Three options. Only one actually works for your business.
A solo tutor is competing on three calendars and four pricing tiers at once
A private tutor is not running a tutoring agency: the Cluey Learning and Kip McGrath comparison is misleading because the economics are completely different. A solo tutor lives on three calendars (the term calendar, the exam calendar of NAPLAN in May plus selective schools test in July plus HSC and VCE trials in August, and the school-holiday intensive calendar) and four pricing tiers ($60 to $120 per hour standard, $120 to $250 for specialist subjects like Specialist Maths or Chemistry or English Extension, $250 to $500 for ATAR-coaching and IB-preparation premium, plus $400 to $1,500 holiday intensive blocks). The agencies and chains advertise on broad terms like 'HSC tutor' and capture the parent who has not yet decided. The solo tutor wins by ranking on long-tail subject-plus-year-plus-suburb queries ('HSC Specialist Maths tutor Epping', 'VCE Chemistry tutor Brighton', 'IB Maths HL tutor Sydney north shore') where the parent has already decided exactly what they need. Most solo tutors publish a single 'Subjects I tutor' page and lose the long tail to a chain with worse teaching but better SEO.
Good solo-tutor marketing is three things, in this order: a website with one page per subject-plus-year-plus-suburb combination ('HSC English Advanced tutor [suburb]', 'VCE Maths Methods tutor [suburb]', 'Year 5 NAPLAN [suburb]', 'IB Diploma Chemistry tutor [suburb]') so you rank on the long-tail intent the chains cannot defend, a Working with Children Check, Australian Tutoring Association membership, and university-degree-and-ATAR credential surfaced at the top of every page so parents trust the solo practitioner over the chain, and a results content engine that posts every consented band 6, every NAPLAN improvement, every selective-schools offer and every ATAR result because the school-gate parent conversation that generates the next enrolment is built on one screenshot of a year-12 result. The solo tutors charging $250 an hour and turning students away are doing exactly this. The ones at $60 an hour are still listing on Cluey Learning's marketplace and paying 30 percent commission.
Six agents, working in your accounts.
Account Lead, Web, SEO, Advertising, Social Media, and Content. One platform, one bill, you approve the work.
Builds your annual plan around the three calendars and the four pricing tiers, not generic enrolment goals: a Term 2 push starting in week 9 of Term 1, a NAPLAN intensive launch in week 8 of Term 1, a HSC and VCE trials intensive in week 7 of Term 2, a selective-schools intensive in the May holidays, plus a separate ATAR-coaching premium-tier campaign aimed at the top 10 percent of Year 12 students. Briefs the other agents so the subject pages, the suburb ads, the result posts and the parent emails all hit their windows.
Imports your existing site so you stop paying Wix plus Tutorbird plus a separate landing-page tool, and ships a page per subject-plus-year-plus-suburb combination you actually teach. Adds the Working with Children Check status, Australian Tutoring Association membership, ATAR and degree credentials into the H1 of every page. Adds an in-person-versus-online filter, a proper timetable widget that shows current availability, and a 'book free assessment' flow that lands in your existing system.
Goes after the long-tail subject-plus-year-plus-suburb searches Cluey and Kip cannot defend: 'HSC Chemistry tutor [suburb]', 'VCE Specialist Maths tutor [suburb]', 'IB Maths HL tutor [city]', 'Year 5 NAPLAN [suburb]', 'OC class prep [suburb]'. Ships Course and EducationalOccupationalCredential schema, optimises the Google Business Profile with the full subject list plus Working with Children Check credential, and earns review prompts after every term. Auto-applies the low-risk fixes.
Runs Google Ads timed to the intake windows: lifts spend 6 weeks before every term, every NAPLAN, every HSC and VCE trials intensive, every May-and-September school-holiday intensive. Targets parents on Meta for primary subjects, targets students directly on YouTube and Reddit for senior subjects because Year 12 students search for themselves. Drops broad chain-style 'tutor' keywords entirely and runs a separate premium-tier ATAR-coaching campaign at a higher cost per click for the $250-an-hour work.
Turns every consented student win into a post in your real accounts: a band-6 trial result, a 12-point NAPLAN improvement, a selective-schools offer, an ATAR result, a 30-second explanation of a tricky integration. Builds the school-gate trust that turns the curious parent into a free-assessment booking. You flag the win and confirm the consent, the agent drafts the caption in your voice, you approve in two taps.
Drafts the guides parents and students Google before they book: 'How to study for HSC Maths Extension 1', 'NAPLAN Year 5 numeracy: what is actually on the test', 'Selective schools test prep timeline: when to start', 'VCE Maths Methods study plan from Term 4 to the trial'. Two drafts a month, in your voice, that catch the student or parent four months before they book.
Your first 30 days.
- Subject-plus-year-plus-suburb pages indexed and ranking on the long-tail intent the chains cannot defend
- Annual plan against term, NAPLAN, HSC and VCE trials, and school-holiday-intensive windows delivered by Sam
- Google Business Profile rebuilt as 'Tutor' with 28 subjects listed, Working with Children Check number and Australian Tutoring Association membership visible
- Cluey Learning and Kip McGrath competitive comparison page published as the cornerstone trust asset
- In-person versus online format filter live in the booking flow with parent-friendly explainer
- Term-timed enrolment ad set running with day-by-day budget step-ups against the next intake window
- Premium ATAR-coaching tier landing page live at the $250-per-hour price point, with results-track credentialing and a separate ad set
- School-holiday intensive landing page shipped with 'spaces remaining' counter wired to bookings
- 'How to study for HSC Maths Extension 1' parent-and-student guide drafted, with the Year 5 NAPLAN companion piece in the queue
Solo tutors do not lose to Cluey and Kip on teaching quality; they lose on the page library. The chain bids on the broad 'HSC tutor' term, the parent clicks, the chain books the trial, and the better solo tutor down the road never appears. The work is the long-tail subject-plus-year-plus-suburb page library, the Working with Children Check credential in every H1, the consented results posts that earn the school-gate referral, and the in-person-versus-online split that turns the Sydney Specialist Maths student into a $95-an-hour weekly booking from Melbourne.
Agencies are too dear to actually run this for $3.5k a month. Tools are cheap but the Term 2 push you mean to launch in week 8 is still in your notes app in week 12. In-House is the third option: for $299 a month the agents ship the subject pages, run the intake-window ads, post the consented student wins and draft the parent guides. You stay in the driver's seat, two taps to approve, minutes a day between sessions. Fill every intake on time at the right price tier, not three weeks late at the discount tier.