Do You Have Any Questions You're Afraid to Ask?

Sometimes it's a bit intimidating to start a whole new Post just to ask a question.

So go ahead and ask your question as a comment in this thread, and I'll do my best to answer. No stress, no worries. No dumb questions. Ask away.

Who am I? I'm a fellow instructor, and I've been on Udemy for about 7 years. Udemy's my full-time income these days and they've been very good to me over the years. I've seen a lot. And I'm here to help. So how can I help you? What do you need to succeed? LMK below.

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Bella

Thanks for taking the initiative to create this post, Scott! It is great to see our experienced instructors offering their advice and encouraging new instructors to ask more questions to help them succeed.

Glad to have such a great role model in the community.

Bella Almeida

Udemy Community

HaiderAli47

Hi Scott,

Thank you for offering your help on here.

My course was recently flagged for not generating enough enrollments. The email from Udemy said that I need to update my course with a fresh video at least every 6 months. What else can I add to it?

Also, do you have any tips to attract new students? I've been marketing it through my Instagram page.

Thanks

ScottDuffy

Hi there, thanks for asking.

I notice your course is called "Structural Analysis of Statically Determinate Trusses".

I can't say that this is a topic that I am familiar with.

For this particular course, you need to identify who your ideal student is. I think you did a pretty good job describing them in the course landing page. It appears to be Engineering students who are stuck on this particular element of learning structural engineering, who also speak English. Do you have an idea of how many people in the world that may be? Maybe 10,000 total? I don't know.

Next, you have to get this course in front of them. I am not sure if enough of those 10,000 are on Instagram and searching the right hashtags for your posts to get in front of them.

You might try Facebook ads, to catch people in the right age group, college and university engineering students, etc. But it's hard to see how you can make money advertising to a small group of people at this price point.

Your course has 4 students and 0 reviews. I always say that you need to push that thing to at least 10 reviews. So you might have to give your course away for free to "a few" people and ask them nicely to review it (honestly). 0 reviews is not a great place to be.

To be honest, I'd think about your next course. That's your highest expected value move. Something that might have some mainstream appeal.

Think about the Discovery Channel, the Science Channel, and mass entertainment youtube channels and tv shows - and what kind of programs they air related to your expertise in Engineering.

Find the most-watched engineering videos on YouTube. Find the most popular TV shows in your field. What are they teaching?

"The Science of Suspension Bridges - How They Stay Up"

"The Science of Burj Khalifa and Other Mega Skyscrapers"

"How to Build in Earthquake Zones"

Things like that. What would a million people potentially be interested in when they are bored on a Saturday afternoon related to engineering?

I think your success on Udemy will be in that space.

If you want to remain on the academic side of engineering, you might have to do more marketing. Write a newsletter, build a mailing list, start a community, start a YouTube channel on the topic.... find a way to bring free information to people that can hook them into your paid course.

Have a look at Arjit Raj on Udemy, you might have some things in common: https://www.udemy.com/user/arjit/

Good luck!

HaiderAli47

Thank you Scott for such a comprehensive answer. I'll try to work on these things to get a better feel of my audience and devise a strategy to target that specific audience.

Seems like I need to rethink what kind of content I should publish here.

LiamDavin1

@ScottDuffy

First I would just like to say I think it's very kind of you to take the time to do this, thank you!

My question concerns my first course, which is a Level 1 Beginners Course in Sound Engineering. I'm getting a lot of landing page visitors but the conversion rate at the moment is 3%. It's got a 4.6 rating, so the majority of students doing it are loving it.

Could you perhaps have a look at my landing page and Promo video and tell me what changes you think I could make to possibly improve the conversion rate?

I do have a Website, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel.

Cheers,

Liam

Vikaskumar642

Hi @ScottDuffy

I am completely new to this field and also english is not my native language but i am trying very hard to improve english and delivery so that i can reach to wider audience’s. In June i have launched my two course.
Conversation rate for first is 3.4 % and for second is 5.2%
I able to earned in June :- $341.11 and July:- $412

Actually can you suggest me how can i improve my courses.

Is it possible for me to earn $1500/month from udemy? maybe dumb question.

Thanks in advance

ScottDuffy

@LiamDavin1
sound engineering! Now there's a topic that has my interest.

I've been recording videos from home for almost 7 years now, and fighting with sound (particularly echo but other issues too) has been a long battle.

This will be some honest feedback, ok? I'm not trying to be harsh, but you're looking to improve so I'm going to tell you what I think as I go along.

My first impressions:

- I am not sure about your course images. Particularly the level 2 courses seem cluttered. You might do well to have a quasi-professional make some new ones for you. (Does Udemy still make course images? @Bella
, do you know?)

