The most complete and comprehensive introduction to online marketing you will ever find.
Why did we write this guide?
Online marketing moves at the speed of light. To keep up, you need a strong foundation of judgment to think critically, act independently, and be relentlessly creative. That's why we wrote this guide - to give you the mental building blocks to stay ahead in an aggressive industry.
There are many marketing guides. From manuals to online video tutorials, the choice is truly yours. But we felt something was missing - a guide that really starts from scratch to provide already savvy professionals with a healthy balance of strategic and tactical advice.A Beginner's Guide to Online Marketingcloses this gap.
Who is this guide for?
We've written this guide for an audience that includes marketing beginners, experienced entrepreneurs and small business owners, mid-level beginners, and marketing managers who need resources to train their direct reports.
Most of all, we want you to leave this guide with confidence in your marketing strategy.
Which part of this guide should you read?
This guide is designed so that you can read it in its entirety. Each new guide builds on the previous one. The key idea we want to reinforce is that marketing should be evaluated holistically.
What you need to do is in terms of frameworks and development systems, not campaigns. Reading this guide cover to cover will help you connect the many moving parts of marketing to your overall goal.This is the return on investment.
Create or update your website and blog to improve your online marketing
- How to create a website - step by step
- Compare the best website builders
- Comparison of the best web hosting companies
- How to start a blog that makes money
- Learn how to monetize your blog
- Comparison of the best blogging platforms and websites
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Top rated SEO tools to optimize your online marketing
If you want to optimize your online marketing, you need an SEO tool. Here are the best options.
- SEMrush– The best overall SEO software
- And if– The best advanced SEO software
- Yeast– The best SEO plugin for WordPress
- Screaming frog– The best SEO indexing software
- Pitchbox– The best information software
You can read oursYou can find full reviews of each SEO tool here.

1. Focus completely on your customers

Your customers, prospects and partners are the lifeblood of your business. This is what you need to base your marketing strategy on.
Step 1 of marketing is understanding what your customers want, which can be difficult with such a diverse audience. This guide will walk you through every step(1)the process of building personal connections on a large scale and(2)Create customer value propositions that positively impact your company's ROI.First steps
2. Create your marketing framework

Average marketers think in terms of campaigns. Great marketers think in terms of growth. Learn how to position your marketing strategy as a sustainable revenue driver with a positive ROI for your brand.
Gone are the days of superficial branding. Use metrics to create a steady source of revenue.First steps
3. Develop your brand story

When people spend money, they think both logically and emotionally. The most effective marketing frameworks address both.
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools your business can use to build relationships with customers. This guide will walk you through your company's record keeping mechanisms.First steps
4. Bring them to your site: the essentials to get traffic

You may have the biggest online store, blog, or product in the world, but if you don't have traffic, your business growth strategy will fail.
This post will walk you through some of the most popular free and paid traffic acquisition platforms to drive traffic to your website.First steps
5. Optimize setup: conversion optimization basics

Getting traffic is only half of the marketing equation. You need to invest time in developing a strategy to increase your sales.
Conversion optimization is a practice(1)Convert first time visitors to customers and(2)Convert first-time customers into repeat buyers. In this post you will learn how to do it.First steps
6. Connect with your audience with content marketing

Content marketing isn't just about blogging. If done correctly, content including articles and guides will appear(like this), webinars, videos and moreEmail signaturesthey can be powerful growth drivers for your business.
Focus on building trust and producing amazing quality. Most importantly, make sure you're recording the right data.create contentto generate ROI. Measure the right results. In this guide you will learn how to do it.First steps
7. Find customers with paid advertising channels

You've probably come across paid channel marketing in one form or another. Other names for this are search engine marketing(SEM), online advertising or pay per click(PPK)Marketing.
Quite often, marketers use these terms interchangeably to describe the same concept - traffic bought through online advertising. Marketers often avoid this technique because it costs money. This prospect will put you at a great disadvantage.
It is not uncommon for companies to run PPC campaigns with unlimited budgets. Why; Because you should be generating ROI anyway. This post explains the basics.First steps
8. Strengthen 1:1 connections with email marketing

email marketingit has a bad reputation. Why; Because most of the time it's spam. Good email marketing can be extremely powerful.
The trick is to prioritize interpersonal contact over sales. Balance automation with a personal touch. In this post you will learn how to do it.First steps
9. Increase sales through affiliate marketing

It's hard to believe that the Internet is already many decades old. Affiliate marketing has been around since the dawn of internet marketing.
This is a great solution for companies that aren't afraid of risk or don't have the budget to pay for upfront marketing costs. Use affiliate marketing to create a new revenue stream for your e-commerce or B2B business.First steps
10. Get found with SEO

Search engines are a powerful channel to reach new audiences. Companies like Google and Bing want to give their customers the best possible user experience.
The first step in a strong SEO strategy is to make sure your website content and products are as good as they can be. Step 2 is to provide search engines with user experience information to ensure proper ranking.
SEO is highly competitive and has a reputation for being a dark art. Here's how to get started.First steps
11. Publicize it with PR

