Udemy

@FrankKane thank you for your response. I did ask Udemy but they said it is not a technical issue but: "We believe that the reviewer left their review because they were unhappy with the presentation style and clarity of delivery, which has nothing to do with technical issues. " ... View more

It does vary a lot but my first course took one hour ( including editing) and became a Best Seller for five years. But in fairness I did add to it every so often. I think the quickest course was about three hours with no additions. This is all pre ChatGPT - I would not be surprised to find it would be possible to create a course start to finish in 90 minutes but all the job satisfaction would go. I like to think and redraft and tweak and add questions etc and that takes time.  ... View more

@durrani276    Out of curiosity I asked ChatGPT how one can differentiate your course against a course created by someone "by the public by making complete courses using chatgpt written script and using such softwares." ChatGPT told me in detail what to do. The problem is the students who enrol but DON'T watch (about 82% of my 212,000 students have never watched anything) . If they're not going to watch they'll just enrol on the course that appears in their email etc and if there are 100 'chatgpt courses' plus yours (even if yours is differentiated etc) then you'll probably lose out. But then - and this is just an example - in 45 minutes (or 2 minutes fast forwarding) with no prerequisites I can '..Be able to practice professionally as a Child Psychologist...Be Fully Qualified As A Child Psychologist...Fully Accredited Professional Child Psychology Diploma...'  then authenticity is perhaps not the key criteria here... ... View more

Yes...and no. I write to Udemy with a list of the videos I would like them to download. They then download them for me and put them on G Drive. I then download - that's what happened with the last 90.... ... View more

Partial reply received today: "due to logistical reasons, however, at this time the issue with video resolution is not being prioritized." ... View more

I mean this in the nicest way but 'Hooray!' as this means it is a UDEMY problem not a 'my computer' problem or a 'Chris's courses' problem....   What with this and the Course Description problems.... ... View more

Different lecture, different computer, on a Mac.   ... View more

This lecture was uploaded to Udemy about 8 days ago - now I cannot download   ... View more

As said, I've been downloading quite happily for several years and then suddenly everything changed. This particular video I downloaded last week and all was OK. Now look:     Unfortunately I am not getting far with Support as I told them about this and it is all my videos - about 20,000 - and they simply wish to know which one I am having trouble with.   Thank you   Chris ... View more

I did...two days ago but we're not really getting very far so I posted here.  ... View more

OK...update. Another Instructor came to see me. He logged into Udemy on my computer (Windows) and was (like me) unable to download. He then went home and (on his Mac) tried to download (all was OK yesterday) and the same problem surfaced! So I'd be extremely grateful if anyone could tell me if they are having the same problem..... thank you ... View more

Thank you but that makes no difference. The weird thing is I have been able to download my own stuff for several years now and then suddenly this has happened. It's causing a major problem in trying to update certain lectures for BF... But thank you anyway ... View more

Suddenly I am unable to download any of my own course videos except like this:     when in fact the image should fill the screen. Last week I downloaded an entire course to update the videos and now those same videos cannot be downloaded and nor can ANY of the 50,000 others. Incredibly someone else CAN download them on his own computer so it must be something my end. I've rebooted, swept for malware and so on but...nothing. Any ideas anyone please?     ... View more

