How to Create an Online Tutoring Marketplace

According to a survey by EdWeek Research Centre, about one in twelve teachers quit their profession every year, driven by factors such as low pay, physical burnout, and deteriorating mental health. In response, these teachers are shifting towards online tutoring and prefer to work from the comfort of their homes. 

Simultaneously, approximately 70% of learners consider online learning over traditional classroom learning and are looking for online tutoring platforms for their learning needs. Learners are highly inclined towards online learning because of the flexibility and convenience it offers.

These trends create an ideal opportunity for education entrepreneurs. By building an online tutoring marketplace, they can tap into the lucrative tutoring industry by providing tutors the opportunity to connect with a global audience and learners with a diverse selection of experienced tutors.

In this blog post, we share a step-by-step guide to create an online tutoring marketplace. But first, let’s know about the advantages of creating an online tutoring marketplace. 

Advantages of Creating an Online Tutoring Marketplace

Starting a traditional tutoring business would project several limitations and geographical barriers. Whereas, the online tutoring marketplace opens the door to a much larger audience and offers more profit and sustainable growth. Mentioned below are the advantages of creating an online tutoring marketplace. 

High Demand 

• According to the research, the global online tutoring market is valued at US $8.36 billion in 2024 and is expected to accelerate at a 12.7% CAGR reaching a value of US$ 27.63 billion by 2034. This presents a lucrative opportunity for online education entrepreneurs to enter this domain and cater to this high demand. 

Access to the Global Market

• By creating an online tutoring website you can reach out to a global audience which may not be possible with a brick-and-mortar educational institution. With an online tutoring marketplace, you can achieve heightened exposure. 

Low Entry Barrier

• Setting up an online tutoring business is usually a seamless process and does not involve implementing any perilous legal formalities. However, understanding the basic laws and regulations related to the online tutoring business in your country would be beneficial in the long run for your business. 

Reduced Operating Cost 

• The cost involved in running an online tutoring business is less as compared to a traditional tutoring setup. Many expenses such as transportation, building leases, maintenance costs, and more are eliminated if you launch an online tutoring platform.

Time-Saving and Cost-Saving

• Another benefit of launching an online tutoring marketplace is that it saves a lot of your time and financial investment. You have to simply choose between custom development or ready-made software to build an online tutoring platform. Whereas, starting a physical tutoring institution would take a lot of your time and financial resources. 

Now that you know the advantages of creating an online tutoring marketplace, let’s understand the steps to build an online tutoring marketplace.

Steps To Create an Online Tutoring Marketplace 

Creating an online tutoring marketplace may seem a difficult task in the beginning, however, by following the steps mentioned in this section, you can easily create your online tutoring marketplace. Let’s dive in. 

Step 1: Conduct Market Research

The foremost step before creating an online tutoring marketplace is to conduct thorough market research and competitor analysis. Gain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the popular players in the industry. Understand the pain points of the learners and cater to their needs through your online tutoring marketplace. 

Analyze the growth journey of popular players in the online tutoring industry and implement those strategies in your online tutoring platform. Gather information and create an online tutoring marketplace similar to popular players such as TutorMe, Varsity Tutors, Preply, eTutorworld, Tutorful, and many others. 

Step 2: Choose A Niche For Your Online Tutoring Marketplace 

Before creating your online tutoring marketplace, it is important to choose a profitable business niche. Selecting the right niche can make or break the success of your business. Consider the latest trends but at the same time find the profitable niche that will benefit your business and align with your passion, goals, and target market demand. 

Popular niches in the online tutoring industry include:

• Technology and programming
• Academic subjects
• Test preparation ( SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS, PTE, and others)
• Music and Arts
• Health and Fitness
• Special tutoring ( For learners with special needs such as individuals with Autism disorder, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, Behavioral disorders, and more. )

Step 3: Decide the Business Flow and Revenue Model 

After market research and deciding the niche for your marketplace, the next step is to decide the business flow and revenue model of your online tutoring business. The common workflow of an online tutoring business is as follows: 

Business Flow

The business owner launches an online tutoring marketplace in the industry to connect tutors and learners. Here is the business flow of an online tutoring marketplace:

• Both learners and tutors register themselves on the platform. 
• Learners search for tutors on the platform depending on their needs. 
• Further, learners book tutors/sessions according to their needs and availability by making online payments. 
• Later, they can attend the sessions as per their schedule. 
• On the other hand, the tutors list themselves on the platform defining their area of expertise, qualifications, and more. 
• Learners search for tutors and book them. 
• After confirmation of the booking, tutors can start teaching on the platform. 
• Once, the sessions are completed, the platform owner releases a share of the tutor’s revenue after charging a commission. 

