How to Get Students as a Private Tutor

There are many steps to consider when starting out as a personal tutor. Advertising your private tutoring services is one area that can be quite tricky, and you might feel as though you aren’t really reaching a wide enough audience.

Listing your experiences and successes is an important way of catching students’ eyes. If you have previous experience working in teaching or in an appropriate professional field to your subject, then your service will stand out amongst other offers.

You might also have experience of preparing students for exams such as Matric or even TEFL. Maybe you have knowledge of entrance exams such as the GMAT, for example. Perhaps you can help with college and university applications, which is worth mentioning too.

Equally, if you can share success stories of previous students, for example boosting a student’s grade from a D to an A, or helping a student reach a new language level, then that will also help you to sell your service.

There are many ways to promote your service and reach out to a large audience. We will show you how you can use your community, including public and online spaces, to advertise yourself as a tutor.

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Create an advert

Use Social Media

It’s an obvious one, but probably the most important of them all! Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are the main social media platforms used today, and will help you reach an enormous audience.

Making yourself a professional page on Facebook, or an account on Twitter, for example, will give your business more depth of information and legitimacy, and will make it easy for people to see and contact you.

Facebook groups and pages are a great way to get started. Look for local community groups for your area and start joining! Many local areas might also have a ‘buy and sell’ page, which is a great way to start advertising your one on one tutoring service and reach a large amount of potential clients instantly and bring them academic success.

Hashtags have taken off all over social media, not just on Twitter anymore. For those who are unfamiliar with hashtags, it is a word or phrase following a hash sign (#) which will create a link to other posts with the same hashtag.

Using hashtags on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram posts is a great way to hone in on what your business offers. When people search a particular hashtag on a social media site, such as #mathstutoring for example, they can find related posts that also contain this hashtag.

LinkedIn is another great social networking site, with a professional focus. You can make a profile with a picture and list all of your credentials, experiences and former employment. You can add connections and follow people as with most social media, so you can keep an eye on the home tutors and tutoring services around you!

Marketing Materials for Tutor Jobs

To give your business that professional and sophisticated edge, why not create some flyers and business cards? An eye-catching design with clear, relevant information will help you attract more clients.

There are many companies that offer inexpensive flyer and business card design services. Websites such as Jetline are a great way to design your own marketing materials easily and professionally.

Make sure you include your credentials, service price and contact details. Use a clear font and a confident, professional writing tone.

It would be a good idea to give your information of social media sites that you may use as well. If you have a business page on Facebook or Twitter, for example, or if you have a LinkedIn profile, these will give your readers a better idea of who you are and what you can offer them.

It’s where you put the flyers and adverts which is crucial to attracting clients. Local community boards are a great place to advertise – whether in schools, cafes, libraries, village halls, places of worship or your local newsagent.

Handing out business cards to parents or students you know or meet is also great advertising. It’s the old-school way of building a personal connection instantly, and it will show your business is personalised and professional.

Creating your own logo will also give your business a sense of establishment and legitimacy and make it stand out. It could be text or image, and a sophisticated little addition to your marketing materials.

Always check your spelling and grammar! Students want professional one to one private tutors. Little errors can make a big different in a students eyes. Would you trust a writing tutor who couldn't write their own ad correctly?

Also make sure marketing materials are tailored to the right audience. Specify who you teach (primary school learners, Matrics, undergrad students, etc.) and specific areas you offer help for (essay writing, homework help, test preparation).

Want to give private lessons?

Join the Superprof community and share your knowledge with inquiring and motivated students.

Create an advert

Become a Tutor Using Networking

Just being a friendly, conversational and approachable person can help you promote your tutoring service. By talking to people face to face, be it friends, family or members of your local community, you can get yourself recognised and begin spreading the word about your business.

The more people you talk to, the wider your network will grow.

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways of spreading information – especially if you are being recommended by students you have tutored.

Even though your business might feel slow to begin with, if you provide an outstanding tutoring service to your students they are likely to recommend you to people they know. Include testimonials from former clients detailing how you motivated them to learn and succeed on your adverts.  

Gumtree and Classified Websites

Classified websites are a great place to become a tutor and advertise your tutoring company. Whether your a maths tutor, chemistry tutor or Spanish tutor, creating small adverts with relevant information, and maybe a professional photo as well, is a good way to be found by prospective students.

Gumtree is a particularly powerful site. It is free to create an account and an advert, and you can add your prices, information and contact details. Gumtree has a massive online community, and will therefore provide a massive audience for your advert.

