Best Digital Marketing Courses: A Review of 5 Top Online Courses

Have you ever heard of digital marketing before? Of course, you have. It’s one of the booming industries! Companies are scrambling to find digital marketing specialists in specific niches, as we can’t deny any longer – Online marketing is the way to reach people around the world, particularly your target audience.

If you aren’t exactly familiar with what digital marketing is, it’s a kind of marketing done and consumed through our electronic devices, such as our computers, tablets, and phone screens.

Digital marketing isn’t just about online posts or email marketing. There are different channels a business needs to concentrate on if they want to truly expand its reach. This includes creating video content, social media strategies, search engine optimization, paid online advertisements, and a lot more.

With the Internet booming and almost everyone on it daily, businesses must join the bandwagon if they haven’t done so, so they can beat their competitors and gain success.

So, how can you get in on digital marketing to promote your business or apply to become a professional in it?

You’re probably aware of online digital marketing courses. Online digital marketing courses are now on the rise, and you’ve probably seen them from online advertisements. Moreover, those who want to take their digital marketing skills to a new level, can even earn a digital marketing degree online these days, too!

You’re probably saying, “psh, I can just post online, and it’ll be good to go! Or I can just let the tools handle it. Businesses won’t even care if I have the experience or not.”

This is not the case! You will need to learn how to create appropriate content that will engage your target audience, but before that, you will also need to learn who your target audience is in the first place. Moreover, you can’t just leave it. Up to tools because you also need to learn how to use them to your advantage!

As you can see, this industry is a tough one, and fortunately, there are courses made for it so you can learn for your own business or when planning to provide such services to others.

We share the best you can take right now, so continue reading! 

The 5 Best Digital Marketing Courses

Understandably, if you want to get the best bang for your buck, just like purchasing any product or service, you must conduct research to ensure what you’re getting into is legitimate and will help you reach individual goals. But with the thousands of courses available, what should you get?

These are the best digital marketing courses, famous for their in-depth lectures, instructors, and fees.

  1. Digital Marketing Strategy Bundle: 7 practical courses in 1!

This is one of the best digital marketing courses out there because you receive 7 courses in 1. You can come to know virtually everything about digital marketing and grow your business through content marketing, email marketing, social media advertising, Google Analytics, and more.

Here are the online digital marketing courses: 

  • Digital Marketing Strategies – Tackles digital marketing channels
  • Content Marketing Strategy – Create content and plans, plus when and where to post.
  • Search Engine Optimization – All about the basic SEO tools and strategizing
  • Social Media Marketing – All about social media analysis, market research, and the metrics to collect and analyze.
  • Google Analytics – How to use Google Analytics or Google Ads.
  • Email Marketing – You read it right. Email is still alive! Don’t skip this, as this teaches you to grasp everything about emails, how to write them for more clicks, and make campaign analyses to measure metrics.
  • Google Ads – By the end of the course, you’ll learn how to form effective campaigns in motion on Google Ads to reach new customers and grow the business virtually.

Price: $39.99

Duration: Approximately 15 hours’ worth of lectures

As you can see, you can learn and apply everything from the course bundle within a few weeks or so, depending on your pace. And for its price, you get more than what you pay for!

Why enroll?

This course is suitable for everyone. There are no special requirements whatsoever, so beginners will be able to join. Even those who work as digital marketers can improve their skills by learning things in the world of digital marketing

Moreover, it provides many practical assignments and tasks, allowing you to put your knowledge to the test, along with industry experts and detailed visuals to learn better. This is a terrific program for those who want to work as digital marketers.

  1. Become a Digital Marketer Nanodegree Program

This program is to grasp digital marketing skills to climb the ladder. You will digest more about digital marketing concepts. Big and small business owners alike will definitely benefit from this program, whether they are new to it or not.

But despite all these words appearing intimidating, the digital marketing course itself is apt for newbies and experts alike. No digital marketing expertise is essential to sign up for this course, though students should possess basic computer skills, like navigating the Internet, managing files, and the use of third-party programs.

This consists of two lectures and five electives, which are: 

  • Digital Marketing Strategy Fundamentals
  • Marketing Data and Technology via Google Analytics
  • Social Media Marketing
  • SEO
  • Search Engine Marketing
  • Digital Advertising (via Google Ads)
  • Email Marketing

All parts of these online marketing courses have received stellar feedback from enrollees who share they learned everything necessary to begin applying for jobs as digital marketing specialists. Thanks to tackling the different aspects of digital marketing, such as social media platforms, search engine optimization, email marketing, marketing analytics, and more, can help you discover your niche to know where to specialize as you pitch yourself to companies.