All of the above is aimed at students who when they enrol want to watch the course. And they enrol BECAUSE they want to watch the course. I have 40,428 active learners. They average 33 minutes a YEAR. Those figures are inflated as some press Fast Forward and complete a 100 hour course inside 15 minutes. I have 160,000 individual students (not enrolments, students) who have never ever watched anything. So - why do they enrol? a. free coupon b. special promotion c. Udemy promotion (sale) d. they intend to watch one day e. the Completion Certificate f. the Diploma awarded if they finish (fewer than 20 students have achieved the Diploma) Of the above perhaps worthy of attention is the Completion Certificate as that has the name of the course on it. I had an A level Business Studies course - aimed at 16-18 year olds in school. I changed the name to pre-MBA (which of course is true) and sales rose quite considerably as the Completion Certificate has on it 'MBA'. Other Instructors have a course that is 'Internationally Accredited' and worryingly, Udemy allows this. I am on a course that is Internationally Accredited. Within 10 minutes I was able to print my own certificate - in any name I wished - saying I was an Art Therapist. (Normally takes 4-5 years). I checked the International Accrediting body as they're based about 10 miles from me. They accredit ALL your courses for a flat fee. I've met students who think they're a qualified Child Psychologist, qualified Art Therapist and a whole host of other 'qualified' titles because the course is 'Internationally Accredited'. I won't go down that route but some Instructors do and I am sure it boosts sales.  In fact in one of the Internationally Accredited courses a student raised the question in the Q/A as to which country accepted this International Accreditation. His post was deleted. So, what's in a name is very very important as that's what goes on the Completion Certificate. Exactly which route you decide to take is up to you. I must go now as I have an hour and can do a COMPLETE EMDR Therapy course in that time. Later - if I have 44 minutes - I can get a Child Psychology Diploma which "Be able to practice professionally as a Child Psychologist". I could get both if I fast Forward, of course. Two different Accrediting Bodies, both International.  ... View more

1. Be very very clear in your mind as to why you're creating the course. Maybe you're fascinated by the subject. Maybe you just love filming and teaching. Maybe it's a good way to get tax relief. (Some of my courses are filmed on cruises.) Maybe it's primarily to make money. Maybe it's to fill a perceived gap. Maybe it's to educate. Maybe it's to change lives/save lives. Of course, ideally it is everything. 2. Be very clear why students are enrolling in your course. I have nearly 200,000 students and about 82% have never ever looked at anything on the course. (They're not all free coupons either!) So why did they enrol? Probably the word 'sale'. Maybe the course description. Maybe something they intended to do later. Equally I have some students who do a 50 hour course in one hour. They enrolled to a) copy and resell b) get the Completion Certificate and the 'internationally accredited whatever'. For these last two categories the actual content is not so important. More important is the course title (as that is on the Completion Certificate - I changed a course title from 'Business Studies' to MBA and sales rose. No other changes.) Sometimes students enrol because they want a short easy course where they can print their own certificate  and feel they've 'achieved'. Others want a long course they can really really get into. Some want a highly active Q/A. Others have no intention of posting anything. So try and ascertain why students are enrolling. 3. Be clear about how much time you have now and in the future for your course(s). I have a 120 hour course; but I also have a one hour course. The one hour course took 5 hours from idea to launch. The 120 hour course...well....it just grew and grew. How much time you're willing to spend will be affected by your answer to (1).  ... View more

Firstly you have to consider WHY a stuent enrols in your course in the first place. Here are possible reasons:   1. They enrol to watch in 10 minutes and get a Completion Certificate and the course makes them a QUALIFIED Art Therapist or Child Psychologist etc and then they can - after 10 minutes - put the Certificate on the wall and practice 2. They enrol because of the name of the course 'Sale!' 3. They enrol because they like your courses 4. They enrol because the course looks interesting 5. They enrol to download and sell 6. They enrol as it is free and then they sell 500 courses for £50 to someone 7. They enrol because they're a competitor 8. They enrol because they're a friend of yours   There may be other reasons...   OK now for reviews. They leave a review because...   1. They're prompted to by udemy and so they 'might as well' 2. They're reminded/asked to by you 3. They think you deserve praise for your hard work 4. They think the course is fantastic 5. They think the course is rubbish and wish to tell the world 6. They want to trash your course as revenge for you not BUYING reviews 7. They want to trash the course because they don't like you 8. They want to trash your course because you deleted their rude post in Q/A 9. They want to trash your course because they're a competitor 10. They want to trash your course because...well you add on your bit.   So there are many reasons.   To give you examples of two fairly recent reviews:   1. The student could not understand how to access her inbox or post in Q/A or get a refund from Udemy   2. The student decided I was anti-American and was openly brainwashing thousands of captive students   In neither case could I get the reviews removed . The second one (year on year for that particular course) lead tob$1500 lost sales as my average went down (too few recent reviews) I lost best Seller badge and then Udemy reduced their promotion as review went from 4.3 to 3.9.   It's expensive this!   Some people sell reviews too. In 2019 I gave the course details with the fake reviews, the correspondence from the seller and which reviews the seller wrote, to Udemy Safety. The course is still there.   ... View more

