The education landscape has been significantly impacted by the emergence of online tutoring. The learners can now receive education from anywhere at a time that suits their schedule. According to the statistics, the global online tutoring services market size was valued at USD 8.21 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 23.75 billion by 2031, growing at an annual rate of 14.50% during the forecast period (2024-2031).
The online tutoring industry is demonstrating significant growth, and starting your own online tutoring service can be a rewarding and lucrative business endeavor. However, starting your online tutoring service can be a daunting prospect to begin with. There is important information and steps that you must consider before jumping in. Here, in this blog, we will share everything you should know about setting up your online tutoring service.
Starting an online tutoring service offers several benefits and opportunities for enterprenuers. Here are the major benefits business owners can leverage if they set up an online tutoring service.
The statistics show a positive picture of the online tutoring industry. Setting up an online tutoring service now can turn out to be a profitable venture for education entrepreneurs.
There are majorly two ways to provide online tutoring services, Let’s know about them in this section.
1. By Launching Your Own Online Tutoring Website
You can set up your online tutoring service by launching your online tutoring website. You can teach multiple students through this website or launch your website as a tutoring marketplace. If you launch a marketplace, you can onboard other tutors enabling them to provide tutoring services through your website. Here, you would be responsible for managing all the operations of the marketplace and can earn revenue by charging a commission from the onboarded tutors.
In this setup, you can earn more revenue from multiple revenue streams such as subscriptions, tutor listing fees, advertisement fees, and more. Moreover, you can establish your tutoring service as a full-fledged tutoring business in the industry.
2. By Registering Yourself as a Tutor On An Existing Tutoring Platform
Another way to start your tutoring service is to register yourself as a tutor on an existing tutoring platform like Preply, Cambly, and others. You can start teaching students by registering on the platform. Depending on the sessions taken, the platform owner pays you your share of revenue after deducting the pre-decided commission.
You can kick-start your online tutoring service with the above-mentioned methods. If you are confused about which option would be the best choice for you, we have got you covered in the next section.
In this section, we are comparing both options to help you make an informed decision.
| Launching Your Own Online Tutoring Website | Registering Yourself as a Tutor On An Existing/third-party Tutoring Platform |
|---|---|
| 1. Complete control over your business, platform, courses, content, and business structure. | 1. Less control over the platform. The platform’s administrator holds the ultimate authority and is the final decision-maker. |
| 2. High earning potential with multiple revenue streams such as commissions, subscriptions, listing fees, advertisement fees, and more. Moreover, the whole earnings belong to you. | 2. The earning potential is limited with a third-party tutoring platform. You get paid depending on the commission rate set by the admin and the number of sessions conducted successfully. |
| 3. Building your own online tutoring website helps you establish your brand, potentially attracting a loyal client base. Your business can stand out in the industry. | 3. You are building your reputation as a tutor within the confines of the platform and not as an independent brand. This will not benefit you in the long run. |
| 4. You can attract more learners to your platform by implementing marketing strategies, using SEO to increase visibility, and offering promotions, and other special offers. | 4. You have to rely on your platform’s marketing plans and strategies to promote your courses and sessions, as there is less focus on personal branding. |
| 5. As a platform owner, you are responsible for making rules, regulations, and policies. You can even revise the policies when required. | 5. Your tutoring service is tied to the rules and regulations set by the admin of the platform you have registered with. Any change in their policies or revenue share can impact your earnings and operations as a tutor. |
| 6. It may require more investment than simply enrolling on someone else’s platform. But if you have a big entrepreneurial dream it can be fulfilled by launching your own online tutoring website. | 6. Registering on someone else’s platform is a cost-effective option but suitable for individuals with short-term teaching goals only. |
As it is clear that launching an online tutoring service is a more profitable venture than enrolling yourself on someone else’s online tutoring platform, hence, you should definitely consider the big entrepreneurial dream for yourself.
