Louise, one of Udemy’s highest-earning teachers, laid out her strategy for making Udemy courses profitable and how long it took her to get to this point. Here’s the strategy she laid out.Louise is a digital nomad and serial entrepreneur who has built a passive income of five figures a month.
Why Udemy?
Udemy is like YouTube, but instead of scattered content, teachers structure videos into courses.
- Anyone can upload a course, and if it sells, you get half the royalties. Udemy collects the other half in exchange for promoting your course.
- If you want to market courses yourself, you can use referral links.
Cut the excuses
You don’t need a mailing list, you don’t need a big social media presence, and you’re not too late
Identify gaps in the market for things you could teach
Topic choice is vital
- Search for existing Udemy courses on your topic and see how yours could be different
- Could it be shorter or more detailed? Could it look more professional? could it be targeted at a different audience?
Get those reviews in early
Ask people in your network to check it out.
- A few ways to promote it: Create a podcast and interview people who you think might be interested in your course, guest on other podcasts, and post about it on relevant Facebook groups.
Start searching keywords on Udemy
The key is to find keywords that give you an opportunity to make money but aren’t overly competitive
- Louise recommends looking for keywords that have less than 1,000 results and around 30 reviews to rank in position one
- This way, when you target a keyword, your course is likely to appear at the top of the search results
Collaborate with other teachers to create more courses
Offer teachers the chance to earn a passive income whilst also diversifying their courses.
- Louise pitched a course to offer other teachers the opportunity to teach to the camera everything she knows about a topic, splitting the profits 50-50.
Takeaways
Working during lunch breaks and in the evenings isn’t fun, and there’s no such thing as money for nothing.
- Push through the resistance and the rewards can be high
- My Udemy goal for 2021? Create two new courses a month from February onwards and be making $1,000 a month passive income by the end of July.
Choose your Primary Keyword and Plan Your Course
Include the keyword at the beginning of the course title, in the course subtitle, throughout the course description, and in the videos themselves.
- Louise recommends courses last between two to three hours. If too much longer, students may feel overwhelmed.
Make a compelling thumbnail and preview video
Title and thumbnail rules for Udemy courses
- Thumbnails should include text and a human face
- Should answer the following questions: what is your course about, why should people listen to you, what makes your course different, what will be the benefits
