Freelance tutors are popping up all over the planet today as a result of many things. The Covid pandemic certainly increased this demand globally. But how do you ensure you stand out from the crowd?
In this article, freelance tutors will discover five of the top things you must have to be successful as online tutor today.
Freelance tutors - Need a website
It goes without saying that freelance tutors need a website. It is your more than your shop window. When you are a freelance tutor it is also the place where your students will come to book lessons with you, consume their online learning, complete their assessments, make payments to you and so much more. So having a website that not only rocks but that also defines you as the expert you are with total functionality, is key. Those tutors that think they can ‘get by’ without one because they are avoiding paying for a website … well, I wonder where those tutors will be in 6 months!
Tutors that think posting endlessly on social media and having a location noted on Google are also not thinking things through. We are in a global pandemic. Not many people are going to want in person tutoring now or for quite a while going forward. Even if you have a Google place mark, the next thing people will want to see is a website address. If one doesn’t pop up next to your Google place mark then they will most definitely just scroll on to the next tutor who does have a website. Why? Because a website provides information and validation at the very least. That’s much better than not having one. If you don’t have one, you are technically invisible.
Freelance tutors need quick responsive websites that are mobile optimised and work at the speed of light. Over 68% of online tutoring is done surprising via tablets and mobiles. poor website design and incorrect formatting will just look awful on a mobile. Think of how many poorly designed and managed websites that you have seen in the years since the internet arrived. Did you carry on looking at the website or did you scroll on? A badly functioning website is the worst experience to have and one to be avoided at all costs, especially from the clients point of view.
Digi-teach provides tutors with a WordPress, installed website complete with a complete Tutoring system, so whether you want to teach solo or build an online school – you can all from the your website. Find out more here.
But the biggest reason why you need a website is for validation purposes. Those gurus that tell you that you don’t need a website to teach online are wrong. Those tutors that are too stingy to fork out for a website will definitely lose bookings against tutors that do. Think! How many parents do you think are going to let their child have lessons with a person online who they met on social media?
With a website you can:
- Showcase your talents and expertise.
- Validate yourself and be validated.
- Runs ads – because you need good privacy policies and terms and conditions to run ads, you wont be able to place ads without these.
- You will be legally compliant.
- Your students can contact you.
- You can take bookings.
- You can conduct online classes.
- You can sell ebooks, courses and more.
- You work your magic with the magic wand of Google – AKA, SEO – Search, Engine, optimisation.
- You can create and develop your brand.
Freelance tutors - need reliable hosting
After the website has been built and customised to match your branding as the expert you are, freelance tutors need reliable hosting.
Hosting is like the bread in sandwich. If the content ( the website) is good but the hosting is poor and slow – your visitors are going to get indigestion and like poor sandwich shops, that make poor sandwiches, clients will not return.
Digi-teAch only promotes what we know to be reliable services and products that either use ourselves or know from recommendation to be the best fit for the purpose. Siteground is our no.1 preferred hosting for websites. Not only is Siteground super fast, the team is Professional and their prices are very competitive. That is why we offer three months of Free Siteground hosting when Freelance tutors decide to build their online tutoring business with our resources. Find out more about that here.
Freelance tutors - need an online course builder
In simple terms this is an Online course Builder – it is also known as an Tutoring management system or Learning management system. In short this is where tutors can create lessons in different formats: video, document, PDF or mixed media as well as assessments. This is a ‘must- have’ for freelance tutors. Why?
Because writing your own content not only makes your content unique and more interesting but it positions you perfectly in the market place as a more attractive prospect. So those tutors that are seeking a more successful marketing experience should ensure they have successful products and services. Your own online curriculum is definitely one of them. Saying that you are a tutor today with a degree is very standard and that alone is not going to get you paying clients.
In addition owning your own content also allows you to do more with it such as sell it in online courses or transform it into ebooks. This is an excellent way to further define yourself whilst you develop yourself and your business as a brand.
Freelance tutors - need an Online classroom
If you went to buy a car and once you arrived at the garage they told you all cars are kept in the local car park as it is a cheaper option, what would you think? Same thing goes for third party apps that give you weird looking links that are about ten lines long, to send to your students. This is too easy to get wrong.
The element of looking professional is well, being professional. Forget freemiums all the time – they make tutors look cheap and raises a question mark, a pretty big one over the valid status of the tutor, especially when they try and charge a premium price for online lessons. If you want premium rated, use premium material.
Our online Customised Tutors website built on WordPress, has a nifty online classroom that keeps your students where they should be when they take lessons online with you – on your website. Not having the stress of having to hope and pray that both the tutor and the student arrive in the right third part app classroom on time for the lesson without connection issues or broken links is also a game changer.
Freelance tutors - Need advertising that works and costs very little
Most tutors know the proverb that you only get out of your exams what you put in. Advertising is a little bit like that too for freelance tutors – well in actual fact a lot like that.
Digi-teach includes a seven day Social media and facebook ads course in our freelance tutor package. This is the equivalent of Social media management training. But know that, to be successful in the online world of freelancing, you will have to run paid ads.
Facebook® ads are very good value for money and can put you in front of your ideal client or student in just a click. But how much should you allocate in ad spend? We think 20-30% of your revenue is a good place to start. But this can be increased or decreased dependent on your needs and business model.
But we have also solved the problem here a little bit more here too. Our Teacherpreneur course also includes premium advertising on our UK based directory of freelance tutors. Which means you can spread your net a little bit further and really take the need out of freelance tutoring!
For more information about how having your own online tutoring website, built on WordPress with premium resources that you can easily manage and maintain, see here.