But before jumping into the launching of your online tutoring service, you must know about different types of online tutoring services.
Following are the different types of online tutoring services that you can offer in the market and cater to the diverse needs of the learners.
These are different types of online tutoring services that are popular in the online tutoring industry. By incorporating these tutoring services in your online tutoring business you can ensure the sustainable growth of your business and cater to a diverse learner base.
After knowing about the different types of tutoring services prevalent in the tutoring industry, next, let’s gain insights into what you need to start an online tutoring service.
In this section, we share the prerequisites for starting an online tutoring service. Let’s begin.
There are majorly four ways to register your business name.
As discussed above creating an online tutoring website is the most important aspect of starting an online tutoring service. However, creating an online tutoring platform/website may seem complicated in the beginning, therefore, in the next section, we share the step-by-step guide to help you create an online tutoring website to set up your online tutoring service.
Follow these steps to create a robust online tutoring website to set up your online tutoring service in the market.
The first step to creating an online tutoring website is to identify your target audience along with deciding on a niche for your online tutoring business. By understanding your target audience, you can know about their needs and pain points. This also helps you strategize effectively how you can cater to their needs with your platform.
Additionally, choosing a business niche can help you build credibility with one type of audience and dominate a particular niche in the market. When you define a business niche, your business becomes the go-to destination for a specific target audience. This also differentiates your business from the competition.
Some of the popular niches in the online tutoring industry include:
Next, you should analyze the growth journey of the popular players within the industry. Gain insights about their strengths and weaknesses and implement this information in solving the pain points of your target audience. Additionally, analyze your competitor’s offerings, how they price their services, and how they market themselves. Implement all the gathered information in your business plan.
After research and competitive analysis, the next step is to plan a business model for your tutoring service. Defining the business model helps in understanding the strategic plan of how your business will work and generate revenue in the future. Choose a business model that aligns with your business idea, future goals, and industry demands.
Suggest Read: Different Types Of Online Tutoring Business Models
A healthy and steady inflow of revenue is very crucial for the sustainable growth of any business. Therefore, it is important to consider diverse revenue channels to monetize your business right from the beginning. You can consider the following revenue streams for your online tutoring service.
Commissions: The platform owner charges a certain percentage of commission from the tutor’s fee. The revenue share of the tutors is released by the platform owner after the successful completion of the sessions on the platform.
Subscriptions: The users pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to avail services on your tutoring platform.
Advertisement Fee: The platform owner can charge advertisement fees from other businesses for promoting their products or services on the platform’s homepage.
Sponsored Listing: A listing fee can be charged by the platform owner from the tutors for featuring and promoting them on the platform.
These are some of the profitable revenue channels you can consider. Incorporate the revenue streams aligning best with your business goals and objectives.
To set up a successful online tutoring service, you need to understand the must-have features that will enhance the user experience, and satisfaction and increase engagement on your platform. Here are the must-have features for your online tutoring platform:
Consider integrating these features into your online tutoring platform for an engaging and interactive learning experience on your platform.
Once the key features of your online tutoring platform have been finalized, the next step is to build your online tutoring website. The prominent development approaches to creating an online tutoring website/platform include–
Development From Scratch: In this development approach, a team of skilled web developers and designers would develop the online tutoring website from scratch. These experts would implement the requirements shared by you and are responsible for transforming your business idea into a full-fledged online tutoring platform/website. However, this development approach requires a huge financial investment and is time-consuming.
Choose a Readymade Software: An alternative to development from scratch is to choose a ready-made online tutoring software. Readymade software solutions are pre-designed to launch an online tutoring platform/website effortlessly and come pre-built with all essential features and functionalities to seamlessly run an online tutoring service. This approach is more cost-effective and requires less investment of time and effort.
A popular readymade online tutoring software available in the industry is Yo!Coach. It is a fully customizable and highly scalable software. This software comes pre-integrated with tutoring industry-specific features for learners and tutors. Moreover, it offers advanced capabilities for the admin to seamlessly manage the online tutoring service.