On the topic of paid reviews, in 2019 I sent Udemy: 1. The correspondence with someone offering paid reviews 2. The course where the Instructor had paid for the reviews 3. The reviews he had paid for - allegedly   The course is still there, happily selling. I notice in the Q/A for that courses, posts have gone unanswered for 3 years.   But no matter, I mean if you're paying for 5 star reviews and getting away with it, what else do you need to do? It is this sort of thing that does Udemy harm ... View more

I would never buy reviews or even ask as a favour for bulk...open yourself to getting banned and also blackmailed. BUT it is also easy for them to put up fake reviews that are 1 star. For example, I had a long 1 star review that heavily criticised my very poor Powerpoint slides. In vain did I protest that I never use powerpoint! ... View more

Interesting I was reading yesterday about reviews and their importance (see above). Today I received - unsolicited - two messages (Messenger and whatsapp plus one video call, not answered) from people offering me 1,000 reviews:   Hello. I am here to help you get thousands of reviews and I can help you get thousands of active students and I will use the reviews to rank your course to the first page or I can help you promote your course to 100K active students'    The second message was a similar text.   I don't really trust reviews. There's a 30 day money back guarantee (subject to conditions) so that should be good enough! Having said that I looked at one of my best selling courses just now. Of the last 100 students who enrolled over the past 2-3 weeks: 85 had yet to start 14 had done 5% or less of the course 1 did the entire 80 hour course in... a day     ... View more

It's fine to say 'if people get what they want out of the experience' but often what they want is not what they REALLY get ...let me explain. I am deliberately keeping this vague so no-one takes offence:   Two courses:   Course A - 45 minutes Course B - 2 Instructors, 10 workbooks and 64 hours.   Course A is the Best Seller because in 45 minutes students get their completion certificate and also feel they have 'dome something.   OK another example:   Course A : 1 hour and you become a 'qualified XYZ' Course B: 86 hours - same topic - and with transparent honesty, the Instructor says repeatedly that this will NOT make you a 'qualified XYZ'.   Course A sells well - for the obvious reason.   It's difficult to know what to do EXCEPT 'if you can't beat 'em...' and produce much much shorter courses (less VFM) promise something that is not widely true ...and keep 'em happy.     ... View more

I’ve launched two standalone courses where all the revenue for ever will go to Ukraine.  on every other course I’ve put a one hour  ( optional) intro about giving to Ukraine etc Plus as mentioned, all revenue on everything going to Ukraine for rest of March. This will provide a trickle. As about 92% of those enrolled never even start the course it probably won’t lead to extra donations but at least the idea is there. ... View more

@Bella are we allowed to cross-promote as it for charity? ... View more

I simply link up to a charity, get them to say a bit on the course, give all the revenue I receive (as Udemy won't waive their cut) and show what is being done with the money by means of updated lectures. ... View more

I did ask Udemy if they’d waive their portion of the revenue and/or match my donation. My request was escalated and the response was as you have posted above.  ... View more

I am giving 100% of my revenue to Ukraine and I have asked Udemy to match this  ... View more

I'm happy to help... ... View more

I've had a reply about the blog - this may be useful to everyone:   "Thank you for your interest in participating in the Udemy Blog Contributors Program! We are currently not creating content that would be a match for your course portfolio, but we will keep your profile in mind should we expand our content needs."   My course portfolio includes courses on:   Leadership Management Business Economics Scriptwriting Death, Grief and Healing Art Therapy Positive psychology Fitness General health Strokes/heart attacks Stress management Global economics Sociology Politics       ... View more

All fine - thank you! ... View more