This is demoralizing

[drewprof]

I have been here a full year by now.  

At this stage, I am convinced that this platform is not for me.  How do I delete my courses and take my toys home?

[MariaG]

Hi @drewprof , we're sorry to hear about your decision to leave the platform. Have you checked out this compilation of marketing posts from other instructors? It's packed with tips and tricks you may find useful! 

If you're still decided to leave, unfortunately, courses cannot be deleted. This would break Udemy's lifetime access policy. What can be done is unpublish your course. This will remove the courses from the marketplace and prevent new enrollments but the students who are already in them will still have access to them.

[drewprof]

@MariaG , I am just going to stop adding courses and referring students to this platform.  You can read my responses to other posters below to get the idea.

[Monica2021]

Hi, I don't think that you should give up. Most times when you are on the verge of giving up that is when the break through comes. Just bear a little more patience and hang on there. Give it another try. Good things do not come easy. Wishing you all the best.

[drewprof]

Giving up on Udemy isn't giving up on my business.  Udemy is just not right for my courses or my style of teaching.  However, when I offer my courses for free, it's amazing how many people sign up everyday.  That would be okay if they signed up for paid courses eventually, but they never do that.  This tells me a lot about this platform: it's not for me!

[RandyMinder]

@drewprof 

"However, when I offer my courses for free, it's amazing how many people sign up everyday." These are probably not real people signing up for your courses. There are bots that roam the Udemy countryside looking for free courses. When they detect a free course they sign up. You can get hundreds or thousands of these. Most of these signups will never actually go through your course. There is little reason to offer a course for free on Udemy. Worse yet, if a real person did sign up for your free course, you could never send promotions to that person. Udemy doesn't allow it. 

[Samuelnissiuche]

I think what's best for you is to find better ways to get sales. Packing up doesn't make you better, it just closes this channel of income and that's not something you'd want.

So please, search out tips on how to improve your marketing skills so you can get more leads who will inturn transform to students. I'm hopeful you'll find your feet here!

[drewprof]

What marketing? Udemy is supposed to do that, that's why they take a huge chunk of the revenu.  I had however directed some of my "real life" students to some of my content and published links on facebook and other social media.  What else do i need to do?

There was a reason I picked Udemy, Skill Share...etc. for some of my courses.  In the end, Udemy ended up being the least performant for my courses.  Maybe my stuff isn't for its audience, or it's utter garbage.  I doubt the latter to be true since I am doing well elsewhere.

As to marketing, on my own, on my platform(my own website), I am doing well there, thank you.

[Professor Marcelo Moraes perfil Vip]

Meu Nobre Samuel, não podemos transferir a culpa das politicas erradas aos geradores de conteúdo, isso é injusto, FIZ MINHA PARTE, tendo o melhor curso na plataforma de eletrônica, são 7000 alunos, .... então vimos a plataforma mudar nossos percentuais, sem nenhuma consulta previa.

[AboAondofaE932]

@drewprof  You have over 5000 students for a year plus? I consider this a success, but only you could tell why you want to leave now.

[drewprof]

I could only get those numbers when I offered my courses for free.  As soon as I lock them to be monetized, I get a trickle.  To this day, since I started with Udemy a year ago, I have accumulated $255.  I might as well sell my ware in a bazaar in the middle of nowhere.

On the other hand, I am getting better results on other platforms... MUCH better results.  This is why I am going to stop publishing additional courses here.

Oh, before I forget, did I mention somewhere else that my courses on Udemy are being pirated?  Yep, they were lifted right here from this platform.  

[NickolasInd234]

What is the particular course you made that you are selling? 

How big is the course? 

Are you a motivating instructor? Do you have energy in your talks? 

Are you advertising enough? 

Have you gotten any feedback from students who take your course?

Is your course really worth the amount your selling maybe the price is to high?

There are so many factors that play into the success of your course!

I am new hear at Udemy and I am excited to get started I am making my first course. 

But I know this is going to be great! This instructor board is pure awesome, a place were anyone can come and ask questions!

Before you make that decision I would rethink.

I mean do you depend on the money as income to provide for you or do you have a job because if you do have a job than you are getting a boast in your income from a course you want to totally give up on! 

Let me know if you changed your mind. 

[drewprof]

Let's just focus on price and leave the rest for students to judge; go look at my ratings.  It doesn't matter what you price your course at, it will most likely sell for $11 and the instructor portion will not exceed $4 at best; none of my courses sold for face value.  That is not up to you the instructor, it's Udemy's way of getting volume.  You simply provide content for this to happen.

[NickolasInd234]

I get what you mean your ratings are pretty good although your problem is the sales you get on your course, right?

I would say this is a marketing issue, you are not getting enough publicity for your course. 

