The best way to learn anything is by practicing. Internet is full of opportunities for people who are on the self learning path. You can find any type of information free of cost in the blogs and youTube videos.
You need a structured approach for raising your skills from the basic to advance level.
But there are so many courses available on learning platforms like Udemy, Coursera and Skillshare. Most of the authors publish their high value courses on self hosted platforms.
It becomes difficult to find the right course as per the current needs.
No course is good or bad. It all depends on your current level and what you want to achieve next. I often ask my mentors and fellow entrepreneurs for the course recommendations because they know my goals & current position.
It’s useless to ask random people for the course recommendation because they can suggest courses from their own viewpoint, not exactly what I need. So I don’t ask in groups or discussion forums.
I worked with startups, freelancers and marketers – so I know what they need at different levels of their business. I spent more than $3000 last year on books & courses. What I bought may not be useful for you because we are at the different level of business.
Here I am curating the list of best courses to learn the essential skills for online business development. Pick a course that will take you from your current level to the next level. Ideally, you should buy one course at a time and implement the learnings at your business.
In case of any doubt, ask me in the comments.
11 Best Online Courses For Digital Marketing
#1. Free Digital Marketing Course By GoogleÂ
Topics covered by the course
- Adwords Fundamentals
- Search Advertising
- Display Advertising, and Google my business
- Mobile Advertising
- Video Advertising
- Analytics, tools and best practices
Who should enroll the course
For people who don’t know anything about Digital Marketing.
About the course
You will get bored of the course if you know the basics of online advertisements and marketing. But if you are just starting with digital marketing then you should take a look at the course.
There are tools to address brand communication in a digital world, and with the help of this course — you will know how to be competitive. I know when someone is just starting, the doesn’t have the budget to hire a digital marketing agency but it’s great opportunity to learn first, then delegate to others.
#2. Digital Marketing Specialist Master’s Program by SimplilearnÂ
Topics covered in the course
- Mastering SEO, Content Marketing, PPC and Digital Analytics
- Mastering Social Media, Mobile Marketing and Digital Strategy
- Advanced Web Analytics
- Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Advanced Pay Per Click (PPC) Certification Program
- Advanced Social Media(With OMCP Voucher)
Who should enroll in the courseÂ
For starters in digital marketing as well as marketing managers, entrepreneurs, and marketing consultants.Â
About the course
You should take this course if you wish to become a seasoned digital marketer. The courses included in this program cover all the important aspects of digital marketing like SEO, PPC, email marketing, and more. You’ll become well-versed in using more than 40 digital marketing tools and become industry ready by working on real-world projects and Mimic Pro simulations.Â
#3. PPC Training: Learn Google Adwords & Facebook AdsÂ
What is expected from the course
- How to best use different keyword match types
- How to increase your click-through-rate (CTR) with ad extensions and dynamic keyword insertion
- How to use Facebook to drive sales, not likes or other vanity metrics
- How to pull valuable reports on a daily basis and how to apply them to your marketing
- How to setup and use remarketing campaigns, which often have the highest ROI
- How to create AdWords campaigns and Facebook campaigns from scratch and learn paid marketing for your business immediately
Image Credit: PPC Training by Carl Sednaoui for Udemy
Price: $25
Buy the course at discounted price of $10
About the course
If you have a website or run your business online, learning about paid search advertising on Google and Facebook will help you to get better results. The course will help you running paid campaigns with the budget.
#4. How To Grow Your Local Business With FacebookÂ
In this course, you will learn improved and cost effective facebook marketing strategies to grow your business fast . You will learn how to acquire new customers, re-engage with existing customers, and increase revenues. You will also be introduced to advanced facebook marketing features to get more exposure to your business in your city.
You should take the course if
You have a local business and are struggling to acquire new customers through your current strategies.
Price:Â $200
Buy this course today at a discounted price of  $10
Time required to complete the course
1 hour. Self Paced.
Topics covered in the course
- Quick & easy way to create a professional Facebook fan page in less than 10 minutes
- How to build your fan base for 2 cents per like
- Best practices to incorporate social media into your offline communication channels
- Step-by-step instructions to grow your business with local audience targeting.
#5. Ultimate Google AdWords Course 2017 – Win With PPC
Summary of what you will learn
In this course, you will get to know how to consistently  drive profitable and reliable traffic to your website or a landing page through Google Adwords.
You will be introduced to Google Adwords strategies and techniques to manage Adwords campaigns from scratch for your website or your online product. You will gain deeper understanding of ROI calculations and conversion tracking mechanisms, so that you can profitably advertise online.
Image Credit: Ultimate Google Adwords course by Issac Rudansky for Udemy
Time required to complete the course
18.5 hours. Self Paced.
Price:Â $195
Buy this course today at a discounted Price of $15
Topics covered in the course
- How to setup your AdWords account from scratch
- What keywords are and how to use them to your advantage
- How to setup conversion tracking and how to track phone calls from your website
- How to track sales, revenue and form submissions using Google AdWords
- How to take advantage of competitor reports and customer data in your campaigns
- How to increase Quality Score and decrease your cost per click
#6. Marketing Strategy To Reach 1,000,000 People With SEO
This course is all about helping your offline or online business reach 1 million traffic and beyond. You will learn about solid marketing fundamentals, top social media strategies, and implement basic and advanced SEO strategies for your business or product.
