Udemy

Congratulations on posting your first course! Don't be too demoralised; it takes time to gain traction on Udemy. I recommend watching Louise Croft's course on Udemy course creation and marketing. She also has some great stuff on YouTube under the name Digital Nomad Girl. She was my inspiration at the start.   With regards to your sales, you are in a crowded niche and your course is short. How do you think it compares to competitors, especially the best sellers? Can you offer something they can't? Could the bite size length be a positive, 'coding for busy people?' I'm going to be honest, my best sellers are between 12 and 20 hours long but those are literature courses and that's what people expect in that niche. If I had a choice of 2 courses at daily high prices, I might go for the longest because it seems the best value. Sales on Udemy tend to be higher volumes at low cost, whereas on Teachable you can charge a premium and add extras. It's about getting to know the platform so you did the right thing by posting here.   Have you used the marketplace tool to check the conversion rate in your niche?   Do you have a really clear idea of who your students might be? Really aim for those people in the landing page, promo video, title and subtitle. Maybe try and get some quotes from people who love your work in too for social proofing until you build up reviews.   Read other courses' reviews carefully to find out what needs aren't beinget by existing courses and what people value most in a coding course.   Just to encourage you, I did not do anywhere near the research I should have done when I posted my first course. I taught in some reputable Russell group universities and I thought my teaching experience elsewhere should guide me on what to put in the course. Wrong!!!! So I edited it and added to it and it's been featured on several blogs as one of the best singing courses online but only after a couple of years. It started out looking like something a kid could have filmed! I now have 16 published courses and didn't really know what I was doing until about course no. 10. It's actually easier later on because you can send promo emails to existing students. At the start you don't have that. Co-teaching is a good way to build a following as is promoting it off Udemy like you have been doing. ... View more

@Abbie Out of interest, does Udemy have a policy for maintaining good relationships with instructors? Udemy makes money based on our intellectual property and seems to be able to change the terms we signed up to with no ostensible consultation. Top instructors may earn more but with changes to advertising, it seems everyone else will lose out on money we use to pay our rent and feed our families. I feel that changes like this damage trust.   Many are off doing complex calculations, but it's actually impossible to plan for the potential change in earnings (which most people need to do!) because it's impossible to predict how advertising will impact traffic. I have a best selling course in a popular niche which should be fine but I imagine some of my smaller courses will be hit badly. ... View more

Welcome to Udemy and wishing you every success. ... View more

It's a good idea to use the marketplace tool before you make a course as where there are a large number of courses in a given topic, the first page is going to be occupied by established courses with a large number of reviews.   There are a few things you can do: * Be sure that your title, subtitle and course description reference the keywords people will use to search for courses on your topic.   * Politely ask for reviews at the end of the course. Reviews are essential in terms of SEO.   * Send educational announcements encouraging students to engage with the course.   SEO on Udemy is not particularly transparent and you may need to tweak things several times before you get results. ... View more

I want to pick up on the Facebook ads thing... alot of instructors find they don't work well for online courses. Have you thought of joining sub Reddits? Reddit is a great place to find people asking questions on your topic.   It sounds like your start wasn't all that bad and that maybe you need to shift your expectations for a while. In my first month on Udemy I made $50. I now make $2000 dollars most months. It took time but I built a student body some of whom liked my style. Then I hit pay dirt with a course in a topic with high demand and a moderate number of courses. If making money is the goal, the marketplace insights tool is your best friend.   I spent alot of time studying how to write a landing page and record a promo to increase conversions. Dave Espino has a good course on this.   Also, checkout Louise Croft's guide to Udemy earninfs on YouTube.  Her channel name is Digital Nomad Girl. She really inspired me and also helped shape my expectations when I first started teaching on Udemy. I also have a video sharing my experiences and how I managed to increase my income. ... View more