Want an Opinion on Your Upcoming/New Course From a Top Seller?

[ScottDuffy]

Update 02/21: I continue to provide feedback to people leaving comments on this post. I will be traveling for the next week and won't be able to do much in that time. But please be patient, and I will return to this thread when I return.

Hi there, my name is Scott, and I've been on Udemy for nine years — 1.1 million paying students as of now.

If you have a new course (or one that just went live) and want some honest, constructive feedback to make it better, I'll spend 10 minutes looking at your landing page, promo videos, and anything else I can see and give you some solid ideas of things that you can improve. I promise I won't be too harsh but I'll be honest.

Post in the comments, and I'll go to your profile page and find your latest course. Or post a YouTube link to one of the videos if the course is not live yet. 

Any of the other community champions can jump on and give feedback to any of the instructors looking for feedback.

[ScottDuffy]

Congrats on launching your course. I looked at your course landing page and don't have any specific suggestions. Your promo video is awesome. It really inspires people interested in the topic to join the course.  A++ promo video.

I see some of your videos are filmed in inspiring locations like a jungle. I don't mind the little rooster crowing in the background of one of your videos. Feels authentic. Your audio quality is really good. A+ section intro videos in module 1 and 2.

I must admit that I don't know much about Tantra besides a few things I've seen in the media. For instance, probably 20 years ago, I remember hearing that the singer Sting practiced Tantra. Maybe what I think I know about it is completely wrong.

For that reason, I wonder if you have to address what Tantra actually is and dispel some myths even on the landing page or in one of the free preview videos. A little history on it and what I would achieve if I practiced it. Is it tied to a religion, or can you practice it while maintaining your current beliefs? Can you adopt some parts of it and not adopt all of it? I mean, I really don't know much. 🙂

Maybe your ideal student doesn't have those preconceived notions. But one thing that would stop me from joining the course would be that I don't know what Tantra is. Perhaps comparison with other techniques like meditation, yoga, Reiki, and others. See? 

Good job and good luck! 

[Charlotte KB]

Hi Scott D

I got you profile-page link from Bessy Community Moderator. I have looked at your landing page with all your courses, wow! I just published my first Udemy course, for the first time live, some days ago.

I'm looking for some honest, constructive feedback. I have an idea already, what can improve, but always great to hear feedback from other "neutral instructors"... I'm in the beginning of making a new photo course.

Are you interested in giving feedback? Beside my profile page, that you can go to, then do you need more detailed information from me? My thoughts, background story? etc?

Sincerly Charlotte from Copenhagen (photographer + art historian).

[Jodi-AnnRow851]

Hi Scott,

I like the use of animations for the course. I would pay attention to what the 1st customer mentioned, especially about the Chatgpt plug in not working. Visit to confirm is this is correct and make an edit to the course so that students will feel appropriately compensated for the course. 

I know you will do exceptionally well with this course.! Good vibes.

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Kim, and welcome to the wonderful world of teaching on Udemy. 

I am a bit torn about how I feel about your course title, "Photo Creative."  It's short. It's intriguing. It invites the reader to enquire within for more. Like the corner of an old photograph poking out from the middle of a stack, asking the passerby to lift the pile and see the whole photo. 

That said, the title is probably the most important thing about a course in the search results, and I wonder if students will pass over it if they fail to grasp the concept immediately. Sometimes, people need to be hit over the head with "What is this!" to get it.

I would suggest keeping the intriguing title, but consider expanding it if you're not getting the desired results.

"Photo Creative: Finding Your Creativity Through the Lens of a Camera" - that loses the intrigue but might yield better results.

I guess, in the intersection between creativity and commerce, sometimes creativity needs to lose some of itself for the sake of commerce. 🙂

I enjoyed your use of colors in the sections and videos. I was going to comment on the intro to the course being you on a white background. But later in the course, I realized you were color-coding each section, and it made more sense. I expect that a course on creativity would use colors and visuals in an interesting way.

I like that you have lots of free preview videos. I like that you have a final section of the course called "You Made It" to celebrate the student's completion of the course.

The course description is well-written and easy to read with plenty of paragraph spacing and bolding. 

I don't have many improvements to suggest.

