Last Updated: 20 November, 2024
In this age of globalization, learning a foreign language is no longer difficult and many individuals are interested in learning new languages. According to reports, the number of language learners has steadily increased all over the world, with over 1.5 billion individuals actively learning a foreign language, this number is anticipated to grow even more in the coming future.
Online language learning platforms are gaining massive popularity among learners as they help them connect with expert native speakers in the comfort of their homes. Many language learning platforms including Verbling, italki, Preply, Cambly, Livemocha, Babbel, Busuu, Memrise, Fluento, Mondly, LingQ, Anki, HelloTalk, Lingoda, and so on have gained huge popularity in the industry.
Building a similar language learning platform presents lucrative opportunities for aspiring education entrepreneurs. In this blog, we provide a complete guide on how to build an online language-learning website like Verbling. But first, let’s gain information about the key players in the online language learning industry.
Preply is an online language learning platform that successfully connects learners with language experts worldwide. More than 44,000 experienced tutors teach on this platform in 120+ subjects across 180+ nations.
Country- United States
Revenue- $1.6 billion per year
Total Funding- $100 million
Rating- 4.8 star
Is another online language learning platform that connects native speakers with learners in a one-on-one learning environment. Italki offers one-on-one and group sessions in more than 150+ languages.
Country- Hong Kong, China
Revenue- $15 Million as of August 2024
Total Funding- As of August 2024, italki has raised a funding of $3M.
Rating- 4.5 star
Lingoda provides online language learning classes by connecting learners with native speaker teachers in small group classes or private lessons.
Country- Berlin, Germany
Revenue- $89.1 million per year
Total Funding- The latest funding round was raised on April 15, 2021, for $68 million
Rating- 4.3 star
An online platform that connects children with English-speaking tutors in-real-time for immersive, one-on-one language learning sessions.
Country- Asia-Pacific region
Revenue- $1.5 billion
Total Funding- Raised a total funding of $975 million over 8 rounds
Rating- 3.9 star
Cambly is an on-demand English tutoring platform that caters to learners of all levels. It connects them to native speakers via video chat.
Country- United States
Revenue- $ 61.0 million in 2023
Total Funding- Raised a total funding of $60.3 million in over 3 rounds
Rating- 2.3 star
Is a leading online language learning marketplace that pairs individuals with teachers for language learning.
Country- United States
Revenue- $ 135.5 million per year
Total Funding- $41.7 million
Rating- 4 star
Further, in this blog, we discuss the success story of Verbling, Verbling’s method, how it works, possible revenue streams, and the steps to build an online language learning website like Verbling.
Headquartered in San Francisco, US, the company was founded in 2011 by Jake Jolis, Mikael Bernstein, and Gustav Rydstedt. The initial platform – Verbling Friends connected users who were interested in learning each other’s language via video chat. It was backed by Y combinator and in 2015, the company raised $2.7 million in series A round funding.
In October 2016, Verbling Enterprise was launched. It is a platform that is designed for corporates to upskill their workforce, i.e. employees can take language lessons online. Further, in 2017, Verbling launched iOS and Android apps. Currently, the platform has over 10,000 teachers in more than 70 languages. Besides some common languages like English, French, Spanish, and so on, there are some not-so-common languages like Turkish, Portuguese, and more.
Verbling provides individuals looking to learn a language with unparalleled convenience and for a fraction of the price in-house tutors or brick-and-mortar schools provide. Mainly, Verbling involves one-to-one sessions with native speakers of the chosen language. Learners can use Google Hangouts-powered chat to resolve their queries.
Understanding the working of an online language learning platform is crucial before building an online learning website like Verbling. An online language-learning marketplace has three main entities –
Offering online language learning to individuals and organizations is a growing opportunity for revenue generation for businesses like Verbling. In this section, we have curated a list of all the possible revenue streams so that new entrants can have an advantage over the existing ones.
Building and launching an online language learning platform like Verbling may seem to be a cumbersome task. However, with the right planning, strategy, and information, this can be done seamlessly. Follow the below-mentioned steps to successfully launch your online language learning platform.
Before you delve into the development process of building an online language learning platform like Verbling, it’s pivotal to understand the market by conducting thorough market research. Identify the potential competitors, their strategies, and potential gaps in the market that your language learning platform can fulfill. Also, determine your target audience based on:
Based on the market research, select a particular niche that your language learning platform will target. This could include a particular language catering to a specific type of learner like beginners, advanced learners, business professionals, or individuals simply seeking to learn a particular language dialect. Additionally, you can decide on the type of sessions you are going to offer like one-on-one tutoring, group classes, and so on to cater to different learning styles and preferences.