You can test new images, and if they don't improve your sales after a month, easily put it back to the old images. No risk to try to do something better here.

- Nice promo video ; I have to appreciate how good the sound quality is. I like the style of the promo videos, the cuts, the script.

- You have a good teaching style.

- Honestly, the level 1 course looks like something I would be interested in. Many instructors probably would be good candidates for this course or something similar.

- I watched the free previews, Lessons 1 and 3. I felt a bit lost in Lesson 3. I felt like I would have liked to learn a bit more about "sound". How does sound work? What is sound engineering?

- This makes me think, maybe you should start with a quick demo BEFORE introducing the software. Show me before you tell me. Take a raw bit of sound (maybe a music track straight from the mic), bring it into Reaper, and then YOU go through the process of cleaning up the track. Spend 5 minutes getting a track from raw to finished. Let us HEAR the before and after. Show us what a sound engineer does. Wow us! Then, teach us how to do it.

Maybe I say this because I don't know what a sound engineer does. I would not search Udemy for "sound engineering". So the title of your course limits the audience to people who associate "sound engineering" with "improving your audio quality" for music, podcasts or courses.

So to summarize my suggestions:

- instead of emphasizing "sound engineering", use words that people might search for. What problems will the student be able to solve once they take the course? Make sure those words are prominent enough in the title and/or subtitle and/or description.

- record a video demonstrating what a sound engineer does, as video 2. Show before you tell.

- Is there any way you can create a version of this course specifically for spoken audio, podcasters and/or Udemy instructors? You have a market of 100,000+ people HERE at Udemy who want to learn how to improve their audio. It's tough for beginners.

- Heck, contact @ChrystieV
and volunteer to make a video/ama for the community talking about audio. You can grow your prominence by helping others.

ScottDuffy

There are no dumb questions, first of all.

"Is it possible for me to earn $1500/month from Udemy?" Don't let me or anyone else tell you what you can achieve. General life advice, OK? I know it's possible to make much more than that on Udemy. Maybe not easy for everyone. But it's possible. I know hundreds of people that do.

"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford.

For future courses, you'll have to improve the sound quality. There is quite a lot of echo. It sounds like you are recording in an empty room. I can understand you OK, but as a future improvement, you need to figure out how to record without so much echo.

In fact, if you get bad reviews saying the student can't understand you, some of that will be because of the echo. I think this is probably the most important thing you need to work on.

The course I previewed is called "Full stack project with spring boot java and react - TDD".

It's a minor thing, but you should learn about "Title Case" because book titles, course titles, blog post titles, etc should have every word start with a capital.

In my search, you are #4 for "spring boot react" on Udemy. But I see that you expect students to have beginner-level skills in Spring and React already. So you're not "teaching" spring, you're just using it?

So what are you teaching? Test-Driven Development? You should use the word "Test Driven Development (TDD)" in your course title. TDD alone is not enough.

"Master Test-Driven Development (TDD) with Spring Boot & React"

I don't know if that title fits, but I would try that as a title and see if it improves things.

Those are my suggestions for now. It's a competitive category. Good luck!

AlexHorea785

What to do in order to have your course show as updated?

This a TABU question I know, and a secret of established instructors.

I enrolled in courses recorded entirely with Windows 7, but show last updated - last month.

So yeah.

Vikaskumar642

Hi @ScottDuffy
,

Thanks for the detail feedback ,

Yes I am recording in empty room with simple earphone(JBL) after recording i am using IMOVIE to reduce background noise.

In this course i am teaching how to make full stack application with spring boot and react using test driven development.

"It's a minor thing, but you should learn about "Title Case" because book titles, course titles, blog post titles, etc should have every word start with a capital. " thanks will update my course title case

LiamDavin1

Hi Scott,

Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply, this is pure gold!

As per your advice, I've now changed the titles and subtitles of all 3 courses, and I'm about to revise my descriptions too. I have also de-cluttered all of my course images.

- record a video demonstrating what a sound engineer does, as video 2. Show before you tell.

This is a great idea, and I'm going to start working on this today, and I will do the same for my other courses as well!

Funnily enough I've got a list of future courses I'm going to produce, and a voice-over/podcaster/Udemy instructor course is on that list... I am now thinking of bringing it further up the list.

- Heck, contact @ChrystieV and volunteer to make a video/ama for the community talking about audio. You can grow your prominence by helping others

Absolutely, I am more than happy to do something like this, but excuse my ignorance, what is ama?

Over the past 2 years I've learnt so much from experienced Udemy instructors (including you), and I am certainly a believer in paying it forward.

