Most teachers get their first students the same way: someone asks, someone passes the name on. That works until you want more than word of mouth reaches. Here is what actually brings people in — and what you need ready before they arrive.
Be findable the way people search
Students look for three things: an instrument, a level, and a price. “Guitar lessons for beginners”, “online”, and some idea of what an hour costs. A social profile answers none of those. A listing does.
Put the price on it
The most common reason someone doesn’t write is not knowing what it costs. “Contact for price” reads as expensive. A number — even a range — gets more messages than a hidden one.
Write for the student, not about yourself
A diploma matters less to a beginner than knowing whether you teach adults who have never held an instrument. Say who you teach: age, level, what they want to reach. The listings that get booked answer “is this for me” in the first line.
Make the first lesson bookable, not negotiable
Every extra step loses people. Write, wait, agree a time, find out you’re busy — most never get that far. Publish the hours you’re free and let them take one.
What you need to actually run it
Teaching online takes more than a video call: a metronome you both hear, sheet music you can both mark up, somewhere to leave homework, a way to know whether they practised. Stitching that from four apps is what makes online teaching tiring.
- A page for what you teach — instrument, who it’s for, price, your free times. One link to send.
- Students book a time themselves. It lands in both calendars, with reminders.
- Calls built for music — shared piano and metronome, sheet music you both draw on, a tuner.
- Your materials once. Sheet music and backing tracks attach to any student’s homework or open mid-call.
- Homework with an answer — a comment, a recording, a link back from the student.
- A practice diary with tempo goals, if the student shares it.
- Recorded lessons, when you both agree, kept 90 days.
Free. You agree payment with the student directly — Sonetum takes nothing.
Wherever you are
An online lesson doesn’t care where either of you sits. The call, the sheet music, the homework and the practice diary work the same across a city or across an ocean. Sonetum doesn’t ask where you are, and doesn’t limit who can find you.
Set your hours in your own time zone — students see them in theirs.