Digital Marketing Online Courses [Free + Paid] To Learn Digital Skills

While digital marketing is a very hands-on function unlike many theoretical management functions, getting an overview of the field and channels is the first step one should take if planning to learn digital marketing and starting a career in this exciting domain. That’s where taking up a top-rated online digital marketing training program from Google, HubSpot, or picking up dedicated digital marketing online courses on popular MOOCs like Coursera, Udemy, edX, works best. These leading platforms offer popular free and paid online digital marketing certification programs that help you in becoming a digital expert.

Why Go for a Digital Marketing Online Courses and Training?

Yes, digital marketing is no longer a sidelined part of the marketing strategy, it is the most important component of the marketing strategy for most firms. Marketers in the 90s and early 2000s used to focus on consumer research and brand management to grow in their careers. Today, most marketers are starting out as digital marketers and helping build rocket ship technology businesses through growth marketing, product marketing, and social media marketing.  Further, the following facts highlight the promising results of digital marketing:

• Digital marketing will bag in 75% of the total marketing budget – Salesforce
• 82% of consumer internet traffic will be video by 2021 – Cisco
• Influencer marketing on Instagram is a $1B (and growing) industry – Mediakix
• The average attention span of the consumer is 8 seconds (one second less than goldfish) – Time dot com
• YouTube is better in terms of engagement than Twitter and Facebook – anonymous 

Who Should Take Up Digital Marketing Online Courses?

From marketing professionals, communication experts, to entrepreneurs and business owners everyone should at least have a basic understanding of what is digital marketing because sooner or later businesses are and will keep on moving online.

Which are The Top Digital Marketing Online Course Providers?

1. Google – Free to take and some offer a certification
2. SEMRUSH Academy – Free to take and offers certification
3. HubSpot Academy Courses – Free to take and offers certification
4. Udemy – Paid courses but have a heavy discount 
5. Coursera Courses – Mostly free to audit with paid certification 

Check out the list of best [free and paid (near to free)] digital marketing online courses which will help you to successfully kick start in this emerging field and accomplish all the marketing skills which modern-day companies demand. 

One important thing to note here is that we expect you to understand the basics of marketing and consumer behavior if you want to unlock the value of digital marketing concepts.

For your ease, we have bifurcated the list of free and paid digital marketing online courses and certifications based on:

1. Fundamental of digital marketing
2. Social media marketing
3. Content marketing
4. SEO marketing
5. PPC, SEM, and Digital Advertising 

Along with the digital marketing online courses, we have also listed the top skills in the domain along with a list of leading influencers whom you can follow to learn what the latest is happening in the digital marketing industry. 

Let’s Dive In!

Digital Marketing Online Courses

Top Skills:

• Digital marketing channels (SEO, PPC, Email, Content, SEM)
• Data analytics
• Customer handling and management
• Collaboration    

Digital Marketing Influencer:

• Matt Bailey
• Jay Baer 
• Rand Fishkin

Popular Courses:

1. Fundamentals of digital marketing from Google – Free
Duration – 40 hours
Modules – 26

Key Learnings-

• Analytics and data insights
• Digital marketing techniques for SEO, SMM, content, email, website, SEM, local marketing, social media

2. Digital Marketing Specialization by Coursera Offered By the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Coursera – Free to enroll

Duration – 8 months
Modules – 7 courses in the specialization

Key Learnings

• Digital marketing and analytics
• Digital technologies and marketing communication
• Versatile marketing strategy formulation and implementation
• Capstone Project on digital marketing

3. Digital Marketing Masterclass – 23 Courses in 1 on Udemy – Paid

Duration –32.5 hours
Modules – 323 lectures

Key Learnings

• Defining the target audience
• Email marketing
• Blogging and copywriting 
• Social media and Quora marketing
• Google Adwords
• Podcasting