You should not make your course to professional and you should act natural and share some tips in your videos, students will not enroll in a course that they are not engaged in. When they read your intro this is were it will all begin and determine weather they purchase you should add more energy in your speech in your preview course video that the student will watch! 

You and I both know the truth that a student needs motivation and modern day education teaches in games! 

Try adding energy in your voice in your preview videos! 

[drewprof]

Cool, since you know everything go and publish your own course then get back with me about how you feel things should be.

[NickolasInd234]

I do not know everything I just watched all the beginners tips! 

Everyone should! A good company stays in the competition if they are constantly learning which involves change if they dont they just fade away. 

[drewprof]

I am at peace with fading away from this platform.  I am just not going to add any new content, unless there is a favorable strategic shift to encourage instructors to be more involved.  

[LawrenceMMiller]

Over recent years there have been a good number of instructors who have posted similar messages saying they were leaving Udemy. I have come to the conclusion that they are right, for them and their courses. I think there is a little point trying to convince them otherwise. In any field, music, writing, athletics, a minority succeed and the majority are wiser to spend their energies on other pursuits. 

It reminds me of these commencement speeches when graduates are told to pursue their dreams and never give up. That is total crap. Only a moron never gives up. Your dreams are often misguided fantasies and "never giving up" is synonimous with not processing feedback and not reacting to the realities of a marketplace. This is a business endeavor, not a dream, and success in business is all about listening to how the market responds to your offering and making changes as a result of that response. Change course, adapt, be agile, give up when things aren't working!

[drewprof]

I am adapting, I find other platforms much more receptive to my content.  Udemy only works for me when I offer my courses for free.

[RandyMinder]

@drewprof 

"Udemy only works for me when I offer my courses for free."

No, Udemy is not working for you when your course is free. 99% of the signups you get when you offer a free course are from computerized bots looking for free courses. None of those signups will ever go through your course.

[drewprof]

I realized that... No need to to put stuff for free to get students interested in my ware.  That was my mistake!

I am sure the reviews from these bots were fake as well.

[RajGupta]

@drewprof  Year 1 is usually bad if you are in a competitive category which you are. Even the instructors who have crossed $1 Million will tell you that. Year 2 is still bad but not as bad. Many instructors reached traction in year 3 or 4.

[Professor Marcelo Moraes perfil Vip]

No meu caso no primeiro mês já fiz U$ 1700 , .. até a UDEMY começar a mudar tudo.

[AboAondofaE932]

Great, that's amazing 

[Professor Marcelo Moraes perfil Vip]

Resultados em 12 meses ........ primeiro mês 19 mil visitas a pagina do Curso ...... depois a UDEMY parou de investir em divulgação, PAROU DE DIVULGAR O MEU CURSO.

[Professor Marcelo Moraes perfil Vip]

Não precisa nem ser um gênio para achar o erro, BASTA AVALIZAR OS GRÁFICOS.

[MichaelPog]

@drewprof what platforms did work better for you?

How are they different in format from Udemy?

[MikeXCohen]

Thank you, Lawrence, for the only sensible comment in this thread.

It would be one thing if a brand-new instructor was complaining about not becoming a millionaire after a few weeks and one course. But it seems that drewprof gave Udemy a real shot with several courses, and came to the conclusion that this wasn't working out and wasn't worth his time. I don't think we should try to convince him (or anyone else) to stay, as if this were some cult-ish club. Instead, I think we should respect him for trying, and wish him the best and hope things work out better on other platforms.

@drewprof: I'm sorry to hear it hasn't worked out for you here at Udemy. My advice is not to unpublish your courses -- even if they're not earning a lot, it's still more than 0, and doesn't require much work from you except keeping up with the Q&A.

[Professor Marcelo Moraes perfil Vip]

" não deu certo  " é um termo que não tenho como aceitar, são 7000 Mil alunos em 12 meses             ................... O QUE NÃO DEU CERTO FORAM AS MUDANÇAS DA PLATAFORMA, minha parte eu fiz, 7000 alunos, e o melhor curso avaliado na plataforma no segmento de eletrônica.

[drewprof]

@MikeXCohen that is what I am doing.  All new material will be published elsewhere. What's on this platform will remain and I will answer questions to help students. 

[NickolasInd234]

Im not sure if I agree with that but I do agree with the choice of leaving if you cannot find a way to be happy with the bussiness you have to leave it! 

This would be the best decision! 

Giving up and failure build you up to success you will never be successful without failing! 

Do you know what Walt Disney said! He says to pursue your dreams even when the dont work out try again! 

Dont give up read some of Walt Disney's Sayings he had faced so many business challenges he almost went bankrupt but his dream made and he made a hit on the  Snowhite movie and opened Walt Disney world! Disney is a group of dreamers and they are a huge company so I would say you should pursue your dreams even when things are down because who knows you might never know things might just turn up!!! 

