As an entrepreneur, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of digital marketing in the success of your business. Further, as the digital marketing sphere continues to grow and evolve, it is becoming increasingly challenging for businesses to keep up with all of the changes. The best way to stay ahead of the curve is by educating yourself on the latest trends and techniques. In this post today, I will share the 10 free online digital marketing courses that will give you insight into how to market your business online in this ever-changing world. So, let’s get started.
As a beginner, you’ll have to work more hours as you study and master digital marketing strategies, web design, search engine optimization (SEO), and product research. Most times, you will have to work from nothing, calling for the need to make maximum use of free resources to avoid extra costs.
The hardest thing you’ll have to learn about starting a business is that you’ll have to study everything from scratch. Therefore, we have tried to make the experience easier for you by compiling a list of the best free digital marketing courses to get you started.
Are free online digital marketing courses worth it?
Taking free digital marketing courses is worth the time spent. But perhaps you might want to know what you stand to gain by investing your time in such study programs. Here are some benefits:
- You increase your market value by developing skills that are in high demand across the industry.
- It re-aligns your learning mindset, boosting your creativity and skills.
- You get to learn some of the most sought-after skills at no extra cost.
- The skills obtained enable you to keep abreast of the constantly changing business environment, especially regarding the application of technology in business operations.
List of 10 Free Online Digital Marketing Courses (With Certification 🏅)
Now let’s have a look at the 10 best free online digital marketing courses that you must consider enrolling in to sharpen your online marketing skills…
1. Fundamentals of digital marketing | Google
There is no better way to learn something than from its pioneer. Google’s free digital marketing course provides the foundation you need as a beginner to break into the industry. It ranks as one of the best online marketing courses, with the curriculum’s content spread over a 40-hour duration.
A significant advantage of the course is that it is free, self-paced, and comes with a certificate. Therefore, if you are looking for a study schedule that will let you learn the details of digital marketing from scratch, then you have an option for this.
2. Become an online marketing manager | LinkedIn
This 24-hour course by LinkedIn Learning provides people with a basic knowledge of digital marketing with the skills to move up the corporate ladder. This program of study will teach you the best online marketing practices using the finest digital marketing tools. Some of the topics being covered within the course include Email and newsletter marketing, Google Analytics, Google AdWords, SEO, and Growth Hacking. The curriculum is offered through LinkedIn Learning free trial or premium accounts.
3. Digital marketing strategy | University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh offers the course through Edx. It covers digital marketing concepts and ways to use sophisticated technologies to identify opportunities and minimize risks. Further, it expounds on developing new innovative strategies to outperform the competitors and realize the primary business objectives. The potential skills obtained from this curriculum present it as one of the best online business courses. Thus, you should consider going for it if you want to develop into a digital marketing strategist.
This business course is over eight weeks, requiring a minimum of 4-6 hours of self-paced learning per week. However, the certificate is available upon the payment of some fee. This attribute should not bar you from grabbing the opportunity, as you will be able to learn many things regarding digital marketing even if you don’t get certified.
4. Digital strategy and action | Babson College
This business course introduces marketers to the concepts being applied by large corporations such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google regarding digital strategy. It is offered by Babson College in collaboration with edX and presents inspiring, in-depth case studies of large businesses. If you are a marketer who dares to dream big, you will find this study program resourceful. The interesting part is that you can access full course materials at no cost. However, if you want a signed shareable certificate, you will have to pay for it.
5. Digital media and marketing strategies | University of Illinois
The course is offered by the University of Illinois and is a seven-part specialization in digital marketing. Like all Coursera programs, the program of study can be audited and accessed for free, or you can opt to pay for it. You should note that you won’t get the completion certificate if you opt for the audited course.
However, you will access the 15-hour long tutorial and be able to learn about digital assets optimization, online and video marketing, and email and social media marketing. These concepts are critical in your development as an entrepreneur, especially when using digital marketing strategies. Thus, you should add it to your bucket list and ensure you capitalize on gaining the skills as you begin your business operations.
