Further details of question: We are a online company that specializes in online culinary courses (cooking) and soon to be merchandise. However we are relatively new and need to move into a promising online presence.
We really need to find out how we can benefit from opportunities to increase site traffic and sales. As of right now all of our online course sales are generated through an online platform Udemy. What are some of our options for selling our cooking courses on our own site, on other platforms and for selling our merchandise online?
Answer: Congratulations on your Udemy success with your cooking classes. The major advantage of having your courses on Udemy is that they’re exposed to more customers and the downside is that you don’t have their email addresses, can’t promote your other merchandise and have to sell your courses at retail & sale prices according to Udemy’s schedule.
If you’re looking for a way to increase engagement through Udemy and cross-promote your merchandise/products on the platform, your only options are through the Bonus lecture (at the end of each course where you’re allowed to promote external products) and subtly through educational/promotional announcements. For Udemy announcements, you are allowed to have links to your website blog posts and can hope that some visitors sign up to your email list (although this can’t be prominent in the article you share).
For selling your course on your own site, you could link out to your Udemy course (to earn a higher % of sales or using your Udemy affiliate link to earn money on your course sale and potential sale of other courses during the same site visit). If you are linking out, you could also include a shopping cart for your own merchandise or set up a tool like Shopify on your own subdomain to make selling simpler.
You could also use a platform like Teachable to make it easy to host and sell your courses, starting on the free plan.
For online course marketplaces, see this article on the best options to consider.
Note: Get in touch if you’re in need of advice regarding your own online course plan and strategy.
