It is a no-brainer that in the age of the internet and social media, digital marketing is crucial for everyone. That is why you are looking for the best free online digital marketing courses with certificates.
Online marketing presents many opportunities, and those who have a knack for social media and are net savvy can pursue a career in digital marketing.
At the same time, it is good to hone your online marketing skills not only for the field itself but also to give you an edge over others in marketing and entrepreneurship overall. But how does one go about it?
There are many institutes and organisations that provide digital marketing certification courses and other free online digital marketing courses. Here is some background to what a digital marketing course does.
What is a digital marketing course?
The aim here is to become a marketer who can position content in the most effective way across a variety of media and platforms. A digital marketing course will teach you about marketing your products via email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, online advertising and backlinking. They also teach you about Google Adwords, SEO (search engine optimisation), and how to conduct ethical and clean campaigns on social media platforms to generate sales.
Many institutions offer free courses and give students flexible timings. You can enrol and maybe in a week or so pick up the basics. Once you complete your course, you are better poised to position your brand effectively in the digital world.
Benefits of digital marketing courses
Those who are interested in digital marketing as a career or marketing veterans who want to upgrade themselves can find an excellent online course and gain the necessary certifications. This will help them gain a deeper understanding of branding, communicating and selling on the internet and will be a bonus on their resume.
Many think that digital marketing is the same as conventional marketing. However, that is a misconception. Technology has significantly impacted our lives, and putting your message across digital media is very different from traditional marketing. Moreover, the customers today are very different than what they used to be- they access media differently, have different expectations and engage with brands in new ways.
For example, in the days of yore, it was enough to hire a celebrity to smile on a print ad for a product. Today, the situation is different. Not only has the cultural landscape changed, so has the market. Most people today do not read a newspaper- they would instead get their news online. In that case, how can you get their attention on a webpage or app?
Learning the ropes of digital marketing helps you navigate such issues, and digital marketing should be a core part of your overall business strategy. With conventional media seeing a decline, it is best to understand the changes that are coming, so that you can find the best ways to communicate your message and ensure positive customer engagement.
But where does one find an excellent free online digital marketing course? Here are some options.
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Best Free Online Digital Marketing Courses with Certificates
1 Google Online Marketing Challenge: Digital Marketing Course online free by Google
If you want to get a well-rounded and high-quality course on digital marketing, you really cannot overlook Google. The Google Online Marketing Challenge is for everyone, with special thrust on non-profit organisations, as they are the ones who are often in need of reaching out to people.
Over the years, 100,000 people from over 100 countries have taken this course. It is a comprehensive beginner’s course, which covers topics like digital marketing, search engine marketing, search advertising, display advertising, mobile, social, analytics, and video marketing.
What’s more, Google grants a $250 AdWords budget for free over three weeks, to run an advertising campaign for a business or a non-profit organisation.
2 SEO Training Course by Moz: free digital marketing courses
Moz is probably the most famous name in SEO. It is meant for everyone. Moz Founder Rand Fishkin teaches this Udemy course, and it is free for all. It is highly rated, and it gets updated regularly.
This course is a collection of videos by Fishkin, where he talks about various facets of SEO. In this course, you learn about optimising the website content and structure, and also certain external aspects that help you generate more leads and traffic for your website.
You get 3.5 hours of free video tutorials, unrestricted access for a lifetime, access on mobile and TV and a certification of completion.
3 Diploma in e-Business by Alison: digital marketing course online India
This is a course that takes a broader look at the aspects of digital marketing. With excellent e-business skills, a person has a better understanding of what a website should be like it if it wants to generate more sales and gain more brand recognition. This is helpful for small business owners and online entrepreneurs too.
The course focuses on how to reach out to a broader audience. It talks about marketing to both local and international customers who are searching for products and services that apply to your brand. The course is more about understanding how e-businesses work, how to create an e-business strategy, and how to build and monitor an online store that delivers.
4 Online Marketing Fundamentals by emarketinginstitute.org: Free digital media courses
This is a free course that is available for all. You also get a certification on completion. They will provide you with a free ebook that covers all the basics, and which is available in HTML and pdf formats.
The course covers such topics as web analytics, conversion optimisation, email marketing, lead generation, mobile internet marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimisation. It also explains common internet marketing strategies and activities. There are also 50 sample questions to test you, covering everything you have learnt.
5 Content Marketing Certification Course by Hubspot Academy: digital marketing online certification course
Content Marketing Certification Course by Hubspot Academy is an online training tutorial which focuses on the very basis of digital marketing- content. It teaches about storytelling, creating content, repurposing and promoting your content effectively. There are 11 chapters and 32 videos for the takers, and by the end of it, students will know how to create content that is interesting to humans and sensitive to machine algorithms and search engines.
The videos feature different “tutors” who are usually Hubspot employees with years of experience, or well-known marketing consultants. Students also get workbooks that they must complete to finish the course.
6 Content Marketing Course by Ahrefs Academy
This course by Ahrefs Academy covers content marketing, with particular emphasis on topics like competitive research, keyword research, link acquisition, link building and strategic SEO. There are two levels to it- one is for beginners that deals with the basics, and the other for marketers who want to get 100,000+ visitors to their websites every month— the latter being chargeable.
