Hi there Opal,

I'm a bit of a learn-at-home kind of gal. I started in 2009 with the huge book "SEO: An Hour a Day", added in some optimising our own websites with Wordpress Yoast SEO (a plug in, but also a learning tool), learnt some insights from Perry Marshall on running Adwords (in the old days when you got good keyword clicks for a dollar). Now I learn about LinkedIn.

But the best learning tool I found is Upcity SEO - which I used to grow my own site, from finding keywords to "how to" register your site and start socialising at all the best places on the web. Their 'smiley face' dashboard is really easy to understand for anyone as well.

I built a little learning site www.FixMyOwnSEO.com built around these teachings, so I hope this helps.

Very good question. I guess you can learn the tricks but you cannot learn marketing. it comes with time and practice. Mostly you evolve. You love your product so you can talk about it and then only you can sell it with confidence.

It is the same on the digital world. you have channels and you filters and pipelines etc at the end of the day you need to look for subject matter specialist depending on what you are selling.

Dont get me wrong, I am not discouraging you, but yes you can learn "What is What" and "What impacts what" but no book will tell you "What works". At the end of the day you want to connect to your customers depending on the age group, lifestyle and buying habits.

For example - I have had clients spending thousands on google ppc for selling fashion wear for their eCommerce sites. At the end of the day, their target audience dont go to google, they spend more time on social channels and music channels. but yeah try explaining that to a client who has read "All the SEO" online and still thinks that spending crazy on google ppc will get him sales.

In conclusion - Never keep all your eggs in one basket, focus on retargeting platforms, look for prospecting tools on social media and spend your marketing dollars wisely. please read this

Hi @Opal Daniels 

As ​​​@Jennifer Lancaster  and Uttam have mentioned, you can read all of the books and articles and do all of the courses, but the only way to properly learn digital marketing is to get stuck in and learn by doing. You’ll find that once you start working across different online channels and platforms, the things you learn in books and online will solidify.

That said, there are many great and free resources available to start learning about the different areas within digital marketing - many of which are free! Below is a list of some of the top picks:

1. Google Ads certification: A professional certificate awarded to those who demonstrate proficiency in Google Ads (from basic to advanced).

2. Google Analytics for Beginners: Google has a free video course created specifically for newbies to Analytics. It has 17 lessons and teaches you how the platform works, menus, reporting, dashboard functions and more.

3. SEMrush Academy: SEMrush is an all-in-one platform for digital marketing with over 40 tools in content marketing, reporting,SEO, social media and more. They have an awesome set of free courses and resources, AKA the SEMrush Academy which teaches you how to work the platform.

4. Moz Academy: MOZ offers courses in Keyword research, SEO and site auditing. At the moment the courses are free due to COVID-19, so it’s definitely worth taking advantage of!

5. SavvySME: We have some great articles written by our community members - many of which are experts in their field. It’s definitely worth browsing through various topics within digital marketing. If you get stuck, the community is also here to clarify any questions you might have. 

Good luck!