Selling online courses today is easier than ever before, but this doesn’t mean it can be done without lifting a finger. Creating a great product, finding the right audience for it and putting it in front of them means a lot of work. However, as any successful knowledge entrepreneur would know, mastering the basics is well worth it.

While cold emailing may not have over the top conversion rates, it still works as a good marketing tool for your online course. Especially when you are only starting out in the online marketing world, you can’t ignore the potential of cold emailing has for getting yourself out there.

Buyer personas are profiles that you make in order to tell you how, when and why a learner decides to buy your courses. Building a buyer persona for your online course shouldn’t be a very complicated process, but it should be well researched.

Picking an idea for an online course that sells well means that it’s time for you to think like a scientist and not base an entire course on your assumptions about what people need. Here are the questions to ask yourself in order to come up with the best online course idea that will actually sell:

Entrepreneurs can make as much as $100,000 or more in one year selling online courses. As a business owner, the extra money has the potential to help you grow your business. If you’re looking for clever ways to market your services or product, an online course can bring in more customers.

By setting aside a monthly sum for expenses such as hosting, content creation, user experience and marketing, you are less likely to overspend, more likely to cut some costs when needed, and finally to see a return on your investment pretty quickly.

Cross selling your online courses has the potential to boost your business and expand your customer base. The key is to keep it as genuine as possible, deliver what you promise and make sure the suggestions are legitimate and relevant. Here are four tips on how to do online cross-selling right:

It’s a common misconception that trying to persuade a potential customer to choose the more complex (and inherently more expensive) version is pushy and will drive them away. If done properly, upselling can lead both to improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue. It’s an ideal win-win situation so here are a few helpful tips on how to upsell online.

Designing and selling an online course doesn’t have to be a gamble. It’s good to do what you like and to believe in it but it’s safer to test if what you think is of value matters to your target audience as well. Pre-selling is the key to efficiency and success.