7 Best Digital Marketing Courses in 2023
Digital marketing is one career that is not going away anytime soon. With the increase in demand for digital marketers, it is important to have a basic to an advanced level of understanding of how digital marketing works and how to run a digital marketing campaign.
If you want to start a career in digital marketing or sharpen your skills; look no further. We’ve got you covered.
In this article, we will highlight the best digital marketing courses to take online.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing is a form of marketing that leverages internet technologies like search engines, social media, email, mobile apps and websites.
The goal of digital marketing is to increase sales, brand awareness and other forms of conversions for business owners and personal brands with the help of the internet.
Before the internet was invented, the only forms of advertising available were sharing of flyers, newspapers and magazines, Billboard advertising, Radio advertisements, street hawking, public announcements, etc.
The internet changed how humans consume information. People now spend more time online. Since any form of marketing requires the attention of humans, marketers have to take their craft to where people spend most of their time. Hence, digital marketing was born.
Why You Should Consider Digital Marketing as a Career
If you have not decided on a career path to take, then you should consider digital marketing. In Africa, the digital marketing space is not saturated yet.
A lot of businesses are switching from traditional forms of marketing to digital marketing. If you have the skill set, there is a lot of money to be made.
Some of the reasons why you should consider a career in digital marketing are;
Job Opportunities
As new businesses spring up every day and as existing companies seek to expand, there will always be a need for digital marketers.
There’s no business that does not require the service of a marketer. Marketing is so important that companies have a whole department for it.
As a digital marketer who is really skilled, there will be endless job opportunities for you. As you hone your skills, you can work for bigger clients and earn more income.
Easy to Get Started
Digital marketing has so many branches, there is social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising, copywriting, content marketing, email marketing, search engine optimisation etc.
The best part is, you do not have to learn everything to become a digital marketer. You can pick one, learn it perfectly, and start earning immediately.
You also do not need a University or Polytechnic degree to become a competent digital marketer, you can pick a course on our list of best digital marketing courses and enrol.
If you are consistent with learning and practising, you will become a certified digital marketer within 3-6 months.
Work Remotely
Digital marketing gives you the opportunity to work from home, work while on vacation, and work for clients in other parts of the world.
You could work as a full-time digital marketer with a company in Nigeria and still have side gigs for clients abroad.
If you decide to become a freelance digital marketer, you can work from anywhere in the world.
High Earning Potentials
On average, full-time digital marketers earn between 1.5 million Naira to 2 million Naira per year in Nigeria. That is approximately 150,000 Naira per month.
As you gain more experience and become confident, you could request for hire pay or seek jobs in companies that can pay more.
Freelance digital marketers do not have a limit on how much they can earn. As a freelance digital marketer, you can work for as many brands as possible.
If you have more combination of digital marketing skills, your earning potential increases.
Migration Friendly
If you would love to relocate abroad, you can apply for digital marketing jobs for businesses in a country you want to relocate to. Some of these businesses need a full-time digital marketer and are ready to hire and invite them over.
You may wonder why these companies do not employ people in their country of operation. Well, there are many reasons for this. There are countries with few people who are skilled at digital marketing. For some companies, it is more affordable for them to hire an international worker and bring them over than employ someone in their country.
The best website to find these kinds of companies is Indeed.com.
Best Digital Marketing Courses
We have listed the best digital marketing courses online. These courses are beginner friendly and affordable; some are free.
1. Google Digital Marketing Course on Coursera
Google has one of the biggest advertising networks in the world. It is almost impossible to not see an advertisement served by Google when you browse online.
The adverts that appear while watching Youtube videos are served by Google, and the display adverts on 80% of websites in the world are also served by Google.
If there’s any company you should learn digital marketing from, then it’s the world’s biggest advertising company; Google.
Google has a course on Coursera where you can learn beginner to advanced levels of marketing within 6 months.
The Google digital marketing and e-commerce professional certificate course on Coursera is beginner friendly. You can enrol without any prior experience in digital marketing.
In this course, you will learn about the rudiments of digital marketing, how to attract and engage customers, how to read and measure marketing analytics, how to build and launch an e-commerce store, and so many more.
On completion of this course, you will get a certificate from Google. This course cost $14 per month.
2. Issac Rudansky Google Ads Marketing Course on Udemy
When you search on Google, you might see adverts at the top of the page or at the bottom of the search result.
These ads are called Google Adwords or pay-per-click ads. As the name implies, Google charges advertisers for each click they get.
When someone searches for “Best Smart Tv” on Google, most times they are searching because they plan to buy a smart TV. Businesses that sell Smart TVs can pay Google money to appear on the search result in order to advertise their TV’s to that customer.
