Both are ultimately things that are learned and practiced - it takes hard work, not luck.   However... I do think I was lucky to have been in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills when I discovered Udemy.   But even that wasn't totally luck. Even though there is an element of chance at success, the frequency at which you try new endeavors such as teaching on Udemy increases your eventual odds of success at something you try. Even if success is in some ways a roll of the dice, you can work to roll the dice more often until you win.     ... View more

I don't think you can - the captions get created when you publish the course.   Perhaps a workaround would be to publish it in private status initially, but I can't say I've tried it. ... View more

I don't think anyone here is qualified to give you legal advice. But I'll share what little I know on the subject.   Generally speaking, using someone else's trademark in your course title isn't OK without permission. Some companies have their own training businesses or license out the rights to do training on their products, and don't take kindly to people developing their own courses without a license. Sometimes that just ends with Udemy receiving a demand to take down your course, but worse outcomes are possible.   Some companies publish usage guidelines for their trademarks, but I couldn't find any for the two companies you listed. The safest course of action would be to write to them seeking written permission to do what you want, and to consult with a lawyer who can better inform you about the risks you're taking by doing this. ... View more

Something we talk about a lot is how most successful instructors put in a steady, persistent, effort and work toward long-term goals. Short-term setbacks are just that - setbacks. But they don't prevent you from continuing to push forward.   ... View more

I agree, the mining fees and other fees involved in transferring Bitcoin into currency you can actually use to pay your bills makes this a non-starter. Toss in the volatility of Bitcoin and there's no way I'd want to be paid in it. ... View more