Are you thinking of venturing into affiliate marketing, but don’t know where to start? The internet provides a lot of resources to learn this online and one site that keeps popping up on my search list is called Udemy. I learned mine from a completely different platform (I’ll get to that later) so I am quite curious at what Udemy has to offer (you’d be surprised!).
In this article, we’ll find out if Udemy is the best place to learn about affiliate marketing.
What Is Udemy?
Udemy is an online learning marketplace that connects students to skilled experts through in-demand online courses. Since 2010, it has delivered more than 20 000 courses and featured in some popular news media such as Bloomberg and ABC News.
One of the many skills that are taught in Udemy is affiliate marketing and there are hundreds of diversified courses relating to that subject alone.
How Do You Choose a Course?
Simply type in ‘affiliate marketing’ on the catalog search and select any of the courses based on language preference, price range or recommendation from other students. When joining a course, you’ll be directed to a summary page that has;
- An introduction to the author.
- Announcement relating to the course updates.
- The number of students enrolled (in a way, reflecting the popularity of the course).
- A synopsis of what the course is all about.
- A detailed breakdown of the course curriculum which are predominantly video lessons, followed by text media and podcast streaming.
- Free previews for certain chapters within the course (if available)
- Reviews from previous students.
A typical Udemy classroom will look like this – a video streaming, materials for download and a discussion board. As long as you are connected to a reliable internet connection, you’ll be able to watch the video tutorials without any problem.
Do you recognize the guy in this snapshot?
How Much Do the Affiliate Marketing Courses Cost?
With the booming of eCommerce, we can expect a huge demand for affiliate marketing courses in the next few years to come. So how much would it cost you to learn from these courses at Udemy?
Here’s a quick glance of the prices and what you can expect to get.
- Free – You can gain access to some simple lessons or sub-topics such as social media or mobile marketing.
- Mid-range ($50-$299) – You get longer tutorial hours for more in-depth courses.
- High range (>$300) – These are ‘super’ courses that claim to teach you how to scale for profits in affiliate marketing through their ‘secret’ strategies.
It is important to note that some paid courses aren’t always conducted by experienced tutors and you can actually find some reputable internet marketers such as Rand Fishkin offering free courses too.
So remember to research on your tutors’ profile and find out who they are before you enroll in the courses.
Let’s Hear What Some Students Have to Say about Udemy…
With hundreds of courses available, tutors that offer hype-free and step-by-step teaching style are more favorable to the students.
Meanwhile, some courses (and tutors) clearly need improvement in terms of delivering a better quality online lecture that’s worthy of the fee.
What about THIS course?
As I was browsing through the catalog, one particular course caught my attention.
This course is offered for $300 and guess what it is going to teach you? Read them carefully.
Even if you are a beginner, reading along the line tells you that something isn’t right. Blackhat SEO is one of the common signs of online scams and if you started off with this course, (and I know some of you are going to be very tempted) you are making a big mistake as an affiliate marketer.
If you want to build a successful online business, do it right. Offer people valuable information and help them with their concerns. Don’t use brutal selling techniques; no one likes that and it has no benefits whatsoever in the long run.
This finding also raises a few concerning questions;
- What are the benefits and consequences will this course have on the students?
- What kind of knowledge and skills is Udemy hoping to promote to internet users as part of their education business?
- Does the team at Udemy even screen the credibility of this particular tutor before promoting the course online?
I was hoping to find a statement somewhere in the course page that says “Don’t enroll; this course is just a joke.”, but clearly there isn’t one. What I did find is that there are actually students enrolling in this course – 168 of them at this point of writing – and 3/4 gave it a thumbs up.
Hmm…that’s worrying. What do you think?
So, Is Udemy Worthy of Your Time?
In general, most of the affiliate marketing courses are suitable for;
- New affiliate marketers who are just starting out.
- Learning a specific scope about affiliate marketing.
- Students who prefer lecture-style tutorials.
However, after familiarizing myself, I would pay attention to the reviews first and definitely avoid spammy courses (like the Blackhat ones) if I am serious about doing affiliate marketing properly.
If you really want to start a successful online business, you’ll need a more comprehensive course with a lot of hands-on. The web is always changing so you want someone to be able to teach you about how to create a proper website, keep you posted on up-to-date information and respond to your questions in a timely manner.
I know of a great platform that can provide such training (without all the hype) and it is called Wealthy Affiliate. Here are some of the features that you couldn’t get from most of the courses at Udemy.
Besides, it’s also a great place to connect with other successful affiliate marketers, like me 🙂 If you wish to learn more, simply follow the link above and I’ll see you in the training area. Do you have any thoughts or questions about affiliate marketing training? Just leave them in the comment area below and I’ll get back to you.
Hi Cathy,
I had not heard about Udemy’s educational program. I think as a new student looking to break into the affiliate marketing world, this program would appeal to a lot of people based on the advertisement.
But you make some excellent points based on the past student feedback, positive and negative. And what really would put me off to this educational program is knowing the difference and quality of education one receives at Wealthy Affiliate.
I am a member of Wealthy Affiliate and I was lucky to have found them. I was going to pay $1,200 USD’s for a course with a monthly fee of $100 dollars. Wealthy Affiliate is under $50 dollars per month and is loaded 1000’s of hours of step-by-step training.
