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Attendez S.V.P....
Dear Tutors-Live user,
We would like to keep you up to date with what’s happening at Tutors-Live. Here are the topics of this newsletter:
Ordering of spoken languages, subjects taught and subjects learned
Previously, if you selected more than one spoken languages, subjects taught or subjects learned you could not specify the order in which they were shown in your profile. Now they appear in the same order as you entered them, so it is now possible to put the ones you consider more significant, in the first positions.
New subjects
The following subjects have been added under the “Economy” category:
Accounting and ERP software
New field 'skype name' in user profile
The optional field “Skype name” has been added in the user profile. Please fill in this field, it will make it easier and faster for students to contact you, as an alternative to sending you an email.
Languages added
Chinese (Mandarin) and Hindi/Urdu have been added to the list of spoken languages
The number of Tutors-Live's users keeps growing, we now have more than 3100 tutors. The number of students is also growing, although it's not possible to know how many they really are, since students are not required to register in order to contact tutors. Moreover, students that do not find a suitable tutor and don't wish to be contacted, have no reason to register.
Our strategy continues to give precedence to building a solid base of tutors in all the 5 languages of the site, so don't worry if you have not yet received the contacts you expected, we believe that our strategy will give good results in the long term.
Also, a good positioning of our site on Google search results is the most important factor in order to be found by students; we are taking all the necessary actions to increase our page rank but this is a lengthy process and you can also help by spreading the word about Tutors-Live and posting its web link in all the web forums and social networks you are using, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Digg, Pinterest etc.
All Tutors-Live users may upload an mp3 file with a vocal presentation that will become an integral part of their profile. The presence of the audio file will be signalled by a special "speaker" icon near their image or nickname.
We think this is very useful, especially for tutors who offer lessons in a language different from their native one, so that they can demonstrate their ability to speak and pronounce correctly.
We therefore recommend you to record and upload your personal audio message. In order to upoad the mp3 file you should go to the "My Account" page, where you will find, right under your picture, a new line labelled "My voice presentation".
In order to build your vocal presentation file, you need a computer equipped with a microphone and a program capable to record your voice and save it in mp3 format. There are many such programs available for free, for example Audacity.
Be aware that tutors with a good quality picture in their profile receive many more contacts than those without it.
Adding or changing your picture is easy: just go to your account and click on “Upload new picture”.
Please note: the picture should be a jpg file not larger than 500 Kbytes and should show only your face. Object, landscapes or full-body pictures are not appropriate.
We have updated our Best ways for tutors to find students page. You may want to read it and make sure you have done your best in order to improve the chance of being contacted by students.
In order to support our site economically, we are thinking of introducing premium services besides the basic services which will remain free of charge. Some of you have asked about a way for their profile to appear in the first positions of the search results. A solution could be that users could acquire a "featured" status by paying a fee, which would give them priority in the search results.
Another premium service could consist of the possibility for a tutor to contact students via the internal email, while students will remain able to contact tutors free of charge.
Please send us your opinions and suggestions about premium services by means of the contact page.
Our basic services are free and will continue to be so.
We are using donations to buy advertising spaces for our web site, but they are currently insufficient to cover our costs.
Make a donation of any amount and you'll not only support our work, but you'll contribute, in your own interest, to let more and more people discover the existence of Tutors-Live and, as a consequence, significantly increase the number of students and tutors that join our site every day.
Donations can be easily made from this page
Thank you for using Tutors-Live.
Best regards,
Dear Tutors-Live user,
We would like to keep you up to date with what’s happening at Tutors-Live. Here are the topics of this newsletter:
| 1) Tutors-Live's growth | How we are doing and what to do to help us grow faster |
| 2) Google +1 buttons in Tutors-Live's pages | How the '+1' button can increase your chances of being contacted |
| 3) Tutors-Live page in Google+ | Tutors-Live's presence in the Google's social network |
| 4) Audio Presentations | A new and powerful feature in Tutors-Live user profiles |
| 5) Best ways to find students | Recommendations on how to get more contacts from students |
| 6) Donations | How donations can help Tutors-Live to grow faster |
The number of users is growing steadily, we now have more than 2500 tutors. The number of students is also growing, although it's not possible to know how many they really are, since students are not required to register in order to contact tutors, if tutors expose their email or website address in their profile description. Moreover, students that do not find a suitable tutor and don't wish to be contacted, have no reason to register.
