How to Learn Digital Marketing at Home (For Free)

Digital marketing is the new buzzword and everybody wants a piece of it. If you are looking for the best way to learn digital marketing for free, then you have come to the right place.

It is 2020 and there are more online resources to learn digital marketing at home available on the Internet than ever before.

There are some average and some great resources about how to learn digital marketing online, some courses are free and others you have to pay to learn everything you need to know about digital marketing.

In this guide, I will be covering all the aspects of how to learn digital marketing at home, the skills needed for you to become a digital marketer, who should learn digital marketing and why, a list of resources that will teach you how to learn digital marketing online, and more.

In case you are not aware, digital marketing is all about marketing certain goods and services online (the Internet) using all available digital mediums that include Search Engine Optimization, Social media marketing, and more.

Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, does not include any offline marketing channels including billboard marketing, tv and radio marketing, SMS marketing, etc.

All this is good but why should you learn digital marketing?

Why should you learn Digital Marketing?

The most obvious answer to this question is that everything and I mean everything is getting digitized at warp speed.

The majority of the businesses are steadily focusing on building an online presence for their brand, and that is why there is a high demand for skilled digital marketing managers in the market.

Apart from that, here are a few reasons why to learn digital marketing.

• The demand for digital marketers is rising year on year
• The growth opportunities in the field of online marketing are endless
• Learning digital marketing can help you start or promote your own business
• The job of a digital marketer is a high paying one
• You don’t need 4 years of college education to become a digital marketer, you only need to learn and practice the basics of online marketing techniques and you are good to go.
• The field of digital marketing is the perfect combination of creativity and technical knowledge that will always keep you on your toes. One day you will be writing creative ad copies and the next day you are submerged in campaign analytics data.

Before I start, take this as a warning or friendly advice, digital marketing is hard! You must not start learning digital marketing if you are not able to or not willing to put in the time, effort, and passion to walk the extra mile. You need to be smart and consistent with your digital marketing learning curve.

If you are excited about adding new skills to your portfolio and learning digital marketing, in this guide I will tell you the best way to learn digital marketing- which is free.

How to learn digital marketing for free

The most important thing you need to do to become a successful digital marketer is to strengthen your skills in a way that you can adapt to all the tools and technologies required in online marketing.

Additionally, you also need an understanding of how to use these skills to achieve your marketing goals.

Consider yourself warned, digital marketing requires a lot of hard work, tolerance, and determination to keep going on when things don’t go as per your plan.

The added advantage with digital marketing is that unlike most skill training courses where you need to physically attend the classes, you can learn digital marketing online from the comfort of your home at your terms.

Wondering what all do you need to learn to become a digital marketing expert? You don’t have to Google it, I have collated a list of all the things you need to learn to build your digital marketing skills.

Skills you need to learn for digital marketing

There are many different skills to learn in digital marketing such as SEO, social media marketing, paid ads, and more. So it’s important that you become an expert in one skill but at least know about other elements of Digital Marketing as well.

It is also called T-shaped Marketer. So, start thinking like a T-shaped marketer to become the best digital marketer.

Here is a list of all the skills you need in your arsenal to know how to learn digital marketing step by step in this guide. Don’t worry, I will go in detail for each one of them.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a method to optimize your website so that it ranks higher on Search Engine Result Page (SERP) organically for Google or any other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go, and more.

Learning SEO is an essential part of digital marketing, as it is one of the best ways of attracting your target audience to your website. Organic SEO is a slower process as compared to Paid Ads, however, it gives better results in the long run.

If you are looking to build your career as an SEO expert, you need to keep updating your skills and knowledge with the constantly evolving industry.

As Google keeps updating its algorithms, SEO is not something you can learn once and keep using. You have to keep learning new additions and adapt your digital marketing campaigns accordingly.

You can follow the below channels to keep yourself up to date with the latest happenings in the world of SEO

• Google Blog — to get all the news and announcements about SEO by Google
• Search Engine Land — one of the best resources to learn digital marketing
• Viken Patel — Being an SEO expert, I regularly share resources to learn SEO

Here are some of the resources to get you started

Check out the ultimate list of best courses and guide to learn SEO for free

Content Marketing

If you are already a part of the online marketing world then you already know, if you are not yet then you will know- there is No Digital Marketing without Content! Regardless if you are running a campaign on your social media, targeting the audience via SEO, or even email marketing- it is your content that reaches and connects with your audience.

The process of content marketing is all about understanding your target audience, creating content around what they like, and promoting it on the right platforms to reach the right audiences.

If you wish to make a career in the field of content marketing, you need to develop your creative writing skills, learn SEO copywriting, and integrate your analytical skills as well.

Check out the below resources to help you get a jumpstart on becoming a content marketer

Free and very detailed step by step guide to content marketing

Free content marketing online courses and certifications.

