Forget newspaper classifieds (does anyone read them anymore?). Forget advertising through your local primary school and forget the local paper!

If you are looking to build your studio numbers and you are based in Australia, www.gumtree.com.au is a great place to advertise your services.

And it’s free!

When I first started teaching, I found all my private students through my gumtree ad or word of mouth generated by it.

Although it’s a free service, you’ll find that whilst your ad may start on the first page for your category/area, it very quickly ends up on page 3 or 4+ and so I tend to “bump up” my ad back to the first page every so often.

This costs about $1.50 for a week – less than half the price of a takeaway coffee – so I believe it’s money well spent if you’re looking for more students.

I have picked up a lot of adult students in particular through Gumtree and for the total cost of about $10 in the last 6 months, I’ve filled my studio numbers back to capacity.

Worth checking out.