Popular Business Models In the Online Tutoring Industry

Here are the popular and profit-making online tutoring marketplace business models prevalent in the online tutoring industry:

One-on-one Tutoring

Tutors connect with learners in a personalized learning environment on an online tutoring platform. The platform owner charges a commission from the tutor’s fee. 

Key Players: Verbling, and Lessonface

Group Tutoring

Tutors can teach a large number of learners in a single session. The learners pay a fee to enroll in the group session. Later, after completion of the session, the platform owner releases the share of the tutor. 

Key Players: VarsityTutor and TakeLessons

Course-Based Tutoring

The instructor creates video lectures and uploads them on the platform. Learners can avail of these courses anytime and anywhere. The platform owner earns revenue by charging a commission from the instructor. 

Key Players: Udemy, and MasterClass

Live Course Tutoring

The learners purchase a bundle of online classes by paying once, and tutors conduct live sessions and are paid by the platform owner after successful completion of the course. 

Key Players: SkillShare

Online School/Academy-Based Tutoring

This business model caters to K-12 programs through an online tutoring platform. The business owner charges fees from the learners depending on the sessions and courses purchased. 

Key Players: K12 and Bridgeway Academy

Read this blog to gain more information about business models. 

Further, let’s understand how the platform owner earns revenue through an online tutoring marketplace. 

Revenue Model

The platform owner earns revenue through different channels. Some of the popular revenue streams for an online tutoring marketplace include:

• Commissions: The platform owner cuts a percentage of the commission from the tutor’s fee.
• Subscription/ Membership fees: Users can avail services of the platform by paying a monthly or yearly subscription/membership fee.
• Advertisement fees: The platform owner can charge a fee from other businesses for showcasing advertisements on the platform.
• Sponsored Listing fee: To gain better visibility on the marketplace the tutors can get themselves featured on the platform by paying a certain fee.

Step 4: Identify the Key Features Required For An Online Tutoring Marketplace 

Features play a vital role in the success of an online tutoring marketplace. Consider the features that provide an engaging learning experience and user satisfaction. You can incorporate features as per your business model. However, certain core features are a must-have for every online tutoring marketplace platform. Let’s have a look at them:

• Easy Registration and Login: A streamlined registration process makes it easy for both tutors and learners to join the platform and start their journey on the marketplace.
• Live Video and Chat Communication: For a seamless collaboration and interaction among learners and tutors it is very crucial to offer live video and chat functionality. 
• Multiple Payment Options: Provide convenience and flexibility to users by offering multiple payment options such as debit/credit cards, eWallets, net banking, and others.
• Ratings and Reviews: Allow learners to leave feedback for tutors through reviews and ratings. This builds trust and credibility among your target audience and helps prospects in making an informed decision.  
• Seamless Scheduling and Session Booking: This functionality is essential to enable learners to schedule and book their sessions on the platform easily. 
• Effortless Search: The advanced search option allows the learners to get what they are searching for conveniently. 
• Robust Dashboard: An advanced and feature-rich dashboard for admin, teachers, and learners streamlines the user journey on the tutoring platform. 
• Multicurrency: This feature allows you to reach out to a global audience effectively. With multicurrency functionality, the barrier of different currencies is removed. 
• Multilingual: With a multilingual platform, streamline communication for users from different countries and regions. 
• Pre-Integrated APIs: Pre-integrated APIs such as video conferencing APIs, payment processing APIs, and more make it easy to unlock the potential of your online tutoring platform, eventually taking your business to the next level. 
• Mobile Compatibility: This is an essential feature, that enables users to access the platform anytime, anywhere, increasing convenience and user engagement. 

Step- 5: Choose The Development Approach For Creating Your Online Tutoring Marketplace

After finalizing the features for your online tutoring platform/website, the next step is to choose a reliable development approach. There are majorly two ways to create your online tutoring marketplace/website:

• Development From Scratch
• Choose A Ready Made Software 

Development From Scratch

In this development process, you need to hire a team of web developers and designers who will create your online tutoring website from scratch. This development process is a bit time-consuming and may take a few months or even years to complete. Moreover, development from scratch requires a high financial investment.

Choose A Ready Made Online Tutoring Software 

Another convenient option is to opt for a ready-made online tutoring software. A ready-made online tutoring software comes pre-built with all the essential functionality and features to create an online tutoring website. With online tutoring software, you can cost-effectively create your online tutoring marketplace in a very short time.  The time-to-market is much less with ready-made software as compared to custom development. 