Paid Advertising or PPC

Similar to SEO, Paid Search Advertising (PSA) or better known as Pay Per Click (PPC) is also a way to advertise your goods and services to your target audience.

The key difference is that you have to pay the search engines and advertising platforms every time someone clicks on your advertisement.

Google currently holds a monopoly on Google Ads which happens to be the world’s largest platform for digital ads.

Through Google Ads, you can showcase your ads on Google Search Results, Gmail, YouTube, Google AdSense enabled websites and more.

Other major advertising platforms you can market your business to include social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, and more.

If you wish to start a career as a PPC professional, you can easily learn from various online courses and get certified in just a few months.

However, just getting a certification doesn’t mean that you are a paid marketing expert, you still need to gain practical knowledge by applying what you learned by actually working on paid advertising campaigns.

As a digital marketing professional, you will need to blend your PPC efforts and other online marketing channels like content marketing and social media marketing to get the best results for your brand.

If you want to understand all the aspect of paid marketing, check the below online courses that you can take for free

Social Media Marketing

As most Millenials are living for the perfected Instagram selfie, it is difficult to remember a time before social media became such an integral part of our day to day life.

It is not surprising that brands would want to leverage the power of social media for promoting their business as a part of their digital marketing approach.

While Facebook and Instagram are ruling the social media marketing platforms, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Quora are also important channels to market your business and reach out to your audience.

If you want to indulge in a career in social media marketing, you can start by taking these free online social media marketing courses. They will teach you ins and outs how to promote your brand on social media and become a fulltime social media marketer.

Use the below resources to get started with social media marketing:

Email Marketing

You might be wondering, who reads marketing email these days? The answer is a lot of people because email marketing is still one of the most effective and ROI friendly ways to get new customers and upsell to the existing ones.

The most important thing about email marketing is to understand your target audience and build your email strategy around it. Fail to do and all your marketing and sales emails end up in the spam folder of your Target Audience(TA).

While most online marketing methods are designed to attract new customers, email marketing is an effective bottom of the funnel tool to close the deal.

If you wish to grow your digital marketing career as an email marketing specialist, check out the below resources to help you get started

Web Analytics

Digital marketing is the art of balancing creativity and technology. As a part of it, web analytics is all the science of marketing which requires you to have a keen eye towards the numbers of digital marketing.

The goal of a web analytics professional is to apply the knowledge derived from data analysis to solve real-time marketing challenges.

Being a web analytics expert, you will have to select the right tool for data collection, and learn how to analyze and visualize the data, and use it to make thoughtful decisions for promoting your business,

If you wish to build your career in the field of web analytics, check out the below resources to help you get started

Digital Marketing Tools

As a digital marketing manager, your job is not to run social media campaigns or SEO campaigns. Your job is to ensure all the points of digital marketing are working smoothly towards the same goals.

In order to do that, you need to learn all the tools required for an efficient digital marketer including data analysis tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, Data reporting tools like SemRush, Social Media Marketing tools like Facebook for Business, email marketing tools like MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and more.

Digital Marketing Learning Tips

I am sure even you have realized that it is not going to be easy and will require determination. You will not only have to read a lot but also put your time and energy into practicing what you learn.

The good thing is that you now know how to learn digital marketing at home for free. Now you need to find the time, be patient and have a desire to learn.

1. Step one is to start learning SEO which in a way the foundation of digital marketing
2. Learn from the courses and practice what you are learning
3. Get certified from reputed digital institutes to establish your expertise in the subject
4. Work with other digital marketing experts that can help you get some hands-on experience
5. Write your own blog, put your knowledge to practice, monitor the results, and prove your expertise
6. Continue reading and learning as the digital marketing industry keeps changing

Who can learn digital marketing?

Nobody can deny the fact that digital marketing is the next big thing and the most efficient way for companies to connect with their audience.

Apart from the fact that there is a huge demand for digital marketing professionals, these free digital marketing courses are designed for individuals who want to enter the field of digital marketing and professionals who either want to add a new skill to their portfolio or are looking for a career change.

Additionally, if you are an entrepreneur, you can benefit from learning a thing or two about digital marketing to promote your business better.

Conclusion

If you reached all the way here and are reading this, then congratulations, you have what it takes to read the plethora of material to become a digital marketer.

We covered a lot in this article as we learned why you should become a digital marketer, who is digital marketing for, and how you can learn digital marketing for free.

We covered various methods and resources to learn the different aspects of digital marketing including SEO, Content marketing, PPC, Social media marketing, email marketing, web analytics, and more.

One thing I would like to add is that when it comes to digital marketing, you must learn everything but keep your focus on being an expert for one or two channels only for example a social media expert or an SEO expert like me. This will increase your chances of succeeding in the field immensely.

I have shared some of the best resources to learn digital marketing which I have learned from as well. I hope this guide helps you become a digital marketing expert for free.

Let me know in the comments if I missed out on any useful resources.

Originally published at https://vikenpatel.com on September 8, 2020.