Udemy Marketing – Dennis J. Smith

Interview With Best Selling Online Instructor and Video School Online Phil Ebiner

September 14, 2016

Interview Questions for Phil Ebiner: These are the questions I asked Phil during our interview and his answer are in the video above. Let’s talk about Video School Online. Would you share with me and those who will be watching what it is? How do you keep coming up with course ideas? Do you think it’s worth it to refresh older courses or create a new course with updated information? How are you preparing for Udemy’s Black Friday Promo? How did the Udemy April price change affect you? Have you seen changes since they rolled back some of the changes recently? We did a course together on ConvertKit which is for email marketing and I know you have done courses with other instructors. What do you like the most about doing courses like this and what advice would you give those considering co-instructed courses? Let’s talk about email marketing. How important do you think it is for an instructor? What one piece of advice would you offer instructors who are in it for the long term? Phil’s Courses DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE UDEMY INSTRUCTOR RESOURCE GUIDE

#AskDennis: Online Instructor Patricia Martin

August 20, 2016

#AskDennis: Online Instructor Patricia Martin Transcript for my reply to Instructor Patricia Martin: Welcome back for another edition of Ask Dennis and you can find previous episodes at https://dennisjsmith.com/askdennis using the hashtag Ask Dennis and today’s question comes from Tricia who is a Udemy instructor and she says thank you for offering this service for answering our course marketing questions and her question is “What’s the most effective marketing method to get exposure for her course”, she’s tried coupons she’s tried handing out fliers with a course link on those added some lessons on YouTube etc. But she’s still not making a lot of sells what should her next step be thank you and she goes on to give her website and her course link which i will add in the notes on YouTube because they’re just so long that it’s some difficult sometimes for people to understand when you’re giving them out a URL so Thank You Tricia for the question. I’ll make sure that I give you a shout out excuse me. So on one of the first things that I would say and I say this probably a lot is a blog definitely want to have a blog where everything that you do comes together including promoting your courses and then also connecting your social media networks such as Facebook or Instagram of course says that it is the “Street basic power guide to SEO”, so it sounds like they should already have some SEO knowledge I use WordPress for websites and use Yoast SEO as a plug-in to help out with the SEO because SEO is not my forte I know enough about it you know to make sure that I have the right keywords and what not but you definitely want to have a blog and promote your courses on your website and start writing about SEO and give out tips and things like that and become the expert in SEO so that those people who are coming to your website for SEO tips see that you have a course on SEO and hopefully more courses, I haven’t looked to see if you have more unique courses but I would imagine that you’re going to release more courses and you just you know you want to become an expert in that area so that your followers see that I’m just like myself with the stuff that I’ve done on you to me I constantly get questions from people through Facebook who have questions such as yours and that’s because I’ve been doing this kind of stuff for a while now I do WordPress and I do SEO and all of that but my interest is in helping others out with marketing so you said that you tried flyers and things like that that’s interesting because I’ve never done something like that but what about maybe teaching a course at a local community college I’ve done that here i’m in the Boise Idaho area. I’ve gone to community colleges before who have allowed me to use their facilities and I have people come and join me. I haven’t done this in a while and I’ve been wanting to do this again because you kind of want to do this to you know connect with students in real time or or real life or whatever so find some of those community colleges and maybe or find someplace where you can teach a course on SEO and go out to your businesses that are in your local community and let them know that you’re teaching that course and then you can upsell your online course to them so that they can go there for more information and maybe you can you know if SEO is what you do maybe that’s a way that you can find some clients. So I would definitely suggest something like that. Have you thought about writing an e-book a kindle book? It is really easy to write you could write a Kindle book and in front of the book you can put links to your courses i wrote my book Udemy Life and I put links in front of the book because I Amazon will show the first ten percent of the book so that people can decide if they want to buy the book but they can still see those links and possibly click on those and then I have links throughout the book because I interviewed other instructors so maybe you could do something like that to and use that as a way to get people to go to your course. So those are a few tips there that you might want to try out let me know how those work out and others use any of those tips certainly let me know if you’re looking at this video on YouTube comment below if you have a question contact me through DennisJSmith.com if you have a question yourself or if you see this on Facebook or YouTube please leave a comment and let me know if you have any questions or if you enjoyed the information that i gave you. So that’s it for this edition of Ask Dennis thank you very much and thanks again Tricia for your question.

Does the Udemy Price Change Have You Down?