* Obviously, the title and subtitle, both being quite short, is a creative choice that I would suggest you keep in mind to change if you don't think the course is getting the attention it deserves.

* I am not going to suggest redoing all your existing videos, but perhaps in the future, you can expand your video editing to better use the visual element of a video course. This could include text on screen to highlight important points, slides, or even just b-roll video to break up the monotony for the viewer.

Like if you watch a popular TV show, film, or even YouTube video, what you see on screen changes every few seconds. Now, I am not saying you need to change the visuals every few seconds, but I personally have a rule that I want "something new to happen on screen" once per minute. That could even be changing the framing of the talking head so that you go from being a close zoom to a bit farther and even off-center. 

Hopefully, I am describing that correctly. Just make the videos more interesting for the viewer. You can do some research on typical ways to do that.

That's my main piece of advice, although it might not be easy to fix on the current course.

Good luck and wish you the best,

Scott

[Charlotte KB]

Dear Scott D

"Photo Creative" course feedback:

Thank you so much for your help and the time you have taken. It's VERY kind of you. I appreciate your honest reply. In this way you learn and improve more quickly.

I will take notice of your opinion and advice. I think my new course "30-day Photo Experiment" will "automatically" have more of what you mention as idea, advice and suggestions. As the new work title suggests, there are more "build in movement and dynamics" (haha).

There is ALWAYS a reason why you do like you do (in my case), but I will not begin to defend my thoughts and WHY-reasons... (haha).

Scott, can I ask you for feedback again, when the new photo course has been born...?

Take care Charlotte from Copenhagen  

[IngTomasMoravek]

Dear Scott,

many thanks. This is fantastic.

Please, kindly.

I have really really tried my best with this new course:

https://www.udemy.com/course/social-media-chatgpt-bard-gemini-ai/

I have received one middle range review and two 5 stars reviews.

I was really trying to create nice screen recordings as well as animations with my animator.

My editor has created very nice checklists.

Still, not so mega success I was dreaming about.

So, if you have any idea how to be more beneficial and better for students, I will be really really grateful.

Many thanks,

Tom

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Tom,

The title "Social Media Joyride" has me intrigued. A joyride sounds fun!

Good use of keywords in the title and subtitle. AI and SMM is a hot topic.

The "3.9" average review score has me a bit concerned. Why do students not love the course? There are only 4 reviews so far, so we need more. Send an educational email asking more of your 2000 students to watch the course. In fact, consider holding some type of contest for the month of February for any student who finishes the course to be entered into some type of draw. You need something to motivate people to watch the course.

I haven't seen other courses creating these course checklists and guides the way your course has. That's a unique course guide that you provide. Good job on that.

You have a good energy. You are clearly excited about the topic and it shows in some of your videos.

Best of luck,

Scott

[AlchemizeMinds]

Hey Scott,

My name is Sameer, I would really appreciate if you could review my first FREE course I have launched. The course name is AI Prompt Mastery - Part I. 

I will appreciate if you could spend reviewing my course and provide me honest feedback on the course and the recording as well. 

Sameer

Alchemize Minds

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Sameer,

Please accept this feedback in the spirit of constructive help.

I watched the promo video. The confusing thing for me is that most of the promo video has nothing to do with "AI Prompts." You mention the title twice, but less than 30 seconds of a 3 minute video is about the course I'm about to watch. There are a lot of information about each of you as teachers, your background, your company, and your goals in transforming student lives. I would expect a promo video to talk a lot about the benefits of taking the course.

Since Free courses don't have any "free preview" lectures, I can't see anything more than that! So I have no idea how good your teaching is based on this one video talking about yourself.

Forcing me to be a student just to get a look at some sample videos is a barrier for people to sign up.

In your course description, you use the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) a lot. But you don't say anything about what kind of AI you're teaching about. I guess it's "generative AI" because it's about prompts, but you don't use that term.

Do you teach any specific tool or technology inside the course? Is it ChatGPT? Google Gemini? Something else.

It's been my experience that students come to Udemy searching for something specific they want to learn. They will search "chatgpt" when they want to learn about that tool, or "Midjourney" or whatever.

I don't know if they'll get anything useful searching "AI". It's too generic a word. It means 100 things to 100 people. 

