25 Online Marketing Courses That Will Make You a Better Affiliate Marketer

 Want to become better at affiliate marketing? Improve your skills by taking an online marketing course.

There is no shortage of useful, well presented and actionable information out there that can help you learn a new digital marketing skill set or help you dial in your game even better. 

After all, the better your marketing skills, the better you will be at driving traffic to your website.

But never fear: we’ll show you how to sort through the jungle of online marketing programs to find the one that is perfect for you.

How to Choose the Right Marketing Courses for You

Online marketing courses require an investment of some sort. Even if they are free or low-cost, you’re still investing your most precious resource: time.

So, before you just dance with the first good-looking gal at the ball, take a step back and really think about what you need from your course. 

• Would you be willing to pay for a course or do you prefer a free option? 
• Are you primarily looking to gain knowledge about Internet marketing as a whole?
• Are you looking to zero in on one method, like social, mobile, SEO, or paid traffic?
• Do you want/need some sort of formal certification?
• What level of expertise (beginner, intermediate, advanced) are you hoping to achieve from your course?
• Would you prefer a regular classroom environment or are you more comfortable learning at your own pace?

Once you know the answers to questions like these, you can start to sort through your options. 

Some of your biggest choices will be:

Free or Paid Courses?

There are plenty of great free or low-cost courses out there, but typically speaking, the best information comes from behind a pay wall. 

Free courses often offer some great and very useful information but you may find that if you're looking for advanced knowledge, you are better off paying for a quality course. 

General Info or Highly Focused?

If you’re just getting started, a broad-based, general style digital marketing course is probably the way to go. This will give you an idea of various types of online marketing.

However, if you already have a solid base but really want to dive into the minutiae of something like PPC, then a more specific course is what you need.

Informal Course or Certificate Program/Degree?

Are you hoping to gain a certification, diploma, or degree from your course? 

If you're doing these courses with the goal of bettering your affiliate marketing efforts, a certification is not going to be of much importance. But if you'd really like one, make sure to pick a course that offers this.

Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced?

What level of knowledge are you seeking from your marketing course?

Are you interested in learning advanced SEO techniques? Then sign up for a course designed for people who already have some SEO knowledge.

However, if you are a complete newbie, your best bet is a course that will hold your hand and guide you through the basics of online marketing. 

Live or Self-Paced?

Do you prefer a course with a real, classroom-like environment? You should opt for a live course in that case. While you will be studying from home, these courses will require you to log on for live sessions and finish your homework. In general, they are a bit more demanding.

If you would rather study on your own, pick a course that is self-paced. You can read and review the course materials when it suits you and can study at your own speed. 

25 Online Marketing Course Options For You

Once you have analyzed your needs based on the above requirements, you will probably have a better idea of exactly what type of course you want to do.

Below is a list of courses, divided into free and paid categories, as this is often the most important criteria. Within each of these categories, the courses are further divided into the type of marketing skills you will acquire upon completion of the course. 

Free Online Marketing Courses

There is no lack of quantity when it comes to free online marketing courses and programs. The real trick is finding the quality ones.

There’s nothing worse than investing the time and effort into a course only to finish it and think, “Well @$%*! I knew all of that already!” To keep you from throwing monitors through windows, here are a few free online marketing courses worth your time: 

General Online Marketing

1. Google's Online Marketing Challenge

Where better to learn about online marketing than from Google itself? This digital marketing course very comprehensively covers search engine marketing, search and display advertising, mobile, social, analytics and video. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

2. Hubspot Academy's Inbound Certification

If you’re looking for a free course from a trusted online marketing source that covers all of the bases, then stop drilling; you’ve hit oil, friend! Hubspot will help you break into the world of online marketing with modules on everything from SEO to conversion optimization. Even better, once you get the basic course out of the way, there's a paid option as well.

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

3. Diploma in E-business

ALISON is a great resource for free training in online business. The E-business course helps newbies understand the basics of online marketing and how to make the most of Google Adwords, Analytics, AdSense and more. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

4. Affilorama Free Lessons (shameless plug) 

If you didn’t know it already, here at Affilorama we offer a pretty awesome online marketing course — all designed with affiliate marketers in mind.

When you join our site, for free, you get a wealth of actionable knowledge that will help you build your online business including: the Affiliate Marketing Quick-Start Guide, a downloadable Roadmap to Success and 120 video lessons on topics such as content creation, SEO, PPC and more. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

 

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

5. AdWords Certification Exams

If you'd like to learn all the nitty-gritty of online advertising, Google's Adwords certification courses are an excellent resource. The courses are each designed for you to be able to study and take the certification exams once you're ready. I recommend having at least a basic familiarity with Adwords before attempting the exams. Each exam has extensive study guides so you will be well versed with Adwords fundamentals, search advertising, display advertising, mobile advertising, video advertising, and shopping advertising. 

Level: Intermediate/ Advanced

Cost: Free

6. PPC University

Best known for its AdWords campaign grader, Wordstream is one of the most popular names in paid search content creation. This course is free and perfect for beginners in paid search. Even seasoned pros can pick up a few lesser-known tactics. 

Level: Beginner/ Intermediate

Cost: Free

 

Search Engine Optimization

7. SEO Training Course

This Udemy course, instructed by Moz is the ideal starting point for SEO beginners. The course will take you through the basics of SEO strategies. It's also useful for understanding how effective use of social media can also influence search rankings.

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

8. Advanced SEO: Tactics & Strategy

This Udemy course, also instructed by Moz is ideal for those who want to gain a deeper understanding of some tactical SEO methods. While the course description says it's suitable for all levels, I think this course will be more useful if you already have a basic understanding of SEO. 

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Cost: Free

 

Social Media Marketing

9. Social Media Quickstarter

This Constant Contact course is the ultimate overview of what you need to do establish a presence for your business on the top social networks. Networks covered include: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube. There is also additional advice for blogging and online reviews. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

10. Diploma in Social Media Marketing

Another ALISON course, this self-paced offering is perfect if you want to gain an understanding of the basics of social media strategy for your business. In addition to Facebook and Twitter marketing, the course also covers podcasting, blogging and email marketing basics. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

11. The Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing

Created by social media management platform Hootsuite, this six-part course will introduce you to social media marketing principles, strategy, content marketing, community management, social advertising, and more.

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

Copywriting & Content Marketing 

12. Internet Marketing for Smart People

When it comes to content creation and online marketing, you’ll be hard pressed to find people doing it better than Brain Clark and the team over at Copyblogger. The course is heavily focused on quality copywriting and content marketing, and how to bring it all together to improve your Internet marketing efforts. 

Level: Beginner/ Intermediate

Cost: Free

13. Copywriting 101

Another Copyblogger course. This one is available as a free e-book download, and it's the ideal starting point to understand what makes effective, compelling copy. If you're not a writer but want to improve the quality of your content, start with this mini course.

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

14. Writing for the Web

Ever wondered how writing for the web is different to other types of writing? This is the course for you. Created by a user experience consultant, this Open 2 Study course, will give you an understanding of online reader behavior, how to structure web pages, how to write SEO-friendly content, and how to create effective, user-friendly content.

Level: Beginner/ Intermediate

Cost: Free

 

Google Analytics

15. Digital Analytics Fundamentals

Understand the core principles of Google Analytics and how to use it to measure and improve your website's performance with the help of this course from Google's Analytics Academy. When you develop a better understanding, there are several more advanced courses available as well. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: Free

Paid Online Marketing Courses

There are no lack of options when it comes to paid online marketing courses, either. You will find courses that can range from $20 to a few thousand dollars. Here are a few courses that you have to pay for, but promise a lot of bang for your buck. 

General Online Marketing

16. Internet Marketing Classroom

This Udemy course is perfect if you want an overview of how to set up a website and drive traffic to it with the help of Internet marketing. There are 10 modules and almost 300 lectures covering topics such as content creation, blogging, social media marketing, sales copywriting, WordPress setup, SEO, and more.

Level: Beginner

Cost: $127

17. Hubspot Academy's Contextual Marketing Course

This is ideal for you if you use Hubspot and want to learn how to personalize your audience's experience on your website. This self-paced course is broken up into four pre-recorded webinars and focuses heavily on using content and engineering the user experience. 

Level: Intermediate/ Advanced 

Cost: $500

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

18. Adwords 101: Get More Customers With Search Marketing

This reasonably priced Udemy course is a great starting point if you want to understand how to use Google AdWords to reach your customers. From creating your own campaigns and writing ads to seeing your ads live in Google, this course is a great starting point for AdWords newbies. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: $23

19. Bing Ads Essential Training

PPC isn't just limited to AdWords, of course. If you're interested in learning more about Bing Ads, this Lynda course will show you how to reach your customers across the Yahoo-Bing network. You will learn the difference between Bing and Google, as well as how to set up your campaigns, create effective ads, optimize your campaigns, and more. 

Level: Beginner

Cost: $19.99 - $29.99 monthly membership fee for Lynda.com.

 

Search Engine Optimization

20. SEO Fundamentals

This Lynda course is designed to be a beginner's guide to search engine optimization and how to increase your visibility on Google and Bing. In addition to an overview of SEO, the course also covers keywords, content planning optimization, the basics of technical SEO, and link building, as well as analyzing and measuring the effectiveness of SEO campaigns.

Level: Beginner

Cost: $19.99 - $29.99 monthly membership fee for Lynda.com.

 

Social Media Marketing

21. The Complete Social Media Marketing and Management Course

Take this Udemy course to learn what works best for success on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram. More than 98 lectures to help you build a community on the right channels and maximize social media marketing for your business.

Level: Intermediate

Cost: $25

22. Social Media Marketing Specialization

Learn how to create profitable social media strategies and grow your business with the help of this Coursera course created by Northwestern University. You will learn how to create and optimize social campaigns, grow your brand and create content that sparks conversations. 

Level: Intermediate

Cost: $59

 

Copywriting and Content Marketing

23. Marketing Writing Bootcamp

This 13-class course by Marketing Profs University is designed to be the ultimate course for you to become a better writer. From blog posts to social media, sales copy to email writing, this course promises to make you better at communicating your brand message to your customers.

Level: Intermediate

Cost: $595

24. Content Marketing Crash Course

Also from Marketing Profs University, this 11-part course aims to help you take your content marketing strategy further. The course is designed to give you an insight into understanding your audience and how to create content that interests them. 

Level: Intermediate

Cost: $595

Email Marketing

25. Email Marketing Basics

This Lynda.com course is also designed for beginners and will take you through the basics of building an email list, creating emails with valuable offers, sending emails and more. Lynda.com also has several other email marketing courses available.

Level: Beginner

Cost $19.99 - $29.99 monthly membership fee for Lynda.com

5 More Resources for Online Marketing Learning

Obviously, it's near impossible to list all the courses available online. So, here is a list of resources where you can find more courses and classes on online marketing to further your learning. 

1. Courses on ALISON

• Online Marketing
• E-Business Online
• Social Media Marketing

2. Courses on Coursera

• Digital Marketing
• Public Relations for Digital Media
• Foundations of Marketing Analytics

3. Courses on Lynda.com

• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Lead Generation

4. Courses on Online Marketing Institute

• All courses
• Digital Advertising & Affiliates
• Mobile Marketing

5. Courses on Udemy

• Analytics and Automation
• Digital Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization

Hope you find this list useful to further your digital marketing skills. If you do sign up for any of these courses, be sure to come back and let me know how you fare.

If you have a suggestion to add to this list of online marketing courses, please leave me a comment and I will definitely check it out. 

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The Entrepreneur's Complete Guide to Social Media Marketing

Social media can be an incredible way of growing your business. For example: 

• You might use Twitter to establish your expertise
• Facebook ads are targetable and help to grow your reach
• Blogging will keep visitors coming back to your site again and again
• Emerging networks like Vine, Instagram and Tumblr can help you make your mark

But how do you stay on top of all of the opportunities out there? Read on for tips on using social media to grow your business. 

1 Develop a Content Strategy

In order to make the most of your social media marketing, develop a content strategy first with these resources: 

Build Your Personal Brand Using Social Media -- Even if you still have a "day job," social media strategy can help you. Here's how. 

Social Media Marketing Intro -- This is a great place to start to get the right overview of social media marketing for your business. 

Real-Time Marketing -- "Real-time marketing" is all the rage among big brands like Ford and Pepsico. Here's how you can use it to supercharge your marketing efforst for very few bucks. 

Social Media Influence: Map Your Allies -- A vital first step to being successful in social media is figuring out how to reach a receptive audience. Here's what you need to know. 

Social Media Influence: Content Strategy -- Once you develop an idea of where your audience is, you can craft an irresistible content plan. 

2 Start and Monetize a Blog

The truth is that making money with a blog can be challenging. But with a strategic approach, and the right tweaks, you can make money with a blog. Here's what you need to know to get started: 

Making Money Online with a Blog -- The basics of targeting the right niche. 

Running a Content Business -- You may be able to profit from your expertise with a content business. 

Making Money with Affiliate Marketing -- Affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative ways of making money online. 

3 Master Specific Social Networks

Lots of entrepreneurs specialize in one social network. See which one is right for your business here: 

• Google+
• Tumblr 
• Pinterest
• Vine and Instagram
• Twitter
• Instagram

4 Grow Your Business with Social Media

Use Social Media to Provide Better Customer Service -- Did you know there are a number of great social media tools to make customer service easier? Find then here. 

Crowdfunding a More Social Marketing Paradigm with Joseph Jaffe -- Learn from the master of social media marketing how he crowdfunded his lastest book.  

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5 SEO Affiliate Programs To Monetize ANY Blog

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a fancy term for making sure people can find your website. As most online experiences begin with a search engine, it is absolutely crucial to make sure that your site is on top of those search engine results pages. This is where a good, solid SEO strategy comes in.

The SEO industry was valued at more than USD $16 billion in 2010. That's not surprising, as more and more online businesses realize the huge impact SEO has on sales.

As a niche, SEO is as competitive and challenging. The keywords below show exactly how stiff the competition is:

There are information keywords that have low competition, like "how to do search engine optimization," "about search engine optimization," and so on. They have monthly search values of about 1,000. That's not as high as the other search values in this niche, but you can add these keywords to your list as a start.

You'll have to be very creative in your niche and keyword research to get some really good keywords in. You can post articles about the newest trends and methods in the world of SEO and target those topics as keywords. There's always Ubersuggest.org to give you variations.

 

This won't really be a problem if your site isn't on the SEO niche. But these keywords are still worth taking note of if you'll promote one or two SEO products on your site as a supplement to something else.

SEO Affiliate Programs

There are plenty of SEO affiliate programs in the ClickBank Marketplace under the e-Business and e-Marketing category. You'll find about 7 pages worth of SEO and SEO-related products to promote, with most of the commissions at 50 percent per sale. You could earn anything from $18 per sale up to $800.

There are even more options available when you go online, but the commissions are mid-range with various commission structures. There's also different kinds of programs: SEO plugins for CMS platforms like WordPress, link-building services, submission services, etc.

Since there's plenty to go through, take your time in choosing which ones to promote on your site. Think about what specific SEO services you'll recommend and whether they are the real deal. Get in touch with the affiliate managers and ask for a trial if possible. You can go into SEO forums or SEO blogs and check which ones are being recommended or talked about and which ones have a strong following.

Below are some SEO affiliate programs I picked from online and ClickBank. These are not necessarily the best programs to promote, but they are representative of the varied options you will see in this niche.

SEOPressor

SEOPressor is a popular Wordpress SEO plugin. Some of its functions include rich snippets, image optimization and automated linking.

