If we want an article to show up on our class page, do we need to post the class before the article? Is there an option to place an article we’ve already published/posted onto the page of a class we subsequently create? I am hanging onto one article at the moment, in my drafts, but I am also wondering about some articles I’ve already posted.

Hi Karen!

You can post an article before a class and link to it by editing the document once your class is posted. However, I strongly recommend against it!

One of the biggest marketing blunders I made since joining eduFire had to do with a document I posted on how to create a background image that serves as banner type ad on twitter. Since twitter does not allow clickable ad type images on their site this article gathered a tremendous amount of exposure for me in just a short time. If I recall there were roughly 350 – 400 views in less than 72 hours!

Only one problem….

I didn’t have anywhere for all these viewers to go!!!

If I had waited until I had a class for them to see I would have had an excellent opportunity to have gotten so many more eyes viewing my classes. Since then, the article has limped to 725 or so views. But the opportunity I had to create a lot more exposure for myself as an online tutor was squandered in an attempt to rush the document’s publication.

So please take the time to put your wonderful class up first before you publish your article. It is an excellent opportunity for others to learn about you and your wonderful class!

Ron

Thanks, Ron — good advice. Plus, some article grow and get better if I hang onto them…. This particular one may get dressed up with links and a bit of multimedia and get a Squidoo post, too. Should I have a class date set before that? Hmm….Trying to figure out how much advance notice a class should get, and when I should set it for….

Karen!

I suggest a Minimum Promotional Time of a Month! Notice I didn’t say just advance notice for your class. You will need to actively promote your new class on eduFire in much the same way as a movie is promoted in Hollywood.

One of the biggest threats to online tutors as they start their online teaching careers is the urge to start teaching classes without taking time to market their classes to the public. Think of it like this, do you think Universal Studios would release a new movie 3 days after it finished filming? How about 3 days after they finished the editing?

If you take the proper amount of time to get to know the eduFire community (as you certainly have) and then planned your first class in much the same way a restaurant owner would plan for the Grand Opening of their wonderful and new eating establishment, the benefits will become amazingly apparent. Your first class here on eduFire should be like a party! Plan for impressing your students and your fellow tutors here on eduFire!

It will certainly pay off in your future teaching career on eduFire!

Doesn’t a whole month create potential problems with people signing up early and forgetting? I don’t think that is an issue with well established firms like Universal Studios or businesses with a constant demand like restaurants.

Hi Dave!

In regards to this not applying to online education I think that is a major mistake most of us make.

Remember the key here is the Promotional Time! As the tutor you have to find ways to start the dialog with your students. Get them involved as soon as possible.

You don’t have to flood their email or eduFire message box to do this either. Just make sure you keep your name as a tutor and your classes riding high in the forums. Be helpful to everyone you possibly can and go out of your way to help promote other tutor’s and their classes. And don’t be ashamed to mention your great classes as you post forum comments when the opportunity to do so presents itself and it is appropriate.

This is something I have been doing since my first class here on eduFire and I have discovered it works! My first class, Super Charge Your Online Tutoring Income With Proven As-Seen-On-TV Marketing Techniques had 87 students sign up and more important had almost 50% positive attendance rate.

My upcoming class, How-To-Wow With Easy HTML has 50+ students registered. If there is only 25% of those who enrolled show up for the class, there will still be 13 students attend the class. If I only gave myself 1 or 2 weeks to promote the class perhaps I would have only 20 students sign up. With the same enrollment/attendance ratio, I would be looking at only 5 students.

I believe that too many tutors worry about attendance rates when they should be thinking about how to get more exposure to their classes on eduFire. If I have 30 students sign up and get only a 50% attendance rate I have 15 students attend. If I have only 5 students sign up with a 100% attendance rate I have 5 students. Am I better in this situation because I have a 100% attendance rate with 5 students or a 50% rate with 15 students? With 30 students signed up I could go as low as a 20% attendance rate and still have more students than I would have with a shorter promotional time period.

Now don’t get me wrong, you do want to have high attendance, especially in paid classes because this is what makes both you and eduFire money. But when you give a class for the first time, you want as much exposure as possible. I want a large size class for my first class in a series because the object is to get the word out to as many potential students as possible. Regardless of what some may think, larger class sizes help attract more students!

But there is a flip side to this equation which also must be addressed. If you take a month to promote your classes here on eduFire you better make sure it’s the best class you can possibly make it! Ever anxiously waited for a movie to come out and felt let down because it didn’t live up to your expectations? That is something you must contend with when you market your classes very heavily on eduFire.

Are my classes as informative for my students as they can possibly be?

Are my students motivated by the lesson I presented?

Can my students notice from the way I as a tutor presented the class that I have a strong desire to share my knowledge and that I am commited to them as a student?

Are my students WOWED by my PowerPoint presentation or other class materials?

When you market your classes here on eduFire, remember the advice that Koichi stated in this forum thread. This is what he has come to notice from extensive marketing testing with actual real live students on eduFire! Follow his advice and you will be well on your way to making your first class on eduFire exactly that…. A First-Class class here on eduFire!

Great summary, Ron! (as usual) :)

Consistency is also important. I have been focusing on music-related classes and have noticed that I am getting a select group of students. I also have classes at a consistent time every week, Sunday’s at 11 AM. I scheduled classes for Oct and Nov and am now getting ready to schedule classes for Dec. and January.

I have the same programming format for my classes. October’s classes were “4 Composers on a Desert Island”, Nov’s “Stories and Music”, Dec’s and Jan’s will be a theme for each month.

I post my slides in the doc section after the class with a link to the class. My classes are free, but if a group of repeat students want to spend an hour with me each week, I am honored. I’m sure there are other things they could do.

You folks have good ideas. I did go ahead and post the article. I am thinking about putting up a post on my teaching blog this weekend where I link to the article and also to a poll about what class times work well for people.