Learn digital marketing for free with Google

It’s safe to say that most services that Google roll out turn to pure gold. Now they’ve done it again. Google is taking content marketing to a whole new level with a learning initiative which enables anyone to learn digital marketing for free.

In true Google fashion, the user experience is both playful and intuitive and the content is slick, bite-sized, mixed media and accessible. Their multi-award-winning learning program has also been localized and made available in many countries around the globe.

So why does Google offer these free digital marketing tutorials?

In their own words:

“When people learn to make the most of the web, it’s amazing how much individuals, businesses, and whole economies can grow. We want everyone to have the digital skills they need to benefit from the technology revolution and share in that growth — including you.”

 

Let’s learn digital marketing and get certified by Google. Study buddies?

Tag along as we make our way through tutorials and quizzes and in the end, hopefully, get a digital marketing certificate signed by Google. Or better yet,

Or better yet, sign up for yourself and we can be study buddies and compare notes!

Ok, time to get our study caps on and get busy. We’ll keep updating this article as we go through the classes and share our learnings.

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Lesson 1: ‘The Online Opportunity’

The first lesson is a quick two-part dip-your-toes-kinda tutorial which offers a high-level introduction to digital marketing and how a small business can benefit from entering the online marketplace.

What did we learn?

Facts and figures are always fun, right? Did you know that online video has seen triple-digit growth in the last five years or that nearly a third of people’s time online is spent on social networks? Well, now you do.

The lesson highlights several compelling reasons for traditional offline businesses to go online and create their own digital presence.  The tutor uses a mechanic shop as an example and talks about the power of the web, search, video, online testimonials, lead generation, map services, and more.

Our progress?

After this first intro, we’ve completed 2 of 89 tutorials, unlocked one badge and are 7% towards our goal. Gamification makes everything more fun, doesn’t it?

From a Google marketing point of view:

This is content marketing in its truest form and Google has executed it beautifully. Educational and value-adding, and at the same time, completely non-salesy.

This is also a truly empowering approach to introducing more people to both online marketing and at the same time, make Google’s many services the first port of call for when it comes time for that blue-collar business owner to put theory into practice and start getting themselves set up with an online presence.

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Lesson 2: ‘Building your online presence’

As we continue to learn digital marketing and progress towards our Google Digital Garage certification, the lesson length is extended (as expected.)

The second lesson, a four-part tutorial, touches on all the important aspects of building an online presence for a small business and what different options are available.

What did we learn?

Google handed us a pedagogical breakdown of some of the most common online marketing platforms like traditional websites, social media, and apps and how these can help you achieve the results you are looking for.

The lesson also talks about the value of setting offline goals for the business and how to choose and implement online tools such as maps, chat, reviews, e-commerce, business directories and GPS features.

As most digital marketers know; an integral part of building an online presence is visibility in search engines. For that reason, the lesson also covers what to consider when creating strategies for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and display advertising as a means to achieve those goals and generate new clients.

In this lesson, Google also talks about both the importance of analyzing results and the importance of making ongoing adjustments. All in all, a very comprehensive lesson and we are excited to go and earn the next badge.

Our progress?

We have now completed 6 of 89 tutorials, unlocked another badge and are 9% towards our goal.

From a Google marketing point of view:

In this lesson, Google got a chance to introduce us to a whole slew of Google services. We got acquainted with the Google My Business online directory, their social media platform Google+, Google’s map services in Google’s search listings and Google AdWords.

Sounds like a lot of self-promotion, but all these services are presented in such a nice, value-adding way that it doesn’t feel even one bit salesy. And to be fair, Google also mentions other online directories and social media platforms as well.

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Lesson 3: ‘Build your web presence’

Lesson 3 is building on what we learned in lesson 2 and continues to explore how small businesses can use online to generate businesses.

The main focus of the lesson, however, is a deep dive into how websites work, what website usability is, the importance of speed, the importance of mobile friendliness and also learn and some really useful do’s and don’ts when developing a website.

What did we learn?

In this lesson we Google gave us a great grasp of how websites, domains, and web hosting works and what the key ingredients of a website are.

We also got a quick breakdown of some of the crucial early decisions you’ll have to make when creating a website in order to create a website that performs well on all kinds of devices.

All this explained through a series of beautiful animations and video tutorials. The animations are also accompanied with a real-life case video featuring a lady who has moved her cake shop online. Nice!

Our progress?

We have now completed 12 of 89 tutorials, unlocked another badge and are 12% towards our goal of becoming certified digital marketers.

 

So, are you in? Want to learn digital marketing and be our study buddy?