Steal Udemy’s Traffic for Your Own Courses

By: Justin Ferriman • May 2, 2017
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Udemy might not be a good choice for your online course business, but it can still be a good choice for your overall marketing & branding strategy.

I have written a lot about Udemy over the years, much of which isn’t very flattering.

Spoiler alert: my opinion on Udemy still hasn’t changed. However, if you are just looking to create a couple courses for fun then it’s a good avenue. You don’t have to worry about the tech and you can just create content.

If you are trying to build a business then I would strongly advise against using a third party platform that you give up a ton of control over the main component of your business.

That said,  I only represent one man’s opinion.

I fully recognize that there are those that disagree with me on the matter of Udemy. I even had a few Skype calls with someone making 7-figures from their Udemy courses (to which he revealed to me that Udemy took about 33% of those revenues). While this individual is an extreme outlier, it did encourage me to take another look at Udemy’s utility.

Using Udemy to Build Brand Awareness

While Udemy isn’t very good for your core business offering I do think it can be good for marketing your brand. Depending on your course subject it might make sense to leverage Udemy as part of your marketing efforts.

How?

Create a “lite” version of your course and put it on Udemy.

Now when I say “lite”, I don’t mean missing all the good content. Remember, this is part of your marketing. If you put out crappy content then it will reflect negatively on you and your primary course offering(s).

The production quality should be top-notch as well. Treat the course as you would your main course.

Hopefully you can easily identify which lessons in your course would make a good mini-course (or introduction) to the bigger concepts you are teaching. Splice out these lessons for your Udemy course.

Next, make sure you mention your business at some point during the course. It can be part of your introduction for example. Or, put the web address of your business on some of your slides. I would recommend against plastering this all over as it will come across a tad spammy. Most people will be okay with casual mentions every now and again.

Remember, your goal here is to teach. When you teach you establish rapport and build trust. If your students on Udemy trust you then they will check out some of your other offerings on your business site. It might be a good idea to offer a special discount to the Udemy participants so they can get your full course at a favorable rate.

The last thing I want to mention is that it is important not to overthink the Udemy course. It’s part of your marketing strategy. Price it so that it is very accessible, or just make it free. Free courses can do quite well on Udemy, but remember that the quality of leads will go down when there isn’t a price.

So there you have it. It took some time but I think I have finally found a use for Udemy that I can stand behind. 🙂

Think of Udemy as a branch of your marketing by tapping into the hordes of traffic that they bring to their site. Deliver a quality course to build trust and to help your potential customers find your business more easily.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter