Udemy

SSAA · ‎09-06-2023

No way to know for sure. As someone who has experienced a lot with cameras (including being fooled by the manufacturer), I can tell you that the megapixel amount is just one side of the story. Udemy will look at the overall quality of your video. Megapixel is a contributing factor, but not a determining one. Best way to know for sure is to upload a test video. Then Udemy comments on that. You can upload a test video as part of the course creation process. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎09-03-2023

I use it for screen casting in general terms and never for closed captioning. That latter option is done by Udemy.

SSAA · ‎09-02-2023

I checked your profile and it seems, your courses are already functioning fine in the market place. As such, I wouldn't hand out many free coupons. From experience I know that reviews from free coupons are worse than paid ones, so you will bring your course rating average down when you issue many free coupons. Free coupons are only a solution for those who need to get reviews and social proof and currently lack that. With almost 10k reviews, you do not fall in that category. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-31-2023

No. They sound ok, but nevertheless, it is a bad idea. It eats away from the authenticity, which is one of the main reasons people buy from udemy. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-27-2023

edited

SSAA · ‎08-24-2023

I see what you say. This should be taken very seriously.

SSAA · ‎08-23-2023

I am curious about this. If you get the green light from Udemy and implement this idea, I'm sure many would be interested to know if the outcome was positive. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-17-2023

Welcome Bessy!

SSAA · ‎08-16-2023

It depends on how big you want your webcam video to be. If you are planning to show yourself in a small corner of a screen like most software instructors do (and the rest of the screen to be for instance PowerPoint or a screen recording), then any webcam will do, even the one that comes in a standard $500 laptop. You see, when you squeeze an image, you squeeze out the detail anyway. But if you want to really show yourself in the whole screen, then I wouldn't even use a webcam. Use a mirrorless camera and use it as a de facto webcam. The image is 1000 times better than the best webcam because you get true depth of field, whereas with webcams, it's either fake depth of field or no depth of field whatsoever. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-16-2023

No, they never pay for reviews, but if they ever will, I can finally buy that boat and start living the good life! Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-13-2023

Good points. Points 6-8 in particular is something we have never really looked into and maybe should explore more extensively. For sure there's a lot of potential in that. If they do not come to your blog, then take your blog to them on LinkedIn. Maz

SSAA · ‎08-09-2023

Hi there, I just checked and you have 13 reviews in total. With these numbers, one single review will do a lot of damage. Sadly, there is very little that can be done about the issue of students getting a refund and leaving a bad review. The topic has been raised before. It's just part of the game. However, the good news is that this group is a tiny fraction of the Udemy student base and as such, as your number of reviews grows, you will find that the impact they have on your rating is marginal at best. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-09-2023

Hi there, I have studied this issue in detail. It is very complicated and not easily explained in a short message. What I do want to point to however is that there is the Fair Use Act (in the US) which does allow reasonable non-commercial use of music and video. Reviewers make use of this act to be able to show scenes of a movie that they are reviewing. However, the line between fair use and unfair use is very fuzzy, so it is best to try to avoid the use of someone's intellectual property altogether. You do not want to win a court battle. You want to avoid it. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-06-2023

This is just a brilliant post. Thanks for sharing. One thing I do wonder is: How does Udemy itself run the ads in a profitable way, since for us as instructors it's nearly impossible (as per your post and as per my thorough personal experience.) Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-05-2023

It was a good session in the sense that I came out of it wiser. Maz

SSAA · ‎08-05-2023

Hi there new course creators, Every once in a while, a question pops up like "Should I appear in my video's?" or "Should I use my own voice (even though I have an accent)?" After years of experience on Udemy, I am convinced that students come to Udemy for the authenticity. They want to be trained by real world experts who put together a course in their own unique style. They can easily go to other platforms and get hyper professionally produced online courses by professional studio staff. But they do not. They come to Udemy where the average course is not produced by studio staff. Why? Well, they value the authenticity. A bit of an accent, or the fact that you are not a professional spokesperson, is just fine. Just have a look around on Udemy and convince yourself. So here are some tips: Show yourself to the students. Almost all very successful courses on Udemy show the instructor (at least in some videos). There are exceptions, but those are just exceptions. The instructor should be the subject matter expert. Spokespersons who are not the subject-experts come across as not authentic. Use your own voice. Do not use those speaking machines. It sounds fake and not authentic. Use your own unique visual style. Now that I typed this, I suddenly get flashbacks of this movie called 'Wayne's World' that I watched years ago. It dealt with the same topic, namely importance of remaining authentic. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-04-2023

Thanks @RyanJaress !! Maz

SSAA · ‎08-03-2023

Thanks Bella. It's a great summary. Maz

SSAA · ‎08-02-2023

Depends on your budget. If you tell us your budget, we can help you by giving you tips within that budget. For instance, I have a mic and camera in mind that I believe is great for recording, but it does not fit a low budget. Best regards, Maz