4. Make sure customers find you online from Google  – Free

Duration – 3 hours

Modules – 4

Key Learnings

• Analytics and data insights
• SEM
• SEO
• Web Optimisation

5. Digital Marketing For Hoteliers on FutureLearn by Swiss Education Group – Paid

Duration – 4 weeks

Key Learnings 

• Digital Marketing terminology
• Online Travel Agencies
• Online Advertising
• Social Media

6. Basics of Digital Marketing on NPTEL – Free enrollment

Duration – 12 weeks

Key Learnings

• Consumer Behaviour
• SEO
• SEM
• Online reputation management
• Email marketing 
• Influencer marketing
• Digital marketing strategies
• Digital analytics

Social Media Marketing Courses

Top Skills:

• Copywriting
• Designing
• Customer handling/ community engagement
• Analytical mind and creative approach
• Project management

Social Media Influencer:

• Jeff Bullas
• Madalyn Sklar (Twitter expert)
• Mari Smith (Facebook expert)
• Mike Allton

Popular Courses:

7. Powerful Social Media Marketing for Beginners on Skillshare – Paid
Duration – 9h 45m
Modules – 82 

Key Learnings

• Basics of social media marketing
• Social media strategy
• Social media post content creation strategy 

8. Social Media Marketing: Top Tips for Growing Your Followers & Going Viral on Skillshare – Paid
Duration – 1h 6m
Modules – 11 lessons

Key Learnings

• How to increase social media followers
• Everything about hashtags
• Social media analytics

9. Social Media Marketing Masterclass – 7 Courses in 1 on Skillshare – Paid

Duration – 15h 24m
Modules – 155 lessons

Key Learnings

• How to become an influencer
• Drive more sales from social media
• Learn social media marketing for FB marketing, FB ads, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora

10. What is Social? A part of Social Media Marketing Specialization By Northwestern University on Coursera – Free to audit 

Duration – 8 hours
Modules – NA

Key Learnings

• How to formulate a social strategy to grow a business
• How to increase social media engagement

11. Social Media Marketing MASTERY | Learn Ads on 10+ Platforms Bestseller course on Udemy – Paid

Duration – 8 hours 
Modules – 38 articles

Key Learnings

• Everything about social media marketing
• Ways to monetize social platforms
• Concepts on YouTube marketing, Twitter marketing, LinkedIn, Facebook ads, Instagram marketing 
• Tips for local business owners to expand the reach

12. Social Media Marketing Certification Course on Udemy – Free

Duration – 7.5 hours
Modules – 46 lectures

Key Learnings

• Learn to build a social media strategy
• Get equipped with social monitoring tools 
• Live demonstration of Radian6 to calculate ROI of social media activities

13. Social Media Marketing Certification Course on Hubspot Academy – Free

Duration – 4 hours
Modules – 9 lessons + 29 quiz

Key Learnings

• Develop social media strategy and social media content strategy
• Ways to maximize social media reach
• Everything about social media advertising
• Steps to measure social media ROI

14. Twitter Marketing and Advertising on Simplilearn – Paid

Duration – 6 months run time
Modules – 9 lessons + 29 quiz

Key Learnings:

• Create eye-catching tweets 
• Increase brand awareness
• Keyword to be used on Twitter for better reach

15. Facebook Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate on Coursera – Free enrollment

Duration – 5 – 7 months (Self Paced)

Modules – 6

Key Learnings 

• Basics of social media marketing
• Creating effective posts on Facebook and Instagram
• Ads optimisation with Facebook Ads Manager

16. Social Marketing Training on Hootsuite Academy – Paid certification

Duration – 6 hours

Modules – 6 

Key Learnings

• Social Media Profile Optimisation
• Social Media Strategy
• Growing relevant following and making a larger community
• Basics of Social Advertising
• Basics of Social Media Marketing

 

17. Strategic Social Media Marketing on edX – Free enrollment

Duration – 6 weeks

Key Learnings

• Aligning social media marketing strategies with business goals
• Engaging customers on different social media channels
• Creating engaging content
• Social Media Listening
• Evaluating metrics for social media activities

Content Marketing Courses

Top Skills:

