No sells with 250 page visits

Hello, I published my first course a couple of weeks ago https://www.udemy.com/course/software-practices-and-writing-clean-code/
I think I've promoted it fairly well(with youtube and writing articles), but from the all ~250 visitors - none of them bought the course(except for a friend of mine and one other guy that I'm pretty sure he pirated the course, uploaded it to his website for free and took his money back)

So my questions are:
1. Is this normal for the first month?
2. Shouldn't I had at least 1-2 sales from 250 visitors?
3. Do you see something obvious that I can fix on my landing page(I know that the promo video is a little bit cringe, maybe I should fix it )?

Thanks for reading.

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Comments

RandyMinder

Hi @devsmanship
- The one thing that really stands out to me is the price of your course. Virtually no one is going to pay $95 for anything on Udemy. And, if they do, they are likely to buy it and then ask for a refund, as you have already run into.

Another thing I noticed is the length. It's only 1.5 hours. You are asking a ton of money for a very short course.

Have you taken a look at how many other people have created courses on writing clean code? I did a search and there are a lot of them. You have a lot of competition.

I did watch your promotional video and, for me personally, I didn't really like it. I generally don't like authors who try to be funny for the sake of being funny. Also, your accent is very thick. This is going to make people spend extra effort trying to understand you. Some students don't mind this and some don't like it at all. For me, I will always try to find a native English speaking instructor if I can. I don't like having to spend extra energy trying to understand what the instructor is saying.

Surajjadhav7375

Try to reduce the Price and then create coupons for students. in each month 3 coupons instructors can create

devsmanship

Is anyone paying the full price for a course anyway? I have the impression that everyone is buying the courses at $10-15, so why does it matter that the course is $95?

I kinda agree with you about the "funny" part, I push it a little bit too much, but I don't agree with the accent part. I mean, I hardly can do anything about it and there are a ton of instructors with accents that have great success. Probably there are people that won't enroll because of that, but they are rare.

Thanks for the response

devsmanship

Thanks, I will try that. Thanks for the response

RealFelix

I read some comments from people who sell a lot on Udemy and they hardly sell anything for the original price. Also, some say you should choose a high price, so the course looks more valuable when it's being discounted.

RandyMinder

@devsmanship
- The price matters because if you keep your price at $95, the only time you are going to get any sales is when Udemy is running a sale or special promotion. This means you will only be getting sales a few times per month. Whereas, if you price your course at say $19.95, you might get some sales outside the times Udemy runs sales / promotions.

Regarding the instructor accent, it really doesn't matter whether you agree with what I said. It matters how students feel about it. I have seen enough comments on this issue that I can conclude it does matter. In my own case, it does matter.

By the way, I'm curious. You said, "Probably there are people that won't enroll because of that, but they are rare." How would you know this? You are a new instructor with one course and two students. I have been on Udemy for coming up on 2 years. I have 14 courses and over 4,400 students. And I am active in the instructor groups. I think I have a pretty good idea of what students like and don't like and what they will and will not purchase, if there are enough other options. But, of course, you are free to believe what you want. But, if your sales remain sluggish, consider what I've told you.

RealFelix

Ask your friends and family to take a closer look at your course and write a review. You only have 2 students and only one rating. Make it at least 5 ratings with the help of your friends and family. This will help you:

Rank better
Create more trust

RandyMinder

@RealFelix
, @devsmanship
- I would be careful suggesting this. Udemy has ways of determining if instructors are trying to scam the system by having family and friends inflate ratings. I have no idea how they do it, but I know they do.

RealFelix

I understand. I think as long as they're actually liking the course and it's relevant to them, there should be nothing wrong with this approach

devsmanship

I know this because I've seen a lot of top instructors that are not native English speakers and they have a lot of reviews and no one cares about the accent.

I know this because I know a lot of YouTubers that have accents and no one cares.

I know this because I have listened to Phil Ebner's podcast and every time when there is an instructor with an accent they ask him about that and it's not an issue.

RealFelix

@devsmanship
tbh, I wouldn't worry about your accent too much. I don't mind people having accents and you even have subtitles enabled so even less of an issue here. Also, you can't change your accent anyway and I think it's much more important to remain authentic and true to yourself!

I'm also not a native English speaker as I'm German and I have a strong accent too. I think it's great that you overcome the fear and just do what you love!

devsmanship

Thanks for the encouraging words

RealFelix

@Randlee
I just realized that even Udemy itself suggests to send the course to friends and family to get more traction. Check out this page and read step 3: https://www.udemy.com/instructor/resources/?page=audience

mubashir1

I would recommend to make it free for few days. You will get a lot of students + positive reviews and this will surely attract new students.

EveWilliams

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.

devsmanship

I think if I make it free then I won't be able to convert it to paid again. Is that true?

devsmanship

Thank you so much for your answer! I will think about all your questions.

mubashir1

No. You can change anytime but before updating the price of your course, please be aware that switching the price of your course between free and paid more than once will result in restrictions to your promotional announcements.