A personal tutoring business can help you earn extra cash, professional development, and a positive reputation while also allowing your students the extra instruction and attention they need to improve their scores. While tutoring can be a lucrative business, the initial costs can be hefty if you’re mounting this endeavor solo. Here’s how much you can expect to spend to start up your tutoring business on your own.
Developing Your Website
The first thing you need to do when establishing your tutoring business is develop your online presence. Online tutoring businesses are especially in demand, so it’s crucial to meet your students on the web. If you’re starting your tutoring business on your own, you’ll need to set up the following:
- Domain Name: Domain names can cost between $10-$20 a year.
- Hosting: Website hosting allows your site to be on an Internet server. Web hosting services can run you around $20 a month, depending on your host.
- Design: Depending on the complexity of your tutoring website’s features, its design can range anywhere between $500-$1,000.
- Extra Features: Special features like payment integration or running an online blog will cost extra. Such add-ons can cost you a few hundred dollars per page.
- Maintenance: Once your website is set up, you’ll have to account for ongoing maintenance. Paying a web developer for maintenance can also cost a few hundred dollars a month.
Supplies and Software Costs
Every online tutoring business needs user-friendly software for both you and your students. Most teaching software includes video conferencing, data analytics, activity monitoring and automated assessment features as well as a content library included that the software manages. Depending on the features you require and size of your tutoring business, the initial cost of your tutoring software could range between $50,000-$125,000.
Marketing Costs
Once you have your website and tutoring materials in place, it’s time to start marketing your business. Word-of-mouth can help, but you want to find and attract your customers instead of waiting for them to come to you. There are several different marketing methods you can use, each with their own different costs:
- Online advertising: Online advertising includes strategic website ad placement and SEO content that increases your visibility on search engines like Google. Such marketing will cost a monthly charge that can run between $100-$500, the biggest chunk of your advertising budget.
- Social media: You’ll also want to meet your students where they’re at – on social media platforms. Social media ads can gain a wider audience and are much cheaper than traditional online advertising, averaging between $50-$100 a month.
- Printed advertising: To gain visibility in your local area, offline advertising such as business cards or newspaper ads can be beneficial. These one-time costs will run between $50-$200.
As you can see, starting your tutoring business from scratch can get expensive rather quickly. If you are a certified teacher overwhelmed with the standard web design, software and marketing costs of launching a tutoring business on your own, then VirtuEd is here to help.
Start Your Online Tutoring Business with VirtuEd
VirtuEd is technology for teachers that tutor. Built exclusively for certified teachers, VirtuEd is a single platform that efficiently combines all the tools needed to build and run a successful tutoring business. From video conferencing and interactive technology to scheduling and payment processing services, our user-friendly platform gives teachers complete control of their business for a fraction of the cost. For priority access, reserve your spot by signing up today.