How To Learn Digital Marketing With Free Courses
How To Learn Digital Marketing With Free Courses
Are you on the fence about getting a college degree? Earning one can be expensive and time-consuming. EducationData.org, on August 15, 2021, reported the average cost of attending college is $35,720 per year, and it increases 6.8% annually.
Most likely, you or someone you know has been affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. A poll by NitroCollege.com shows that 69% of parents and 55% of students said they could no longer pay for school.
More and more people like you are considering new avenues for making money. The internet has revolutionized how we learn. You can practically learn anything these days without going to college. What’s more, many Digital marketing courses are free for you to take. Many of these courses offer certifications that can help you land a job with decent pay.
Learning Digital Marketing is a worthy challenge offering many rewards. Even seasoned marketers use online courses to keep up with all the changes in the industry.
Today, in this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know how to learn and maintain your skills in digital marketing for free.
Let’s dive in.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is marketing products or services using digital channels online. You can include mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium. The channels are either as part of a comprehensive marketing plan or an individual initiative.
Prior to 1970, when Ray Thomlinson sent the first email program on the ARPANET system, digital marketing was just a dream. Yes, there was television, but a new era began with the advent of computers.
The internet has become a leveller for brands, entrepreneurs, and advertisers of all kinds—corporations from large to small build their online presence with social media channels.
You begin to see the endless possibilities when you have this much exposure available, literally at your fingertips.
Why Digital Marketing Courses?
As of January 2021, the world has 4.66 billion active internet users, almost a 60% penetration level. Marketers with digital marketing know-how can reach more than half of the world’s population.
Digital Marketing is also the most effective tool for business and personal visibility in this internet era. Have you come across sponsored ads on social media channels? Have you searched for the best phone or laptops online and clicked on the results? If so, you are a consumer of digital marketing. Why not learn how to be the marketer instead?
Digital Marketing Courses to Help you Learn digital marketing
Digital marketing is a diverse field, with many specializations within it. There is a world of opportunity in digital marketing, and as technologies advance, there are new ways to reach out to people. Here are some examples of free digital marketing courses to learn digital marketing:
Content Marketing Course
Content marketing courses are a great way to learn about the ever-growing field of content marketing. The industry is said to be worth over $400B. HubSpot reports that 8 out of 10 marketers use content marketing for their businesses.
These courses teach you to create engaging, quality content that’ll hold an audience’s attention to attract new clients. You’ll also learn to create educational content that helps your customers solve their pain points with your product or service.
Learning content marketing is also a great way to help grow your business. You need to create valuable content to bring in more leads and increase ROI. Any such digital marketing course will get you on the right track.
Social Media Marketing Course
Social media is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools out there. Social Media Marketing is a way for companies and organizations of all sizes to get their brand in front of people.
Social media marketing knowledge is not just an add-on to your skills. Social media channels have become a major source for getting information about products. It’s also where you often find reviews from other people about products and services. If your business can’t be found out there, you are losing money to your competitors.
It provides you with all the tools and knowledge needed to create, manage, and analyze social media marketing campaigns. It also helps individuals or businesses with little resources to market themselves to the world.
Facebook is the most popular social media channel, followed by Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Course
SEO courses teach how to optimize websites so search engines can find them. An SEO course will help you rank organically on Google, accounting for over 92% of global traffic. Digital Marketing courses specializing in SEO cover topics that also include, but are not limited to:
SEO helps businesses or brands generate qualified leads to their website. It involves the art and science of making your websites friendly to search engines—Google being the prominent one. SEO is an ever-adapting, constantly changing field that requires you to use and embrace change. This explains why SEO specialists are always on the lookout for the latest Google update.
Affiliate and Automated Marketing Course
There are several ways marketers can make money online, and one of them is through affiliate marketing. The industry is worth over $12 Billion. Statista.com reports US affiliate spending will reach 8.2 by 2022.
What is Affiliate Marketing? It is a revenue-sharing model usually between an affiliate and a merchant. The merchant pays the affiliate a small commission for every sale made through the affiliate.
The best way to get started is to take an affiliate marketing course. The course will introduce you to the nitty-gritty of affiliate marketing and how you can start earning.
An automated affiliate marketing course teaches you how to automate your affiliate programs. It takes work to set up the automation, but after that, it works without you having to pay much attention to it, bringing in revenue daily. Affiliate marketing is different from automated marketing, but they both help drive sales.
