Udemy

LindsayMarsh · ‎10-31-2023

The materials support the video and the video supports the materials. They do best by watching the video and then having the notes to read afterwards. I also break them up so they get little bits at a time, maybe at most 10-15 pages. My end goal is education. So, if supplying helpful resources does reduce overall video minutes watched, yet they gain skills, that is still a win for me.

LindsayMarsh · ‎10-29-2023

I am in the deals program but I do not believe there is a udemy sale going on this weekend. I have always been in the deals program.

LindsayMarsh · ‎10-26-2023

How to make a million dollar Udemy course from someone who just did it New Udemy milestone to report on. This will be my first individual class that has crossed the one million dollar revenue mark. I wanted to take some time to write a post to break down what it took to get that course to that mark. 1.) It took 221,268 students which makes it $4.5 dollar earnings per student on average 2.) 4.66 Rating with a peak rating of 4.7 3.) 641,040 landing page visitors in the last 12 months 4.) Only has a 5.54% conversion rate. Which tells me high landing page visitors and low conversion rate is still profitable. 5.) 53 million minutes taught since October 2020 6.) The course is 5 years old Things I did: 1.) The original course was only 9 hours long. The course now rests at 30 hours, a 3x increase in course size over the last few years. All original content was updated over the course of 4 years as well. UPDATING your course yearly will help you maintain higher sales for much longer and perhaps half a decade and longer. Think about the longevity of your courses not just creating new ones. It took 5 years for this course to cross the one million mark. I plan on this course making at least a half million more before it is retired. 2.) The topic is an entry level course and a broad popular topic that is in demand. Niche courses and advanced courses are some of my lower selling (but still important) course offerings. 3.) Conversion rate always seemed to average around 5% which seems really low. That did not seem to matter when the landing page visitors were so high from organic and Paid marketing on the Udemy side. The course rated and sold well at the start of its life in which Udemy started to run more paid ads toward my course and kept a virtuous cycle of marketing going. This goes to the next thing… 4.) I had a really compelling intro video that can work well in paid/organic marketing. I felt like my intro (which I need to update yet again btw) did well at captivating the audience as other intros I watched for similar courses did not. 5.) My review numbers on average have always remained high. I have some one star reviews but the 5 star reviews won over time. Keeping my courses updated was one of the reasons I believe my reviews stayed high. The longer I would go between course updates is when I would notice a small drop in my course rating and a drift higher when I added new updates. 6.) I offer a community for my students. I have an active Facebook group which allows community and engagement with student projects and encourages students to leave reviews. Those reviews will most likely be higher because of their involvement in higher level community activities like student challenges. 62,000 students currently participate in the private student only Facebook group. 7.) Everything is custom made by me. I wrote all scripts and recorded and edited all videos to make sure the course experience was smooth and tailored to my average student. Downloadable resources are plenty, all created to support my video content and to allow the student to enjoy the course instead of having to take notes. Creating a “digital pdf book” to go along with your course is ideal. I have never hired anyone to assist in the creation or marketing of my courses. Glad to share some tips and happy to share this milestone. I wanted to be as transparent as possible to share some stats and can share additional information.

LindsayMarsh · ‎10-17-2023

I just update my flagship graphic design masterclass with Photoshop 2024 updates that uses AI to generate images. So very fitting for what students are searching for. Sadly, I do not really want the badge as that will not do very much in my case! What will do the most is keeping my course updated for Black Friday so I can increase sales! So thanks, no thanks to the badge. It sounds like from other comments a more tangible reward might be more motivating. Perhaps a chance to have our course featured in udemy marketing would be most ideal and VERY motivating! 🙂

LindsayMarsh · ‎10-12-2022

Looking forward to seeing you guys there!

LindsayMarsh · ‎06-21-2021

I think I can speak for everyone when I say The person who is in charge of running the udemy platform smoothly. Not sure what position that would be internally, but whoever is in charge of the team that manages technical issues at udemy.

