Did you know that you can make passive income online by becoming a Udemy course instructor?
It's true!
If you have expertise or a wealth of knowledge in a specific field of study or topic, you can create an online class and submit to the Udemy Marketplace.
And the beauty of it is that your subject doesn't even have to be highly technical or anything like that. All you need to do is think of something you have real-world experience in, and that you know will solve a problem or a address a pain point for your potential students, and you can totally crush it over on Udemy.
Your course needs to be mostly in the video format, but you can include audio and text lessons as well. Once it's approved, your course will be available for sale across a network of over 6 million registered students and promoted in the Udemy Marketplace.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Udemy or if you missed the interview I did with my friend and Udemy Instructor Rob Cubbon, let me explain. Basically, Udemy is an online learning marketplace that offers video training courses which are taught by folks like you and me.
Currently there are over 14,000 instructors being taught in over 80 different languages, so please come and join us won't you?
Take it from me, teaching an online course gives you a great sense of empowerment. There's a remarkable feeling that comes over you when you sell your first Udemy course and then you sell another and another until pretty soon you'll stop counting.
Even though I've been sharing tips and teaching bloggers how to improve their content for years, being a Udemy course instructor somehow seems more official. It's a great accomplishment and it's very rewarding. I know you will enjoy it too, especially if you're someone who is currently struggling to earn an income with your blog. Creating a course and making it available for sale on the Udemy Marketplace is an excellent source for generating a decent amount of passive income each month.
The Growing Popularity of Udemy
Take a look at this chart from Google Trends that tracks interest in Udemy since January 2012.
Udemy in the news:
- How I made $100,000 Teaching Online
- This 71-year-old Makes up to $8,500 a Month Teaching Online Classes
- Through Technology, Building a Better Orientation Model
Overall I must say that I enjoy being an instructor on Udemy and my experience has been very positive. After all, look at all the awesome people that I'm connected to now, solely because I got involved with the community.
But just like anything else you do to earn an income online (and in life for that matter) there are pros and cons to look at. So without further ado, listen to what my panel of Udemy Course instructors have to say as they weigh in on the pros and cons of Udemy!
We'll start off with Rob Cubbon, since he's responsible for all of this in the first place (just kidding Rob) 🙂 and I'll finish off with my feedback at the end.
Rob Cubbon of Robcubbon.com
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
The fact that they do the marketing, advertising, sales pages, couponing, affiliate schemes and promoting of all my courses and I don't have to do anything apart from create the course and answer student questions. AND, it's passive income – I don't have to launch and launch and launch.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
The messaging system sucks. I know they're trying to improve it. They should try to make the whole site more social – I can imagine “your friend x enjoyed this course” would do quite well.
Rob is offering a fantastic price on his course: Learn & Earn: Make Passive Income Selling eBooks and Courses. You can get the course for $17 by entering the coupon code: BASICBLOGTIPS
Editor's note: Rob has an ebook on Amazon that tells his personal story and his chronicles his journey from being a freelancer to becoming an entrepreneur. Once I started reading it I couldn't stop. It's one of the best books I read last year.
Deborah Anderson of Social Web Cafe
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
The best thing about Udemy is the community. While I don't post as often as I like, I do see the Facebook Udemy posts from the Udemy Instructors Group often pop up in my Facebook feed. There is such love in that community! In this day and age where so much of what we do is virtual, it is helpful to be connected and get that sense of “real,” and the community that Udemy put together does just that. It keeps you connected with real people who are experiencing the same challenges and successes as you. Udemy had the foresight to put together the group and moderates it in a way where we feel comfortable sharing and asking questions.
This is priceless.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
I think the most challenging aspect has been communication. The one-way communication works well but I have found that many times the follow-up get lost in a shuffle, possibly between different people on the team. Udemy does so well at so many things that this is relatively minor, but when you really need to get a message (i.e. a response to a question asked by Udemy about your course), it really helps if you can reach the right person (i.e. the person asking the question).
If you want to take Google+ to the next level, Deborah's Hangout Queen course will show you the way.
Important Note: Deborah is one of the featured guest bloggers here on Basic Blog Tips and stay tuned for a big announcement that Deborah and I are collaborating on. [Hint: Triberr Ebook] 🙂
Mark Timberlake of SME Heroes
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
Residual income.
Waking up and finding a few more Dollars in your bank account than you had the day before, all whilst you were sleeping.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
More site wide promotions so that everyone's course has a chance of being promoted by Udemy.
Mark is offering 5 free coupons (first come first serve) for his course Udemy Course Creation – Planning Filming Marketing Promotion (normal price $299)
Something else you should know: Mark and his better half Philomena started a Google + Community called Online Video Educators & Entrepreneurs. On Sunday afternoons they host a really informative Hangout on Air where they bring on instructors for interviews or panel discussions. I was on the panel for this one talking about YouTube!
