Have you been wanting to make money online?
Have you heard that making courses on Udemy is one of the easiest ways to do it?
Did you know that once you create a course on Udemy, it can provide passive income for years to come?
Well if any of those reasons are why you are here, you are in the right place. In this post I am going to teach you exactly how to make a course on Udemy using the best practices on how to do it right. Otherwise you are going to get lost in the sea of courses that never amount to anything.
Follow along this guide and I will show you exactly how to stand out with an engaging and insightful course. One that is sure to make you not only one of the sought-after instructors on Udemy, but also one of the very successful ones.
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Table of contents
- Have you been wanting to make money online?
- Have you heard that making courses on Udemy is one of the easiest ways to do it?
- Did you know that once you create a course on Udemy, it can provide passive income for years to come?
- Make An Amazing Outline
- Additional Guidelines To Create A Course On Udemy
- Utilize The Experts
- Create The Content Of Your Udemy Course
- Practice, Practice, Practice
- Lure Them In With Your Intro Page
- Finish Strong
- A Bonus Gift:
There is no secret trick or formula that allows you to create a successful course on Udemy Instead there are easy to follow step-by-step instructions that when followed correctly allow you to create a profitable course on Udemy.
Within just days you could publish a course on Udemy that continues to make you money while you sleep.
If you want to go back and see why this is one of the best possible ways to make passive income, read this post.
Otherwise, let’s get to it!
- How many courses are there on Udemy now?
As of 2020, there are more than 130,000 courses on the website.
- Is Udemy too saturated to make any money?
Not at all, however it takes more courses and more time similar to YouTube.
- Are there any topics that no one has made a course on?
Undoubtedly although the more obscure the course, the less people are looking for it.
- How much money can I make on Udemy?
It really just depends on the amount of time and effort you wish to put into it, but there are instructors that are making hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Can I have someone else be on camera for me?
Of course, similar to how people do it on YouTube.
- Do Udemy courses have to be super long?
Not at all, but their price should be indicative of the length and depth of content.
It is amazing how many courses there are currently on Udemy. The thing to remember is that it does not matter as long as you provide a well-planned course that delivers what it promises.
Keeping that in mind, I will now go through the steps that will make you successful in that endeavor.
But first you may want to explore Udemy and get acquainted with it
Make An Amazing Outline
- The first step is to choose a topic for your Udemy course. This can be something you are already an expert on or even something you would like to learn yourself. After you learn the topic, you can then present it in the form of a video course. If there is already one or multiple classes on the subject, find a way to present it in a more digestible fashion. This will aid you in making a popular and lucrative course. To further aid you in picking the right content for your course, Udemy offers a nifty tool that allows you to search different topics:
It will then give you a breakdown of metrics about the topic to help you decide:
- Once you have chosen a topic, think about the audience you want to present to. Will this be a beginner level course or higher? What might be some objectives or goals to achieve throughout the course? The better you can visualize the purpose of the course itself, the easier it will be to create the outline and ultimately the course itself.
- Now it is time to create a title that grabs the attention of your viewers. You want a title that is direct and to the point, but also one that impels the viewer to at the very least want to click on it and watch the introduction. Use keyword research to optimize your title to make it rank higher in search results. Continue on and create titles for the different sections of your course that are relevant and also help with your search ranking.
- Choose how you are going to build your course. Udemy allows you to make a course using six different formats. These formats are presentation, audio, video, text, document style or a format called mashup. Mashup, which is a combination of video and presentation is usually the format used and generally considered to be the best option. Because you want to reach the largest audience, it is important to remember that most people are visual learners. However the difference here is that you still want to mix things up to appeal to the largest audience.
Anyone can throw a video together and upload it to Udemy and hope to make money. Unfortunately the courses that are the most successful on Udemy are the ones that follow additional guidelines. These are as follows:
Additional Guidelines To Create A Course On Udemy
A. Always be professional. Ensure you are dressed well and present yourself as a subject matter expert. Joking and acting melancholy tends to make your students trust you less and lessens your credibility.
B. Make your course consist of about 75% video. The majority of people taking courses on Udemy are there to learn, but tend to refrain from sacrificing convenience. You certainly want to make the course as engaging and interactive as possible, but not at the expense of losing customers. Remember that there are many people that would rather just watch a video.
C. Try to keep the length of your videos between 5 and 8 mins long. This is the sweet spot for providing adequate content and getting your message across without losing the attention of your students.
D. Each lesson in your course should follow a similar template. Provide a quick introduction to each one highlighting what the lesson is about. Then at the end of each video, create a quick conclusion that recaps what was taught and highlights what knowledge was attained.