Who should enroll in this SEO course
Entrepreneurs and Marketers who are not able to get enough traffic for their online or not able to get enough clients for their offline businesses and are looking for SEO and social media based strategies to grow their businesses.
Price:Â $200
Buy this course at a discounted Price
Duration of the course
13 hours.
#7. Google Analytics: Take A Data Driven Approach To Growth
What you will learn Â
By the end of this course, you will be able to set up Google Analytics to collect data and turn that into actionable insights for your online business. You will know how to track a marketing campaign from start to finish. By learning to analyze data, you will gain insights to increase your traffic,conversion, and sales and address any strategic questions facing your business such as  how to convert more visitors and where to focus your marketing efforts.
Image Courtesy: Google Analytics Course by Daragh Walsh for Udemy
Duration of the course
2.5 hours. Self Paced.
Price:Â $100
Buy this course at a discounted Price of $15
Topics covered in this Google analytics course
- How to setup Google Analytics quickly and steps to collect actionable data
- How to analyze traffic sources so you can get more traffic to your site
- How to use behaviour reports to improve visitor retention & conversion and reduce bounce rates
- How to identify primary markets & uncover new ones with location reports
- How to analyze marketing performance to maximize its effectiveness and optimize ROI
- How to resolve technical errors blocking sales using the mobile, browser & OS reports
#8. Writing With Flair: How To Become An Exceptional Writer
This course teaches you a framework to dramatically improve your quality of writing. Using this framework, you can write down your ideas in a simple and a clear manner. You will learn the key principles of writing that you can apply to a cover letter, a business plan, a sales email, a website marketing copy etc. You will get to know the tactics to give your audience the right information, communicate without ambiguity, and make your blogs, essays, pitches, sales copies, business writing sparkle.
Who is the target audience
From bloggers to marketers to business owners to freelancers, anyone whose work requires smart writing to communicate their ideas clearly to their respective audience.
Time required to complete the course
3.5 hours.
Price:Â $200
Buy this course at a discounted Price of $15
Topics covered in this course
- How to be super-economical with words
- How to avoid repeating yourself unnecessarily
- How to stop making simple ideas sound complex
- How to write in plain English, present your writing ultra-professionally
- How to tell when you’re saying too much
- How to create an elegant narrative structure
#9. Business Plan Today! Idea Planning Made Simple
You will learn to create a business plan with a singular focus to deeply understand your target customer, guage the size of your market, find the right business model, identify effective revenue streams, learn about your financials such as unit economics, cash flow, profit etc. You will then learn to develop plans for each of these areas and piece all these together to help start or grow your business.
Image Courtesy: Udemy
You should take the course if Â
You are an entrepreneur or a business owner or a blogger who wants to start a business or improve existing business and is looking  for help with creating a business plan to better understand your business and revenue model.
Price:Â $200
Click here to buy this course at a discounted price  of $15
Time required to complete the course
3 hours.
Topics covered in this Business Planning course
- How to create and write each section of the business plan
- How to see your market
- Business planning concepts like the cash flow statement, lifetime customer value, and unit economics
- What is a business model and how to create a good one for your business
- Target Market, Revenue streams, and dealing with Competition.
- Common Business Planning mistakes
#10. How To Start Your Own Digital Marketing Agency
To teach you everything about building a digital marketing consulting business , in specific SEO/Web design business, and developing a recurring revenue model.
You will learn how to look for a business partner, setup a wordpress agency website, understand how to outsource SEO, create client proposals, land new clients through cold calling and other online methods, and utilize CRM tools.
Time required to complete the course
9 hours.
Price:Â $195
Click here to enroll for this course at a discounted price  of $15
Highlights of topics covered in the course:
- How to start your own consulting website
- How to create a project management approach for outsourcing SEO Tasks and how to perform them.
- How to bring new clients for your business ( explained through live case studies)
- How to close sales and work with existing clients
- How to use automation and track prospects
- Learning about SEO tools, and start generating some new business
#11. Udacity Digital Marketing Nano Degree
Why take this Nanodegree program
The program is designed towards launching a career in digital marketing and ensuring that you learn the skills to get a 360-degree understanding of digital marketing.
You will learn to master platform-specific skills with the help of real world tools and platforms such as Google, Facebook, HubSpot, Hootsuite, Moz, and MailChimp.
Image Courtesy: Udacity
Time required to complete the program
3 months, at a commitment of 10 hours/week. Fixed Schedule.
Price:Â Rs 66,000
Enroll in this program at a discounted price of Rs 49,500
To know more about courses for freelancers, content marketers and social media marketers; you can check out the entire article on 100 Best Online Courses For Digital Marketers, Bloggers And Freelancers at Cash Overflow.
Let me know if you have any question!
Also Read:Â Content Marketing Saved My A** In Early Days Of My Startup!
(Disclaimer: This post was originally published in Cash Overflow and has been reproduced with permission. Techstory is not responsible or liable for any content in this article.)
About The Author:
Pardeep is an entrepreneur, content marketing expert and teaches smart personal finance lessons & money hacks through his startupCash Overflow.
He can be followed on Twitter @pardeepg