Advertising with google? Pros and cons for a local English/Maths tutor

stugall

Hi folks...
Hope you're all doing well while the world is effectively 'closed' and your DIY projects are coming along. 

I am posting this in the 'Boost Your Income' category, as I have been looking at the option of boosting my online profile as a local one-to-one tutor with a small Google ad marketing campaign.

I am wondering if any fellow posters on my favourite website have ever evaluated the effectiveness of Google advertising for their (very) small, local niche businesses. In my case, I offer face-to-face tuition, but am now considering adding online tutoring to my profile with an ad campaign, in line with Covid-19 best practice?

Best wishes,
Stuart.

BA (Honours, English); Dip.Ed. (Honours, Education).


 

 

ElefantEd

I've always had plenty of pupils from word of mouth ( a surplus, really) so I've not considered advertising. But I suspect that if a random parent googles "online tutoring" or something similar, the larger established companies will pop up first, and most people may well be more comfortable with these. You may be better off using facebook as I think the searches tend to generate more localised results. But don't quote me. Perhaps try some searches of your own first to see what you get?

pramsay13

There is a lot you can do for free to promote your business which is definitely what I would start with.

In no particular order I would make sure I had a Facebook business page, Twitter, Instagram, Google my business, yell.com, freeindex, LinkedIn.

See if there are any free listings specific to your business type. The best way to find these is just by searching for something similar in your area. If a listing type appears near the top of the search make sure you can be found there.

Once you have done these make sure you update them fairly regularly ideally with photos.

Get friends and family to help by leaving reviews, sharing updates etc.

After that you can consider paid advertising. Google advertising is good but look for promotions first. If you are registered with Google my business you should start to get offers through. I did one that was spend £40 and get £80 free so I got £120 worth of Google adverts for £40. 

You can also look at social media adverts. I find Facebook most effective but don't spend too much, maybe £10 every few months.