Top 10 free digital skills training providers
Digital marketing is a huge industry with many, many different branches that you can specialise in. Because of this, it can be quite overwhelming for beginners to get started and know where to look when you start learning. We’ve compiled a list of our top 10 free courses for beginners.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is any marketing that takes place online and can include social media marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), pay per click advertising, email marketing and many, many more. You can check out an in depth analysis about digital marketing here.
When you’re starting out on your digital skills training journey, you’ll want to make sure that the courses you’re taking are valuable and won’t waste your time.
You’ll also maybe want to consider if you’re specialising in something as well. For example, if you’re thinking of going into pay per click, you may need to also train in website design and SEO so that you can build an effective landing page. But you probably won’t need to train as much in social media marketing.
This will make sure that you don’t waste your time and you’re only taking courses which will further your digital skill progression.
Something else to note just before we get to the list is that with some digital skills training providers, the course material is free but you’ll need to pay for the official certification exam and certificate. This is fine for those of us just seeking the knowledge, but if you’re looking for official certifications, you can ask your employer if they’ll sponsor you or see if there are grants available.
Top 10 Digital Skills Training Providers
1. Facebook
Facebook Blueprint provides free marketing courses specifically centered around marketing on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll learn the ins and outs of each platform, how their ads work and can gain official recognition from Facebook. Once you pass each level (there are 9 in total), you’ll be given virtual badges that you can display on your LinkedIn profile and CV. However, although the courses are free, the exams are not and can cost anywhere between $99 and $150.
So if you’re just looking to gain knowledge and boost your digital skills training this can be a great, free option for you.
2. Hubspot
Hubspot courses are renowned for their quality and value, giving users the option to choose between marketing and sales enablement (you can do both if you want to). They do offer both paid and free courses so we’ll list a few of their free marketing courses that we love:
Inbound Marketing – Learn how to create and execute an effective inbound marketing strategy.
Social Media – Learn how to create and execute an effective social media strategy that is aimed at your target audience.
Email Marketing – Learn how to create an email marketing campaign that converts and grows your business.
3. Google
The Google Digital Marketing Certification is one of the best courses on this list. Not only is it free, but it’s also accredited by The Open University. It’s a general overview of digital marketing but is the only course offered by Google that’s accredited. It’s definitely a course designed for beginners but still looks impressive on any CV or LinkedIn profile so it can be worth it just for the certificate.
Google also offers the Google Digital Garage which has a range of free marketing courses which aren’t accredited.
4. Digiskills
Here at Digiskills we’re aiming to bridge the digital skills gap by providing free and low budget training courses. We understand that not everyone has had the same start in life and may have some gaps in their knowledge. Our courses are focused towards beginners and will start to become more advanced.
We offer a range of courses focused on marketing basics such as SEO, blog and content writing and Google Adwords.
5. Moz on Udemy
Udemy is comparable to skillshare in the way it runs. Instructors can be anyone and they offer a wide range of courses that can be free or paid. The Moz Team is one of the most popular content creators on the platform and has over 200,000 students enrolled on their courses.
Their most popular, free and highly rated course is the ‘SEO Training Course’ which is presented by one of the founders, Rand Firskin.
6. Coursera
Coursera acts like a mix of Udemy and Facebook Blueprint. The content is provided by many instructors and you have to pay for the certification at the end. Most of the course content however is free and provided by professors from top universities in the USA. This is what makes Coursera so good; the content is being provided by industry and education experts at the top of their fields.
Should you want to pay for the certifications, there are several levels of payment options to choose from, but if you’re just there to learn from the content, most of it is free!
7. Yoast
Yoast is one of the largest SEO specialists on the internet. They have their own WordPress plugin which helps blog writers hit their SEO targets and offer courses to all levels in SEO. Only their beginner SEO course is free, but it’s so worth it if you’re looking for a basic explanation of what SEO is and how to get started.
Once you’ve completed their beginner course you don’t necessarily need to go on and pay for their more advanced options unless like with Facebook Blueprint and Coursera, you’re looking for official certification. The Yoast blog is completely free and an invaluable source of knowledge for everything SEO.
8. Wordstream
Wordstream’s blog is another invaluable font of knowledge that is at your disposal for free. Along with this they also provide a free, online digital marketing course; the PPC (Pay Per Click) University. This course will give you an overview of digital marketing and you’ll gain fundamental skills with the aim to be able to run successful PPC campaigns. They also offer bonus free modules in social media advertising!
9. Alison
Alison is one of the best resources on this list as all of the 300+ courses they offer are free. There are ads on the pages though which is how Alison is able to earn money along with the fee they charge for Alison Manager. This is a service that allows companies to monitor the learning of their employees.
They offer a wide range of courses from Digital Literacy & IT Skills to English Literature and Language. Most of their marketing courses are filed under Digital Literacy. Their main marketing courses feature Blogging and Website Design as well as offering Diploma’s in Social Media Marketing, Project Management and so many more!
10. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is not technically free but they do offer a one month free trial so if there’s a few courses of theirs that you really want to do, then you can do them in the free trial month and not pay anything! This is great for students, graduates or anyone with some free time to kill as you can boss through the courses and then cancel before you’re charged. LinkedIn Learning will offer you courses based on your preferences and interests ranging from SEO, to social media marketing to business and leadership studies.
For more information regarding other courses from providers such as Semrush, you can click here.
We hope this list has helped you and given you a starting point to base your studies on. For more information regarding Digiskils, Digital Skills Training, get in touch with us.
