Why putting up your own website is essential to your success as an online ESL teacher

Online ESL teaching is an ONLINE business. I didn’t really have to say or remind you of that, did I? 😉  So, how else do you think can you go freelance and be successful in it if you don’t have an online presence? Bill Gates once said, “If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business.” And I don’t think he was referring only to digital businesses but also, traditional businesses. So, all the more it is important for an online business like ours to have a website and here are the reasons why:

1. Visibility.

How would English learners find you if you do not have a website? Nowadays, people go online to search for almost everything they need. When learners want to study online, where do you think would they go to look for their options? You see, whether or not ESL learners end up choosing you as their online teacher, it would remain your advantage to have a website for them to learn about you and the services you offer.

2. Credibility.

Having a website will absolutely help you establish your credibility online. You may know of a few freelance online ESL teachers/tutors who don’t have a website yet and without one, it’s almost impossible to make progress in freelancing. If you don’t have a website where you can refer learners, potential clients are going to assume that you are a small-time, cheap, and not a serious ESL teacher/tutor, hence, they won’t take you seriously. You may still get a few learners to learn with you but once you establish that kind of reputation, it is going to be hard to increase your lesson fees.

3. Positive impression.

Imagine yourself as the learner. Whom would you want to study English online with? A freelance ESL teacher/tutor with a website or one without? Having a website will leave your potential clients a positive impression. No doubt about that. In fact, this is even more important than establishing credibility because, unless they have a good impression on you, they won’t even book your trial lessons.

4. Convenience.

If you have a website, you are offering convenience to your learners and isn’t that the main reason why they want to study online, as well as why you want to teach online for that matter? Making your potential clients send you a message or email you just to ask simple questions is not encouraging. Having a website where you can showcase your credentials, experience, testimonials, pricing, faq’s, and so on will make both your and your potential learner’s life more convenient and easier.

5. Online payment.

Without a positive impression and credibility, I personally cannot imagine how you can get ESL learners to pay you. In one of the ESL listings I where I advertised my own services, most of the questions and feedback I got were about payment and credibility. “How do I pay you?” “I’ve sent money to a Filipina tutor before but she didn’t teach me.” Paypal is integrated with my website and automatically recognizes the type of coaching plans my learners have. Paypal is also a trusted payment gateway. In fact, online ESL companies offer this payment method as well to their students. Sure you can set up your own Paypal account to collect payment but having it integrated with a website gives positive impression, credibility, and convenience to your potential clients and convert them into paying and loyal learners.
Believe it or not, I put up my own website without any background in IT whatsoever. It was necessary for me to do so because I could not afford to hire a web-designer/developer. Learning how much money I needed at that time was frustrating. So, from scratch, I did it on my own. I could have started earning more at an earlier time as an online ESL teacher had I had the money to hire a developer but looking back, I’m glad I did it all by myself. If you want to know more about how you can do it too, follow me and join our group. I’ll be writing more about it in my posts to follow.