Yo!Coach- A Reliable Online Tutoring Software 

Yo!Coach is a popular white-label tutoring software to create your online tutoring marketplace. This ready-made online tutoring software offers all the essential features and functionalities required to launch a successful online tutoring platform. Moreover, it is fully customizable and highly scalable providing lifetime ownership and many other benefits. Further, Let’s explore popular online tutoring marketplaces built with Yo!Coach:

• Wtutors: An online tutoring marketplace successfully offering online tutoring to learners across the globe. Since its launch, this platform has onboarded thousands of users on the platform.
• Shzam: US-based online tutoring marketplace that provides tutoring services in diverse subjects. By leveraging the advanced capabilities of Yo!Coach, Shzam team is successfully running this platform. 
• IntellaTutor: A feature-packed online tutoring marketplace that seamlessly connects tutors and learners all across the US. 
• Russian Math Tutors: A unique online tutoring platform offering subject-specific online tutoring. Till now, they have connected many learners with instructors from different fields. 
• iTutorStore: Powered by Yo!Coach, this is a popular online tutoring platform based in the UAE that successfully connects learners with tutors for their diverse learning needs. 
• Just Better Education: This UK-based online tutoring platform offers tutoring services to learners in a diverse range of subjects. 

Yo!Coach team has helped numerous entrepreneurs successfully establish their online tutoring business in the industry. Watch this video to know more about their client base. 

Step- 6: Launch And Promote Your Online Tutoring Platform

Once you have completed all the steps mentioned above, now you can launch your online tutoring marketplace in the industry. Make your target market aware of your business and tutoring services by implementing various marketing strategies. Promote your online tutoring business by utilizing the following marketing channels:

• Content marketing
• Search engine optimization
• Social media marketing
• Referral marketing
• Word-of-mouth marketing
• Paid advertisements
• Email marketing

Conclusion

The online tutoring industry is growing tremendously and seems to present lucrative opportunities in the future. This is the right time for entrepreneurs to enter this domain by launching their online tutoring marketplace. Consider the steps mentioned in this blog to effortlessly launch your online tutoring business. Moreover, choose a reliable readymade software to quickly and cost-effectively create your online tutoring marketplace. 

FAQs 

Q1: How much time is required to build an online tutoring marketplace? 

The time required to build an online tutoring marketplace depends majorly on the development approach you choose. If you are developing your platform from scratch then it may take a few months to years depending on your needs and specifications. On the other hand, if you choose a white-label ready-made online tutoring software it may take a few days or so. 

Q2: How much does it cost to create an online tutoring marketplace?

The cost of developing an online tutoring marketplace depends on several factors such as the development approach, feature integration, customization requirements, and more. The development from scratch can cost you from $30,000 to over $200,000. However, if you choose a ready-made online tutoring software it may cost you around $1500 and more. 

Note that this is just an estimation, the actual cost may vary. 

Q3: What are the legal requirements for starting an online tutoring marketplace?

There are no legal requirements as such for creating an online tutoring marketplace. However, you may have to register and define the legal structure of your online tutoring business. You can register your online tutoring business as an LLC, partnership, sole proprietorship, or corporation. Moreover, familiarize yourself with the regional laws and regulations prevalent in your country. 

Q4: Does your online tutoring software come with free technical support?

Our online tutoring software– Yo!Coach offers one year of free technical support. Our team provides full technical support through multiple channels and ensures all the issues are resolved at the earliest. 

Q5: What makes Yo!Coach an appropriate choice to create an online tutoring website?

Yo!Coach is indeed an appropriate choice if you are planning to create an online tutoring website. Following are its specifications:

• White-label tutoring software
• Self-hosted 
• One-time payment
• Lifetime ownership
• Android and iOS mobile apps
• Free 1 yr of technical support
• GDPR compliant
• Free demos
• Industry-specific features 
• Catering to 10+ business models and 15+ niches within the online tutoring industry
• Years of industry experience

Q6: Does Yo!Coach offers mobile apps?

Yes, Yo!Coach offers intuitive, user-friendly, and feature-rich mobile apps for learners ensuring a flexible and convenient learning experience on the go. 

Q7: What are the prerequisites to build an online tutoring website?

The prerequisites to creating an online tutoring marketplace include:

• Planning your financial budget beforehand
• Choosing the development company and team wisely
• Considering the advanced technology, software reliability, and features. 
• Exploring software demos before making final decisions about the online tutoring software
• Gaining insight into the reviews and ratings shared by the clients for the software development companies