For the free course, students get to see examples to illustrate the lessons and topics. It is not a course that is for ahrefs only; whatever you learn, you can apply outside the ahrefs world.
7 The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Monetizing Pinterest: top online digital marketing courses
This course focuses on Pinterest, but what you learn will help you in navigating the overall social media marketing landscape effectively. It is available on Udemy.
This is an excellent course for social media influencers, marketers for brands who do DIY, fashion, beauty and travel. Pinterest is a visual medium, and it provides many tips or “inspirations” for people who aspire to a particular lifestyle. It also has a growing customer base, and as much as hip we want to sound, how to engage the youth who are in the midst of an internet content cycle that’s constantly churning out content requires deep understanding.
Monetising social media posts on Pinterest will teach you about attracting and retaining followers and then converting them to social buyers. Most of the things you learn can also be applied to other social media platforms- most importantly, Instagram.
8 Google Ad Academy by Google: best online digital marketing courses
This is another free course from Google, and it deals with Google Adwords. Students can learn about how to use and manage Adwords, so it is a solid course to have in your resume if you want to do search engine marketing.
Google offers several small lessons that can be taken on laptops and mobiles. The course has something for everyone- it recommends and demonstrates the use of tools for both beginners and veterans in the field. Sign in, and you can learn about the best digital strategies, there are assessment tests to check your product knowledge.
You can learn about video ads, double click, AdWords and programmatic ads. There are also many interactive challenges and quizzes to test your skills. This is an excellent course for almost anyone interested in digital marketing. Always remember, if you have a website, nearly every aspect that your digital marketing strategy has to take Google into account, so it is best to learn from Google itself to understand the field better.
9 Social Marketing Education 2018 by Hootsuite: best free digital marketing courses
Social Marketing Education 2018 by Hootsuite covers pretty much everything and includes a comprehensive curriculum. It comprises 97 videos and 27 quizzes that pretty much covers everything related to social media marketing. It does not matter if you are a beginner or an experienced marketer, this is a great course which offers something for everyone.
Starting with an introduction to popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, it goes on to explain how to gain more followers and engage positively with them. It offers an industry-recognised certification which gives marketers practical skills.
The course has been developed after consultation with industry experts, so the course is highly sought after.
10 Email Marketing for E-Commerce: Tips and Tools to Increase Sales
This is another excellent course. It deals with email marketing- which is the most effective form of digital marketing, and absolutely a must for ecommerce websites.
There are six videos in this course, which give you an all-around picture of developing and executing your email marketing strategy. It talks about three main principles of email marketing- automation, optimisation and personalisation.
The course covers such areas as A/B testing, abandoned carts, follow-ups, targeted marketing and product recommendations. If you know how to target your customers effectively via email, you can get good returns on investment and meet your revenue goals.
11 Certification by Vskills: Paid courses by Government of India
Vskills certifications are provided by a Government body (ICSIL). This is a joint venture of Govt of NCT Delhi and Govt. of India. This course focuses on topics like Mailers, Social Media, Search Engine and Inbound Techniques. You will have to take tests on following topics like SEO, SEM. Email Marketing. Inbound Marketing. Affiliate Marketing and others.
12 Twitter Flight School
Twitter Flight School offers courses to master advertising on Twitter. This course is all about Twitter for business, it teaches you the basics of Twitter and how can you work twitter in accordance with your business requirements.
13 Facebook Blueprint
Facebook is one of the most important social media marketing platforms and your biggest source of attracting traffic that will develop a connection with you digitally. This is a series of video tutorials to help you understand more about the target audience, different ad formats, how to build awareness and generate leads, how to increase online and in-store sales and create and manage ads. This course helps you learn about Instagram too. Once you are done with the videos one by one, you will find your certificate on the dashboard.
14 Bing Ads Training Course
Bing tries its best to match up to the Google aura and adds up to the list. People usually commit this mistake of marketing just according to Google. You will have to plan your SEO in accordance with all major search engines. For that Big Ads training course is a great guide. This course provides a study guide which would be needed to download, the major focus of this course material is to make you equipped with the idea first, understanding the Bing Ads Features and various ways of usage, campaign optimisation and understanding to work with Bing Editor.
Conclusion- how does a digital marketing course help you?
Conventional marketing experts must evolve what they must understand that a new customer base has emerged, who engage with brands differently. With social media and new gadgets becoming an intrinsic part of our lives, it is essential that brand reach out to new customers who are using them. As more people go mobile and go online, some conventional routes for marketing your brand are going through a decline.
It is not only essential to evolve your brand with the advent of new technology, but it is also vital that marketers understand that customers want a seamless brand experience. Your digital marketing strategy must make room for seamless customer experiences. To achieve that, marketers must know of techniques, tools and platforms that can help them realise their brand marketing and revenue goals.
There are many websites where you can find excellent free digital marketing courses, so you must always do your research to find the perfect fit. The free digital marketing courses listed in the article give you a good head start, and you should have a look to see what topics you need to cover if you want to learn more.
A course does not only help you with a resume boost, but it also enables you to improve your marketing skills and understand the market better. Whether you are a newbie just starting in marketing, or a veteran who wants to expand his horizons or an entrepreneur who wants to establish his own business, these courses will help you develop your skills and know-how for building your brand.