After reading this review and knowing what I know about Wealthy Affiliate, I would agree with you that WA is a much better choice for those interested in learning affiliate marketing and website design.
Plus WA specializes in affiliate marketing versus teaching a bunch of random subjects taught by random teachers where you don’t know the quality of training or success that teacher has had in a particular topic or field.
Thanks for the excellent review Cathy.
Todd
Great to hear from you again, Todd.
$1,200 sounds like a massive fee for any beginners to start on an affiliate marketing course. I actually spent about $600 last year for just a 4 days course on internet marketing and I ‘graduated’ without even knowing how to create a proper website. How ironic is that?
While I did gain a lot of theoretical knowledge, the tutors made very little effort to teach us practical stuff (it was an on-site course so we did get the chance to ask questions, face-to-face) and were more interested to promote us advanced courses (up-sell strategy).
Throughout my reviews, I continue to see similar education patterns – teaching small piece of ideas in different packages but not linking all of them in one platform. Those money and time are better spent in starting an online business with on-going training like the ones in WA. That, in my opinion, is the best way to learn as an affiliate marketer.
Hey Cathy!
Yes, once upon a time, I had trained with Udemy. This was long before joining Wealthy Affiliate however. Let’s just say if I had the chance to choose between one or the other, it would undoubtedly be WA. Not only would I have had a more profitable business up and running sooner in life, but would have also saved a lot of time and extra money spent on Udemy’s courses. Nonetheless, I believe your 5 out of 10 rating is justified, and couldn’t agree more with the points stated in your review!
Thanks for your feedback, Peter.
Yes, you really want do training while creating a business website side-by-side. No point taking courses after courses without getting the chance to apply what you learn. When you interact with other members in WA, you’ll also gain insights on some of the mistakes to avoid in affiliate marketing which is very crucial for your business success.
Cathy,
I just wanted to tell you that I greatly appreciate this thorough and concise review on Udemy, that I had heard about previously. I think that like so many others out there spinning this and that, I would have to think they have fallen well short of the mark.
It does not sound as though you will have enough of the required knowledge you would need to be successful online, without losing too much money online. Great read.
Hi Gary,
The courses in Udemy are categorized into certain topics and they don’t offer one big training package (at least, not for now). So you really got to do your own mix-and-match and yes, you might end up spending more money than you thought.
It really depends on what the student want to achieve at the end of the day; if they want to learn specialized topics, Udemy is a great place. If they want to start an online business from scratch, WA is probably a better option.
I have heard of Udemy before as there was a period I was looking into Internet Marketing and starting my own online business. The only problem was I emailed them for information, but it took over a week for me to get a reply. I also asked for information from Wealthy Affiliate and received a response the next day. So of course I chose Wealthy Affiliate. A choice that I am happy with, I must say.
I think Udemy may have good qualities but I have done some research and feel Udemy fails in a lot of areas such as in user/membership assistance.
Thank you for your feedback, Chris.
I have only taken one course with Udemy before and didn’t come across an issue that I needed assistance with. Prompt reply reflects good customer service and it’s something WA has been very consistent for years. It just gives you good vibes when someone reach out to you immediately.
Hello and thanks for a really interesting article on Udemy.
I admit I have used Wealthy Affiliate so I’m probably biased, but It’s nevertheless a cold hard fact that WA offers everything you need to learn about affiliate marketing and website creation/hosting for what is in fact, a fraction of the price. There are no up-sells and a huge community of helpful members offering priceless assistance for no extra cost 24/7.
That said, I will definitely investigate Udemy further and keep an open mind!
You have a good point there, Peter.
Many people who started out with the mentality of making money online don’t really know the basic tools that they need. They chase after shinny packages, make very little progress and gave up halfway because they were never guided on what to do. Affiliate marketing is one of the top paying online job out there so surely there’s a technique that could work. Beginners just need to be more patient and get help from the right kind of training program.
Thank you Cathy for an honest and detailed review of Udemy.
The love of money has eroded and compromised the academy’s ethics. Imagine learning and then using Blackhat SEO on your website leading to being blacklisted by Google after paying such a pricey fee.
Thank you for introducing me to Wealthy Affiliate. The welcome by the community was overwhelming and my business website is already taking shape.
Yeah, I don’t get it too.
It feels like Udemy condones the use of blackhat strategies in affiliate marketing by allowing the listing of this course in the first place. I know it’s a free world out there, but it really goes against Google Webmaster Guidelines and their efforts in identifying online scams to make the internet a safer place. It’s definitely not the kind of course that I would recommend.
The amount of information (and dis-information) on learning about affiliate marketing is mind-numbing. I appreciate your review of Udemy. I’ll have to check it out. But, I also have experience with Wealthy Affiliate too and I have been pretty happy with the value-to-buck ratio there. Thanks for the simple, easy-to-read reviews.
Hi Steve,
There are heaps of information out there alright and yes, they can be very confusing for beginners. That’s why most people end up making these mistakes in affiliate marketing and regret them much later. Even with a legitimate site like Udemy, they can still end up choosing the wrong course. Speaking from experience, I would recommend people to go for free courses or free trial first like the one at Wealthy Affiliate before investing money on things that don’t work.