LindsayMarsh · ‎10-10-2019

Great question. I actually had a goal for sometime this Fall, but just found out I achieved it. I am now listed in the top 5 in the main design section in the top instructor area! I was always on the second or third pages. I know this is done by sales and it has taken a lot to get here, not sure how long I will last up there, but proud to be a woman represented in this section, there is only one other woman that is listed a few pages after me that entire design section. I hope someday there will be more! Nothing holding us back! I hope everyone is having fun in Berlin! Wish I WAS THERE!!!

LindsayMarsh · ‎09-26-2019

Thank you @JocelynH ! If anyone has any questions (of all kinds) I would love to answer them.

LindsayMarsh · ‎08-31-2019

Awesome growth and chart!!! @LawrenceMMiller I too have noticed a HUGE bump this month! This month has been my highest on Udemy, and no I only launched one course in the last two months and that was not the biggest chunk of my increase. I also have heard students say they saw my YouTube ads, well I do not run YouTube ads, so it must be that amazing Udemy marketing team at work!

LindsayMarsh · ‎08-20-2019

Hi! I am using google translate (below) so sorry for any strange grammar that may be in there! I think this is a well-paced video with a great length. Your voice is clear and under control. I love the examples you provide halfway through to show users your unique approach to teaching a language. What I would love to see is some screenshots of short clips throughout that show actual lessons and examples so viewers can really understand how it looks beyond the intro, like a quick peek “inside” the course. I think this is really well done and a great example of a solid intro! @3MinLanguages ¡Hola! Estoy usando el traductor de Google, ¡lo siento por cualquier gramática extraña que pueda haber aquí! Creo que este es un video con buen ritmo y gran duración. Tu voz es clara y bajo control. Me encantan los ejemplos que brindan a mitad de camino para mostrar a los usuarios su enfoque único para enseñar un idioma. Lo que me encantaría ver es algunas capturas de pantalla de clips cortos que muestran lecciones y ejemplos reales para que los espectadores realmente puedan entender cómo se ve más allá de la introducción, como un vistazo rápido "dentro" del curso. ¡Creo que esto está muy bien hecho y es un gran ejemplo de una introducción sólida!

LindsayMarsh · ‎08-07-2019

Great news! Thank you for keeping us updated @JocelynH

LindsayMarsh · ‎06-11-2019

Hi all! Just posting my latest course into for new class that was just launched yesterday. It is longer than my usual intro, clocking in around 3 and a half min. Wondering if you feel that it goes on a bit long or not. I have created over 80 class intros in my day and the biggest challenge with all of them is condensing so much information into such a short clip. As a course creator you feel strongly about it all, but the viewer is looking for certain things, and figuring that out takes some time.

LindsayMarsh · ‎05-29-2019

Hi @Ashebani, It will be split evenly between you and the instructor no matter who created the coupon, it will track the coupon name used, so a lot of times I will create a custom coupon name for me, so I can keep track of who is making more sales with coupons, me or the co-instructor (mostly as a fun game where everyone wins). And yes, if it comes in as a coupon you should get 50 percent of 97 percent of the sale.

LindsayMarsh · ‎05-14-2019

working a new "Logo Design Mastery" class. Just finished the theory lessons and moving on to film the software lessons next week. Whew, going to be a big class, but worth the effort, I hope. Trying to produce a lot of downloadable resources with this one, in hopes to attract more students who like pdfs, jpegs and extra stuff. The extra resources I am creating are making great instagram posts to tease the new class.

LindsayMarsh · ‎05-08-2019

@AnonymousGreat tip! This is exactly what I do. I do not even mess with PowerPoint and do all of my text and instruction right in screenflow (the mac video editing software I use). It is great because there is just one program I am juggling. I record my screencasts there but also edit video there as well, streamlining the process. It also adds a much more professional touch to my courses as my text is almost always, animated and structured.