Using keywords in your advert title will help people find you in their search, and a well-written description will instantly attract business.

You could also place an advert in your local newspaper or magazine to advertise your service in your local area.

Be aware that as a self employed tutor you are responsible for declaring your tutor income.

YouTube 

Are there some problems that many of your students seem to share? Do you have a clever way of teaching respiration in biology? Do you have a helpful guide to understanding Macbeth? Do you have great tips on college applications or exam prep?

If you are charismatic and have some creative teaching ideas for trouble areas, why not start making some YouTube videos?

It’s free to make an account and a channel, and all you need is a webcam or other video recording device to create some tutoring videos.

YouTube is an incredible platform for teaching. There are videos on all sorts of subjects, and it is one of the first ports of call for learning and revision.

Making brief video lessons will boost your visibility and help you advertise your tutoring service, especially if you work as an online tutor.

Your channel could help students all over the world to learn something they find tricky, and if you manage to become popular enough, YouTube will even start paying you!

Build Your Own Website to Advertise your Tutoring Business

Building your own website is a huge step in making your business more professional and established.

Websites such as WordPress are a great way to inexpensively and easily set up a website. You can choose your design, layout and all the information you wish to show prospective clients. You can buy a website domain, which is the name of your website, from sites such as One.com.

There are lots of online guides and YouTube videos available to help you set up your own website, buy an online domain, and make your website more visible in search engines.

Using keywords, writing blog articles, and choosing appropriate images are all good ways of making your website more attractive and boosting your website in search engine results.

Find Tutor Jobs Through Tutoring Websites

Last but certainly not least, tutoring platforms are a great way of getting started in the tutoring industry.

You may find a local, regional or national tutoring service that you can join, either online or at a centre near you.

Online tutoring centres are becoming extremely popular and widely-used. There is a huge array of choices out there, depending on what kind of personal tutoring you offer and how you wish to tutor.

Some in home tutoring companies charge commission on your services, so it is important to explore the options and find what works best for you. Service fees and commission rates can be hidden in the small print sometimes, so make sure you do your research!

There are, of course, also free platforms, like Superprof. Superprof lets you advertise your services on their website free of charge, exposing you to their global network of students. They charge you nothing and let you run your business and payments solely between yourself and your client.

To get the most out of an online platform, you should make your profile as detailed and attractive as possible and market yourself to the student. What qualities and experience do you have? Do you have any qualifications in your subject area? What makes you a passionate tutor? The right experience and attributes will make you stand out and attract prospective students.

With tutoring platforms, students will usually find you. So you can relax a bit! As long as your profile is strong, you will attract students that need your help and expertise, and your business can start growing.

Superprof’s enormous online community ensures that your profile has a wide audience – and it’s free to use. All you need to do is build your profile and make it live, and then students will be able to see you.

Ready to Find Students?

As you can see, creating an effective advert for your private tutoring services requires a strategic approach to help you stand out. Here’s a roundup of our top tips:  

Attract the Right Students

Do you want to teach primary school- or high school learners? Will you help with homework or exam prep? Make sure you adapt your advert to attract the right audience, by using language and keywords that will to the needs of your target audience. Be specific about the subjects you teach and the grades or levels you specialise in. For example, Afrikaans lessons for Grades 8 to 12.

Get Recommendations

If you’ve worked with students before, it’s a good idea to ask them to give you recommendations that you can share on your advert. This will help you build credibility with potential future students.

On Superprof, all tutors are encouraged to ask their colleagues, friends, and students for recommendations. In addition, students leave reviews of tutors’ services on the platform after lessons, helping to build a more complete picture of the tutor’s work.

Shine a Spotlight on Your Experience and Qualifications

Include as much detail as possible about your education, experience, and qualifications that are relevant to the subjects you teach.  Both parents and students value qualifications, and will have more confidence in your abilities if you highlight these upfront.

Use the Internet

Create adverts or profile pages on online platforms like Gumtree and different social media platforms to gain exposure to a wider audience.

Price Your Services Realistically

Do some research to find out the average rate for lessons in your subject and location. Then adjust the average to take your experience and qualifications into account.

Also mention any special package discounts and free lessons that you offer, as these are generally very attractive to students. On Superprof, all new tutors are required to offer the first session for free, as this gives them and the student a chance to get to know each other and establish whether or not they are a good match.

Now you have a complete understanding of how to advertise and find students, learn more about your obligations as a tutor, the legalities of giving 1 on 1 lessons and the types of insurance you could invest in and—depending on where you will work—the relevant checks you can submit to.