Price: $1,017 for 3-month access

Duration: 3 months (estimate) 

Why enroll? 

This is fun, all-inclusive, and with a flexible learning program, so you can tailor a learning plan suited to your schedule. Not only can you study on your own schedule, but you will learn from experts and receive technical mentor support throughout the course, so all of your questions are answered.

Besides this, you have a chance to tackle real-world projects to put your skills to the test and receive feedback from said industry experts. Many previous professionals have gone from being total beginners to being equipped with digital marketing skills and tools to kickstart a digital marketing career. 

  1. SEO – Strategy 2023. How to rank your website #1 in Google?

This is a fantastic company with insightful programs, including this SEO Strategy training! By the end of the program, you will know how to build your own strategies to promote websites and achieve high ranks on SERPs.

Moreover, you will grasp everything about SEO and online digital marketing concepts to accomplish such goals, such as how to build links, analyze site traffic, and utilize analytical tools.

Learn from a digital marketing expert with over a decade of experience in online marketing. Learners will have valuable materials made to hone one’s SEO digital marketing skills.

Besides the easy-to-understand program for beginners and SEO specialists alike, you will be given a certificate upon completion, as well as a free copy of a chapter in the instructor’s book entitled “Cutting-Edge Digital Marketing.”

The training is divided into seven sections with multiple lectures you will learn from. It tackles everything to discover about SEO strategy up until branding and social media. There will be four areas to tackle, which are:

  •  The Basics of SEO Strategy – Before delving deeper into the four areas of SEO strategy, this first section will tackle the basics of SEO, how it works, and its importance in businesses.
  •  Level 1: Website and Content – After the fundamentals, the next topic to be tackled is the first level, which is all about your website and content. You will learn about tools, mobile marketing, how to analyze site traffic, and creating posts with a content plan.
  •  Level 2: Keywords – The second part will be more about keywords, such as how to do keyword research, internal optimization, and monitoring your ranking.
  •  Level 3: Link-Building – The third part focuses on the importance of building links and analysis, as well as how you can improve it and how you can choose the right ones to add to your posts.
  •  Level 4: UX, Brand, and Social – And finally, the fourth level will share what you must know about social media, branding, and behavioral factors that affect your site’s ranking on search engines.

You can also avail of a bonus lecture and additional materials offered to answer any questions you may have after completing the entire program.

Price: $39.99

Duration: The lectures are estimated 4 hours long

Why enroll?

This is one of the most affordable online courses that cost less than $40. You are granted full lifetime access or a money-back guarantee. 

Besides this, learning more about SEO strategies will help you go further in your career, with many career options to choose from, such as becoming an SEO specialist, entrepreneur, or digital marketer. You will receive a ton of information about SEO so you can begin with your first real-world projects upon finishing the program.

  1. Facebook Marketing 2023. Promote Your Business on Facebook! 

Digital marketing is also about social media advertising. Facebook is one of the crucial areas to prioritize when expanding your brand.

This mastery goes into the Facebook digital marketing and ads course, which is suited for newbies and professional learners alike. It will contribute to learners turning into Facebook experts and creating relationships with new relevant audiences while decreasing expenses.

Furthermore, this social media marketing course will train and hone your comprehension of Facebook Marketing, from using Facebook Ads down to benefit from the advanced features of Facebook Business Manager.

There are no requirements to join except for having your own Facebook account.

Topics covered in this course: 

  •  The fundamentals of Facebook and Facebook Ads Manager
  •  Facebook campaigns and Facebook Pixel features
  •  Study how to form and utilize the sales funnel for successful conversion
  •  How to mass publish fast to other platforms to save time and effort
  •  Optimize Facebook ads for increased conversions without overspending. Design and utilize all kinds of Facebook ads
  •  How to grow your Facebook page with your advertisements and copywriting, shooting up your audience count
  •  How to put up your own Facebook Ad agency

All of these lectures will help you with your skills and career opportunities, with some being able to start their own business focused on social media marketing! While total beginners may need to make a bit of effort to understand, it will be smooth sailing and fine to catch up after the first few sessions.

Price: $89.99

Duration: 76 lectures that are about 11-13 hours in total length

Why enroll? 

You have lifetime access to an expert teacher who is there to answer all questions. The lessons released are all original and tested, with much detail and thought put into every lecture to ensure learners will understand how Facebook Marketing works regardless of their level.