Google does not charge the company paying for the advert unless the customer clicks on it. In the end, this is cheaper for the company than doing a television commercial or advertising on a billboard. It also brings more revenue to the company.
This is what Issac Rudansky teaches in his Google Ads marketing course on Udemy.
Issac is a certified Google Adwords professional in New york city. In his course, you will learn how to place adverts at the top of search results on Google, you will learn keyword research, how to optimize your adverts for more conversions etc.
There are few Google AdWords professionals in Nigeria compared to Facebook ads experts so the job competition is low and the pay is better.
When you complete this course, you get a certificate from Udemy. The price of this course fluctuates, you can get it between 3,500 to 5,000 Naira on Udemy. You can purchase the Google Adwords course by Isaac here.
3. Meta Social Media Marketing Course:
Meta is the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They are the second biggest advertising platform in the world after Google.
Advertising on Facebook and Instagram is popular in Nigeria. A lot of businesses in Nigeria need experts who can help them create and manage advertisement campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. As an expert, you can approach these businesses and offer your service to them.
The Meta Social media marketing course on Coursera is produced and taught by Meta itself.
When you take this course, you will learn about the history of social media marketing, you will understand the major social media platforms and how they work, how to run advertisement campaigns on all Meta platforms and so much more.
You can start this course as a beginner and complete it in seven months if you study the course for 2 hours every week. Most courses on Coursera are designed for people who want to work and upgrade their skill sets, if you do not have a job at the moment, you can finish this course in less than 7 months.
On completion of this Social media marketing course, you will get a certificate from Meta. This course cost $14 monthly.
You can get the Meta social media marketing course here.
4. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing on Edx
The fundamentals of digital marketing on Edx is a course by the University of Maryland, USA.
In this course, you will learn the foundations of digital marketing, and how digital marketing has evolved over time, you will learn how to create strategies needed to succeed in e-commerce, digital marketing and social media marketing.
This course is taught by two professors in marketing from the University of Maryland, United States of America.
The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing on Edx is an introductory course. You will need to take other courses on digital marketing to complement what you’ve learnt.
The course is free and can be completed in 4 weeks if you study between 3-4 hours weekly.
5. Search Engine Optimisation by the University of California
Search Engine Optimisation also known as SEO is a branch of digital marketing that helps websites to appear on the first page of different search engines.
When you do a Google search, there are many websites that have written about what you are searching for. Google and other search engines will display the best 10 results on the first page. The first three websites at the top of the page get the most clicks from searchers.
Website owners use a tactic called search engine optimisation to make their websites rank better on search engines.
With this skill, you can help business owners improve their search rankings and get more sales.
The Search Engine Optimisation course on Coursera is offered by the University of California. The two instructors taking this digital marketing course are Rebekah May, head of organic Acquisition at Fishbrain and Eric Enge, the CEO of Stone Temple Consulting.
This is one of the best digital marketing courses you should consider as a newbie. You can get the search engine optimisation course on Coursera for $14 monthly. If you are new to Coursera, you will get a 7-day free trial.
6. How Retargeting Works by Isaac Rudansky
Most times when you want to buy something online, you visit the website selling this product but you do not end up making payment immediately; maybe you got distracted or you were not ready to buy at that moment.
Now, you visit another website, then you begin to see adverts for the product you just checked. What you just experienced is called remarketing.
To create an efficient digital marketing strategy, digital marketers use remarketing to increase sales conversions.
In this course, you will learn how to create a remarketing campaign using Google ads, how to use Google analytics to develop and build your audience segments and so much more. This course is taught by Issac Rudansky, the co-founder of Adventure media, New York.
You can get the Google Remarketing Course on Udemy for a discount.
7. Simplilearn Advanced Email Marketing Certification Training
Email marketing is another branch of digital marketing that involves communicating with customers via email. There are various strategies that do not work after spending time, money and effort.
The advanced email marketing certification training by Simplilearn will teach you strategies that work in email marketing. You will learn how to build trust and loyalty through email marketing. You will also learn to automate emails, craft better subject lines, list management strategies and lots more.
This course has been taken by over 13,000 students across the globe. It is free and can be completed in 5 hours.
You will need to create a free Simplilearn account to enrol for free. Click here to enrol.
Final Thoughts
Marketing is an essential human skill, at one point in time, we all need to market something. Just like driving, everyone should have a skill in digital marketing.
Digital marketing is a skill you can add to your stack of skills and make money from it almost immediately by rendering it as a service, working as a full-time employer, or using the knowledge to grow your business.
Thank you for reading our article on the best digital marketing courses. You can also check out our article on the cheapest data plans in Nigeria for online courses.
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