Yo!Coach is the perfect choice for entrepreneurs looking for a cost-effective yet feature-rich software solution to build and efficiently manage an online tutoring platform.
Key specifications of Yo!Coach include:
Yo!Coach team has helped several entrepreneurs kick-start their online tutoring businesses worldwide. Here are some of the popular and unique online tutoring platforms built with Yo!Coach:
W Tutors
W Tutors is an online tutoring platform that connects learners seeking skill improvement in various subjects with experts around the world. Since W Tutor’s launch, 20,000+ learners and 600+ tutors have been onboarded on this platform.
Country: Hong Kong
Niche: Academic Learning
Business Model: One-on-one private tutoring
Shzam
Shzam is a popular online tutoring platform offering flexible and personalized experiences to learners by connecting them with professionals and qualified tutors. Several sessions have been successfully conducted till now on this platform.
Country: USA
Niche: Maths Tutoring
Business Model: Individual and group tutoring
IntellaTutor
This US-based tutoring platform connects learners with academic and language experts in one place. Since its establishment, IntellaTutor has connected 190+ tutors with learners worldwide.
Country: USA
Niche: Academic subjects and language tutoring
Business Model: Online and Offline session with session recording functionality
Russian Math Tutors
This unique platform makes a complex subject like mathematics easy to understand for learners by offering subject-specific tutoring. Till now, this platform has onboarded 50+ tutors from 25 countries and 1.4 million+ users have enrolled with this platform for their learning needs.
Country: USA
Niche: Maths Tutoring
Business Model: Group and individual tutoring
The final step is to launch your online tutoring service in the market. However, with the growing competition, you need to market and boost your online tutoring service effectively. Consider the following marketing strategies to promote your online tutoring service.
Follow the above-mentioned steps to successfully launch your online tutoring service in the industry and start your online tutoring business with the right knowledge and guidance.
The online tutoring industry offers promising opportunities for entrepreneurs and it is an easy industry to enter and thrive in. You just need to understand the pain points of the learners and offer them what they are seeking. Moreover, you can consider the information mentioned in this blog to effortlessly start your online tutoring service.
If you are ready to set up your own online tutoring service and harness the power of the online tutoring industry, then let us help you take that first step to start your online tutoring business with our advanced online tutoring software.
Q1. What is the cost of setting up an online tutoring service?
Ans. The cost of setting up an online tutoring service depends majorly on the type of development method you choose to build your online tutoring website. Usually, the cost of custom development is approximately five times more expensive than opting for a ready-made software solution. However, this cost may vary depending on the customizations and feature requirements you may need.
Q2. How much time does it take to set up an online tutoring service?
Ans. The time to build an online tutoring service may vary depending on the feature requirements and the development approach chosen by you. If you opt for a ready-made tutoring software the time taken may vary from a few days to weeks. Whereas, in custom development, the development time may vary from a few months to years.
Q3. Are there any legal requirements to consider while setting up an online tutoring service?
Ans. Although there are no legal requirements to set up an online tutoring service, but you should register your business under a legal structure such as sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, or partnership. Moreover, be aware of the rules and regulations for setting up an online tutoring service in your country.
Q4. Does Yo!Coach team provide technical support?
Ans. Yes, Yo!Coach team provides you with one year of free technical support. Any issues that may arise are resolved at the earliest.
Q5. Does Yo!Coach offers mobile apps?
Ans. Indeed, Yo!Coach offers an intuitive and user-friendly mobile app for learners. The learners can leverage this mobile app for a convenient and flexible learning experience. This easy-to-use mobile app facilitates learning on the go effectively.
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Sapna Sharma is a Content Writer at FATbit Technologies. Through her blogs, she brings insightful information to help entrepreneurs and startup owners know about recent market trends and developments in the eCommerce industry. In her spare time, she likes to paint and read books.