Pay Per Click
You’ve probably heard the phrase “pay per click” or PPC and wondered what it means. Well, it’s a way of paying to have your website appear in search results.
Advertisers use keywords related to their products or services on sites like Google Ads to increase their web traffic. This can lead to an ROI of 200%.
Speaking of Google ads, it allows advertisers to pay for slots on the top spot of Google’s first page. It’s called Pay Per Click because you pay the publisher a certain amount every time your ads get clicked on.
Increasing consumer awareness is good for marketing. You can do this by learning how to run PPC ads by taking advantage of this free PPC course. Here is the marketing channel where advertisers can use PPC:
- Facebook ads
- Twitter ads promotion
- Sponsored LinkedIn Message
For the Google Ads course
If you’ve used Google as a search engine, you’re familiar with Google Ads. It is worth discussing because of its advantage to businesses, especially eCommerce.
Think of Google Ads as paid SEO on steroids. With Google Ads, businesses rank and get noticed easily in Google SERP (search engine results page) because over 90% of Google’s revenue comes from Ads.
Several free digital marketing courses teach how to use Google ads to promote your business. You will also learn about Cost Per Click (CPC), Click-through Rate (CTR), and a lot more.
Email Marketing Course
You can never go wrong learning Email Marketing. It is one of the most profitable and cost-effective parts of digital marketing. For every $1 spent, you get $42 back with Email marketing (4200% ROI). Here are some interesting stats:
- Email is 40% better in conversion than Facebook and Twitter.
- 93% of B2B marketers use email as their primary channel of distribution.
- 9 out of every ten marketers use email marketing as their primary source for Lead Gen.
- Over 7 out of every 10 consumers prefer that businesses communicate with them through email.
If you are a digital marketer and you are not using email marketing, you are leaving money in your customer’s pocket that could be yours. You may have heard, “The money is in the list.” That means the larger the list of properly targeted people you are reaching, the greater your potential ROI.
It is worth mentioning that although email marketing is simple, you must understand some of its rudimentary basics for it to be effective.
Of course, every email sent should be personalized. They must also have a direct and simple link to unsubscribe. Your email content should cover a mixture of business and educational topics so that you’re not always coming on with a hard sell. To learn all this, here is a free digital marketing course to help you.
Mobile Marketing Course
Listen up, marketing maven, your digital marketing skill is incomplete without understanding mobile marketing. You can’t afford to ignore mobile marketing. It’s the way of tomorrow, and would you like to know why?
- 62% of Google paid search click was through mobile ads
- Over 85% of Facebook ads revenue comes from mobile ads
- 62% of Global internet users search the web via their phone
It has been projected that by 2022, Mobile ads will outpace website and traditional desktop ads.
So, suppose you want to leverage this. You need to take the Mobile Marketing free course designed for entrepreneurs and marketers who want to know how mobile can be an effective means of marketing communication.
Marketing Analytics Course
Modern marketing has changed the way marketers work. A traditional background is helpful, but many businesses and digital marketing enthusiasts need a marketing analytics course to keep up.
Marketing Analytics analyzes all aspects concomitant with advertising spend, like which media types best promote certain products/services. It covers areas like what drives people to purchase online vs. offline (i e.: cost) and explains how different creative ads compete for visibility.
The goal for marketers using these findings should be an optimization based on what was successful with their previous investments–ultimately resulting in higher ROI than before.
Marketing Automation Course
Marketing Automation uses AI tools to automate your entire business, from lead generation to email campaigns. The sales team can use it to improve conversion. These tools also retarget website visitors.
Marketing automation tools have been one of the most common digital marketing tools used by marketers. 65% of marketers say they used it as part of their email marketing. Chatbots have been used by businesses to improve their customer experience, reducing their churn rate.
Online PR Course
Brand visibility is important. However, having positive brand visibility is the most important for any business. In this age of hashtags, comments, and trends, no business can keep its head above water with negative reviews. This is why businesses and digital marketers pay attention to Online PR.
There are different ways to maximize your PR efforts. Some include:
- Engaging readers’ comments on your blog
- Engaging your company’s reviews online
- Engaging your followers and journalists via social media
To learn this know-how of online PR, here is a free digital marketing course for you.
Here are some of the most Frequently asked questions people ask on digital marketing courses
How To Do Digital Marketing?
There are various ways to do digital marketing depending on your specialization, niche, business, and personal needs. Here is an excellent video from Ahrefs on this.
What is the best way to learn digital marketing for free?