My main suggestion is to redo your promo video to talk about the course (or the series of courses you are planning to make), and redo the landing page to use a word other than AI to attract people. 

Good luck,

Scott

[MelanieStevens183]

This is a wonderful offer, thank you! I’m currently writing my fourth Udemy course but I would love some feedback on my latest one. Would you be happy to have a look?

https://www.udemy.com/course/master-intuitive-card-readings-using-tarot-and-oracle-cards/

[ScottDuffy]

Congratulations on your course, with a 4.7 rating. It's clearly enjoyed by the students that have taken it.

That's a good title and subtitle. Nice course image.

Your promo video is professionally done. My one comment is that your voice in the promo video seems a bit quiet compared to the music which is louder. Is it easy to re-edit this video to turn the music down a bit? Your intro video is much easier to understand.

Great intro video. Well done. A bit of echo but that's ok. I like that you mention who the course is for, and that the student doesn't need any experience. Also they can use any deck. It's very clear who this course is for.

I'm actually interested in becoming more intuitive, in general. Does this course teach people to become more intuitive generally? You mention that anyone can become more intuitive, and that's something I'd be interested in learning more about. I might take a course like this, with no interest in reading cards, just to learn how to improve my own intuition and gut instincts.

The audio in Video 2 is a lot lower than the intro video. I think you should check every video to make sure the audio is at a consistent volume. You can do this for free in a tool called Audacity.  The other videos I watched don't have the problem of Video 2.

I think your course is well done overall, and wish you good luck with it. It's a competitive topic, but you have a course that should compete well.

Scott

[MelanieStevens183]

This is awesome, thanks so much for taking the time to reply! 

I had some issues with consistency of the audio so I re-did some of them, I’ll take another look at the ones you’ve mentioned. I now have a dedicated ‘recording laptop’ which I don’t need to use for anything else, so I’ve got my studio set up and it won’t be touched at all! So that will hopefully mean more consistency in terms of audio and visuals going forward 🙂

Yes the course teaches about intuition in general and noticing the signs that are all around you, not just when reading the cards. Tarot reading opened up my intuition massively and I now don’t really need them as I can intuitively read anything! - the colours people wear in their clothing, their symbols that pop into my head, and the signs themy spirit guides send me. I’ve included an introduction to working with spirit guides too so it’s an all encompassing course. 

I hadn’t thought about creating more of an intuitive development course in general, but that’s given me an idea!

if you’d like any more info on the course please let me know, and thanks again for taking the time to review it! ⭐️

[ScottDuffy]

I have a gut feeling that a course on "developing your intuition" would be popular. 

[HolistAkadem]

Thank you, Scott!

This is a worthy move.

Please have a look at my first course:

https://www.udemy.com/course/energy-points-for-immunitybalancedopingpainrelaxation/?couponCode=HOLFE...

Every feedback is much appreciated.

Take care,

Žiga

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Ziga,

I watched your promo and intro videos, and it's clear this was professionally made. Your audio is clear, and the editing is professional. I'm not going to be able to suggest anything about the videos of the course to improve it.

It does seem a bit short, at 39 minutes. Is that a good length for such a course on energy pressure points? I don't know. The section on painkilling is only 5 total minutes. I imagine that someone in pain might need longer than that to learn properly how to alleviate their pain.

If the course is on Ayurvedic, why don't you use that word in the title?  I think that word might be something people are searching for. 

Speaking of the title, there's something that can be improved about it. Right now, you use ALL CAPS and have smashed all the words together (to fit it in I guess) "IMMUNITY/BALANCE/DOPING/PAIN/RELAXATION". That title does not seem balanced to me.

Some of these words can be used in the subtitle, which can be much longer.  I would re-word the title and subtitle (using Proper Title Case not ALL CAPS) to explain what the course is about in a more balanced way.

Good luck and all the best,

Scott

[HolistAkadem]

Thanx, Scott!

This is much appreciated.

I've already implemented your suggestions.

Take care!

[VasiliyZukanov]

Hello Scott,

Thanks for doing this. I hope your offer still stands because I've just released a new course and it would mean a world for me to hear your opinion and criticism.

My new course about Object-Oriented Programming: https://www.udemy.com/course/object-oriented-programming-design-course/

Thanks!

