How to Take Your Yoga Teaching Online

It seems like everywhere you look yoga teachers are starting to take their business online in some way, shape, or form. Nowadays you see everything from online yoga teacher trainings, to virtual private sessions.

Taking your yoga teaching online can be a great way to reach new students, continue to teach the ones you already have, and design a service that will generate passive income for you. 

Here are seven steps to getting your teaching online in 2020!

Decide what type of service are you going to share.

First things first, you need to decide what you will offer online. You may have ideas in mind, but it’s important to narrow it down to just a few at first. Sometimes when you try to offer too many things online your services can get lost in the shuffle.

Take some time to think about what you want to offer online – will you run a course? Offer private sessions? Start a podcast? Live stream events? Consider which format might be best for the service you want to provide, and what you are comfortable with.

If you are uncomfortable with being videotaped, maybe an audio format might be best, or if you need to be seen when you’re teaching then you start with video. Make smart decisions about what you are passionate about, known for, and make sense online when choosing your signature offering.

Choose a platform and modality for teaching.

Once you have decided on your signature service it’s time to find the teaching platform that is right for you. Based on the service you will want to research what options there are for your product. If you are doing live private sessions, you will want to enroll in video call software such as Zoom and then decide on a method of accepting payment.

If you are going to do an online course or series you will want to research and decide on a platform such as Namastream or Teachable. If you are starting a podcast or live streaming service you will want to sign up for a podcast host such as Blubrry or create a closed Facebook group for you live stream event.

You may also want to consider platforms such as Patreon that allow people to do a monthly subscription fee for your products. You do not need to have all of these things, just find one that works best for the service that you are offering. Each online business is different and will need different software, start simple and as your online business expands so can your software needs.

Create a plan of action.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see yoga teachers making when going online is not having a plan. You can have the best idea in the world, and killer content but without a plan you can find yourself with hours wasted and no students in sight. Online yoga teaching can be a bit of a slow burn, but if you take the time to plan out all aspects of your online product, marketing, student attraction strategy, and identifying your ideal student it can lead to great success.

Don’t wait until you’re launching to decide on pricing, how you take payments, figure out what your equipment isn’t sufficient, or how to reach your students. Take steps ahead of launch to make sure everything is in place before you launch your online offering.

Invest in simple, but effective equipment.

You do not need fancy equipment to take your yoga teaching online. All you need is a way to film and have a simple, but effective microphone. There are many people that can get away with filming on their newer model iPhone, and recording audio through voice memos and a pair of headphone with a built in microphone.

There are also small USB microphone that you can purchase and plug into your computer for audio recording, I personally used a Blue Yeti when I first started my podcast and then upgraded as my podcast continued to grow. When it comes to video, your iPhone will be sufficient. You can even purchase a lens attachment and tripod to create high quality videos right from your phone. Another option might be a webcam that can go on your computer to improve video quality for virtual sessions.

Design a lead magnet that matches your product.

The biggest struggle that teachers have when they are bringing their business online is attracting new students. Online conversions rates are typically around two percent meaning that for everyone 100 students you have two of them will purchase your offering. This statistic might sound discouraging at first, but don’t let it scare you. With low conversion rates that just means you need to cast a wide net and generate a killer lead magnet to attract new students and get your product in front of new eyes.

Things to consider when you’re designing your lead magnet: 

• What information can you share that will introduce your leads to the topic of your service but not give away the entire course? 
• How will you share this lead magnet?
• What will be your call to action to turn these leads into sales? 

If you check out any teacher that is currently online, you will see that they have one or two lead magnets on their website to drive traffic and generate leads.

Beta test your product before the launch.

One step that I cannot stress enough is to run a beta test of your online product or service before it goes live. This beta test can be a small group of students and early adaptors that will try your service for a discounted rate in exchange for giving you feedback on how it went. This will give you an opportunity to work out any tech kinks, rework anything that didn’t go quite right or was confusing, and get valuable feedback so when you do your live launch you have a refined and completed product ready to share.

Go online and share, share, share.

The final step of taking your business online is to share it everywhere. Remember, if you are only working with two percent conversion rates on average the more eyes you get your product or service in front of the better. When it comes to teaching online you need to cast a wide net, so sharing on social media, your email list, any studio or physical location you teach at is key.

Share it everywhere, and don’t be afraid to ask your beta testers, students, friends and family to share as well. There are probably a lot of people out there that would be interested in your product and would benefit from it, but if they don’t know it exists then they can’t enroll.

When it comes to taking your teaching online start small. You can always add more and continue to expand your online presence over time. Beginning with one signature product or service can help you break into the online game, and then piece by piece you can begin to offer more. You may also want to consider consulting a mentor or asking a yoga teacher that is already online to help you at the beginning, doing it alone can be a daunting task, and asking for help can streamline your process and get you online faster.