LindsayMarsh · ‎05-06-2019

There is an art to using music in your lessons. I found it useful to add an emotional punch or keep ones attention during longer lessons. I have found users start to complain when music takes up 30 percent or more of a total lesson. So I have kept it under 30 percent of the total run time of the lesson. Also, I switch it up and never repeat any songs, they are always different as they move throughout the course, keeping it engaging and interesting. I always have music in the intro and outro, it really sets the tone and mood for the lesson or project.

LindsayMarsh · ‎05-04-2019

Amazing list @MassimilianoAlf ! I use several of those resources every day.

LindsayMarsh · ‎04-16-2019

Just finished several new courses over the last few months so taking this time to update my best sellers with bonus content and doing a few student project challenges where I give live feedback to students via a live facebook stream. So really an updating month for me. Next month focuses on a huge new masterclass that should take the whole month to film. Kinda not looking forward to this one!

LindsayMarsh · ‎04-02-2019

I was not sure the demand for certain classes when I first started. I started off teaching a beginner level software-based course at first. Then I started to extend that by adding theory courses and finally my 5th course I decided to make a masterclass that included a bit of both software and theory. It was much longer and has been more successful. Since finding that out I have made longer courses that contain both theory and software learning with practical student projects we work through as well. I now have produced several intermediate level courses and have to yet to develop a truly advanced level, simply because the demand would not be as high as other levels but that is in the works for this year.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-28-2019

@JocelynH So far so good! I am producing one course each month now. I will be reducing that down to one course every other month so I can focus on updating older courses this year.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-28-2019

For me, I did not expect much when I created my first course. I created my first course mainly as a side hustle job to earn a few extra bucks to pay the bills. When I made my first 10 dollars during the first month, I could not be more excited. I expected to make a few bucks but kind of felt more real after that first sale. Over the next few months that one sale per month increased to 10 a month, then 15 sales per month for that first course and that gave me a thought. If I can do this with one course, what would the sales be like if I had two courses, three, four? The income could add up to make a livable wage that could seriously supplement my freelancing income. It would take me a while, but I have my evenings free after work, I needed a side hustle. I came up with a course creation schedule by creating one course every two months with a goal of creating 6 courses that first year. I would have to work in the evenings as I still had a full freelance business I was maintaining. 6 months ago I let all my freelance clients go to focus full-time on teaching. I have been able to more than replace my income. There has been some stressful days, and this recent thread about insturctor burnout is a good read and very raw and real - Instructor creativity burn out? At first, it was about the income, but then it started to become about helping others, not only students but other instructors. I found a wonderful community at Udemy that was warm welcoming and helpful. Now with 14+ courses it is safe to say I am in this for the long run and look forward to increasing student reach, enrollments and have a positive influence in the educational space. I thought I would share this to encourage others who may feel like they have to have one amazing successful first course. You can still make a lot of money by just by making one course, some instructors on Udemy have done just that. For those building a fresh new audience, it can take several courses and a growing student base to get the ball rolling in the right direction. For me it was not until course 5 (8 months after my first course was published) that I started to have a fairly popular course. My first course is actually no longer available as it has already been replaced by another course. It made a few hundred bucks over it's entire lifetime (18 months), but has since faded away, but it did its job of solidifying (and started) a student base for me, even if that student base was fairly small at first.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-27-2019

I signed up to create a class in early 2016 but I did not create the course until Sept of 2017, so glad I decided to finally follow through! Took me a year to get motivated!