For small business owners who manage their own accounts and for online advertising managers to study social media marketing strategies for social media it’s a no-brainer.

  1. Thinkful Digital Marketing Bootcamp

Expand your understanding or start becoming a digital marketer properly here. It’s a self-paced and flexible system where you have both live and recorded video mentor sessions, giving you the balance of independent study with support from marketing experts.

While the price tag of this boot camp is a bit high upfront, it’s definitely worth it with all the learnings and career opportunities you can receive out of it. They even have a deferred tuition plan where you can begin making payments once your salary is over $40,000 annually. Moreover, if you aren’t hired within half a year and qualify for their Tuition Refund Guarantee, the loan is forgiven.

The curriculum has 10 sections:

  •        Digital Marketing Landscape: The fundamentals of marketing and how it completely changed the digital world, along with appropriate digital marketing techniques.
  •        Campaigns: In this section, you will learn more about how to design a unique messaging you will implement as you create your content and campaigns. You will also learn about how to develop smart goals unique to what you want to achieve in your business.
  •       Customer Insights: Learn more about how to define and identify who your audiences are and design amazing content that will surely lead to further engagement and clicks.
  •        Brand: This section discusses how to construct a cohesive voice by creating consistent written content and design elements that match your online business and the message to convey.
  •       Content Marketing: This is all about the things you will post on your business websites, social media, and anywhere online. For starters, it explains the possible platforms to be on where you can build your customer base based on your target market. It will then discuss how you can fashion posts and other content types that will compel individuals to learn about your business and offerings.
  •       Email Marketing: Write emails that stand out and are worthy of more clicks. It also discusses the vitality of email marketing, which comes from hooking your audience.
  •       Social Media Marketing: This is where you learn the ways digital marketers handle social media accounts to achieve even more followers on their online business. Not only will it tackle what kind of social media platforms are available, but the platforms that are actually relevant based on your target audience, the most suitable content formats to post, and how to design it in ways that will surely gain traction.
  •       Search Engine Marketing: This focuses more on search engines and how your website or another online platform can rank first on SERPs.
  •       Analytics: How to collect and analyze relevant data and how to report it to everyone in the business. Analytics will also show you how to tweak your current campaign to improve results further.
  •        Portfolio: Start a career as a digital marketer with this final section, where you can learn to build a portfolio and receive 1-on-1 mentorship with an expert in the field.

As you notice, it has everything necessary to learn about digital marketing, covering all bases with original and detailed lessons. To begin with, it’s great for beginners as it includes the digital marketing basics before heading to the specifics. Moreover, the final part will be about launching a budding career as a future digital marketer, with a section on how to build your portfolio.

Price: $4,900 with the option of deferred tuition

Duration: Approximately 3 months 

Why enroll in this course?

This Bootcamp is very popular and has gained excellent reviews from previous learners who have gotten digital marketing job offers and have accelerated in their professional path thanks to digital marketing courses like this.

Moreover, the flexibility in both how you learn and the tuition fee is a huge plus, so you can opt to begin now without having to worry about payments or adjusting your schedule to live classes. Learners will also be able to be matched with a personal mentor for a 1-on-1 mentorship. Such mentorships can help with your chances of receiving job interviews and offers while working on digital marketing skills. The mentorship can be done through video calls or consultations, sharing tips on starting and building a career, as well as receiving any reviews or feedback from mock interviews.

Selecting a Digital Marketing Course

Now that you have an idea about the digital marketing courses, it’s time to narrow those choices down to the most suitable program for you. With hundreds to thousands of courses, it may be challenging to know which suits you.

With that said, here are tips to follow and factors to review when choosing the best digital marketing course: 

  1. Reliability

Note that you are investing many resources in yourself to know all about online digital marketing.

As such, ensure that the course you plan to enroll in is validated and endorsed by true digital marketing professionals who possess serious knowledge in the industry.

Moreover, double-check the information on the online courses’ platform or instructors’ websites, validating their identities, qualifications, and experience. It will ensure that you are getting info from real experts on digital marketing. Unfortunately, there are a few digital marketing courses that don’t teach you anything you don’t know yet, so you waste all your time, energy, and savings! 

  1. Trustworthiness and Authority

Before paying for a complete digital marketing course, verify all the info and make sure you are comfortable with what’s laid out in front of the screen. You wouldn’t want to waste your time learning from someone who doesn’t possess the appropriate qualifications to teach you. You want to enroll in online marketing courses made and taught by digital marketing professionals!