P.S. I've enrolled in your Udemy SEO course in the past. It's a blast. However, I can't find it listed anymore (still have access to the material though). Did you decide to pull it down? If yes, may I ask why?

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Vasily,

Tile is clear, and it's easy to understand what the course is about. The section and lesson names are clear and the course is well organized. Good use of bolding and bullet points to make it easy for the student skimming the landing page to decide if that course if for them. I guess with 10 courses now, you're getting good at this. 

I would perhaps make a couple of mode videos as free preview. Since the first two videos of the course are free preview, does that really represent well whats inside the course? Set a couple of more to free preview, imo.

Your videos are professionally done. Good talking heads. Audio is clear. No echo. Good use of music and text on screen to emphasize your points. Good job here.

I don't have anything really to suggest to improve this course. If someone wants to learn object-oriented programming, your course can be considered. 

You need to get a few reviews, as you know. Since you have a bunch of other students in other courses, this would mainly be done through promo emails, coupons and asking for reviews.

The other comment I would make is that I suspect this is a tough subject to be successful in. OOP is one of those core fundamental topics of computer science like algorithms, so I suspect there are 10000 courses on Udemy on the subject. You've picked a tough fight. Good luck!

Scott

[ScottDuffy]

I stopped updating my Udemy SEO course because Udemy updated their search algorithms and it became more difficult for students to improve their search rankings.  For instance, in the early days, I could help someone go from page 9 of search results to page 1 fairly easily through SEO optimization tactics. Nowdays, that kind of improvement overnight is impossible.

Most of my advice is these days around topic selection and improving the quality of the videos. Of course, if I see simple errors such as not being clear in the title or description of what the course is about or if the course image is not great, that can still be helpful.

[KevinMichae317]

Hi Scott, I would really appreciate any feedback at all! https://www.udemy.com/course/forensic-psychology-and-offender-profiling-certificate/?referralCode=56...

Thanks so much

Kevin O'Doherty

[ScottDuffy]

HI Kevin,

Your course looks really professional. If I was looking to get into forensic psychology, I would feel your course would be a good one to take.

Good promo video. Good audio (although a bit of echo but it's OK). Good video. It's well edited. I like that you have talking head videos in the course. I appreciate the warnings in the intro video about the types of content you cover for people not wanting to see graphic/gory descriptions of crimes. 

Good course image, good title and subtitle.

I'm sorry, but I really don't have suggestions for improvement. It's a professional course, well done, and I don't feel I can offer any improvements.

Congrats and good job.

[MansoorUlla112]

Hi please check my profile. 

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Mansoor,

I really love to see that you're teaching a unique topic on Udemy. HVAC design. How interesting!

That said, I think the title and subtitle could use some improvement. I guess HVAC makes sense to people in the industry, but what is HAP? Is that an abbreviation for something? Is it popular for people to know what that means? Maybe it is. I would make the title a bit longer.

The subtitle is not proper English grammar. You need to tell people WHY they should take your course.

The videos appear to be about 1 hour per video. You have 18 lectures for a total length of 16 hours. I don't think that's ideal. People will need to sit and watch for an hour, instead of only 15 or 20 minutes at a time. This makes it less convenient for students to take a break and come back to the course later.

The videos also appear to be a recording of a webinar. So for instance, the first few minutes of video 1 are just people saying "hello", "I will begin the recording now," "OK, you can record", "huh?" "I said you can go ahead and record." "Oh, ok".  

I think the audio can be improved.

I guess what I'm saying is that this format (18 one-hour videos of a webinar recording) is not a traditional Udemy course format. I like that you have some downloads in there.

Some of the section titles use all lower case, SOME USE ALL UPPER CASE, and Some Use Title Case. This is not professional. Pick a consistent case for section and lesson titles.

Some of the section and lesson titles say "SESSION ON HAP SOFTWARE.mp4". No need to include the "MP4" in the title. 

Requirements "just need your precious time". Well, I would argue that the ideal student should be someone looking to get into the HVAC industry, to start. Or someone already in the industry with a few years experience? Maybe they should have some type of background in engineering. You should filter out the students who probably shouldn't sign up for the course.