SSAA · ‎08-02-2023

I thought it was forbidden and it probably was until not so long ago when I looked it up, but apparently it is allowed (which opens up a lot of doors I guess for those who want to expand to new markets). I looked it up on the instructor community: Course in multiple languages - Udemy Instructor Community Maz

SSAA · ‎08-01-2023

Hi, (Edited to remove a wrong assumption from my side:) The idea itself is very good. Partnerships are great. But for sure, what you need is a partner that is a subject expert and not just a great speaker. A voice-over artist is non-authentic and many students flock to Udemy because of the authenticity of being taught by real world subject experts. More about this: Course in multiple languages - Udemy Instructor Community Maz

SSAA · ‎08-01-2023

I don't think you are obliged to use your own voice, because I have come across many courses of which I suspect that it is some type of computer voice or a spokesperson. This being said, those courses are rarely if ever successful. People like the authenticity of having the teacher explain it to you instead of using a middle-person in between teacher and student.

SSAA · ‎07-31-2023

Hi there, In terms of course structure, the student likes various sections and prefers if each section starts with a clear introduction (what am I ging to learn in this section?) and ends with a recap (what have I just learned in this section?). These do not have to be long. One minute video or a handful of lines of text is just fine. Best, Maz

SSAA · ‎07-30-2023

Hi Gimatek, I watched one minute of your first preview video called 'beginner guide to interior design.' One tip I would give you is to not have these long sequences in which nothing happens on the screen and the same thing is being shown. I can tell you that this is not optimal for student engagement. Preferably, we go no longer than 10 seconds with the same image. If you want to show the same image longer than 10 seconds, then add some movement (draw on the screen, or highlight a part of it, or make sure that you as a person are at least visible in a corner so that something is moving. Best, Maz

SSAA · ‎07-27-2023

@gimatek Thanks for sharing this observation. Maybe the context determines the optimal length and there is no universal rule (?). This being said, we cut it all up (2 minutes is the minimum and we try not to have anything above 10 minutes, although we do have some exceptions).

SSAA · ‎07-22-2023

Background music, depending on context, can be a great addition. However, you never want too much volume variation. In your case, around 24-25 seconds, the instruments become more prominent, more loud, and your voice loses prominence. This is too bad. Tip: Choose a more monotonous song or one with less variation in ups and downs. For video, variation is actually a good thing, so it would be great if you would toss in some variation there, maybe of you teaching or maybe some stock footage. Try to avoid more than 10 seconds in the exact same setting. Good luck and hope the advice benefits you and others like you.

SSAA · ‎07-17-2023

Hi there, Approach it scientifically and just tick off boxes until you have a great promo. Udemy once made and published the ultimate recipe for a successful promo. It breaks down a successful promo video into little pieces that you can just assemble. We use it as inspiration. You can access the Udemy guide here: The Perfect Promo: Guide (udemy.com) Good luck.

SSAA · ‎07-17-2023

Hi there, I could follow along just fine and listened for about a minute. On Udemy, many instructors who have best selling courses have accents. We teach with a big team and not one of us has a clean US or UK accent. Some have thick Dutch accents, or even thick Spanish or German accents. In other words, the accent is not a deal breaker in any way for most students. It is a small part in a big package. If the rest of your package is good, not many mind that you are not native English speaker. In fact, a bit of an accent sounds interesting.

SSAA · ‎07-16-2023

I typed in 'public speaking' in the search bar and it's clear that you got major competition, competition that has already thousands of reviews and is well established and even famous in some cases. For sure, there are some minor technical things you can do to improve the technical aspects of your course, but in my view, that still won't make you very competitive. Look, here's an analogy, you are starting a new small unknown restaurant in a street full of well known, respected and sometimes even famous restaurants. Restaurants with cooks that appear on national television. What you should NOT do, is offer more or less the same dishes as they do, especially because you are all more or less charging the same price. You need to somehow come up with something extra, something unique, something that is interesting enough for the diner to skip the famous restaurant in favor of yours. Now, let's drop the restaurant analogy and let's go back to the course. What can you offer that the rest is not offering? Maybe a live session in which the students can get live feedback from you on their performance? I do not see your competitors offer that, so maybe you can use that to stand out.

SSAA · ‎07-15-2023

Hi Bill, Yep, using that 2 minute loop isn't going to make happy campers. You have a whole bunch of options actually, most under 100 USD that allow you actually access to thousands of songs for a variety of videos. For instance, artlist.io is an example. However it is just an example, I really do not want to portray them as somehow the best one among all, since I haven't tried all. You can also consider just buying specially made for you tracks on fiverr.com This is nice if you want to make a special intro or jingle just for you. Artists on fiverr cover the whole spectrum, from super expensive to very affordable depending on how much social proof they have and their skills. Bets of luck!

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Accredited teaching and certification by academic staff

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