It is to find the best way to learn and leverage it to the fullest. As you learn, you practice what you have learned. The internet is a knowledge hub with endless free resources. There are also legit paid digital marketing courses up for grabs at decent prices.
How can I teach myself digital marketing?
Aside from the materials listed here, there are other Blogs, YouTube videos, and online sites you can find through searches.
Can I self-learn digital marketing?
Yes, and No. Depending on what works best for you. If you are the type that learns fast and better individually, then you can self-learn. On the other hand, if you are the type that enjoys learning in a group setting, be sure to surround yourself with like-minded people who are serious about learning. Either way, you choose, there are many digital marketing course resources available online, free, and paid.
Is digital marketing easy?
Like everything, digital marketing easiness depends on your level of determination, motivation to learn, and effort put towards it. It also requires consistency and patience because you will always be learning.
How long will it take to learn digital marketing?
It would depend on individual differences, experience, and how much time one has available. In general, expect to put in between 3 to 6 months of dedication before you begin experimenting confidently with digital marketing campaigns. It takes years of practice, testing, and reevaluating to master the skills in the long run.
Is digital marketing a good career?
Digital marketing is a great career choice if you enjoy working in an environment with endless possibilities. The digital world is brimming with opportunities, giving us more to explore than ever before. Every day, new challenges arise, and old ones need your imagination to take on a new angle. It’s invigorating because you never know what might come next.
There are a lot of jobs being posted on different platforms seeking digital marketers. There are over 63,228 results for the keyword “digital marketing jobs” in the US alone.
And over 31K available jobs on Glassdoor. See the screenshot below.
When considering a digital marketer’s position, the sky really is the limit when you include Google, Twitter, Indeed, and other platforms.
What should I learn first in digital marketing?
One of the first things you should do is figure out what kind of digital marketing specialization you want to practice. Then learn as much about it as possible. If you have a flair for writing, then content marketing or copywriting might be a wise choice. On the other hand, diving into Google ads or PPC would be a no-brainer if you have an analytic background.
You must know that you do not need to be a specialist in all the fields in digital marketing. One, two, or three should suffice.
Is digital marketing well paid?
Yes, digital marketing is one of the better-paying jobs you can get. But, your earning is a function of what you offer. According to Glassdoor.com, a digital marketer gets over $72,015 a year.
Are you wondering about entry-level pay? The highest entry-level payment for a digital marketer in the US as indicated by Bootcamp.Com.
What skills are required for digital marketing?
If there were one answer to this, it would be the ability to adapt to the current digital space trend. However, no size fits all skills are required to be a digital marketer because you need both hard and soft skills to thrive. The digital marketing space is filled with opportunities because of its ever-expanding nature. The skills you need are dependent on the kind of work you’ll do and where your career will lead.
How do I get my first job in digital marketing?
The first step towards getting a job as a digital marketer is to understand digital marketing basics. This is where the free digital marketing courses listed above come in handy. After that, test the water with your new skills by looking for a real-world application.
Then start applying for digital marketing positions. Here is an excellent way to start if you are looking for how to get your first job. And if you are looking for how to get a job with zero experience, then this video is your best shot.
Which field is best in digital marketing?
It’s difficult to say which field is best in digital marketing because it depends on the person, business, and the services you offer. Choosing the best digital marketing field to dive into should be a function of which digital skills would help your business drive sales and growth.
Is digital marketing a hard skill?
Digital marketing is a combination of both hard and soft skills. The good news is, both can be learned and mastered with time and practice.
Is a laptop necessary for digital marketing?
It’s important to have the right tools for your digital marketing, which means you need a good laptop. However, if you are particular about the learning stage, a good smartphone will get you started.
Is coding required in digital marketing?
Digital Marketing is an exciting field with limitless possibilities. On the surface, it seems like you need to know coding languages to get started, but that’s not true. A digital marketing professional doesn’t need any programming languages or abilities to start.
Coding could be a plus for those interested in web designing and other tech-related skills. However, you can still be one of the successful digital advertisers without any programming experience upfront. All that’s required are good ideas and an ability to follow and understand market trends.
How can I start digital marketing?
You can start digital marketing by enrolling in either one or two or any free digital marketing courses listed above.
Closing thoughts
Learning digital marketing can be a life-changing decision. However, one must understand that the field changes every day. A good digital marketer needs to follow and be on top of the trends to succeed.
These free digital marketing courses have proven to be effective. You only need to find the one that you deem fit for your brand or business. Find something that piques your interest and get started.