You can verify the instructor’s credibility and course legitimacy with various methods. The first thing you should do is to look up the author’s identity to learn more about who designed the online courses. Check that person’s background and course history to see if it was established by an individual or firm. Moreover, research for any references of said expert and their standing in the digital marketing industry.

When researching digital marketing course providers, those with good stature are the ones to focus on, particularly individuals and companies who have created and completed campaigns for their previous clients successfully.

  1. Check the Curriculum

When researching the available digital marketing courses to enroll in, you’ll come across the curriculum and topics to be discussed throughout the program. As you do so, prepare a list of expectations from your chosen course and crossmatch your expectations with what will be taught during the program.

This will help ensure that the course content is related to the ones you’d like to learn from. Moreover, check the outcomes and where you’ll stand after course completion. If you are a beginner, always select a course that first has a lesson for beginners, so it gets easier to catch up as you complete each lecture and assignment. Or better yet, find courses that are designed for your specific skill level so you won’t feel underqualified or overqualified.

  1. All Modules Included

Speaking of curriculum, check if top digital marketing courses provide all of the current lessons. They should tackle today’s digital marketing trends and not from past months or years! For instance, if you want advanced SEO digital marketing training, it should have the most advanced tactics and not outdated ideas.

We emphasize this for other digital marketing components like social media marketing, mobile marketing, email marketing strategy, content marketing, etc.

After all, why pay for something that will teach you things that you won’t be able to use in the long run? In this fast-paced world where the Internet is king, digital marketers need to constantly catch up and learn about brand-new techniques and trends for higher chances of successful campaigns. And with successful campaigns comes more work opportunities.

  1. What are the Requirements? 

Before enrolling in a digital marketing course, identify if there are any requirements, along with the assignments or projects to submit throughout the course. It’s also worth checking the length of every lecture and the estimated duration of course completion.

Doing so lessens the risk of not being able to complete the course and failing it, which costs time and money. Besides listing your expectations, discover what is expected of you from the course.

For example, if you work full-time and the program will affect your work schedule, consider adjusting your schedule or joining when you are freer.

  1. About Digital Marketing Certification vs. Certificates

Any best digital marketing course for you must provide proof of course completion. There are fake online courses without any certification, resulting in a waste of resources.

You can weed out fakes if they cost less compared to those offering digital marketing certification. But don’t choose a program only of its offering; always conduct a background check to ensure you avail a fantastic course!

Furthermore, identify if you will get certifications or certificates. Certifications are valuable credentials earned or achieved after passing the program and the final examination testing your knowledge from the program. Certificates are usually completion documents anyone acquires without appraisals.

As you can assume, you’ll want something that offers certifications over certificates, as this will be what companies prefer more. 

  1. Potential Career Opportunities or Internships

It’s a crucial factor to consider. After all, you’re likely availing a digital marketing course so you can widen your professional opportunities and become a digital marketing specialist.

Search for instructors offering a digital marketing specialist course to achieve offers for online marketing positions.

  1. Duration

Duration ties back to listing your expectations of the best digital marketing courses online. Review the course duration and the number of hours of input received.

How often will the courses be distributed throughout the week, and will there be weekend sessions? Moreover, will there be practice sessions, and how long will these take?

Check the course to answer all your questions, selecting a course that fits your schedule without being too overwhelming. 

  1. Tuition Fees: Paid vs. Free Course

The overall cost is another critical factor to consider. While this shouldn’t be the top priority, you should always make sure you choose online courses with a good bang for your buck and something suited to your budget.

It’s recommended to take a course with a one-time purchase for lifetime access without added costs. These have longer-term financial advantages, especially since you can always return to the program to recall your knowledge.

While you can try free digital marketing training, conduct further research on them. These online digital marketing courses might seem lucrative, but they won’t offer the relevant lessons, thus wasting your resources. A free course may have you assume you’re saving, but this is likely not the case.

You could look into a free digital marketing course if the platform offered a trial period.

  1. Check for Feedback and Reviews

One way to discover an instructor or company’s reputation online is through reviews from previous learners of their courses.

While you can search for feedback from previous learners on the course platform itself, social media, and third-party review sites, check if you have colleagues who have taken on the same course you’re planning to get.

Discuss with family, friends, and colleagues if they have any recommendations. You may receive great advice from trusted sources. Investigate previous students’ work histories, checking to see if the program and digital marketing specialist led them to their current jobs.