Good luck!
Scott

[ChuckMitche431]

Hi Scott,

I would love it if you could take a 10 minute look at my new course just published.

https://www.udemy.com/course/certified-management-analyst-oe-program/learn/lecture/34433814#overview

Very Respectfully,

Chuck Mitchell, Owner/Managing Director

AfCI LLC (Florida)

crm@hpo21institute.com

[Jodi-AnnRow851]

I like this course and the outline and is considering to purchase it

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Chuck,

Please accept this feedback as constructive and an attempt to be helpful.

What are the exact "search keywords" you would expect your ideal student to enter into Google or the Udemy search bar for which your course should be placed as the number 1 result?

And once we know that, how aligned is your current course title, subtitle and description to that?

It seems like you are teaching people the skills they need to attain the Certified Management Analyst - Organization Excellence (CMA-OE) certification. But I do not see that abbreviation or those words anywhere in your course description. 

You say that in the intro video, but it's not written ANYWHERE on the course landing page.

If this is true... (this is my best attempt at understanding what your course teaches)...

You need to state that more plainly. Your title is vague. You seem really focused on your company's trademarked brand name (OE21) moreso than the CMA-OE certification. Will people be searching Google for "OE21" or will they be searching Google for "CMA-OE"?

I can understand if, for legal reasons, you are prevented from using the term CMA-OE. I have been there myself with a litigious certification organization trying to stop me from doing training in my first couple of months on Udemy, but you need to focus more on "what are people looking for that leads them here?"

Even if it's "Balridge Excellence Framework", you don't use that term at all, either. 

Trying to avoid vague terms like "workplace excellence". People are not searching Google for "workplace excellence in the 21st century".

That's my main feedback.

* You need a new course title

* You need more than zero students, you need some reviews from trusted clients and other people you're not directly related to or paying for their review...

* Your course videos are well done and professional

* Audio is clear

* You seem qualified to teach the subject

* What is "course 1", "course 2", "course 3", ... "course 6" in the intro video? Does this Udemy course contain all 6 courses? Or the students are expected to purchase 5 other courses besides this one?

* Nice use of quizzes and downloadable materials for students to study offline

* I think your "requirements" section is a bit light. You say the student only needs to have a basic understanding of excel, but I bet the student needs to have at least a few months experience working as a manager? I would add more realistic requirements to prevent unqualified students from joining and leaving a bad review.

All the best,

Scott

[Jodi-AnnRow851]

Will do

[DarickSimms399]

Hey Scott!

I would love some honest feedback on my course about Video Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. I currently have over 5,000+ students (mostly free students) and I’m having trouble selling the course consistently and gaining more students within the United States. 

Any feedback or advice would be wonderful and I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you again Scott 

[DavidSenn451]

Hi Scott, im trying to complete my first course but stuck in the cirriculum area, i have made 5 lectures as it requested me to do but cant seem to sumbit for review, can you please help me. https://www.udemy.com/instructor/course/5822366/manage/goals/

David

[ScottDuffy]

Usually this is because something is missing from one of the pages. 

Check which page of the course doesn't have a checkmark.

Also, for your first course, I believe you have to be approved as a premium instructor which includes tax forms and such. 

[EliF1]

Hello, Scott!
That's just unbelievably that you are ready to help many novice instructors.
I extremely appreciate it.

This is my first online course:
https://www.udemy.com/course/python-basics-e/?referralCode=346A1ADE23A778C8FFEE
I know how far it is from perfection.
But I will be very grateful if you take a look at it. 

[Jodi-AnnRow851]

The video is great. I couldn't fully hear the words very clearly, but if I replayed it, I would hear them.

[EliF1]

Thank you very much for watching!

English is not my native language.
Should I pronounce words clearly and add captions?
And what can you say about my microphone noise?

[JasonHoward629]

Thanks Scott! Interested to learn how the Trailhead Academy style sits with a seasoned revenue generating course pro such as yourself. Don't hesitate to google translate my landing page. My first language is English but really passionate about sharing these skills with another culture.close

[Kauann Henrique]

Hi @ScottDuffy ,

I just have launched my first course, could you please review my profile and the course landing page?

I'm really exciting to know what I can do to improve and reach out more students!

Thanks!

[NextGenHR506]

Hi Scott,

Firstly Great work 👏

I have new course on Chatgpt for management, kindly let me know your views on this.

