Starting An Online Tutoring Business: Everything You Need to Know

By John

Private Tutoring is known to be really rewarding, which can serve as a supplement to the regular income; and even make a great small business on its own, altogether!

While Online Tutoring is perhaps a replication of the hugely popular Private Tutoring Business, which in this case, employs Internet tools to reach even more people beyond the immediate environment, as the many private tutors are used to rendering part-time teaching classes in their locale.

If you are a qualified teacher or knowledgeable in certain field of study and want to consider starting online tutoring business, this article is meant to guide you on what is likely to be involved.

And the fact that both parents and students are rather more comfortable with online tutoring for their learning requirements makes the business a popular one nowadays. As an online tutor, you are expected to be an intellectual and fiscal individual, in order to help students to accomplish their learning tasks with maximum efficacy.

The Scope of Online Tutoring

Online tutoring can be either a full-time or part-time teaching profession for anyone that has the qualifications to teach and of course, loves to teach as well.

And mostly, students who are in middle and high schools are the ones that are catered for by the larger part of online tutoring, as they prepare for GRE or SAT, and some other related exams. These set of students need assistant in learning mathematics, sciences, and English language.

Besides these, there are some tutors who teach students on technology or even guide them on the college admission process by providing mentoring, and career counseling.

Qualifications for An Online Tutor

The qualifications for online tutors as professional teachers and experts in the subject area include having any of the below in their credential list.

• Teaching certification
• A Subject-specific certificate
• Masters degree or PhD.

These qualifications will certainly help you as an online tutor to appear more trustworthy which will help in getting more attention and trust from the students and parents. Albeit, it is a fact that there can be exceptions with respect to the requirements.

Getting started with Online Tutoring

Online tutoring is facilitated by the connection of students with tutors via the internet, and sessions carried out in real time, thereby needing a variety of tools to support both the teaching and learning experiences.

Most importantly, you’ll need a PC (with microphones and webcam) connected to the internet, and a very good broadband connection.

However, it is advisable to get a microphone headset as the quality of the speaker will be much better, applicable for both the tutor and student. Other required tools are as follows:

1. Business Website

Foremost in your online tutoring business is the development of an interactive business website which should contain the details of your various teaching services, expertise and methods of teaching. Also, you’ll need to set up a forum or blog for better interaction on your website.

The blog will enable you to not only target relevant keywords, but also provide valuable tips and strategies that will add as prove of your expertise. And if updated regularly, it will encourage repeat visitors and help you to maintain a good search engine ranking.

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2. Skype

Skype is a online service which provides video-call free of charge, and perhaps the best online tool for real-time chat.

But, there is a little problem with video-calls, as video in itself isn’t enough for effective online tutoring – so necessitating the next tool on this list.

And just as videos are not automatically recorded in Skype, you can try working around it by using add-ons like Call Note, to record audio, but actual recording video remains a problem.

3. Whiteboard

A whiteboard is necessary to compliment the Skype call, as there are applications that work alongside Skype, including Scribblar or Talk And Write, making it possible to write things down.

The whiteboard is quite similar to the regular classroom board, it is useful for you to draw mathematics symbols or equations and show images. Also, it will allow two way interaction between the student and tutor.

4. Video Conferencing

The best tool for video conferencing is Google Hangouts, which is available with G Suite. It allows multi-party video-call, instant messaging and screen sharing, among other features.

Though there are other third party applications like Slideshare, Google Docs, Symphonica (a collaborative task manager), and Cacoo (for sharing diagrams) which you can also use to broadcast.

But if you have a deeper pocket, you should consider an actual video conferencing tool, as they provide better quality of video, voice and file sharing. Also, session recordings are available with such paid services, such as Webex or Gotomeeting, which will allow you to tutor large number of students at a time.

Additionally, Wiziq is a tool that focuses mainly on educational purposes and include voice, video and online classroom.

5. PayPal

Just like any online business, tutoring online means your clients will be coming from different locations, so getting paid in a convenient way is very important. And it is advised to collect payment in advance of sessions, as it can be pretty hard to track a student online once session is completed.

PayPal is the most popular way of getting payments online, and it is commonly used by almost everyone. PayPal can also let you create an invoice and request money, but you will be charged between 1.4% and 3.4% per every transaction.

Additionally, it saves you from the risk of sharing your bank account details with strangers or people you hardly know online.

Conclusion

Online tutoring is a proven profitable business, which is growing rapidly with the advent of 4G internet network (even more so, as 5G is just around the corner) and other innovative technologies.

The wide spread of the internet has made it a common thing among parents and students, with several online tutoring websites to cater for their personalized learning requirements. Now is the best time to join these growing line of digital entrepreneurs who are making great things possible.