Identifying the right technology stack is crucial for the success of an online language learning platform. Consider front-end and back-end development technologies, along with a robust database management system.
This is an essential step as selecting the right set of features will determine the usability of the online language learning platform. Here is the list of important features of an online language learning website.
There are some other impeccable features that enable learners to get trained in a versatile environment and increase productivity to a greater extent. Let’s discuss.
Before actually starting to build a language learning platform, it is essential to keep in mind that the design of the platform is key to providing learners with the best learning experience possible. Discussed below are some prominent pages that should be included in the language learning platform along with how they should be designed.
The homepage of a language learning website should have a simplified and intuitive design so that all the offerings are conveyed in an effortless manner. The best shot in this context is an eye-catching and informative first-fold area that allows visitors to navigate the website further. Some suggestions on how the home page should look like:
As for the layout and design of the Classes landing page, it should unlock a whole new range of options for learners. Below is a list of suggestions that you need to pay attention to while designing this page:
In addition to this, the language learning platform should support different types of classes. Here are the most common types of language learning classes.
This page will feature the tutors listed on the website. Like the classes page, the tutors’ page should also list tutors with a brief introduction and relevant filtering and sorting options. Here are the elements that the tutors’ page shouldn’t miss:
In addition to this, a tutor profile page in a language learning platform should offer detailed information about the tutor helping learners make an informed decision while choosing a tutor. A tutor profile page should have elements somewhat similar to this:
The page for tutors to signup on a language learning platform should be simple consisting of the following elements:
The registration form for becoming a tutor should include the following details:
PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM FOR LISTING ONESELF AS A LANGUAGE TEACHER ON AN ONLINE LANGUAGE LEARNING PLATFORM
The language learning platform should have the following value-added features for the learners.
PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM FOR BOOKING & SCHEDULING A CLASS
In addition to the pages mentioned above, there should be powerful user-level dashboards as they act as a centralized place to see information such as progress, classes scheduled, classes completed, goals met, and so on. The three interactive dashboards include a learner dashboard (mentioned above), a tutor dashboard, and an admin dashboard.
The next step is to develop and launch the language learning platform. Primarily there are two approaches:
Custom development involves building your online language learning website from scratch. A team of developers and designers would implement your business idea and would launch your marketplace in the industry. In this development process, a high financial investment is required. Moreover, the time of development may vary from a few months to even years.
These are off-the-shelf software solutions that have in-built industry-specific features and functionalities. Ready-made software solutions are highly efficient and cost-effective. Moreover, they have quick time-to-market and provide a competitive advantage in the industry. Yo!Coach is one such popular and reliable ready-made software available in the industry that you can consider to launch your online language learning website.
Marketing after the launch of a language learning platform is pivotal. It helps in building brand awareness to attract both language tutors and learners. Several marketing channels can be utilized such as:
The cost involved in building a language learning website like Verbling may vary depending on various factors such as development approach (custom development or ready-made software), feature requirements, customization requirements (if any), design complexity, API integrations, and more.
However, the cost involved in development is the major part of the financial investment you would make. If you choose custom development, the cost of developing your online language learning website may vary in the range of $40,000-$300,000+. On the other hand, if you opt for ready-made software, the total investment may vary from $5,000 to $100,000.
Moreover, some other charges such as hosting fees, application subscriptions, maintenance fees, and more may also be incurred by platform owners after the platform is launched.
Yo!Coach is a popular ready-made software that helps you launch your online language learning website effortlessly and cost-effectively. It is a fully customizable and highly scalable software. Yo!Coach has served around 1000+ clients worldwide and has an overall rating of 4 out of 5 at various software advising platforms.
White-label Ready-made software: Yo!Coach is a white-label ready-made software that makes it easy to design your online learning website as per your branding needs. You can easily add logo designs, and change color and themes as per your needs without investing separately.
One-time purchase: Purchase Yo!Coach by paying once and you are ready to launch your online language learning website in the market. No need to pay any recurring charges.
Lifetime license: Once you purchase this ready-made software you can own your online language-learning platform for a lifetime.
