How do I attract Skype students?

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To attract any type of student, it's helpful to first think about the different ways a student might look for a guitar teacher. If you have a good understanding of how students look for teachers, it's much easier to put your marketing efforts into the right places.

If a student wants to find an online teacher to learn via Skype, here are the main ways that person might seek out a teacher:

  • Google search
  • YouTube search
  • Online directory search

While there are other potential ways, the three above are the most common and are the best places to focus on.

Google Search

This is the most important area to focus on as most students will begin looking for an online teacher with a Google search. A student will search for a phrase such as 'Skype guitar lessons', 'Facetime guitar lessons', 'Webcam guitar teachers' or similar.

The way you attract students looking for a teacher on Google is with your website. If you only want to teach online, then your entire website should be focused on providing information about online lessons. Google will figure out you're an online teacher and you'll have a good chance ranking high for these students.

On the other hand if you also teach locally, creating a page (or multiple pages) dedicated to online lessons is a good starting point. Make it clear on your website that you offer both online and local lessons and split the information into different pages. Have a page dedicated to information on local lessons and a separate page dedicated to online lessons. That way any student who arrives on your website won't be confused and will be able to view only the most relevant information.

If you could only focus on one method of attracting online students, you should focus on using your website. Find out more about how to rank high in the search engines here.

YouTube search

Most self-taught students today use YouTube as a source of lessons. While there are countless lessons available for students on YouTube, the videos lack interaction with a teacher. Some self-taught students seek out online teachers to supplement the freely available YouTube videos.

Attracting students via YouTube is harder because it requires you to create compelling videos and build a following. While it would be nice to simply throw together a two minute video of you explaining why a student should take lessons with you, that's not enough. Potential students want you to prove you're a valuable teacher. You do that by creating videos where you teach songs, skills or solve problems. Find out how to use YouTube to attract students in this guide.

Online teacher directory

Websites like takelessons.com have become incredibly popular because they provide a very easy way for students to connect with teachers. With a simple search, students can compare different teachers and find one that suits their needs.

While some teachers use online directories as their sole marketing method, it's not recommended. These directories do take a fee or percentage out of every lesson you give, so over time it can become quite costly. For this reason it's recommended you also have your own website to attract students where you have complete control over your income. Directories can be an easy way to attract online students, but don't let them be your only method. Find out more about teacher directories here.

Getting started

With the above information in mind, here are some recommended steps to start attracting online students:

  1. Create a page on your website dedicated to online lessons
  2. List on some relevant directories
  3. Follow the steps in this guide to learn how to teach online
  4. Plan whether you want to invest time into building a YouTube channel

If you've never given online guitar lessons before, it can be just as fulfilling as in-person lessons. Check out the information in the below resources and give a test lesson to a friend or family member to get a feel for what they're like. The key point to remember when trying to attract online students is that you need to be in the same places where online students seek out teachers. That means you need to be prominently visible in Google, YouTube or online directories. It can take some time to get into a good position where students start to find you online, but once you start appearing in the right places it can set you up for a very successful career.

More resources on teaching online via Skype