Our strategy continues to give precedence to building a solid base of tutors in all the 5 languages of the site, so don't worry if you have not yet received the contacts you expected, we believe that our strategy will give good results in the long term.
Also, a good positioning of our site on Google search results is the most important factor in order to be found by students; we are taking all the necessary actions to increase our page rank but this is a lengthy process and you can also help by spreading the word about Tutors-Live in all the web forums and social networks you visit, and by following our recommendations.
Google+ is the new social network recently launched by Google, which is rapidly becoming a major player and challenging the leadership of Twitter and Facebook.
One of the Google+ features is the possibility for any web user, to express one's appreciation for any given web page, by clicking the Google's "+1" button, if it exists in that page.
The effect of this, is that the greater the number of "+1" clicks on a given page, the higher is the 'page rank' of that page in the Google's results.
This means that any increase of the number of clicks of the "+1" buttons in the Tutors-Live pages will increase the chance for Tutors-Live's tutors to be contacted by students interested in their teaching.
Therefore we invite you, in your own interest, to click the "+1" button in all the Tutors-Live's home pages (and possibly in other pages too):
You can find the button at the top of the page, near our logo:
We have created a page for Tutors-live in Google+. We invite you to visit it, post any comment and click the local "+1" button. This will contribute to increase the poupularity of Tutor-Live and hence give all tutors a higher chance to be contacted.
We have introduced a very powerful and exciting new feature: the possibility for all Tutors-Live users to upload an mp3 file with a vocal presentation that will become an integral part of their profile. The presence of the audio file will be signalled by a special "speaker" icon near their image or nickname.
We think this is very useful, especially for tutors who offer lessons in a language different from their native one, so that they can demonstrate their ability to speak and pronounce correctly.
We therefore recommend you to record and upload your personal audio message. In order to upoad the mp3 file you should go to the "My Account" page, where you will find, right under your picture, a new line labelled "My voice presentation".
In order to build your vocal presentation file, you need a computer equipped with a microphone and a program capable to record your voice and save it in mp3 format. There are many such programs available for free, like for example Audacity.
We have updated our Best ways for tutors to find students page. You may want to read it and make sure you have done your best in order to improve the chance of being contacted by students.
Our basic services are free and will continue to be so.
We are using donations to buy advertising spaces for our web site, but they are currently insufficient to cover our costs.
Make a donation of any amount and you'll not only support our work, but you'll contribute, in your own interest, to let more and more people discover the existence of Tutors-Live and, as a consequence, significantly increase the number of students and tutors that join our site every day.
Donations can be easily made from this page
Thank you for using Tutors-Live.
Best regards,
Dear Tutors-Live user,
Thank you for using Tutors-Live.
Best regards,
Dear Tutors-Live user,
In an effort to provide the students with the most accurate information about the tutors registered with Tutors-Live, we have introduced two new fields:
These two fields are a very important factor in the choice of tutors, so if you want to increase your chances of being contacted by students, we recommend you to fill them as soon as possible with clear and exhaustive information, even if you have already written something about your qualifications and experience in your profile description or title.
To fill in the new fields, proceed as follows:
Thank you for using Tutors-Live.
Best regards,
Dear Tutors-Live user,
Tutors-Live continues to grow faster than expected but in this moment the number of registered students is much smaller than the number of tutors. As a consequence, the probability for a tutor to be contacted by students interested in their teaching is not high.
This can be due to the fact that our initial strategy has been to create a solid base of tutors before trying to attract students, and thereby our advertising efforts have targeted mainly tutors rather than students.
Moreover, our site has not yet been properly indexed by Google, Yahoo and Bing, and therefore it does not appear with the desired priority in the results of these search engines. We expect Tutors-Live to be better indexed in the future, which should significantly increase the number of students visiting our site and contacting tutors. But improving the position of Tutors-Live in the search results may take an unpredictable time and, since all Tutors-Live services are free of charge and we don't get any commissions, we don't want to spend much in commercial advertising.