Denise Fletcher from Enabling Transitions
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
The ability to convert existing training material into new products really appealed to me when I discovered Udemy and I do like the idea of earning money whilst I'm sleeping. However reaching a global market is brilliant and something I would have found very difficult without Udemy.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
Udemy have many great attributes and amazing energy. The one area I think they could improve is by diversifying the student base by attracting more non – technical students and more female students. I believe that this would lead to a demand for more diverse course topics and may attract new instructors. Win -Win for everyone!
Note: Denise started a Facebook group for us ladies called Udemy Women Rock! If you want to join, let us know. We ladies always need a special place to encourage one another without they guys around. Use the link below and coupon code Basicblogtips to get any of her courses for $10.
Scott Patton from Power Podcasting
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
Credibility. Once you have 2,000 plus students and forty 5star reviews, you are definitely seen as an expert in your field. This credibility is easily leveraged into coaching clients, Keynote speaking engagements, workshops, and other JV projects.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
Make organizing the courses easier, both the ones I am taking and the ones I am teaching. The system is fine if you only teach five courses, or take ten courses. Otherwise, it becomes a mess.
Scott is offering his course Social Media Business Success with Free Podcast Hosting for $17.
Important note: I predict that Podcasters will soon be taking over the world so you'd better take Scott's course before it's too late. Yes, I said it “world domination” and you heard it from me first.
Professor Ron Stefanski from One Hour Professor
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
In my opinion, the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy is the additional exposure that you get to a lot of students/people whom would never hear from you otherwise. My first course I created has just over 2,600 students and many of them have my websites email list because they enjoy my teaching style.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
Although I love Udemy for giving us a platform to host our courses on, there is definitely room for improvement in many areas. For me, the main thing is that they need to make it easier for instructors to understand and communicate with the students in their course that have completed over 80%.
Analytics are vital in terms of being a successful Udemy instructor and as of now Udemy doesn't give instructors everything they need to truly succeed in my opinion. I created a new course specifically for Udemy instructors (which is almost ready for launch) that shows how to use Google Analytics to increase Udemy Sales.
If you'd like to join the early bird list for a discount when it launches, click here to sign up.
Fun Fact: Prof. Ron was recently featured on Pat Flynn and Chris Ducker's new podcast, 1 Day Business Breakthrough. Find out what happened when Pat and Chris tried to rake him over the coals and how he turned things around.
Phil Ebiner from Video School Online
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
The biggest benefit for me is twofold. First, Udemy allows me to reach thousands of people in a dynamic way – through online courses. It's great to see people from the other side of the world learning from me. Second, it's a great source of secondary (and possibly primary) income. I've been able to use the income from Udemy to go on trips to Europe and the Philippines. It has helped pay for an engagement ring and a wedding. And it's helped me transition to working full time for myself.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
The biggest change I'd like to see on Udemy is the addition of a projects module within each course. I think people like to learn by doing projects. I also think people would like to see the work of fellow students. Having a tangible skill after taking a course would help improve the student experience. So hopefully some day students can more easily post a project to the course page.
Phil created a $200 discount for his best selling Teach Online course!
Good to know: Phil is one of the nicest instructors and I think everyone of his students loves him. If I ever decide to learn Photoshop or anything else in the Adobe Suite, I'll beg him for a coupon.
Bob Marx from MST Selling System
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
The biggest benefit to me is the ability to share my thoughts and strategies with a wider and probably until now unreachable audience. Let’s face it the internet is a crowded place. Udemy allows a gathering place or common ground for like-minded people to learn and discover resources they otherwise would have been aware of.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
As far as my Udemy wish list… it would be nice to have the ability to add some re-targeting links to the course pages. Udemy is already making use of this with Facebook and ad-roll. As a business person it would be great if we had the same ability to invest in more targeted marketing efforts.
Here's a 94% off $10 coupon for How to Create a Udemy Course in 5 Days or Less Part Time
My personal favorite: Out of all the courses on “how to make a Udemy courses” Bob's is my favorite. I love the story he tells about his daughter and his advice about not adding intro and outro music to each and every video in your course. Amen brotha!
Scott Scowcroft from The Scott Treatment
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
The biggest benefit that Udemy provides for many beginner instructors is providing a structured environment in which to learn a new skills set — that, is of course, of how to create and present courses professionally online.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
If there were one thing I'd ask Udemy to change, it would be to open up courses so one party could be online talent while another could serve as a “behind the scenes” producer, and yet still share revenues.
Things You Should Know: Scott's course hasn't been released yet but I'm sure it will be amazing so stay tuned. Scott is well known on Google+ for The Scott Treatment. Click here to learn more.
Dennis Smith from Dennisjsmith.com
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
Knowing other Udemy instructors around the world and building personal friendships and professional relationships with them. Many of them push me to produce more course, procrastinate less so I stay focused on my goals and use my skills to help others with their success. Helping others succeed is what brings me the most pleasure.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
Less control over what instructors cannot do on the platform. I am doing a webinar to help instructors with Udemy marketing and not supposed to collect email addresses.
