[Posted my question as a gist as there's a 2000 character limit on HN]. Here's the summary:
- I started publishing video tutorials and articles about Flutter around April last year.
- To date, I have ~3700 subscribers on YouTube, ~2200 followers on Medium and ~1500 on my mailing list. All growing steadily.
- I researched all major platforms and shortlisted Udemy and Teachable. I want my course to be paid upfront (don't like the subscription model used by Pluralsight and Skillshare).
- My audience would like to see my course on Udemy (presumably as they already have an account there)
- Top courses on Flutter are all on Udemy and have a lot of enrolled students (15K for #1 course). These are made by established teachers that already have a big audience and many courses on Udemy.
- I'm confident my Flutter course can make it in the top 5 on Udemy
- I'm familiar with Udemy's revenue split (97% with coupon codes, or 50% without)
- I'm familiar with Teachable's pricing model (5% commission on basic plan, 0% on professional plan)
- I'm aware of Udemy's lack of policing around privacy (Google: "Why Udemy is Bad")
Benefits of Udemy:
- Visibility & direct search traffic (people looking for Flutter will find my course)
- Many people already have an account with linked credit card (less friction)
Drawbacks of Udemy:
- No control over pricing model. Very often courses sell for $10 to $15, and I wouldn't be surprised to see even lower prices in the future. Given the 50% commission, actual profit per sale is quite low.
Benefits of Teachable:
- Self hosted. Can use a subdomain and more easily drive traffic from my website/blog. This may be a smart move as I also move my Medium publication to Ghost in the coming months.
- Pricing control. I can charge more for my course and pay 5% commission or less.
- Advanced features (drip content etc.)
Drawbacks of Teachable:
- No direct search traffic from the platform. I have to drive traffic organically myself to my website and the course.
- People will have to register an account and add a credit card (more friction)
Closing thoughts
- As a new player in the market, I feel that Udemy is the safer choice. That's where everyone is, and it will most likely drive more traffic in the short term due to direct search.
- Teachable seems riskier. Short term I will lose on a good chunk of traffic. It may be a better option once I'm more established and have more followers. A few wise folks would say "publish on your own platform", but is it worth the risk in my situation?
I spent a lot of time creating a high quality course. Currently have prepared 10 hours of content, with another ~10 planned. I want to open the course for invitation only in the coming weeks and start receiving feedback and reviews. And launch in the coming months.
What should I do - launch on Udemy or Teachable?
I would really appreciate some advice, I'm a bit torn on this one.