• SEO and marketing skills 
• Copywriting
• Editing and proofreading 
• Marketing automation
• Basic coding
• Social media 

Content marketing Influencer:

• Joe Pulizzi
• Neil Patel
• Ann Handley
• Joe Pulizzi 
• Michael Brenner

Popular Courses

18. Content Marketing Certification on HubSpot Academy- Free

Duration – 6 hours
Modules- – 14 lessons

Key Learnings

• Know everything about Content Marketing and steps to produce effective content
• How to repurpose content
• Storytelling
• Content clusters
• Measuring content

19. HubSpot High Impact Writing Course on HubSpot Academy- Free

Duration – 6 hours
Modules – 3 lessons

Key Learnings

• Measuring content performance
• Improve writing style
• Outline a better content structure
• Editing and proofreading skill

20. Promote a business with content from Google – Free

Duration – 3 hours
Modules – 4

Key Learnings

• Basic of content marketing
• Creating engaging content for videos, blogs, social media, 
• How to write dedicated content for the target audience
• Learn to measure the content’s result

21. Become a Better Blogger: Content Planning on SkillShare – Paid

Duration – 1 hour
Modules – 12 lessons

Key Learnings

• Know about content strategy and content pillars
• Learn how to write branding content, guest posts, interviews, etc.
• Content tracking

22. The Strategy of Content Marketing Certification Course by the University of California (Coursera) – Free

Duration – 17 hours
Modules – 10 

Key Learnings

• Structure of a dedicated content marketing strategy and content pillars
• Build a professional brand and increase the authority 
• Improve content writing skills

23. Ultimate Web Content Writing Masterclass+Power words eBook on Udemy [Best seller course] – Paid

Duration – 4.5 hours
Modules – 45 lectures 

Key Learnings

• Content and copy-writing basics
• Create content that increases conversions 
• Detailed lesson on how to conduct keyword research

24. Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises on Udemy – Free tutorial

Duration – 37 min of on-demand video
Modules – 19 video lessons

Key Learnings

• Content marketing process with respect to the B2B market
• Focused on conversion from content and drive sales

25. Copywriting Basics for Successful Sales: Time-Tested Tactics that Prompt Action on Skillshare – Free

Duration – 1 hour 22 min 
Modules – 13 video lessons and 17 projects

Key Learnings

• Copywriting basics
• Structured writing frameworks
• Writing clickbait headlines
• Short and long-form content

26. Writing Tools & Hacks: Copywriting/Blogging/Content Writing on Udemy (Taught by Udemy Best-Selling Instructor) – Paid

Duration – 1 hour 30 min
Modules – 33 lectures

Key Learnings –Learn Tools for

• Identifying viral content ideas
• Keyword research
• Organizing content
• Proofreading and polishing content
• Writing excellent marketing copy and headlines 

SEO Marketing Courses

Top Skills:

• HTML and basic programming skills
• Clear digital marketing concepts
• Analytical mindset
• MS excel

SEO marketing Influencer:

• Gary Illyes (webmaster trend analyst)
• Danny Sulliva (public liaison of search)
• Nathan Johns (search quality analyst)
• John Mueller (senior webmaster trends analyst)

Popular Courses:

27. SEO Fundamentals Certification Course on SEMRush Academy with Greg Gifford – Free

Duration – 4 hours
Modules – 31 lectures

Key Learnings 

• SEO fundamentals
• Technical SEO (HTTPS, site speed, URLs, rel=’canonical’, site audit, etc)
• Backlinks (anchor text, link analysis, link building, etc.)
• On-page optimization (keyword research, content optimization)
• Local SEO practices and international SEO practices
• Mobile SEO practices

28. SEO Toolkit Course on SEMrush – Free

Duration – 4 hours
Modules – 31 lectures

Key Learnings 

• Tools to optimize SEO campaigns
• Tools to measure SEO campaigns
• Tools to manage marketing campaigns

