How to Start a Profitable Online School in 5 Steps?
Online education was already a big billion industry. Due to the widespread pandemic that affected the whole world, online schools have become a popular alternative to classroom-based learning. One of the most frequent questions educators ask is how to start an online school. The most interesting thing that is a boon to tutors is that online schools are cheap to set up with the right technology. Moreover, it has limitless earning potential if you find success.
In this blog, we will walk you through all you need to know to answer the question of how do I start online school?
Introduction to the eLearning market potential
Before you look for answers on how to start your own online school, it is important to look into the eLearning industry.
The size of the eLearning market has been experiencing constant growth since 2014. According to Statista, the eLearning market is expected to reach $243 million by 2022. The statistics clearly show that all types of online or virtual schools are in demand, and starting your eLearning business is no better than now.
According to Google’s data, people have searched for queries like online courses during the lockdown. The data shows increasing demand for virtual schools, which shows no signs of slowing down. That is why starting an online school is quite lucrative right now.
Online learning is quickly gaining momentum as it presents the opportunity for learners to study anywhere according to their convenience. Requirements to open an online school is also minimal. With schools shifting to the online environment, the advantages of eLearning have become more visible.
Some of the significant benefits of running an online school are as follows.
Timeless content
Once you create educational content, for example, a document or a video, you can utilize it for future use. Hence, the same content remains relevant regardless of the time. When you start an online school, you can update the content whenever needed, which is an added advantage.
Additional income
Online schools hold immense potential to bring in a good amount of revenue if you get the fundamentals right. Starting an online school makes a great side gig while following your passion and offers help to others to make a difference in their future.
Affordable
Unlike normal schools, starting an online academy constantly offer discounts and promotions without compromising revenue. This helps to attract new learners and make the courses affordable for them.
Productive learning environment
As online platforms leverage different educational techniques, students enjoy a quality learning experience. Pre-recorded videos, interactive live sessions, and easy to consume digital documents are great ways to provide education to learners fostering a productive, healthy environment when creating an online school.
Starting an Online School- Business models to adopt
“How to create your own online school” is a significant question when educators shift to the online medium? However, many fail to understand the important business models. To monetize your products and services, you must choose the right business model to power your online school.
Following are the different types of online schools you can adopt to monetize your online school when starting an online academy:
The night school model
If you are brainstorming about how to start an online school, this is one of the common business model you can adopt.
The business model is derived from the concept of skills-based classes at local community night colleges. It is a classical business model where students pay a one-time fee to get access to the classes. Course content under this business model follows a framework that includes interactive learning modules, tests, assessments, quizzes, etc., to interact and test your students.
The business model is perfect for students mastering a particular skill or learning a language or a subject. Most edTech businesses when starting an online school adopt this night school model as it is the closest alternative to classroom learning. New businesses looking to bring in cash flow by the fast sales of high-priced online courses can choose this business model as well.
The academy model
The academy business model is a subscription-based model where the online tutoring platform functions exactly like a virtual school. This business model encourages learners to attain multiple skills and comes with an extensive library of online courses, videos, live classes, and other eLearning resources. Learners get numerous features like support groups, question and answer sessions, and one-to-one live sessions with tutors. This model works excellent if you are looking for how to start an online academy as it is great for long-term relationships between the eLearning platform and students .
Combination model
The combined model is exactly what it sounds like and can suit edTech businesses that start an online academy. It’s a combination of the night school and academy model, where learners pay a subscription fee to access the eLearning platform and additional payment to access premium learning content. The most successful and profitable online school models follow the academy or combined models. It helps retain learners for more prolonged periods instead of hunting for new ones.
Steps to starting an online academy
Before you head to build an online school, you can benefit from a systematic guide to follow. The following is a step-by-step guide that you can follow when starting an online school.
Define your expertise
If you want to create an online school, you should be clear about what you want to teach. You must also have the qualification and experience to offer classes on any topic. Think about what you excel at. It can be a hobby that you have built expertise in over the years, or it could be linked to your career as well.
Even if you don’t have a degree in the subject, you must have unique knowledge of the field. Often the thought of how to create an online school develops after you have been mentoring learners over some period of time. So now you are ready to take the next step.
Create course outline
If you are looking for how to start an accredited online school, you must host courses that you have expertise in. Don’t choose a topic simply because you think it is popular. Instead, stick to course topics for which you can provide solid advice and create your courses around that.
Once you have an idea about what your virtual school wants to focus on, you must create a course outline. An outline for your course content serves as a guide for you and your potential learners.
A sample course outline would look like this:
● Course title
● Course objective
● Introduction
-Content description
-Learning outcomes
● Instructions
● Module one: Topic
-Objective
-Instruction
-Time length
-Main points
-Methods
-Lecture
-Readings
-Activities
When creating the outline, jot down the time you will need for teaching each subtopic. This will help you to organize your tasks better and efficiently. Along with the course outline, you must also create a syllabus. A syllabus represents the guidelines and expectations for your online courses, including the learning materials students will need.
Invest in an online tutoring software
If you are brainstorming about how to create an online school, the most important thing that decides the success and profitability of your edTech business is the tutoring software. Whether you are a one-person eLearning business or running a large team of tutors hosting multiple classes and online courses, you will need a flexible software solution that is packed with flexible business management tools.
A ready-made Udemy clone script is the best solution to create a full-fledged eLearning marketplace like Udemy without developing the website from scratch. Clone scripts are website builder software that features the best capabilities for tutors and edTech businesses to launch an eLearning marketplace and join the highly lucrative eLearning industry.
Pinlearn is one such professional and efficient tutoring marketplace software that is a white label online tutoring builder with integrated features to support tutors, students, and marketplace admin, on the same platform.
Add the learning materials
Once you have the eLearning platform in place, it’s time to upload your eLearning materials. Choose the type of content in such a way that you can provide a diverse eLearning experience for students.
You can consider adding:
● Text document
● Recorded videos
● Interactive webinars
After adding the content, you must set up automatic email reminder notifications before the practice work is due. Automations will help ensure learners do the practice work and stay engaged with the course.
Pricing the course
To price the course, you must answer the following questions.
● What should be the price of the course?
● Will your learners find it affordable?
● What discounts are you planning to offer?
● Is it expensive?
● Does it offer value for money?
When starting out, never undervalue your online school by pricing your services low, especially if you are offering different learning techniques. Do market research to find out the industry trends related to the pricing and the common pricing strategies adopted by your competitor.
Launch your online school
Before launching your online school, test your eLearning platform to see if everything is functioning properly. It’s better to make sure the eLearning platform is free of any errors and glitches to ensure a great learning experience for students.
Once you have confirmed your eLearning materials are live, the platform is running as intended, and your first set of learners are ready to attend your session, you can get started with your first class.
Plan your marketing strategy
You need a proper marketing strategy to succeed as a profitable venture for your online school. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to marketing ideas. If you already have a following on social media platforms like Facebook or YouTube, you can market your eLearning platform to them. This is a great way to validate your business idea to see if there is a valid demand in the market.
Marketing on social platforms using display ads targeting your audience is also a good idea. Once your online school set-up is ready, you should encourage your learners to share reviews about the classes and share the positive word of mouth, which can be extremely valuable to bring in more leads.
Conclusion
eLearning has become the new normal among both educators and learners. Starting an online school is now easy, considering the technology available today. You can set up a profitable online school with the right skills and knowledge.
All it takes is a decision and, of course, choosing the right eLearning software to set up your customized online tutoring website.