😄 

[drewprof]

Udemy is not the center of the world for course delivery.  I am in other places and the performance there isn't an issue.  So, giving up here will simply mean that I don't need to add new courses on this platform, trust me, I will not be missed.  All of my new content will not be shared here, and I have a lot of it it.  It just a matter of audience; in my opinion, Udemy has steered its ship towards people who want free stuff or real cheap deals no matter what the content.  It's not for me. 

[NickolasInd234]

Well thats good to hear and I agree with you! This is a great decision if you are on other platforms! 

I am not sure if you can take your courses though? 

I guess thats the issue now or if you want to leave them I think you can deactivate them and the students enrolled will still be able to work in the course and no more students can sign up! 

I know you can delete your profile! 

If you hit your profile picture in the top right corner you will get a fall down menu and than you click My profile than hit my settings beneath your picture than to the right of your "Username" tab the third tab is close your account hit that and your account is deleted and you can never log in again if you want to ever join Udemy again you would have to re-register. 

[drewprof]

@NickolasInd234 

No need to do anything drastic, I just stopped contributing.  There is no need on my end to add value to this platform, maybe my stuff is useless after all... Let it be!

[NickolasInd234]

Your stuff is great I was watching the previews of your course and I was quite interested! 

I like your screen cast how did you do that I was thinking of just recording my screen share through zoom but that is usually glitchy! 

Also dont end your account keep it just dont be so active on Udemy! 

[drewprof]

@NickolasInd234 thank you, I know that my actual students get a lot of value from my teaching.  Some in here on Udemy were engaging and completed their exercises for my  TIMELY feedback, but those were a few compared to what I get on other platforms, including my own.

I just don't see why I should invest my time here.  I would rather do so where it works.

[drewprof]

The screen casts were done using QuickTime Player.  Nothing fancy!

[RandyMinder]

@drewprof 

" Udemy has steered its ship towards people who want free stuff "

This doesn't even make any sense. How does Udemy benefit when courses are free?

[NickolasInd234]

I agree with you! 

[RajGupta]

@RandyMinder @NickolasInd234 

What do the enrollment numbers say? Enrollment in Free courses versus paid courses.

[drewprof]

It's a numbers game.  The more people sign up, the better the odds of getting students to pay for something.  Cumulatively it will work for Udemy but not for instructor offering free stuff to entice students towards his/her own paid material.  How do I know? it's June 15 and I have two students that signed up for my courses at deep discounted prices.  If I open up the flood gate by putting one of my courses for free, I will be getting 100s of students a month.  I have tried this scenario, I am not making stuff up.

[NickolasInd234]

This proves that your course isint useless! 

It seems students just arent willing to pay. . . I guess. . . 

[drewprof]

@NickolasInd234  now you're getting it!

[Professor Marcelo Moraes perfil Vip]

Amigo neste caso a falha não é nossa, é da plataforma, EU CRIEI O MELHOR CURSO PARA O SEGMENTO SEGUNDO a própria plataforma, que fez sucesso em 30 dias.... atingindo U$ 1700 de faturamento, em 30 dias ..... Tudo de errado feito depois não foi culpa minha.

[GuilhermeMP]

Provavelmente por vc já ter uma audiência

[devsmanship]

@drewprof what platform do you think is better than Udemy?

[drewprof]

So far, Skill Share and my own website have done well.  On the latter, I do all of the marketing, hosting, configuration, administration and cost of bandwidth use.  I was hoping that Udemy lived up to the hype when I first looked at various platforms based on youtube postings on the subject.  It didn't, at least not for my type of courses.  It's probably okay for arts and crafts maybe.

[Michael_D_Nwaogu]

@drewprof  A friend used to say, "Any day you stop learning, you start dying.".

If I were you, I would try to see how I could adjust my course concept to match up with the Udemy kind of system.
Good for you that your present package suites some other platforms, and I won't be surprised to hear that you actually used one or two of those platforms framework to cook your course, just speculating anyway😊.
To me, besides money, I have joy in meeting good people, especially people of like minds, people that we can share ideas.
You can not find it easy to believe if I tell you the number of future partners I have been fortunate to make via this platform, some we have even met in person, from just instructor to students, to a kind of intimate friendship, and to working together. According to an holy book, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.".
I am not saying stay or leave, but I will advise you to see how you can take advantage of every opportunity you have presented to you. Live is too short to waste any chance.
Since you are doing good ever there, 👍 try to see how you can beat the highest rated or best seller tagged course in your category, and move on, man. See how you can fashion it to suite Udemy students' taste.
You should be happy you could reach out to people from virtually all over the world with your knowledge, no matter where they are. I see it as a grace to have a knowledge of value that people need to appreciate life more with. Keep teaching, man, with good measure, it will come back to you in multiple folds.
Success💪.