Backlink Beast

Backlink Beast is SEO software that builds backlinks for you using tiered link building. It automates link building by establishing links from different sources, including social networks, Web 2.0 sites and press releases.

180Fusion

180Fusion is a U.S.-based SEO firm that offers various SEO and marketing services, such as national and local SEO optimization, social media management, and mobile advertising.

The company offers a one-time 25 percent commission or a recurring 5-10 percent commission depending on the lead volume and quality. It does not sound like much, but it can turn out to be a hefty amount as an average order for services is around $1,800.

SEMRush

SEMRush is a popular SEO application that helps with keyword research, site analysis and position tracking.

The service is subscription-based, so you will earn over the duration of a referred user's subscription. Each monthly payment gives you 40 percent in commission for each referred subscriber.

SEOBook

SEOBook offers users online SEO training. For a monthly subscription of $300, users will have access to training modules, premium tools and access to a private SEO forum.

Affiliates get a sign up bonus of $20. The site offers a tiered commission structure starting from 20 percent. This goes up every 5 sales until it reaches the highest rate: 50 percent payout on all products.

Not including those found in ClickBank, the SEO affiliate programs discussed here are managed by their respective vendors and founders.

Building Links to Your Site

Now that you've got the SEO products to promote, you can go ahead and build the site. But before you do, look at various link-building and inbound marketing methods you can use to drive traffic to your site. The SEO niche is a highly competitive niche. Having your own marketing strategy early on will help you transition easily from site-building to link-building.

Forum and Blog Commenting

There are plenty of SEO forums that you can participate in to promote your site and any program you recommend. Forums in other niches also touch on SEO even though their niche isn't tech-based at all (think muscle building or self-help). This is because there are people who want to put up their own sites in these niches and they would like to know how to go about doing it, which products to go with and all that.

Kindle Marketing

This is a good inbound marketing method if you're into the SEO niche. You can create a small e-book on SEO, like a primer for beginners, then refer them to a page on your site that promotes an SEO affiliate program.

The best thing here is you can make the e-book free, or charge a small fee (think $0.99) for every download on Amazon. I would rather make it free (because we all love freebies), but if your content is really good, then charge each download. That's another source of income for you.

You can still do this method even if your site is based on a different niche. If you are in the weight loss niche, you can create a small e-book on exercises and diet plans for a slimmer tummy. Then refer them back to your site for more information. You won't be able to promote SEO products here, unless your e-book is about how the various ways to promote your weight loss site (which isn't a bad idea at all once your site has moved further along).

Reverse Engineering

This method is one worth trying out especially in a competitive niche.

It can be difficult to look for websites where you can build your links. With reverse engineering, you look at your competitor site's backlinks, and build links on the same sites. The links from these sites, coupled with backlinks you've built on other sites, will give your site a helpful boost over your competition.

SEO Affiliate Programs: Is it Worth the Effort?

I wasn't kidding when I said that you can monetize any blog with these SEO affiliate programs and others. If you have a blog, then you can pick from any of the above and recommend it on your site as your SEO service of choice.

If you have a website on weight loss, fashion, wellness... you name it, you can monetize it with one or two SEO affiliate programs. This might seem to completely throw out the rule book, since you're only supposed to recommend products within and related to your site's niche. But once you have your site up and running, there will be people who will be interested in how you got the site built and what you're using to get ahead of the competition. Why not recommend a course or a product and earn a bit on the side?

Keep in mind that you will not be actively promoting any of these products, unless of course, your site is all about SEO. Then you will have to make a real effort to rise above the challenges this niche brings — namely, tough competition. One of the reasons SEO companies are willing to pay affiliates top commission is because of the stiff competition. You need a solid marketing and link building strategy in order to make it in this niche.

You're going to have your work cut out for you, but in the end, it will be all worth the trouble.

I hope you enjoyed this week's niche! Don't forget to hit the Share button below. I would love to hear your thoughts on this week's niche, or any suggestions you may have on a niche, so be sure to leave a comment too!

Want to know how to find profitable niches? Let AffiloBlueprint show you, step by step!

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