Pre-Integrated APIs: Yo!Coach comes pre-integrated with 10+ APIs including video conferencing tools, payment gateway APIs, currency conversion APIs, translator APIs, and more. Pre-integrated applications help avoid the hassle and reduce the cost involved with API integration.
Pre-Built advanced industry-specific features: This is an advanced software solution that comes pre-integrated with a vast array of industry-specific features and functionalities. No need to integrate any other features as Yo!Coach already comprises of latest features that are essential for effectively running an online language learning platform. Overall, you can take advantage of the rich functionalities and capabilities of Yo!Coach without breaking the bank.
Intuitive design: Yo!Coach offers an intuitive and user-friendly UX/UI design without the need to invest anything extra in the design of the platform. The pre-built design is already a streamlined and easy-to-use design.
Yo!Coach has served 1000+ clients all over the world. It can cater to 10+ business models and 15+ online learning niches. Many education entrepreneurs have successfully entered this highly competitive industry by launching their online learning platform with Yo!Coach. Here are some of the successful online language learning platforms built with Yo!Coach.
Valingo is a French and English learning platform built with Yo!Coach. By leveraging Yo!Coach’s advanced capabilities, Valingo is efficiently catering to language learners. Since its launch, numerous learners have used this platform for their language learning needs.
This US-based language learning platform enables individuals to learn any language spoken in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) from anywhere around the world. Built with Yo!Coach, Language Center of Congo platform is successfully catering to the needs of the learners.
Powered by Yo!Coach, Language Explorer team can allow its users to effectively communicate and collaborate with tutors for their language learning needs. They are successfully offering an interactive learning environment for users on the platform.
Syllable Space is an online language learning platform that helps learners connect with experienced language learning instructors. Leveraging the features such as advanced search filters, video conferencing, session booking and scheduling, discussion forum, and more, they could offer an intuitive experience on the platform.
Yo!Coach offers the best to its clients and it shows! Watch this video to know what Yo!Coach’s clients have to say about the software and services offered by them.
Building a unique language learning portal requires in-depth planning about key features. There is no need to compete with the already existing language learning businesses like Verbling, as they are already established in the market. All a new business needs to do is discover the untapped potential and create a solution for it. The best solution is to come up with an MVP and validate the business idea. This is where Yo!Coach can come into play.
Yo!Coach enables entrepreneurs to build an online language learning platform with all the advanced features mentioned above. The software is open to customizations and can be tailored as per the business requirements. Its live demo is also available to get hands-on experience. Explore how Yo!Coach has helped its clients in transforming their business ideas into profitable ventures. View Portfolio
Q1. What are other top platforms similar to Verbling? Can Yo!Coach be customized to build similar online language learning platforms?
Ans. Some of the top platforms similar to Verbling are:
Yo!Coach is already a feature-rich ready-made software to launch your online language learning platform. However, if you have any specific requirements and need feature integration then Yo!Coach team can implement those enhancements seamlessly.
Q2. Is Yo!Coach scalable?
Ans. Indeed. Yo!Coach is a highly scalable software and it can efficiently cater to your future growth. Moreover, there is no limitation on number of users that you can onboard on your platform with Yo!Coach.
Q3. Do we get source code ownership with Yo!Coach?
Ans. Yes. Yo!Coach provides source code ownership which helps platform owners easily make any future enhancements on their platform if required.
Q4. Does Yo!Coach offer ready-made whitelabel language learning apps?
Ans. Yes, Yo!Coach offers a user-friendly, and feature-rich language learning app for learners that facilitates learning on the go.
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Comments (5)
shahin naghizadeh
FATbit Chef
Web Designing Company Denver, CO
FATbit Chef
Joe
hi ,
i want an online language learning video chat platform for mobile applications (ios/android) and website .
can you help me ?
Hi Shahin,
Thanks for connecting with us.
Sure we can help you with this project.
Our expert will get in touch with you to discuss the project. Meanwhile, you can share your detailed requirements with us via https://www.fatbit.com/website-design-company/requestaquote.html
Regards,
FATbit Team
Thanks for sharing such an amazing blog. I must say you are doing a great job. Keep doing such hard work. Your blogs are really very informative. Keep posting! Good Luck for your upcoming updates.
Hello,
Thank you so much for appreciating. Stay tuned for more insights.
Regards,
Team FATbit
Different interfaces for different user types is a smart idea. Also, I have used CometChat so I believe that integrating it on your website can develop a viable online tutoring store (only if the tutors keep the pricing right).