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-27-2019

It is a volume game for sure. I can build a decent audience and sell my courses for only $10, but maybe a little higher on average overall and still come out making a decent about of money, more I was making working full-time. I had zero audience before I came to udemy, now I have over 80,000 students between a few platforms. 95 percent of my sales are organic, meaning I did not have to pay or find that student. That is priceless and worth the big discount in my sales price I take for each course sale. If I were to sell my courses for what I think they are valued at $200+ dollars I will still get sales, but sometimes low price and high volume can win. It just depends on the type of courses you teach as well.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-27-2019

Editing takes the biggest bulk of most instructor’s time. Some instructors are lucky to have video editors who can work with them/for them, but not all of us are so lucky! I do one hundred percent of my own editing and finding ways to streamline that process can save me the most time. First of all, I create a theme or template video for my course I am working on. This theme will have a standard look for a lower third, banners or an intro screen. These graphics look consistent or have a branded theme. I start each lesson with this template, so I already have the first few seconds set up in my editing software, same for the outro, music and fonts. This saves me a ton of time as I do not have to set it up each time, I start a new lesson as there can sometimes be 60+ lectures. I also film in one day. I can film up to four hours of screen recording content in one afternoon. This way I can record it all and save the editing for one session. This also helps to cut down on editing time and streamline my process, so I am not going from filming to editing too often and shifting gears too frequently. I also plan ahead. I open up a google doc with my course outline and I write out the title of each lesson. If I need to write a script ahead of time, I will do all this at once. There is a theme here of sitting down to do one task before moving onto another. As instructors we can get excited about teaching that sometimes we rush to film before we really planned out the outline to our course, and “play it by ear”. I found that to be more time consuming in the end as I had to go back and refilm things I have said because I decided to change up the course after filming the first few lessons. What are some things that you've done to create a course in less time?

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-27-2019

@SharonRamel great suggestion as well. I am certified Canva Creative and teach courses on Canva. The tools are super powerful for a cloud based totally online application. Sometimes it is even quicker than using more pro tools like Adobe Photoshop etc. especially when it comes to putting together course graphics. They offer a lot of photos for free but also allow you to purchase photos for a fairly cheap price.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-27-2019

I have used Envato before it is a great suggestion @İlkerErdal!

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-27-2019

@AnonymousThe fact that they are all creative commons 0 is fantastic, I do not have to worry about licensing restrictions.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-22-2019

Hi everyone! I thought I post post a few places I like to find both FREE and PAID stock photo resources. As a graphic designer for over 14 years and now a graphic design instructor here on Udemy, I get asked this question a lot. There are several places to find fantastic stock photos and even stock footage (video). One of the few free open license options I like to use is pexels.com. All of these images have the Creative Commons 0 license (CC0). What that means is you are free to use this photo in your videos as often as you like, and no credit is required. There is even a pexels.com that contains video footage. Although the video footage, there is not as much available as a paid site, so be aware of that. Pixabay.com is another free creative commons stock photo website. A few paid stock website I have come to know and trust over the years is istockphoto.com and Shutterstock. They contain a wide variety of low-priced photo options as well as stock video footage. Another great addition to my paid stock library is Adobe stock. The photos here tend to be a little more expensive, but the quality is excellent and top notch. I use them often for professional-level projects. They also have stock video footage as well for your video lessons. The rules for photo licensing use can be complex. I have a short video posted below that explains this in detail about creative commons and what to look for when using both free and paid photos. I thought this might be useful even though it was originally intended for graphic designers, the same rules apply. (Sorry for the audio quality, I created this video a while ago before I upgraded my microphone!)

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-12-2019

Right now, no, but a feature I would LOVE to see! I have a masterclass that is broken up into two parts, to be able to bundle those up and sell them together would be a game changer.

LindsayMarsh · ‎03-12-2019

Congrats you guys! This phrase really sticks out to me. I think this is a big thing holding a lot of people back. Feeling like what they put out has to be perfect. Mine is far from perfect, but it is out there for the world to see. You miss 100 precent of the shots you do not take! Let go of perfectionism: Perfectionism holds many people back, like the founder of Linkedin states if you waited for your product to be perfect than you waited to long. Put your product out there and continue to improve from the feedback that you get. Keep in mind that it will never be perfect.

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Lindsay Marsh

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300,000+ Students | Graphic Design, Adobe, Affinity & More

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Lindsay Marsh

LindsayMarsh • Community Champion

300,000+ Students | Graphic Design, Adobe, Affinity & More

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LindsayMarsh •
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