Should a Yoga Teacher have a website?
I am a new Yoga teacher and I teach only few yoga classes a week and intend to become a full time yoga instructor in future. I will also start offering private yoga lessons soon.
A friend of mine suggested that I should have a website if I like to promote my Yoga business. Do I really need a website. I am not very good at computers.
Thank you in advance for your advice!
Namaste,
Tina
Answer:
#1
Absolutely you should have one Tina. Just something simple that will display your contact info and basic yoga philosophy is sufficient. My best opportunities have come from folks who just searched for yoga in the vicinity and there I was In my opinion, nowdays not having one is certainly a detriment to any financial gain and again, just my opinion, shows that a yoga teacher doesn't take his/her profession seriously enough--"ah, it's just a hobby for me" I perceive. "I may not be available as you want, I may take off to find my inner self..." etc.
Since you state you have a yoga business, it's beneficial to you to use current business practices. With friendly web applications, "not being good at computers" is not an excuse--too much cheap/free help out there from adult education facilities, or friends, or for trade. And just for fun, imagine you talking to a computer guru about coming to your class. His/her response, "I'm really not very good at yoga." Well then you reply, "help me with my website and in trade, I'll have you standing on your head before long."
#2
I would say you need a website if you want to build up your student base. Just because you're not good at computers doesn't mean your potential students aren't. You can do some promotion via local ads and flyers and other stuff but the web is how many people find information and classes these days and it's always there. I do think besides contact info and style, your website should have a class schedule, and ideally updates if a class is canceled or something. And a location if it's in some public place not your home. If you can post here, someone can set it up for you that you could follow directions to make simple updates.
There are also a number of yoga teacher/class directories on different websites you could put a listing on . At least some are free. I see they have something for $36/year that would give you enough space to list basic info and a couple classes. If you get one new student through that it's more than paid for itself. These directories aren't perfect, there are lots of dead listings that never get cleaned out so someone using them to find you really needs to verify you're still around. But it always sort of amazes me the teachers I have stumbled across in my area that have no listings anywhere, no web presence, nothing.
Of the 2 classes I attend frequently, one does a great website and presence and is building quite a student base. It's not all because of the website but I think it's a huge factor. (Helps that they are a very good teacher.) The other class I take, the teacher is very good. But while I think she would like a few more students, she has nothing on the web and does nothing else to promote her classes. I only found her by accident. Her classes remain very small, nice for the students but sometimes barely enough to pay for her room rental.
