Does it make sense to launch a website that connects students in need of tutoring with available tutors? Is there interest in it right now? According to UNESCO's estimates, more than 1.9 billion children in 150 countries missed school in 2020 because to COVID-19. The transition from traditional schooling to homeschooling placed an enormous load on parents, who were thrust into the role of substitute educators. To help mitigate the effects of the school closures brought on by the virus, many parents and students turned to online tutoring services, some of which were developed by IT Delight and other credible providers. Bookings for online K-12 academic topics at companies like Chegg and Varsity Tutors increased by almost 40% in the spring of 2020.
Despite the growth of the on-demand tutoring market, a perfect website catering to the specific needs of both instructors and students has not yet been developed. So why not get into this niche?
Why is the online tutoring niche expanding?
Although there are a lot of tutoring platforms out there, the market is still expanding. By 2027, analysts predict that the global market for online learning will have grown to $1 trillion. Here are some reasons why now is a good moment to launch a tutoring business.
Firstly, younger generations lean toward online learning .Today's youth are accustomed to being able to instantly access any piece of information they could need thanks to the prevalence of the Internet.
The proliferation of eLearning may be attributed to a number of factors, including its convenience, affordability, portability, and accessibility via mobile devices and the Internet.
Second, there's a severe lack of qualified teachers in the neighborhood. Although referrals from friends and family are still popular, not everyone will succeed with this method. In contrast to the abundance of tutors available in major cities for every level and topic conceivable, rural communities sometimes lack even the most fundamental educators.
Creating a tutoring website step-by-step
You'll need a strategy to turn your idea for a tutoring website into a functioning website.
1. Examine the competitive environment
When starting an online teaching business, it's important to know who your competition is. North America accounts for the biggest geographical share (32%) in the private tutoring industry. However, in recent years, Asia and the Pacific have flourished to the point where they spend nearly as much on online teaching as Americans do on video games. Future years will see China, India, and Korea emerge as major competitors in the industry.
2. Identify your market niche
In what subfields would a website for a private tutoring service be most likely to succeed? If you're just getting your firm off the ground, you can decide to focus on only one niche (or "vertical") at first, and then, once you've established yourself, branch out into related areas (or "horizontals"). You may distinguish yourself in the marketplace by catering to a segment of the population that has been underserved up until now.
3. Be mindful of current tendencies
Within the next five years, test preparation services are projected to overtake all other forms of tutoring. Testing potential employees has become increasingly commonplace. As another innovation, asynchronous tutoring has become increasingly popular. Even today, the vast majority of MOOCs are asynchronous, meaning that students watch prerecorded video sessions and then submit questions to their tutors at their own leisure.
4. Pick a business model
There are a variety of income models already in use on existing platforms. This list contains the most typical:
1. Commission. There is a little fee deducted from each class that goes to the platform.
2. "Freemium." When it comes to analytics, interactive tools, and artificial intelligence (AI) matching, some platforms offer the basics for free while charging for more sophisticated capabilities.
3. Fixed rate. No matter how much or little a lesson costs, the platform will always take the same amount of money.
4. Membership. In order to gain access to the course materials, expert responses, and academic works housed in the knowledge base, students can pay a monthly or annual fee.
5. Ads. Incorporating advertisements from third parties might increase revenue for your website.
Choose your platform's features carefully
In order to gain a full image of what a perfect online teaching platform would entail, we looked at a number of the most often used ones and compared their characteristics.
The first step in developing a tutoring website is to segment the community into three groups: students, teachers, and administrators. Let's go through a short summary of the most sought-after and indispensable aspects of today's marketplaces.
Student section
Students seeking assistance in a specific area of study can do so here. A few examples of what could fall under the umbrella of features are:
- Signing up and creating a profile
- Search and comparison
- Class timetable
- Q&A sessions
- Assessments and evaluations
- Payments
- Messaging
- Knowledgebase
Tutor section
Educators may sign up for an account and have access to their own profile and many resources right here. Here are the key features for them:
- Registration
- Expertise summary
- Pricing suggestion
- Schedule administration
- Accounting and budgeting
- Verification of applications
Administrator sections
Admins may require a variety of features to monitor revenue, user activity, and other metrics.
- Customer management system
- Application verification
- Reports
- Fees management
- Content management
- Manage notification and newsletter emails
Final thoughts
The past few years have seen a meteoric rise in the popularity of online tuition available on demand. Tutoring services that are similar to Uber and that can swiftly link students with tutors are of utmost importance, particularly in underserved regions and during epidemics. Despite this, there are currently not many alternatives that provide teachers with fair working circumstances and give all of the features that are requested. There is a demand for more tutoring websites because there are a great deal of microniches that have not yet been filled. When it comes to establishing a tutor website, this paves the way for a wealth of new prospects for companies.