If the Internet has taught us anything, its that you don't have to be in a classroom to either learn or teach. More than ever, the masses are turning to the Internet today to learn trades, hobbies and new information. And if you can teach them, you're in luck. Starting an online teaching website can not only provide you a way to do something fun and fulfilling, but it can also provide you with a second income.

Decide what you want to teach. Do you want to start a website where you offer instruction to others in your specialized area? Or, do you want to start a general teaching website where a variety of specialized instructors offer instruction to different kinds of students.

Design the course environment. According to Yang and Cornelious' article, "Preparing Instructors for Quality Online Instruction," "To ensure the quality of online instruction, the online learning environment must be designed first before the instructor embarks on the online course delivery." A course's environment is made up of the website's look and feel, modes of communication and resources. This means you must consider what kind of features your website will allow. Options include chat, video, forums, the submission of word documents, sound files or all of the above. Determine how students will interact with each other. Will they use IM, Skype, E-mail or a Facebook-like chat in which a person's face is visible on the text chat window? Will there be a common space where students can chat about issues that are not related to the course? How will students meet one-on-one with their professors? Draft a plan regarding how you would like your course's environment to look.

Decide how your instruction will be delivered. Yang and Cornelious write that a course plan should come after the course environment is established. The authors argue that teaching styles and learning styles should be considered as you draft this plan. Determine what types of instruction you would like to offer to your students--online chats, video, textbook readings--based on their learning and your teaching styles, or decide how you would like the rest of your faculty to create their course plans.

Choose a domain name. Now that you have a better idea of your teachers, students and delivery methods, choose a domain name that reflects the purpose of your site.

Populate the site and schedule a dry run. According to West Lake Web Training and Development, you need to think of the logistics behind your website before it goes live. These logistics include accessibility, graphic design and security, among other concerns. Populate your website with its content and do a "dry run," pretending you are a student. Keep a record of the problems you encounter in order to fix them, making sure to keep logistical concerns in mind. Once you fix the errors, you are ready to begin offering classes.