29. SEO 2020: Complete SEO Training + SEO for WordPress Websites on Udemy [Best- selling course] – Paid

Duration – 10 hours
Modules – 128 lectures

Key Learnings 

• Keyword research (longtail and primary keywords)
• SEO competitor analysis using tools
• Keyword optimization for content (keyword density, SEO parameters, link building)
• Technical SEO (tags, description, search volume, URL length, etc.)
• User experience in SEO

30. SEO Training Course by Moz on Udemy – Free

Duration –  3.5 hours 
Modules – 7 lectures

Key Learnings 

• SEO strategy
• SEO auditing
• Keyword research
• Featured snippets
• SEO reporting

31. Drive Traffic to Your Website With Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on OpenClassrooms – Free

Duration –  10 hours 
Modules – 5

Key Learnings 

• SEO marketing strategy
• Keyword research
• Website optimization
• SEO reporting and measuring

32. Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals Offered By University of California, Davis on Coursera – Free to enroll

Duration –  30 hours 
Modules – 4

Key Learnings 

• On-page SEO and Off-page SEO
• Technical SEO
• Keyword Research

33. Advanced Search Engine Optimization Strategies Offered By University of California, Davis on Coursera – Free to enroll

Duration –  25 hours 

 

Key Learnings

• Comparing performance analysis tools
• Improving site structure
• Employing localisation for global presence
• App Store Optimisation for mobile-friendliness
• Resolving data analysis errors
•  

 

34. Advanced Content and Social Tactics to Optimize SEO on Coursera – Free enrollment

Duration – 4 Weeks

Key Learnings

• Building brand reputation online through a content marketing campaign
• Creating social media engagement
• Influencer marketing
• Content Marketing Market Data

35. Make sure customers find you online on Google

Duration – 3 hours
Modules – 4

Key Learnings

• Basic of search engine
• Paid and organic search
• Google search console
• Web page optimization
• SEO process & goals
• Local SEO

PPC, SEM, and Digital Advertising Courses

Top PPC Skills:

• Internet programming
• Search engine marketing
• PPC ad platforms 
• Analytical mind
• Content 

PPC Influencers

• Elizabeth Marsten
• Adam Proehl
• Daniel Gilbert
• Frederick Vallaeys

Popular Courses:

37. Understand customers needs and online behaviors from Google – Free

Duration – 1 hour
Modules – 3

Key Learnings

• Web analytics
• Goal tracking
• SEM tools
• Understanding data
• Data presentation

38. How to enhance and protect your online campaign by Google – Free

Duration – 7 hours
Modules – 12

Key Learnings

• Search engine basics
• Understanding of keywords
• Understanding of Mobile web apps  
• Social media basics
• Advertising on social media platforms
• Web analytics
• Data handling

39. Google Ads Search by Skillshop – Free

Duration – 2.5 hours
Modules – 9

Key Learnings

• Create and customize Google Search campaigns
• Keyword and bidding strategies
• Text ads
• Create a marketing plan with Google Search strategy 
• Google Ad auction
• Learn how to increase performance

40. Google Ads Display by Skillshop – Free 

Duration – 1.4 hours
Modules – 6

Key Learnings

• Everything about the campaign
• Google Display strategy 

41. Google Ads – Measurement by Skillshop – Free
Duration – 3.5 hours
Modules – 8

Key Learnings

• Everything about digital ads performance 
• Learn the strategy to maximize the performance of Google ads
• Learn to implement conversion tracking

42. Ultimate Google Ads Training 2020: Profit with Pay Per Click by Udemy – Bestseller Course – Paid

Duration – 25..5 hours
Modules – 137 chapters

Key Learnings

• Google Ad master and setting up Google Ad accounts
• Google Ad content 
• Creating an ad group in a campaign
• AdWords auction
• Conversion tracking
• Bidding strategy
• Adword optimization

43. Get a business online by Google – Free

Duration – 3 hours
Modules – 5

Key Learnings

• Display ads
• Retargeting concepts
• Email marketing and campaign management
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Keyword finding

All the best!

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