Top 10 Free Online Courses for Digital Marketers

What are the top 10 Free Online Courses for Digital Marketers?

If you are just starting as a freelancer and aiming to equip yourself with the basic know-how of landing an online job, you might check various websites in search of much-needed information, browsing day in day out for online courses. There are thousands of online courses you can come across with, free and paid, but the question is, are they good enough? When I started getting “digital,” I joined some FB groups and became a silent reader, I wanted to learn so I read all the posts when any group member was asking questions, I used to check all the replies, I cannot tell what was the right or wrong answer, but I told myself, it was fine as long as I can read a “possibility.” The possibility that one day, when I came to a point of being in the same situation, I can deal with it using any of the answers. Some groups are selling online courses as well, and they provide free basic courses (or guidelines) for beginners, hosting free and paid webinars. Trust me, I wasted many hours for useless webinars in one of the first few groups I joined. I thought it was any good. To cut the story short, flowery promises, which turned out to be unrealistic, is in a way a scam. Anyway, I started clicking on the suggested links and I started taking free courses, one after the other, I got a couple of bad courses as well, but then, I took it as a blessing in disguise. I wouldn’t have learned how to choose a good one if I hadn’t stumbled into bad ones, right? Still justifying my awful choice, eh? 😀 Let us get started:

    Top 10 Free Online Courses for Digital Marketers

1. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing from Google Digital Garage This is a beginner’s course. The course comprises 26 modules, 40 hours of a video about the fundamentals of digital marketing including Search Engine Optimization (SEO); Search Engine Marketing (SEM); Basic Email Marketing; Online Business Strategy; Google Search Console; Keyword Research; Google Analytics (basic); E-Commerce (Building online shop); Localization; International Expansion process.

2. Digital Marketing Courses from SEMrush Academy. SEMrush is having a long list of online courses with certificates that you can share on your LinkedIn account and other professional platforms, depending on your requirement as a digital marketer, you can choose accordingly from marketing, SEO, social media, advertising, etc. I highly recommend their technical courses. 

3. Digital Marketing Courses from Udemy - under the digital marketing category alone, over 700 paid and free courses are available. Right now the 12 in one bundle seem to be a good deal, it is a paid course though, but they frequently put it on sale, so you can visit the site and sign up for updates (or add the course to your wishlist) if you want to avail of their course just in case they put it on sale in the future.

4. edX Digital Marketing Courses - edX.org offers 32 digital marketing courses (courses are free but if you want a verified certificate, then you have to pay a specific amount depending on the course of your choice) and 12 Digital Marketing Programs (paid)

5. Canva Design School - Canva provides free (basic) training for Canva users starting from Personal Branding, Canva for classroom and Education up to Branding and presentation for Business.

6. SMStudy Digital Marketing Associate Certification Course - This is a free course you can either take from Udemy or directly from SMStudy website. Other options are also available, you can earn up to 4 Associate Certification courses from SMStudy, free of cost.

7. If you are leaning towards the technical side of digital marketing, you can also check Cisco Networking Academy. They are offering free courses in three levels, beginner, intermediate and advanced.

8. Another technical aspect of digital marketing is Search Engine Optimization or SEO, and also one of the most important ones there is. Many websites are offering free online courses for this including the big names like SEMrush, Yoast, Moz (Moz doesn’t offer free courses now, but there are free resources and tutorials you can download like white paper, videos, and some cheat sheets)

9. Google Analytics for Beginners - It teaches the basics of Google Analytics, Interface, Basic Reports, Basic Campaign, and Conversion Tracking.

10. Facebook Blueprint - Facebook being the biggest social media platform today, it is but fitting to learn all about it so that you can showcase your advanced-level of digital marketing across the FB platform and Instagram.

All these courses can be your stepping stone to jumpstart your digital marketing career, there are tons of online courses you can find on the internet, the only difference between the above list and the rest is the credibility of sources. It is important to use your learning time wisely, learning matters if it came from the authority in its given field. If you are having enough budget though, I suggest you go for the paid online course/s with mentorship. Mentorship is a game-changer when you are starting. The guidance you will get from mentors will save you time and effort and minimize trial and error. All the best and happy learning!

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