In this post, we’ll briefly examine the good, the bad and the ugly concerning how to teach online at Udemy. Before going further, we want to express our sincerest thanks to this organization for seizing the initiative to democratize online learning! There was a time when we, at SBDC TV, were among their most dedicated teachers. In a short six month period during 2013, we produced 30 courses for Udemy and began to enroll tons of online learners. We’d go further to encourage any desiring to launch an online tutoring business to begin the journey at the ‘U’. With that said, much has changed on this website and unfortunately, not for the benefit of their instructors.
We can only imagine the early days of the industrial revolution. From this sprang labor unions to curtail the bad behavior of big companies towards those who offer their services in exchange for a fee (workers). The once mighty U decided the antics which brought about the need for labor unions must now be directed towards its most precious asset – instructors. As our long-time readers know, previous articles on Udemy have been used to teach lessons to entrepreneurs and small business owners. However, this post has one purpose; to give the facts from an ‘insider’s view’. Let not the rest of what is written here be viewed as the tirade of a disgruntled instructor who chose to face down corruption and incompetence and just can’t accept the penalty for doing so. As a longtime business owner, be assured we well understood the consequences long before standing up to Udemy and telling them, directly, there behavior was unacceptable, unethical and on many occasions; incompetent.
Some time ago, Udemy raised the fee instructors were charged to rent teaching space on their e-learning website. It went from around an average of 70/30 split (former to instructors and latter to Udemy) to straight up 50/50. When this happened, the reckless manner in which it was implemented as well as the sheer disregard for their online instructors, we knew this could mean only one-thing; Udemy was going for another round of capital funding. Although Udemy hadn’t announced a capital funding round was in the works, we read the signs and announced the strategy in a few instructor forums. Four months after disclosing this on Facebook, Udemy publicly announced another $32 million in capital investment had been received.
With all of that known, we arrive at this fact; for those hoping to make a full-time income on Udemy, due to an over-saturated market, with courses JUST LIKE YOURS, this is a long-shot, at best. A part-time income of a few hundred per month may be doable but anything beyond that is going to be rare.
Udemy’s business manager, Danielle Leslie, made the case for this new reality in a recent email where she, for the first time, encourages students to ‘aim low’ with earnings ($200-$500 per month). Every other promotional (mostly hype and little substance) email she’s sent previous, show cased instructors who make hundreds of thousands yearly. Some may say “Well – isn’t earning some money online better than earning nothing”? Sure – but is it your desire to earn pennies or dollars?
Now that we’ve addressed the latest outrage(s) of Udemy (with more to come in future posts), let’s talk about how to best parlay this treachery into earnings for your brand. Although many strategies for becoming a successful online instructor can be given, here are those we’ve found best to build momentum;
- Maximize SEO to receive top on and offsite organic placements. Whether specific listings on Udemy’s course catalog or Google search rankings, your course must be among the first three listed to experience acceptable enrollment growth. To make this happen, you must bend (but not break) the rules a bit and be prepared, at some point, to receive an email from their instructor support department pointing this out. However and when the ‘cease and quit’ email arrives, make the decision best for your business. Here’s a tip to ‘skirt’ demands to make your course less ‘visible’ – immediately re-title your course which, initially, will cause loss of student enrollment because rankings will drop but a few weeks later, reinsert the more effective title which will put you right back in the competitive mix.
- Realize you DO NOT work for Udemy, you are an entrepreneur. Initially, your excitement will overflow about building your brand on the platform. However; make sure any course produced can be used on your website, first, and then find other online teaching websites such as Curious.com. The best way to build an online business is by opening as many sales funnel opportunities as possible.
- Udemy IS NOT a business partner but more of a Landlord. Although flowery language boasting they are ‘your partners’ in brand building, nothing is further from true. You are a TENANT who rents space from them – nothing more!
- Udemy students are used to receiving both free and hugely discounted courses. Whatever the subject, others will most likely offer a competitive course. Don’t be blinded by high numbers of competitive course enrollment – it is an illusion. To gain enrollment momentum and due to Udemy totally devaluing their content offerings, offer a free enrollment period and switch to a fee based arrangement when the time is right.
- Udemy culture is that of devaluing your content, rewarding subpar teachers and punishing top performers. Like any corporation, Udemy rewards under-performers while punishing the more capable. Would you believe they actually demanded we ‘share’ paying students with other companies?!
- Minority instructors, Udemy WILL NOT financially back your courses as with others. You can view this as an injustice and not participate, at all, or as an opportunity to bring other minorities to your courses for enrollment. Before any believe it is some sort of ‘racial conspiracy’ – Danielle Leslie is the Udemy employee responsible for promoting instructors and she is African-American. Unfortunately and I say this through hard won experience – she is just another ‘crab in the bucket’. (They who have an ear, let them hear)
Udemy can be a great part-time income and this post wasn’t written that any become discouraged. We just wanted you to ‘go in with your eyes wide open’ and understand once this option is earning a small income, other websites are available such as e-learning website Curious.com.
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