digital marketing courses for free

Today, we will discuss the Best Free Online Courses in Digital Marketing. But before that let’s dive a little into what makes online Digital courses so popular.

1. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing – Google

The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course is geared towards digital marketing newbies and consists of 26 modules that will take approximately 40 hours to complete in total. Each module includes videos, key knowledge highlights, and a quiz. Topics include planning an online business strategy, building a web presence, tracking and measuring web traffic, and more. (Naturally, there is a heavy emphasis on Google products.)

While beginners may benefit most from this class, more experienced marketers will be surprised at what new nuggets they can glean from it. It will trigger long-forgotten memories of concepts and principles that are still relevant and helpful.

One topic that is covered in detail in Digital Marketing training. In particular, Google offers the following online marketing training courses:

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing (includes a digital marketing certification)

How to start an online business

How to make sure customers find you online

How to promote a business with online advertising (Google Ads)

How to expand a business to other countries

Mobile Marketing

Promote a business with content marketing

Social Media Advertising

YouTube Course (Includes certification)

Building your web presence

Planning your online business strategy

Understanding search and how to improve your campaigns

Building an online store

Expanding internationally

Social media marketing

Mobile Marketing

Content marketing

Email marketing

Advertising and analytics

Cost: Free

Certificate: Yes

Time to Complete: 40 hours

Curriculum: Introductory to intermediate

User Experience: Excellent

Quality of Instruction: Excellent

Pros:

Upon completion, students will receive an industry-recognized certificate to share on their CV and LinkedIn profiles

Lifetime access

•Quizzes to test your progress

Cons:

None

2. Inbound Marketing Free Certification Course – Hubspot Academy

It is a 4-hour long industry-recognized program from Hubspot Academy. Made up of 10 lessons, 34 videos, and 9 quizzes, the course aims to teach the basics of inbound marketing.

The topics covered in the course include fundamentals of inbound marketing, planning content strategy, creating blog posts, growth strategies, and social media marketing. Students will get a certificate of completion for free from Hubspot Academy.

The fundamentals of inbound marketing

Planning a long-term content strategy

Creating blog posts

Understanding social media promotion

Developing a conversational growth strategy

Understanding and creating a conversion optimization strategy

Lead nurturing

Aligning sales and marketing

Applying a customer marketing approach

Upon successful completion, students will be awarded official certification from HubSpot to display on their LinkedIn profile, portfolio, resume, or CV.

Cost: Free

Certificate: Yes

Time to Complete: Four hours

Curriculum: Beginner

User Experience: Excellent

Quality of Instruction: Excellent

Pros:

Taught by four engaging instructors

Excellent user interface

Industry recognized certification

Cons:

Too short

3. Become an Online Marketing Manager – LinkedIn Learning

It is a 24-hour long course for individuals who already are aware of the basics of digital marketing and want to grow in their career for managerial roles. The course discusses the best online marketing practices, using advanced digital marketing techniques and advertising on social media platforms.

The course is made up of 11 modules that cover growth hacking, SEO, Email marketing, Google Analytics, Facebook and Twitter marketing, UX design, etc. Students can take the course and earn a certificate for free if they sign up for the free 1 monthly trial of LinkedIn Learning.

The course features 11 modules covering advanced aspects of marketing including:

•Growth hacking

•Advanced branding

•SEO foundations

•Email and newsletter marketing

•Google Analytics

•Google AdWords

•Facebook and Twitter

•Sketch for UX design

You can take the course for free if you already have a LinkedIn premium membership (most marketers do) or sign up for a trial and access the classes at no charge for a month.

Cost: Free Try a free trial for Linkedin Learning.

Certificate: Yes

Time to Complete: 24 hours

Curriculum: Intermediate to advanced

User Experience: Excellent

Quality of Instruction: Excellent

Pros:

•Taught by industry experts

•Receive a completion badge for your profile or CV

•Excellent user interface

Cons:

•Must cancel LinkedIn premium before the trial is up to avoid fees

4. Semrush Academy (Free with Certification)

Semrush is one of the leading SAAS companies founded in 2008 that helps businesses with visibility and marketing through their several software subscriptions.

Owing to the vast demand for Digital Education, Semrush started its own SemRush Academy. It provides a plethora of content for free to educate anyone interested in Online Learning.

The Academy has come up with the Content Marketing Toolkit Course. The duration of the course is 9 lessons, 3 hours and it is 100 % free with certification.

Their courses cover all digital marketing disciplines, including:

SEO

Content Marketing

PPC

Affiliate Marketing

Social Media Marketing

The course’s main language is English, but many of the courses are also available in Spanish.

Registration is free, and upon completion of the course and the exams, you get a certification.

The course material includes video and text, and all courses are taught by reputable digital marketing professionals.

They cover both basic and advanced concepts, and while some courses are specific on how to use Semrush, some courses cover general concepts like SEO fundamentals, PPC fundamentals, technical SEO, and social media marketing.

Why enroll in this course?

The nice thing about these courses is that they are taught by industry experts, and besides explaining the different concepts, they also teach you how these can be applied in practice.

In addition, you’ll get to learn how to use Semrush correctly, which can increase your chances of running successful digital marketing campaigns.

5. Digital Marketing: How to Build the Perfect Strategy – Skillshare

Taught by self-proclaimed digital marketing geek Kapil Chopra, this course contains 37 short lessons that can be accessed for free on the Skillshare platform. The course takes just shy of four hours, and Skillshare offers a free two-month trial so you will have ample time to get through all of the lessons if you choose.