If there is anything I can do to help you, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers

Liam

Bella

Great tips, Scott! Unfortunately, we do not provide course images anymore. Given the size of Udemy's marketplace and the uniqueness of each course, we decided to discontinue this service. However, we have clear guidelines here that can help our instructors create their own images.

Bella Almeida

Udemy Community

ScottDuffy

I think modifying a single video makes Udemy mark it as updated. Not sure though because I don't play those games.

Feel free to take advantage of the 30-day refund policy (or your right to review) if you find outdated content that doesn't satisfy you.

Although I wouldn't suggest leaving a bad review for a fellow instructor. Let's support each other just a little bit. Just get the refund if you're not happy.

Also, why buy a course on Windows 7?

GuilhermeMP

Why sometimes it seems that when the revenue of one course is increasing due to promotions, sales etc, the revenue of the other courses decrease. As if it were a mechanism of balance in revenue among several courses?

IshaKnill888

Hi Scott, I appreciate you asking this question as I am new to Udemy and sometimes a bit intimidated to ask questions The question I would like to ask is around the Back to School Sale - I live in Australia but have experienced a few delays in launching my course due to health issues and now covid lockdowns but finally, everything is ready to go. However, I realised that Udemy is now in the middle of one of it's bigger sales - I also know that you get a NEW badge when you launch a course - my question is it still a good idea to go ahead and launch regardless of the August sale, knowing I might miss some of this sale momentum? Second as I know the NEW badge only lasts for a short period and it does help to get people interested in your course when you first get started, is it better to wait for the November sales to launch or to rather to go ahead and launch now but spend the next few months pushing traffic towards this course so hopefully there are some reviews by November and not worry too much about the NEW badge which I assume would have dropped off by November? I hope my question is making sense! Thanks for your help, I appreciate it

Salil Dhawan

When there is such great advice being giving out by @ScottDuffy
I am not going to stay back. Could you please give me feedback on my latest course on Sales for Consumer Products, I created a sales course primarily focusing on basics of sales and fundamentals on what makes any product or service sell.
1. I am targeting UfB as this course is in the priority list and fulfills their requirement. Do you think that's a good idea?
2. What else can I improve or do better to improve my course?
Things I have already done -
1. Send out promotional Emails

2. Asked for initial batch of reviews from existing students.

3. Email Ufb, though got standard reply back.

Thank you so much for your help and all you do to help our new instructors like myself.

EshantGarg

Hi @ScottDuffy

Let me tell you, I am a fan of your courses and have learned a lot.

I have a question/suggestion that shouldn't we have the option to create short courses only for UFB?

My suggestion is, we should have the option to create courses only for UFB or Personal plan, without getting them released on the marketplace.

For example, let's say I want to create a short course on "Azure: Big picture in 1 Hour".

Now, this can be a good option for students having a UFB or personal plan subscription because they do not have to buy this course, and students like to finish the course in a short time to get a quick overview of something and a sense of achievement.

But someone at the marketplace may not like to spend their 10$-15$ for this 1 hr course.

Other subscription-based websites like Pluralsight also have short courses probably for the same reason.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Eshant

NitinWadhera

Hi @ScottDuffy

Thank you for this opportunity.

Could you please review my courses and share your feedback to guide me on the things that I need to improve, and if you need to choose one course then pls review the latest one. [Please ignore the free coupon stuff], I tried to create courses in the hot topic categories (during the times of creation) as per the market insights tool but I could not achieve enough financial success, Should I start creating courses on certifications categories to get more success or continue the existing path, please advice.

Best Regards,

Nitin

ScottDuffy

Yes, I agree that students in the marketplace and UFB have different objectives.

And a course might do poorly in the marketplace and do well in UFB.

Udemy uses the marketplace to find the best courses for UFB. So I can see why they do it. They don't want potentially bad courses to be in UFB.

I don't know what the best answer is.

ScottDuffy

Personally I don't wait for specific days to launch a course. If it's ready, I launch it. If it's not, I have to wait.

Except for Black Friday and New Years sales. Those are the only two days I try to make. I make sure my courses are done before November 10 and December 20.

ScottDuffy

Hi Salil, I can remember seeing your courses before.

You seem to be doing all the basic things right. Your promo video is very good. 5-star reviews. Your title and subtitle are extremely focused on who the right student is.

If I was struggling to sell my product to consumers, you'd have my attention. I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say.

Requirements: "no requirements". I am not a fan of there being no requirements for any course. I'm not sure it is a big deal. But every course I have has some requirements, even if it's for beginners. You probably want your ideal student to be "excited to learn how to sell products to consumers" at least. Or for them to already have a product in mind that they are trying to sell. There is SOME requirement, even for beginners in sales.