So it makes it hard to promote the webinar to those instructors who are students in my Udemy marketing course. I understand they want to to be a friendly environment for students but it should be the same for instructors to grow too.
Dennis has a special discount code offer for you guys. Take any one of his courses for $7 when you use the coupon code BASICBLOGTIPS7 <<Hurry! This expires on June 1st 2015
FREE COURSE ALERT: Dennis also has one course that is always free and that course is called: Udemy Course Marketing: Start Increasing Your Udemy Revenue
Ely Delaney from Your Marketing University
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
I've got over 1,000 people signed up for the program and I reached most of that BEFORE I even told my own list I had created the course.
It's added a ton of feedback to make it better, got me a lot of publicity and it also gave me the opportunity to meet a whole new group of people to collaborate with (other instructors).
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
My one big frustration with Udemy is the their strict rules on not sending students to anything that asks them to buy other stuff or even collect email addresses.
I completely understand their stance on it.
They want to protect their reputation but as a marketer, I have other offerings that have nothing to do with Udemy and it's almost crippling to not be able to bring people into my own world outside of Udemy.
Like I said, I get it but it's still frustrating.
Ely is offering a fantastic 90% discount off his course: How I Used Networking To Triple My Business In 6 Months
Not so fun fact: It has taken me almost two years to get Ely on the blog! There's a long story behind that but the important thing is that I finally did it. Now I'm a woman of my word. 🙂
Sergio Felix of Marketing with Sergio
What is the biggest benefit of being an instructor on Udemy?
Being an instructor on Udemy has helped me establish my authority online in their
marketplace in just a matter of days.
I reached the 1,000+ students mark in a really crowded niche (learning WordPress for business oriented individuals) with almost zero promotion on my part so you know there's a big room for grow in their marketplace in niches that are less saturated.
It has allowed me to meet new like minded instructors and also has given me a lot of exposure to new students from niches outside the Internet Marketing industry.
I find their learning and teaching platform to be top notch quality in terms of usability and I love how user friendly their platform is.
There are simply no excuses for not having a published course on Udemy for anyone who is remotely interested in making a profit from their knowledge.
If there is one thing you wish Udemy would change, what’s on your wish list?
A more strict review and approval system for every training that is specifically about making money online.
I have seen a lot of income claims and zero proof to back those claims out so I think it would be wise for Udemy to check out what other platforms (Clickbank) have done in order to keep their marketplace quality as high as possible.
Mostly for the ladies: Sergio is such a sweet guy. I love including him in this article. He's very charming too and gets featured on a lot of YouTube channels and podcasts.
Udemy Instructor Success Tips
One of the most
He shares his expertise in this ebook How I make $4,000 a Week Uploading Simple Online Courses to Udemy and Only Working 1 Hour a Day – No Camera Required. Great title right! Way to go Alun on making 6 figures on Udemy in the last 12 months.
John Colley is another very successful Udemy course instructor. I don't think anyone has single handedly made more one-on-one connections with other instructors than John. He started a podcast where he interviews other instructors and dives deep into the details of course creation and promotion. (Remember what I told you-podcasting = world domination)
The Online Learning Podcast can be found on iTunes but it also available as a free course on Udemy.
Before you create your first course or your next one, take a look at the advice John shares in this video called: “Udemy” Three Major Mistakes Udemy Instructors Make – And the Third Might Surprise You!
I'm not going to tell you all the mistakes that John covers here, you'll need to watch the video to find out it's only 2 minutes long! But I will say that his #3 reason is the one that hits you right in the pocket-book!
Wrapping things up with my thoughts on Udemy
Udemy is a unique learning platform because you can find traditional courses there like Photoshop and how to use WordPress. But you can also take a class on How to Watch American Football or How to Find the Right Man. Now there's something you won't find on Lynda.com, that's for sure!
This means that just about everyone can make money on the Udemy platform and I love that! Just think about all of the things you do well — what's your special gift or something your friend tell you that you're really good at doing. Then put those ideas into Udemy's suggested format (audio, video or text – but mostly video) and you're good to go.
The challenge for me with putting up my first course on Udemy was that I was intimidated by the whole process. Thank goodness for me that I had Rob Cubbon to “virtually” hold my hand over Skype and coach me through it. But I'm not so sure that other folks will be so lucky. So my advice is to find a mentor that will help you get through it. I just introduced you to 12 potential mentors that I know for sure would be willing to help you. Oh and then there's me 🙂
In conclusion: With all these wonderful things that myself and the other expert Udemy Instructors have to say, I need to confess that Udemy it's not my platform of choice for teaching online courses. Don't get me wrong, I will continue to use Udemy and stay connected to their fantastic community of instructors. I also think it's a fantastic place to get started and learn how courses are structured and optimized for helping students reach their objective (which is UBER important). But it turns out that the platform I'm using now for my online courses is called Teachable.
Stay tuned guys because there's a whole nother blog post to come about Teachable!
So what do you think? Are you ready to become a Udemy Course Instructor? Leave a comment and let me know your plans!