While we won’t list each one, some of the more engaging lessons include:

• How to do keyword research

• How to see if your site is mobile-friendly

• YouTube SEO techniques

• Google AdWords and Analytics

• Email marketing

• Social Media Marketing

Cost: Free for the first two months—$99 per year thereafter

Certificate: No

Time to Complete: Approximately four hours

Curriculum: Introductory

User Experience: Good

Quality of Instruction: Good

Pros:

• Short and easy-to-digest lessons

• Includes a hands-on class project

• Video tutorials

Cons:

• Must cancel the subscription before the two-month trial period ends to avoid being charged a fee.

• Too basic for students looking for a more detailed course

6. Udemy Digital Marketing Course (Paid with Certification)

Udemy offers a huge selection (10,000+) of online courses on everything from parenting and cooking to app building and, of course, marketing!

The internet marketing courses we’ve listed below are 100% free, but Udemy has other paid offerings as well if you feel like dishing out dough for more advanced, extensive courses.

Market Research

WordPress Setup

SEO

SEO Writing

YouTube Marketing

Google Ads

LinkedIn Marketing

App Marketing

Email Marketing

Google Analytics

Social Media Marketing

Facebook Ads

Advanced SEO: Tactics & Strategy. Created by the Moz team, these 7 video lectures offer SEO expertise for beginners and experts alike5-star rating.

Zero Cost Marketing Strategies: Official Primer Course. While seemingly a bit hokey, the 4.5 stars and 25,000+ enrolled students prove that there’s plenty of solid info in this course to make it worth your while.

Google AdWords 101: Get More Customers with Search Marketing. This free 5-star course will walk you through how to set up your first Google Adwords campaign.

Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises. This a solid recommended guide for those looking to learn about content marketing for B2B lead generation.

Social Media Online Marketing Courses. Want to learn about social media marketing? Check out Three Sixty Academy on Udemy. They offer free social media marketing courses for Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+ (perfect if you’re in a creative industry like craft marketing!).

7. Digital Media and Marketing Strategies – Coursera

Digital Media and Marketing Strategies

The Digital Media and Marketing Strategies course offered by the University of Illinois is course five in a seven-part specialization in Digital Marketing. Like all Coursera programs, it can be completed in audit mode at no cost or in the paid version. Students who opt for the paid version will receive a completion certificate.

The free 15-hour course in digital marketing will teach you:

• How to optimize your digital assets

• The basics of online and video marketing

• The basics of email and social media marketing

Cost: Free

Certificate: Yes, with a fee

Time to Complete: 15 hours

Curriculum: Beginner

User Experience: Excellent

Quality of Instruction: Excellent

Pros:

•Taught by Mike Yao, Associate Professor of Digital Media

•Part of a 100% online MBA from the University of Illinois

•One of the only free courses with accreditation on our list

Cons:

•You will need to pay to obtain a shareable certificate or earn credit

•Some assignments may not be available in the audit-only mode

8. Digital Marketing Strategy – edX

If you’re eager to gain a holistic understanding of digital marketing, you can’t go wrong with EdX’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing class. Part of the University of Maryland’s Digital Marketing Professional Certificate and taught by their esteemed marketing professors, this self-paced video course offers a high-level education on marketing principles, concepts, and strategies.

Course topics include omnichannel marketing, mobile marketing, the marketing mix, multi-sided platforms, attribution, and more. The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course is the perfect class for beginners—even those with minimal marketing knowledge—and provides an excellent foundation for future learning.

EdX estimates it will take students approximately four weeks (spending three to five hours per week) to complete the class, and you can audit it for free. (Note that if you choose to audit, you’ll only have access to the materials for a month—paid subscribers get unlimited access.)

Cost: Free

Certificate: Yes, with a fee

Time to Complete: 10 months

Curriculum: Intermediate

User Experience: Excellent

Quality of Instruction: Excellent

Pros:

•Comprehensive course syllabus

•Excellent user interface

•Over 7000 students have enrolled in the course

Cons:

•Certification only available at the paid level

9. Social Media Quickstarter – Constant Contact

Constant Contact’s Social Media Quickstarter is a collection of online marketing guides that will help you master social media marketing in no time. Featuring quick, easy-to-read guides, social media novices can browse this extensive knowledge base at their leisure.

Constant Contact is one of the oldest email service providers, dating back to the dark ages of the mid-nineties (yes, email existed back then!). While it may be best known for email marketing, it’s Social Media Quickstarter content hub delivers a great educational foundation and actionable tips for successful social media marketing.

Its comprehensive offering covers all the heavy hitters—Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, etc.—and provides step-by-step instructions for building a brand presence and engaging with potential and current customers. Each social media platform has a lengthy list of blog articles on topics that range from beginner-level (e.g., “How to Set up an Account”) to advanced.

You can choose which social media platforms and content you’d like to educate yourself on or go the whole hog and gorge on all the amazing content.

10. Copyblogger Online Marketing Course (Free)

One of the most successful websites on Internet Marketing, especially when it comes to content writing, is Copyblogger.

Brian Clark is the author behind copy blogger and the creator of the most successful WordPress framework, Genesis.

Although copy blogger, studio press, and Genesis are now part of WPEngine, Brian’s free Internet Marketing course is still a great resource for learning how to write great content.

This course is delivered through email and downloaded ebooks and it’s free. All you have to do is register using your email address.

Why enroll in this course?

Writing great content is essential for the success of any digital marketing campaign. Whether it’s ad copy, articles, or landing page copy, you need to learn how to write engaging content and this course is a great place to start.

It is suitable for both beginners and advanced users.

Cost: Free

Certificate: No

Time to Complete: Varies

Curriculum: Introductory to Intermediate

User Experience: Good

Quality of Instruction: Excellent

Pros:

•Learn from the experts in digital content marketing

•Easy signup

•Lots of extras

Cons:

•The course is delivered via email so you have to wait for each new installment