April 24, 2016

We are all in this together! Does the recent Udemy price change have you and your revenue down? I have heard from many instructors and follow the discussion in the Udemy Studio and Udemy Faculty Lounge. Revenue is down in April after the new price change went into effect and instructors are frustrated. I get it because I am an instructor too and I have had both good months and bad months. That’s why I’m always trying new stuff and always coming up with ways to promote courses. I have success with some ideas and others fail then I move on to something new. But here’s what I know what works and what you should consider. Taking advantage of the resources that are there for you, some free and others that are affordable. Here’s a few things to help you get through the storm and on your way to success: Submit Your $10 Course Free! – I started Online Course Coupons for you back in 2014. It’s always been free for you to list your course on the site. Traffic to the site continues to grow. The site had over 4,000 visitors in March and that number continues to increase. I work hard at promoting courses utilizing my social media networks like Facebook and Twitter to bring even more exposure to courses. I just approved a bunch of new $10 listings today if you want to see what other Udemy instructors are offering. Start Here to add your own course. I recommend $10 courses because that’s what I promote the most but the discount is up to you! Watch Past Blabs and learn from others – I host a popular show on Blab with Matt Bernstein who’s earned thousands on Udemy. Matt and I bring guest on the show who are successful in their area of expertise so they can share valuable information. Like Gabby Wallace (TED Talk) with over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. Are you using YouTube to promote your Udemy courses? If not you are missing out on opportunities to bring in new students and more revenue. I suggest you take the time to watch “How to create a video course, market with YouTube, and travel with Gabby Wallace” this week and use her advice to grow your YouTube channel. I am committed to adding a new videos each week on my own YouTube channel. Get More Exposure! – Do you want even more exposure for your course without the added expense? My motto is “It takes money to make money” which in turn helps getting you out in front of others. But it doesn’t have to drain your checking account. I’ve been there! That’s why I use tools like Fiverr and look for gigs that work. I even offer one myself for exposure on the homepage of Online Course Coupons. Many instructors have found success and made their money back or even a little more. It doesn’t work for everyone but it’s a small investment and I am even willing to give you your money back if you aren’t satisfied. That hasn’t happened so far so and there’s almost 70 positive reviews! Here are some “Udemy” related Gigs I have bookmarked. Udemy Life – I love Udemy so much that I wrote my 2nd book about my experience and the experiences of several successful instructors and some new. There’s a lot of great information about Udemy course marketing in the book and even a survey I did last year. Download a copy on Amazon Kindle for just .99 Cents. It’s worth way more than that but I want to make sure everyone has access to the information. Don’t wait though because the price increases on May 1st. I have to pay for my move to Seattle later this spring. Let me know if this helps or if you have some tips I can share with others. If you want to be on the show with Matt and I we’d love to hear from you. Be well and thanks for allowing me into your inbox! Dennis Udemy Instructor and Author “Udemy Life” Udemy Instructor? Add your Udemy course listing and join the mailing list. START HERE!

Udemy’s First ConvertKit Course Launches

April 12, 2016

I made the switch from email marketing app MailChimp to ConvertKit last November and loved it so much I created Udemy’s first course on ConvertKit. Why? My Udemy Co-Instructor Phil Ebiner and I explain in this fun promo video we shot for the course. I convinced Phil why he should use ConvertKit to grow his business Video School Online. I started using ConvertKit after building a sizable list with MailChimp’s Forever Free Plan. However I wasn’t seeing much growth with my revenue and my list had grown to the point where I got bumped into MailChimp’s paid plan. I knew that I had to do something different or I’d just be tossing money from my checking account. That’s when I started thinking about switching to ConvertKit since I live near Boise and have met the founder Nathan Barry. I liked what he was doing and followed his success with the books he had written and the amazing revenue he was generating. I would recommend you follow his blog for some useful marketing advice and check out these tools that I use too. I made the switch and started thinking about how I could teach others about ConvertKit through Udemy. Phil was part of a mastermind group I started but I had known him since starting on Udemy. I had followed his impressive success on Udemy where he’s now earning $10,000 a month from Udemy. However through our conversations I felt that ConvertKit could help him see the same growth I was seeing with my websites and the book launch I was working on. Here’s a breakdown of my Subscribers captures from today 4/12/2016 and showing the amount joining each day. March 25th was the day I imported 299 subscribers from my social media marketing list on MailChimp. That means I’ve added over 600 new subscribers to my list on ConvertKit in just the last 30 days. In that time I’ve launched a new book, new Udemy Course and my new website Free Courses Daily. Imagine the success you could have with your own list using ConvertKit. Phil and I will show you how by signing up for my list to take the course free. You don’t need ConvertKit to take the course but I recommend it and best of all you can use it for 30-days and ask for your $29 back if you aren’t satisfied. I will even walk you through getting it set up over Skype if you use my affiliate link below and get started now! Ready to sign up? By this point, you understand why I teach and preach ConvertKit. I switched over from using MailChimp because it just works better for me as an online entrepreneur. Here’s 5 reasons you should consider switching to ConvertKit: Simple Interface Automated Email Sequences Automated Triggers Integrates With Other Platforms Like Gravity Forms Helpful Blog Post So You Get More Out Of ConvertKit If you think ConvertKit is for you, I’ve got a special offer: If you sign up through my affiliate link I will give you 30 mins of my time every 3 months for as long as you stay with ConvertKit. You can use that time however you want, either on a Skype call or helping set something up for you in ConvertKit. Now all you have to do is click the link and get started just like I did. I will see you on Skype soon! If you’re interested, sign up for ConvertKit. You can try it and get a 30-day refund if it doesn’t work out.That’s what Phil and I did but you can see we are both still using it would much success. I think you’ll see that too and continue using ConvertKit to grow your list and revenue. Try it out! And see if it works for you! *The link that I shared above is an affiliate link. At no cost to you, I will make a few bucks for recommending you try out ConvertKit. I do this because I use it daily and love ConvertKit. I wouldn’t pitch the product to you if I didn’t. Please, only sign up for ConvertKit if you are ready to invest in your business and start building your sales funnels!

