How to Start Your Own Business Teaching Language Courses Online

Are you an experienced language teacher wanting to bring your classes online? Or do you have zero teaching experience but want to start your own language tutoring business?

Either way, creating your own online course has never been easier.

This article will help you understand what are the steps required in order to start your own business teaching online in 2021.

Online and offline teachings are two very different things, and if you are new at this, it can feel intimidating and overwhelming. Your online teaching style and methods should be different from what you are used to, and it can be harder to stand out from the competition.

The good news is that by bringing your training online, you are able to reach a far broader audience and your business can scale much faster.

Keep reading below to find out exactly what you need to do to start a successful online business with language courses.

Step 1: Find the Right Online Course Platform

When you are teaching a language with in-person classes, the success of your students depends on their ability to learn, and more importantly, on your ability to teach.

With online courses, it is harder to convey the same human touch as in in-person classes. However, this can be compensated by your content and the way you structure your online course.

You could be a great teacher and create very entertaining videos, but you need a platform that helps you organize your content and structure it in a way that is beneficial for your students.

Especially in the case of learning a foreign language, students need to follow a defined path in order to progress with their learning experience.

As an online language teacher, the most important features you need in an online course platform are:

• the flexibility to structure content the way you want
• the ability to offer a mix of scheduled one-on-one calls with self-paced content
• no limits on the number of lessons, videos and courses you can create (language courses can be extremely lengthy)
• features that help your students learn and stay engaged with your content (gamification tools, awards, projects)

Other than this, the perfect online course software should have all the technical features needed to create a thriving online business: from payment settings to marketing features and more.

In this article from our blog, we explain exactly what you need to look for when choosing the right online course software: Top 10 Things to Look For When Choosing the Perfect Online Course Platform

Step 2: Define Your Business Model

If you come from the world of in-person teaching, you probably have never thought about having a business model for your classes.

However, when you start your online business, it is important to get clear about what kind of business model you are aiming for.

The right business model for you depends on your goals, your type of content and your audience. So there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to finding the right fit for your business: what you should focus on is structuring your online course around the business model you choose.

When it comes to teaching a language online, the most popular business model is the membership site.

A membership site is a type of online course that contains ongoing, gated content for your audience.

Instead of purchasing an online course that has a start and an end, with a membership site your students pay a monthly or annual subscription to access your content.

This type of business model is a great option for language courses as generally, it takes a long time to learn a new language, therefore charging a one-time fee for months and months of content might not be profitable for you.

Another benefit of membership sites is the option of creating an online community. Since your students will log into your course over and over again for a long period of time, you have the opportunity to engage with them and create a connection. In the case of creating an online language learning course, allowing students to practice their new language skills with each other can be a huge added value for your learners!

Another way to add even more value to your business model is to offer one-on-one or group live coaching sessions to your students. Especially when it comes to learning a new language, students may need your expert assistance even more. As an example, you could offer them a weekly live call where they can chat with you and ask you questions.

Depending on your business model, you could offer this as a purchasable add-on or include a certain number of complimentary sessions in your online course price.

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

Step 3: Start Creating Content

Obviously, your online course or membership site cannot exist without your content. So once you have figured out the best business model and which online course platform to use, it is time to start generating content.

It is not mandatory to have all of your content ready before you start selling your online course. In fact, many creators like to start selling before they even finish producing their content. This is called pre-selling and it is a great way to validate your idea with your audience and get a few initial sales to help you get started.

Learn all about pre-selling an online course in this article from our blog: How to Pre-Sell Your Online Course and Profit Before the Launch

The way you create content is extremely important if you wish to keep your students engaged for a long time.

Learning a language requires practice and verbal communication, which you do not have with an online course. So it is crucial to find a way to entertain your students while offering them the best learning experience possible.

Videos and audios are a great way to communicate concepts and can help your students understand the pronunciation of a new language and exercise on their own.

Step 4: Promote Your Online Course

Once you have your content all ready to go in your favorite online course creation platform, it is time to start promoting your online course to the world.

There are many different marketing strategies you could use to promote an online course. However, what we usually recommend to our creators is to try to build an audience before the launch.

From the moment you choose to create an online course, you should try to spread the word about it and gather a small audience to start with. This way, when the time comes for you to launch your online course, you will already have a few people interested in it, and maybe you will get a few initial sales!

You could choose to promote your online course organically or with paid advertisement (or both).

Check out our ultimate guide for promoting an online course with both free and paid strategies: A Complete Guide on How to Promote Your Online Course and Boost Sales

If you are on a tight budget or have limited resources, our recommendation is to start with organic marketing. Here is our guide on how to promote an online course through organic marketing (without spending money on ads): Get Your First $100k Without Paid Ads: How to Grow Your Online Course Business Organically

Step 5: Keep Your Students Engaged

So now you have built your language online course and you started promoting it to your audience. What's next?

Once you get your first students enrolled in your program, it is important to keep them engaged and offer them a great learning experience.

If you manage to build an engaging online course that helps your students achieve results, it will be easier for you to gain positive reviews, increase your online visibility and reduce refund requests and complaints.

From the way you structure your program, to the format of your lessons or your interaction with students, there are many ways you can use to increase the level of engagement in your online course.

Try to engage your students with a gamification system: you could create a rewarding method where you assign points to students after they complete a lesson or reach a milestone in your program, offer them personalized badges or symbolic rewards and so on.

Offering live coaching sessions to your students can help them feel motivated and get the assistance they need to keep learning a new language. Create an online community and offer a space where students can interact with you and with each other and share their questions and insights.

If you are looking for more inspiration on ways to engage with your students, don't miss this article from our blog: 9 Proven Ways to Increase Student Engagement and Completion Rate in your Online Course

Conclusion

In this article, we explained how you can build your own business by teaching a language online.

While it is extremely different from in-person language lessons, an online course definitely has its benefits for both you and your students, providing language teachers with the ability to impact more people and earn more in the process.

The best way to make sure you are creating a program that is beneficial to your students is to offer great, engaging content and structuring it in the right way. This is where Heights Platform comes in.

Heights Platform offers you all the tools you need to build fantastic language online courses and membership sites, by giving you the freedom to choose your preferred business model, letting you upload unlimited content and offering you gamification tools to keep your audience engaged.