Your description is OK. 251 words. You are mentioning products, sales, and grow as the most frequent words, which is probably correct.

Sorry, I don't have many criticisms for the course or the landing page.

What is your landing page conversion rate? Are people viewing the page and not buying? Or nobody is seeing this course?

You probably just need more traffic. Traffic can be bought. Or at least, there are ways to get traffic out there on the internet.

ScottDuffy

I don't share this belief.

There are so many factors for course sales. Udemy is drawing students into their platform from different countries, at different times. Students have a need during one time, and don't have a need during others.

For instance, if you're teaching "chemistry", is there a season for that? Do you see a lot of sales around "exam time" and few sales in the summer? Do you see more sales at the beginning of the school year and fewer sales near the end?

I don't know if chemistry courses are seasonal, but they can be. Just one factor of many factors.

GuilhermeMP

Ok, thanks for your considerations Scott!

ScottDuffy

I actually like the way you brand your courses "happens automatically". That's a cool and clever concept.

When I search "Amazon Automatic Translation", yours is the #1, #2 and #3 course. When I search "Amazon Translation", you're #1.

In fact, I can't find any other courses just on Amazon Translation or Amazon Polly. You have the only course on the topics it seems.

So your problem is not "students can't find you". Your problem is that the topic is not popular.

I don't have an easy solution for a topic not being popular. If students are not searching for it, they aren't.

Udemy doesn't recognize these as topics even.

So my suggestion, sadly, is to make a course on a more popular topic that has some existing demand and not enough supply.

Like, what do you know about AWS Rekognition?

Sorry, not the answer you were hoping for. But that's what I have right now.

NitinWadhera

Thank you for your reply and quick insight Scott, Yes, AWS rekognition is on my to do list , any tips on finishing a course quicker, or may be how long does it take for you to finish a beginner level course, or say 4-5hour course, may be this one could help me speed up on creating courses on more topics quickly, thanks much

manishpaulsimon

Hi @ScottDuffy

Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time out to help us instructors. You're definitely a legend in the course creation space and it'll be great to hear your feedback.

The problem I'm facing at the moment is getting the "bestseller" badge. My course ranks consistently in the top three search results for all the main keywords for what I teach. And I have more students & reviews than my competitors.

But I still don't seem to get the bestseller tag. I would like to know where I need to focus on to get this coveted badge as it would definitely increase my sales.

Thanks again & wish you well wherever you're at the moment Best,
Manish

NextGenHR506

Hi Scott,

so good to see your replies to others..

u r doing great job..

kindly help me with below queries..

1. After what % of course/ after how many minutes of watching course, students are asked for course rating?

2. is there a way to know when udemy deals / sales happen each month?

3. what is the best way to approach students to give review with remarks?

Regards , Meghana

Salil Dhawan

Thank You Scott,

For most of my courses its around 7-8% which as per udemy marketplace insight standards is pretty good in my categories. I will look into generating more traffic now. Thank You!

ScottDuffy

1. Roughly after 13-14 minutes of video is the first prompt for a review.

I suggest you watch your own course "preview as student" and you'll see EXACTLY where the review pops up.

2. Sales happen all the time. Not every sale is for every student, so a student in Norway may see your course on sale but a student in Finland does not. You can't predict most of them. Some you can't predict, but some you can. Like I knew there would be a sale in August, and I know there will be another sale in November and another in January. Most sales are not predictable.

That said, if you become an affiliate, Udemy will send you an email every month telling you about the sales. But it's not really worth your time trying to time the sales.

3. I ask students to leave a review inside the course. "Hey, in a few moments, Udemy will ask for your opinion on this course. I really would appreciate it if you would consider leaving a review so that other students might find this course in search. Also, you don't have to leave a review. Here's how to click the "ask me later" button... etc."

ScottDuffy

Udemy has a document that describes how they award badges.

https://support.udemy.com/hc/en-us/articles/229605188-Udemy-Badges-Guide

* Course with highest recent sales within a particular combination of category and primary topic (e.g., Python - Development, Python - Business, Yoga - Personal Development, Yoga - Health & Fitness).

* Course has minimum of 4.2 average rating."

Does your course have a topic? I see the category is interior design, but what's the topic?

That seems odd. Maybe if you changed the topic to "Sketchup" you'd have the bestseller tag tomorrow.

I think you are not getting the bestseller tag because there is something unusual about your "topic" setting.

Please take a screenshot of the topic setting of your landing page and we can figure out why your course doesn't have a topic displayed on it's landing page.