However, all tutors can significantly contribute to accelerate the growth of the student population in our website by telling as many people as possible of the existence and benefits of Tutors-Live.
How to attract more students
If you are on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn (or any other social network), you can post the link to Tutors-Live (http://www.tutors-live.com) in your web space, with an appropriate comment. Here is an example of comment that you can customise as you like: "I have registered in Tutors-Live as a tutor (my nickname is Tutors-Live user). This site can help students worldwide in finding the optimal tutor for their needs at convenient prices, for online or in-home tutoring in any subject and language. If you also think this is a good website, share this link with your friends: you will contribute to increase its popularity and I will have more chances to be found by students potentially interested in my teaching. Thanks."
Or, if you prefer not to say that you have registered with Tutors-Live, you can just post the link without a comment, or with a very little one, like, for example: "This is an interesting site for anybody who has something to learn or teach" and/or "This site brings progress and cultural change worldwide."
In the share page of Tutors-Live you will find numerous links to social bookmarking sites. You should use as many as possible of them and share the link to Tutors-Live with or without a link to your profile.
So, in our common interest, we recommend you to spread the word about Tutors-Live with any possible means, including posting in forums and blogs which may have something to do with learning, education, culture, life-style, self-improvement or social development.
Advertising Tutors-Live in as many websites as possible will have two important consequences: first, it will spread the information about our website to a great number of people; second, it will increase the Page Rating (i.e. the positioning in search results) of Tutors-Live with Google and other search engines, as this rating depends on how many respectable back-links a site has. These two combined effects could help the user base of Tutors-Live grow rapidly and in a self-sustained way, for the benefit of all.
If you intend to participate in this spontaneous advertising effort, we will appreciate it if you keep us informed of your actions and send us the links to the web pages where you refer to Tutors-Live, by means of the contact page.
Remember, the more you will help us in promoting Tutors-Live, the less we will need introducing fees for using our site.
By the way, we accept suggestions and volunteers for marketing activities, especially those involving web and paper media, journalists, bloggers and opinion leaders.
Tutors-Live on Facebook
We have created a Tutors Live page on Facebook. We would appreciate it if you visit it, become fan (by clicking the "like" button) and post a comment with your Tutors-Live nickname and/or the link to your profile page in TL. In this way you will also be advertising yourself.
How tutors can find students
Many tutors have been asking: How do we find students? What is the best way to find them? The answer to these questions are partly given above in this message. The complete answer can be found in the Best ways for tutors to find students page.
Thank you very much for your cooperation. Any comments and suggestions will be much appreciated. I am also available on Skype ("bruno1949") or in the Tutors-Live chat.
Best wishes,
Dear Tutors-Live user,
we have noticed that you haven’t included a picture in your Tutors-Live profile yet.
Please be aware that tutors with a picture receive an average of 10 times more contacts than those without it.
Adding your picture is easy: just go to your account and click on “Upload new picture”.
Please note: the picture should be a jpg file not larger than 500 Kbytes,
Your face should be clearly visible (landscapes and objects are not allowed).
Best wishes,
Dear tutor,
This is the first of a series of messages that will keep you informed about the evolution of our site.
Thank you for using Tutors-Live. Our goal is to be the best meeting platform for students and tutors worldwide, and the most important asset in order to achieve this goal are tutors like you.
During the first two months from the opening of our site to the public, the response from tutors has been higher than expected. We now have more than 900 tutors and the number of new registrations is growing every day.
However, it is possible that you have not yet found any students interested in your teaching. This can be explained by the fact that our current strategy is to create a solid base of tutors before trying to attract students, and consequently, our initial advertising efforts have targeted mainly tutors rather than students.
Moreover, our site has not yet been properly indexed by Google, Yahoo and Bing, and therefore it does not appear with the appropriate priority in the normal results of these search engines. We expect Tutors-Live to be better and fully indexed in a few weeks, which should significantly increase the number of students visiting our site and contacting tutors like you.
So we kindly ask you to be patient and keep waiting. Meanwhile, you can still send us your comments and suggestions on how to improve our services and attract more students.
We wish you every success in your endeavors.
Sincerely,