If nobody in your network has taken digital marketing courses, head to the Internet! Social media has many communities you can partake in to find reviews and ask for suggestions. Some bloggers and vloggers talk about digital marketing courses they have taken. Always conduct a comprehensive exam of the program before enrolling in it. After all, there’s nothing more real compared to reviews from people who actually enrolled in it! 

  1. Any Tools or Freebies?

Digital marketing courses might offer more than just lectures and certification. They may also offer other tools and freebies, such as eBooks, premium software subscriptions, mentorship, and more! All these tools and freebies need to be for your career and digital marketing training.

Vital Things You Will Know from Online Marketing Courses

So, we tackled a glimpse of the best courses and what they entail. That said, it’s vital to be more specific on the things you’ll be taking in:

  1. Video Marketing

Video marketing has been proven as an effective kind of online marketing. After all, would you rather read a whole block of plain, dull text or watch videos about certain products and services you can avail of?

It’s one of the digital marketing disciplines you have to learn, and this will be more about how you can create your own videos. Don’t worry, it’s actually fairly simple, and you won’t need to be the next cinematographer to direct engaging videos!

  1. Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to creating content marketing strategies, high-quality and SEO-friendly content, and finding out how to analyze the outcome of your posts for future campaigns.

The thing is, it will make things more challenging, as content can take various forms, from videos to infographics. That is why it’s worth taking an advanced content marketing course after.

  1. Digital Marketing Analytics

Digital analytics will always be central to any strategy. Web analytics can improve businesses’ data-driven decision-making skills.

Companies will have a ton of web analytics to track, and any digital marketer should understand how to collect and utilize such data to their advantage.

This topic can range from metrics under search engine optimization down to search engine marketing.

  1. Email Marketing

Email marketing is still alive! Numerous studies prove email is still popularly used for promotions and communications, with companies benefiting from online marketing.

  1. Other Soft Marketing Skills

The best digital marketing courses won’t only concentrate on the “hard” skills, but they assist in honing soft skills too. Soft skills are equally important if you want to get a job and thrive with colleagues.

Learning to be curious, versatile, always thinking of the future, and forward-thinking can help with decision-making. All these are part of having a unique personality essential in online marketing.

Digital marketing courses would have instructors that hone both hard and soft skills necessary to survive and thrive in the industry. They will show their support and provide feedback on both your assignments and how you handled them. Moreover, they will teach you to become tech-savvy and how to navigate appropriate tools to make your work easier in online marketing.

Other than what you’ll learn from online marketing courses, here are the benefits you can reap:

  • You can find more and more companies opening positions related to digital marketing, and it’s predicted that there will be an alarming rise in digital jobs in the near future. It’s best to advance your career by studying all about it now for a head start.
  • Digital marketing doesn’t require any prerequisites and is beneficial for beginners and eager individuals who cannot enter graduate school due to time or financial constraints. The digital marketing world provides numerous chances to begin your professional journey without spending too many resources.
  • These courses are incredibly flexible, with many offering self-learning systems. Learn on your own time and make it work with your schedule, not the other way around. You usually won’t even need to go to campus to learn; you just need fast Internet and your computer to study and pass the program!
  • If you are already working as a digital marketing specialist, courses like these can deepen your knowledge. It might be helpful if you’re applying for a promotion to ensure your business continues to stay competitive.
  • You don’t need to be stuck with the current job you’re at, whether it’s related to the digital marketing industry or not. You can explore your options further and stick with something other than the basic marketing specialist. Moreover, you can expand your opportunities and work for top companies that are in high need of those who have mastered digital marketing skills. We’re talking about the top guns like Amazon, Twitter, Google, and other promising startups. You won’t run out of employment prospects.
  • Not only is the digital marketing field growing, but so are the starting salary packages! Beginners and masters of the topic can receive high-end salaries, compensating for the resources used to study courses.
  • If you are looking for freedom and flexibility with your career, then digital marketing is the right place to start. You will have more flexible work timings and the opportunity to work remotely, whether with a company or freelancing for numerous clients. Get to work anywhere at any time, as long as you have your laptop and a good Internet connection.
  • Get to enhance your creativity and other skills that you can put to good use on your job and in your daily lifestyle. 

Wrapping It Up

There are numerous benefits to reap when you choose to enroll in a digital marketing course. Not only will you be able to widen your understanding of how to build and develop successful online marketing campaigns, but also you will have more options.

Where can you begin? It starts with that baby step forward, and that’s to committing to the first lesson and going from there.

After that, you will thank yourself for making this little step toward the future. Check out any of these best digital marketing courses!