Regards 

Meghana

[Jodi-AnnRow851]

Great!Where is the link?

[MohamedSale473]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the initiative!

I would appreciate any feedback regarding my first published course.

https://www.udemy.com/course/networks-basics-for-decision-makers-and-beginners/

TIA

Regards,

Mo

[andyjehn]

That'd be great Scott, thanks! 

[VanessaCoul532]

Hi Scott

I have a new course now live 

https://www.udemy.com/course/bedtime-is-a-nightmare-get-parent-help-make-nighttime-easy/?couponCode=...

would  love for you to take a look

Thanks 

[KrystianWojtarowicz]

WOW! @ScottDuffy 

This is an honor for me, if such an experienced and top teacher like you will look on my course. I have published lately my course about Custom GPTs, which gained a lot of popularity. I'm very curious about your opinion. Thanks for this opportunity!!

Link to the course:

https://www.udemy.com/course/custom-gpt-complete-guide-to-build-your-own-chatgpt/?referralCode=ABE46...

Thanks again for this chance,

-Krystian

[Btkrausen]

I'll play if and when you have time - https://www.udemy.com/user/bryan-krausen/

Thanks in advance. Enjoy your upcoming travel.

[Programming_Hub]

Dear Scott, I am Siddhesh and I lead Programming Hub (Rightsol) . We have published an interesting course on 'Yoga for Programmers - From Code to Calm'. A lot of learners from our community from India and US complained of stress and we decided to do something about it! Please share your feedback !

[ScottDuffy]

I love the topic! How unique. 

Good quality audio and video recording. The promo video is quite well done.

I think mentioning other online course platforms besides Udemy in your promo video might prevent it from being added to Udemy Business. 

I think the videos are quite well done. I've seen the preview videos. The landing page is clear with a good title, subtitle and description. I have no notes for improvement of those.

Good luck!

[KevinMichae317]

Hey Scott, thanks so much for the opportunity to have you take a look at one of my recent courses on Udemy.  Any feedback at would be really helpful and much appreciated.  My latest course is Advanced Motivational Interviewing - by Kevin O'Doherty.  Have a great day, look forward to hearing from you soon.

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Kevin,

With 19 courses live, I suspect you're already a pro at creating courses and are well down the path to a successful career as an online teacher. 

That said, I will offer this feedback in the spirit of constructive feedback.

• The promo video doesn't have any talking, but is just a slick animation of stock photos set to music.  It would be interesting to see a promo video where you are speaking about the skills taught in the course and the benefits to the students verbally. Ask a few people which video they prefer and I suspect one where you appear and are talking might win over the existing one.
  
  
• In the course I looked at, the only free preview lectures offered are the first two videos. Perhaps consider adding a couple of more free previews to give prospective students a real chance to see how you teach.

All the best and good luck,

Scott

[Bessy]

Hi @ScottDuffy 

I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for your invaluable contribution to our community by providing feedback to your fellow instructors. 🙌

Are you still providing feedback? 😊

[Charlotte KB]

Hi Bessy and Scott, I have communicated with Scott and I was very thankful and happy about his feedback. Take care from Charlotte 🙂

[ScottDuffy]

Hi Bessy,

I'm around. 🙂 

Does Udemy want me to provide this as an ongoing service? Let's discuss.

Scott

[KashifAsrar]

Hello Scott!

I've just launched my course 'Become an Expert on Microsoft Power BI Desktop' on Udemy, and I'd love your feedback on the promo video. Check it out here: Course Landing page 

Could you let me know:

1. Is the promo message clear?
2. Does it keep students engaged?
3. How's the production quality?
4. Does it encourage enrollment?

Your insights mean the world to me! Thanks for your support.

Best Regards,

Sayyed Kashif

[KashifAsrar]

Hello Scott!

I've just launched my course 'Become an Expert on Microsoft Power BI Desktop' on Udemy, and I'd love your feedback on the promo video. Check it out here: Course Landing page 

Could you let me know:

1. Is the promo message clear?
2. Does it keep students engaged?
3. How's the production quality?
4. Does it encourage enrollment?

Your insights mean the world to me! Thanks for your support.

Best Regards,

Sayyed Kashif