Udemy Instructor Syed Hassan Bukhari Udemy Life Interview

April 6, 2016

Udemy Instructor Syed Hassan Bukhar Udemy Life Interview Do you remember when you first came across Udemy? Were you doing online courses before Udemy? Yes, I remember. I started in summers of 2014, but I was not able to get approved on Udemy. So, I temporarily stopped doing it and started working again in September, 2014, and got approved. Well, I was totally new to online course teaching. I wasn’t doing any other online courses before Udemy. When did you launch your first course on Udemy? I launched my first Udemy course in September, 2014. How many do you have now? I’ve got 5 courses What’s your most popular course? My first course is still the most popular one. Do you have a course creation tip? Yes, I guess. We should first record all the lectures, and once that all is done, then we can do the editing stuff. It saves me a lot of time and I have even filmed courses within 2 – 3 days. How about advice on marketing Udemy courses? Udemy does the marketing pretty good for us, but for our own promotion social media (specially Facebook) is a very good way to promote, also you can do this by distributing your coupons on coupon sharing sites. What tools do you use to stay productive throughout the day? Well, there is no such thing that I use to be productive. Well, when I want to note down something or want to write instructional details about something. I do it on Microsoft word. Moreover, if I want to create a detailed article about a particular topic before creating an actual video course. I do it on my blog admin panel (WordPress). What advice would you give to other Udemy instructors? I would like to advise instructors to make courses with unique ideas, they sell the best. What advice would you give to newbies? In my opinion, newbies should first thoroughly study the topic that they are teaching. It is good to use a script, but it is even better if you have all the contents inside your brain and you can speak it without using a script that looks more realistic and awesome. I do that. Once you’ve researched on the topic completely it won’t be very difficult. It is obvious that we always have to review that information that we know and further research so we can teach with more practical examples and teach people the right thing, so it is a good idea to do research. Are you able to share with others what your monthly revenue is? Well, I don’t do promotion on my own, Udemy does that for me and I earn a couple of hundred dollars each month which is good enough. I don’t want to share the exact amount. What are some of the things Udemy has allowed you to do? Udemy has allowed me to interact with the world in an efficient way. I don’t think I would have been able to reach such a big number of students from so many different places. I’ve got thousands of students from 130+ different countries and the entire credit goes to Udemy that helped me provide my courses to these people. Any upcoming courses? Right now, I’ve got upcoming exams. So, I’m working for that. The exams are coming a few months. After that I’ll have enough time to work on my courses. How about one last thought or piece of advice? Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts over here. It really feels great to share what I feel; it might help someone. In my last words, I want to say best of luck to all the people who have plans to make courses on Udemy, and want to encourage them that it really is an amazing market, go for it. That’s it, thanks again. Udemy Profile: https://www.udemy.com/user/syedhassanrazashah

Category: Udemy Marketing

Interview With Best Selling Online Instructor and Video School Online Phil Ebiner

Does the Udemy Price Change Have You Down?

Udemy’s First ConvertKit Course Launches

Udemy Instructor Syed Hassan Bukhari Udemy Life Interview

How to create a video course, market with YouTube, and travel with Go Natural English Instructor Gabby Wallace

Make Money Online w/guest Udemy Instructor and Passive Income Expert Dave Espino.

#Udemy Q&A with Udemy Instructors Dennis Smith and Matt Bernstein!

#Udemy Roundtable with Dennis Smith, Matt Bernstein and Dave Espino