E. Additionally, find ways to connect with your audience. Create quizzes and knowledge tests in between the lectures and praise them for doing a good job. Offer tidbits of personal experience about when you first learned the material. Share how you made analogies or anagrams to solidify it into memory. Present yourself in a way that they can find common ground and resonate with you as a person.
Utilize The Experts
Another tool on the Udemy website that is at your disposal is the ability to receive feedback from the Udemy staff. You are not only welcome but also encouraged to upload a video explaining what the course is about. Due to their expertise, the Udemy staff can provide honest and extremely useful information on your course. You could receive a further breakdown of course type popularity, as well as best practices for creating a course of your type. You also may be able to include some of it in your outline to help provide a better description of your course.
Create The Content Of Your Udemy Course
Now is the time to follow your amazing outline and create the meat of your course. To do this correctly, you must abide by certain quality standards to ensure your course looks as professional and appealing as possible. One of the fastest ways to make potential students pass on your course is to produce sub-par content. To avoid this mistake, there are a few production guidelines to adhere to:
Create High-Quality Video Content – The video portions of your course must be at a minimum 720p and in HD to be used on Udemy. The minimum resolution that must be used is 1280×720, or use an aspect ratio of 16:9. Anything less than this will be rejected upon review so make sure you are meeting these requirements. Fortunately this is easily accomplished with most smartphones, tablets and DSLR cameras. You may also wish to use a screen recording and/or editing software such as Pinnacle Studio, Camtasia or Movavi to ensure the highest quality content.
Make Crystal-Clear Audio Recordings – The audio in your videos has to be perfect. As with YouTube, Vimeo and any other video content site, audio remains the #1 reason a person passes and chooses another. Use the highest quality microphone you possibly can. The Blue Yeti remains a top choice for desktops as well as a high quality lapel microphone for phones and tablets. Make sure you record in a quiet area with no ambient noise.
Practice, Practice, Practice
It is very unusual when someone can make a recording smoothly, with no hiccups on their very first try. Think of making your course in a production studio. Write down a script for every section of your course and practice reciting them as many times as it takes until you can say it fluidly with no mistakes. The more smoothly and eloquently you are able to speak in your videos, the more trust, respect and students you will acquire.
Your intro page, or sales page, is the most quintessential part of your course and will make or break your success. An intro page on Udemy is a way for you to introduce yourself, establish a relationship with your potential students and entice them with an overview of what your course is about.
Lure Them In With Your Intro Page
The best intro pages consist of four main parts:
- Professional Graphic – The image for your course is the first thing potential students see. It should graphically represent what the course is about. I recommend utilizing an artist on Fiverr or Odesk to acquire a professional-looking image that grabs people’s attention.
- Course Summary – Provide a summary of the course that explains what the course is about in a clear and concise manner. Use bullet points wherever possible to make it easy to understand but also dominant and effective. Tailor your summary to address a problem that your course will solve and when possible, explain how it will do it better than any of the others.
- Instructor Profile – It is recommended to have a thorough profile that introduces yourself and explains why you are qualified to teach the course. The more your profile showcases your qualifications and expertise, the higher your click-through-rate will be and thus the more successful you will become.
- Introductory Promo Video – This is a simple 2-3 minute video that is usually the last step in the entire process. Introduce yourself and highlight the most important aspects of your course. It is highly recommended that you include some type of call-to-action at the end as well. Make this video the most exciting and intriguing part of the entire course so as to entice the most number of students to purchase it.
Finish Strong
The last step to complete your course is to decide on the price that you want to list the course for. This is a very important step as it will be the final deciding factor for your potential students before they enroll in the course. Take a look at similar courses and see what they are charging. Make sure the cost of your course is not only competitive, but seems to be less than what the perceived value is. The trick is to provide more value than price, which gives the idea to potential students that they are getting a great deal.
Now granted Udemy reserves the right at any time to offer your course at a discount, but this is not something to factor into your calculation. You have no control over the discounted price and therefore you should not let it influence your decision.. Simply choose a modest price that represents your course well and seems to provide a great value.
After submitting the completed course, the Udemy staff will review it and measure against their quality checklist. They will then provide you with more feedback as well as an acceptance or need for more revision.
Once you gain their approval, your course will be published and you will officially be a Udemy instructor! Congratulations!
A Bonus Gift:
Another way that Udemy helps new instructors is by providing a set of free courses to anyone that wishes to enroll. These courses teach you in depth strategies on every aspect of the creative process in order to ensure you become as successful as possible.
I would highly recommend attending any or all of these courses and you can get an early jump on them by going here:
Course 1: Video Quality
Course 2: How To Film
Course 3: Course Goals
Course 4: Video Editing
Course 5: Adding Practice Activities
Course 6: Creating A Course Outline
Now go make the best Udemy course ever!
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