The holistic digital marketing course provides the foundation to start your digital marketing career on a good foot. It is available on Skillshare for free during the trial period, after which you will be billed. However, the benefits of it in terms of sales and customer acquisition are worth the investment.
Specifically, the course will equip you with skills in market research, cold emailing, Twitter ads, Twitter marketing, email marketing, and website creation. These are critical skills when it comes to digital marketing. Thus, it would be best if you considered enrolling to ensure you get the most out of your business.
7. Digital marketing strategy | Forbes
Forbes, a finance and investment corporation, has launched its stream of certified courses. Among them is the Digital marketing program, which can be accessed for 14 days with a free trial to Learn by Forbes. The three-hour course is self-paced and covers fundamental digital marketing concepts, including using digital SWOT to assess market efforts, developing a virtual strategy to meet organizational goals, and the ethical and legal issues in computerized marketing. The course has one of the highest quality instructions and is effective for both beginners and intermediates in digital marketing. However, the certificate can be obtained only when the payment has been made.
8. The beginner’s guide to online marketing | QuickSprout
QuickSprout is one of the best online platforms where you can get comprehensive articles and walkthroughs regarding internet and digital marketing. In this virtual course, you will learn internet marketing, such as traffic acquisition, conversion optimization, building a personal advertising framework, and content promotion, among others. All these are accessible free of charge even though there is no certification. However, the benefits of having these skills outweigh the validation and help you provide quality service. Thus, you should endeavor to explore the platform as you start your business to ensure you understand how to build and maintain a unique personal brand.
9. Digital advertising and marketing 201 by Alison
This free online digital marketing course by Alison provides you with an opportunity to learn aspects of programmatic advertising and ad fraud. It gives an in-depth explanation of the complex world of digital marketing, especially in which the trillions of ads on billions of devices can be relayed. Further, it equips you with the skills to ensure you boost the visibility of your products online. All these are offered free of charge, accompanied by a digital certificate.
10. Digital marketing 101 | Simplilearn
This free digital marketing course by Simplilearn teaches the basics of digital marketing understandably. The program has a 90-day free access policy, during which you can undertake self-paced learning to complete the entire course and get certified. Some skills you will obtain from the program of study include IoT marketing, mobile marketing, customer lifecycle management, and marketing analytics. These skills will come in handy as you launch your business, making it easy to break into the market.
Foundation pillars of any sound digital marketing strategy:
You will learn a lot by enrolling in any of the above-mentioned digital marketing courses. Still, let’s discuss the 3 most common aspects that you will find in any successful digital marketing strategy…
1. High quality Content
Every successful digital marketing strategy is based upon high quality content, be it in the form of videos, articles, podcasts, or even infographics. To create high quality content, you need to:
- Understand your niche well — specifically, get to know who your target audience is and what type of content does it likes to consume
- Create engaging and relevant content keeping the customers at front-end
2. User Experience
Investing in a good user-experience helps you retain your customers, while a poor user experience will not only adversely impact your SEO, but also won’t attract potential customers. For example, an e-commerce website with overlapping information, inconsistent fonts, color schemes, and confusing navigation options will repel all potential customers from making any purchase.
3. Branding & Marketing
Branding attempts to create a familiar and solid association between your products and customers. Marketing helps you showcase your products to the right set of customers. For effective branding, you have to put coherent and persuasive messages across your website and social media channels. If you have a lot of content, it can become a cumbersome task to put so many creative branding and promotional texts. One of the good time-saving strategies is to use a business paper editing service like BetterTxt to hire professional and creative editors. Or else, you could also outsource writers using freelancing websites like Upwork or Fiverr.
What’s your favorite online marketing course?
I hope that this post was useful, interesting, and resourceful. Now, I would like you to share your thoughts. What’s your favorite online marketing course from this list? Or, can you recommend some additional free online digital marketing courses that are worth mentioning in this post? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
