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Digital marketing: a free curriculum

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Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#11
post #8

I've tried to learn digital marketing online but the most difficult and funny part about it is that all the teachers are digital marketers, so everyone has a newsletter and an ebook they're trying to sell you. So it's difficult to break in and actually learn how to do digital marketing.

IMO the only way to learn is to make a quick Wordpress site on one of those easy 1 click install hosts and start writing content and marketing it. (It's easy to get lost playing with the backend of websites so don't even give yourself the ability to do it)

Gotcha. I don't even know where to start though. There's so much info to sift through. lol.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#12
post #8

I've tried to learn digital marketing online but the most difficult and funny part about it is that all the teachers are digital marketers, so everyone has a newsletter and an ebook they're trying to sell you. So it's difficult to break in and actually learn how to do digital marketing.

IMO the only way to learn is to make a quick Wordpress site on one of those easy 1 click install hosts and start writing content and marketing it. (It's easy to get lost playing with the backend of websites so don't even give yourself the ability to do it)

That is just one kind of digital marketing. Getting traffic to a site is not the same thing as getting a business to buy a product. And selling a SaaS product is different then selling a service or a physical device. Every different goal has different channels that will work, different audiences, and thereby needs different marketing plans.

To really understand digital marketing, you first need to understand marketing in general, and then learn how to apply it to digital channels.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#13
There are certainly a lot of resources out there to learn digital marketing, SEO, PPC, and paid social. While there's a lot of great information out there, there's a lot of misinformation out there, as well.

In my 20+ years of digital marketing (I was trying to get rankings on Altavista back in 1996), I've learned that the best way to learn digital marketing is by actually practicing it and doing it. You can certainly learn the basics, and this springboard curriculum is a good start. I hope they can keep with the updates, though, as even the "best practices" are constantly changing. The ways you optimized a website 5 years ago are different now, and some techniques are considered spam.

Start with the basics, learn what you can, and then learn by actually putting what you learned into practice. Create your own website. Create your own blog. You'll learn more that way.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#14

There are certainly a lot of resources out there to learn digital marketing, SEO, PPC, and paid social. While there's a lot of great information out there, there's a lot of misinformation out there, as well. In my 20+ years of digital marketing (I was trying to get rankings on Altavista back in 1996), I've learned that the best way to learn digital marketing is by actually practicing it and doing it. You can certainl…

Best way to learn anything is by actually practicing it and doing it.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#15

There are certainly a lot of resources out there to learn digital marketing, SEO, PPC, and paid social. While there's a lot of great information out there, there's a lot of misinformation out there, as well. In my 20+ years of digital marketing (I was trying to get rankings on Altavista back in 1996), I've learned that the best way to learn digital marketing is by actually practicing it and doing it. You can certainl…

> Altavista in 1996

Ah Altavista... back when you would make every single word on the page a keyword

It was a simpler time back then...

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#16
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO the only way to learn is to make a quick Wordpress site on one of those easy 1 click install hosts and start writing content and marketing it. (It's easy to get lost playing with the backend of websites so don't even give yourself the ability to do it)

That is just one kind of digital marketing. Getting traffic to a site is not the same thing as getting a business to buy a product. And selling a SaaS product is different then selling a service or a physical device. Every different goal has different channels that will work, different audiences, and thereby needs different marketing plans. To really understand digital marketing, you first need to understand marketin…

Yeah but driving traffic to a blog teaches the basics and core ideas. What is seo, what is ppc, what is good copywriting, how to find a niche, pick an audience, learn analytics etc. Won't teach you everything, but its how I got started.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO the only way to learn is to make a quick Wordpress site on one of those easy 1 click install hosts and start writing content and marketing it. (It's easy to get lost playing with the backend of websites so don't even give yourself the ability to do it)

Gotcha. I don't even know where to start though. There's so much info to sift through. lol.

Get a free yoursite.wordpress.com blog, write about something you enjoy, start posting links and content in forums/social media/etc. Install analytics and poke around. All the articles/etc are good starting grounds, but you just have to build something, mess around, and break it a couple times.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#18
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO the only way to learn is to make a quick Wordpress site on one of those easy 1 click install hosts and start writing content and marketing it. (It's easy to get lost playing with the backend of websites so don't even give yourself the ability to do it)

Gotcha. I don't even know where to start though. There's so much info to sift through. lol.

What are you trying to market?

Who is your target audience?

Where can they be found?

What other things do they have in common besides a potential interest in the thing you want to promote?

What is your price point? Does it all need to be free, or can you throw some money at this?

Answer those questions and it should start narrowing down a place to begin.

Re: Digital marketing: a free curriculum

#20
This curriculum was presented better than most - so much so that it was a surprise to be taken to other sites when I opened up a lesson.

Curation of a learner pathway definitely has it's value.

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