Type “Online marketing courses” in a browser, and you will get 29+ million results with every option imaginable. And one of the search results undoubtedly will be Udemy, an online learning platform.
What is Udemy?
Udemy has a library of over 40,000 courses, 20k instructors, and 12 million students in 190 countries around the world, so it has reach. The question is, in addition to earning money by creating courses, can you use Udemy for a business you already have.
The answer is yes, and here are some of the things it can do that can directly increase the presence of your business in the digital world, while earning you money from the courses.
How Can Udemy Benefit Your Small Business?
It can position you as an expert in your related field. Whether you are an accountant, artist, mechanic or plumber, you can create course that can teach people how to do things. You can charge for the courses or offer them for free. This in turn will drive traffic to your site by people that are ready to buy your products and services.
Udemy is also an outlet that gives you free marketing and promotion. By creating a course on the site, you have a potential audience of millions of people. These are visitors that want to engage, so their participation rate will be much higher than other ecommerce sites. And for users that take your course, you can build your list of subscribers with their name and email addresses, which can be used for future promotions.
So how do you create a course on Udemy?
Creating a Course on Udemy
Before you start, create an account and go to this link to review the quality standards of Udemy. This will ensure you are following the rules as to what the company expects. But some of what it looks for include, HD video, good audio, 5 lectures, and at least 30 minutes of video content.
As an instructor Udemy has a revenue share system where it pays you 50 percent of the net amount received for your course, minus any applicable deductions.
When you are ready, go to Udemy Teach and you will see the ready to create a course page. You enter the title and you will be prompted to go to the next page.
Course Goals
This is an important page, because potential students will be making their decision based on you put here. It appears on the landing page, so make is as clear as possible without being too wordy or gimmicky.
The user interface is very intuitive across the entire process, and Udemy has done a great job to simplify the input of the information.
Test Video
Since this is a platform that uses video to deliver the courses, Udemy wants to ensure the quality is high. You have to send a 2-5 minute video recorded on the same equipment you will be using for the course. The video you submit will be reviewed and you will get feedback on how to improve it, if it needs it, within two business day.
A quality video ensures your students can see and hear everything you say. You can review the test video instruction before you even send any sample here.
Curriculum
In the curriculum section, you will put together your course. The page has several prompt where you can add and create sections, lectures, exercise, quizzes and more.
Course Landing Page
The course landing page is the first thing anyone sees about what you are offering. Again, Udemy has done a good job of having the right prompts so you can fill title, subtitle, course description, images, videos and more.
Once you fill it out, you can click the preview button and see how it will look. You can play with it until if feels right for you.
Price
This page is self-explanatory, so you set the price you are going to charge for the course. You will be directed to the premium page where you will fill out the financial information. If you don’t want to charge for the course, select free.
You can also create instructor coupons to promote your course.
Automatic Messages
This is an automated message that will be sent to student when they join and complete the course. Although this is optional, it is a great way to continue engaging with your students.
Submit for Review
When you have filled out all the information, you are ready to submit your course for a review. Once it is approved, you can market and promote is to drive student to your course.
Udemy is a great learning portal that provides affordable lessons for anyone with an Internet connection. It has thousands of free courses, and even thousands more where you will have to pay. Whether you are creating a course as a source of income or to promote your business, it can do both, and best of all, it is free.
This being Udemy, you can take a course on how to create a Udemy course by taking one. It is a step by step guide created by the company available for free. You can take the course by clicking here.
Images: Udemy