You've launched an amazing product or service. Now what? Now you have to reveal it. Well-executed good PR can be far more effective and more profitable than advertising.
Whether you're looking to hire a good agency or a great consultant, make sure you know what you're doing and what ROI you can expect. Relationships are the heart and soul of PR. This guide shows you how to ignore the noise and focus on specific, measurable results.First steps
12. Start your social strategy

Your social media strategy is more than a Facebook profile or a Twitter feed. When done right, social media is a powerful customer retention engine and a driving force for web traffic.
It's easy to get carried away by the hype and create a profile on any social networking site. This is the wrong approach. Instead, you should focus on a few key channels through which your brand is most likely to reach key customers and prospects. In this post, you will learn how to make this judgment.First steps
13. A quick note about mobile devices

This is not the case for most companiesoptimized for mobile internet, and that's the problem. We operate in a multi-platform world. Smartphones and tablets are taking over.
If you don't optimize your website for mobile users, you're probably losing money. Learn how to build a data-driven mobile approach. This guide will help you learn the basics.First steps
Want more traffic?
Get professional help to improve your SEO ranking and traffic today! Financial Aid888-421-8700to receive a free quote.
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FAQs
How to do online marketing for beginners? ›
- Creating a website.
- Building an email marketing list.
- Optimizing content on your website for search.
- Launching Google or Bing display ads.
- Reaching new audiences on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and more)
- Step 1: Enroll in an Online Course. ...
- Step 2: Learn from Experts. ...
- Step 3: Read Digital Marketing Blogs. ...
- Step 4: Create a Personal Digital Marketing Project. ...
- Step 5: Listen to Digital Marketing Podcasts. ...
- Step 6: Watch Videos and Webinars.
Digital marketing is not necessarily hard to learn, but it does take time, effort, and persistence. If you're unfamiliar with search engines, data analytics, or content management, you can expect to feel a bit overwhelmed at the beginning, especially if you are trying to learn digital marketing on your own.
How do I start marketing for beginners? ›- Take online certifications.
- Update your resume.
- Apply to ANY marketing job you can find, even if it's unpaid.
- Build your portfolio and experience by marketing your own blog and/or business.
Can You Learn Digital Marketing On Your Own? Yes, you can learn the basics of digital marketing on your own, but because the digital marketing landscape never stops evolving, self-guided learning may not be the best route.
How do I get started in marketing with no experience? ›- Pick a Specialty That Interests You. ...
- Build Your Foundational Knowledge. ...
- Take a Course or Get a Certificate. ...
- Build a Digital Marketing Portfolio. ...
- Network Online and In-Person. ...
- Look for Agency and In-House Jobs. ...
- Consider Related Jobs To Get Your Foot in the Door.
Like many aspiring Digital Marketers, you might want to learn how to do it but worry that it will take too much time. It takes most people one to three months to learn the different digital marketing tools and techniques, and it takes six months to a year to perfect those skills through practice.
Can anyone do online marketing? ›Anyone can get into digital marketing even though they do not have any prior experience. All they need to have is profound knowledge about the field and how it works, and they must possess the basic skills that a digital marketer requires.
What is the first skill to learn in digital marketing? ›The first step toward beginning a career in digital marketing is to acquire core technical competencies in SEO and SEM, analytics, social media marketing and advertising, and email marketing.
What is most difficult in digital marketing? ›Digital marketing relates to attracting customers via email, content marketing, search platforms, social media, and more. One of the biggest challenges digital marketers face is how to set themselves apart in a world that is oversaturated with digital marketing ads.
What knowledge is required for digital marketing? ›
It is best practice for Digital Marketers to have basic knowledge about softwares such as Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, After Effects, illustrator, InDesign, etc), Canva, Inkscape that would help them in creating visual content.
Can you self learn marketing? ›Content marketing is a learnable skill, but unfortunately, it is not something being taught formally in universities. In fact, 82% of digital marketers gained knowledge on the job. So, let's kickstart your content marketing self-learning journey to help you keep up with your agency.
What are the 4 basics of marketing? ›The four Ps are a “marketing mix” comprised of four key elements—product, price, place, and promotion—used when marketing a product or service. Typically, businesses consider the four Ps when creating marketing plans and strategies to effectively market to their target audience.
What is the easiest type of digital marketing? ›Email marketing is one of the easiest, most effective types of digital marketing, as it consistently reaches an audience of regular customers and potential buyers.
Which type of digital marketing is easy to learn? ›There is no one “easy” type of digital marketing, as different strategies and techniques may be more or less challenging depending on your skill set and experience. However, some common types of digital marketing, such as email marketing or social media marketing, may be a good starting point for beginners.
Can I do digital marketing without computer knowledge? ›One should have knowledge of computer and its components because it is the only device which one will use to do digital marketing so it is important to know how to operate with the computer and its functions.
How can I do digital marketing with no experience? ›If you're looking to break into the digital marketing field but don't have any previous experience, one of the best things you can do is build a strong portfolio. Start by creating a professional online presence through social media like LinkedIn or Twitter, or create your own website with engaging content.
What is the easiest marketing? ›Ask for Referrals. Asking for referrals is the easiest and least time-consuming of all marketing strategies. It's surprising how often businesses fail to use it as one of their marketing strategies.
Can we learn digital marketing online for free? ›Get certified free of charge in our 'Fundamentals of digital marketing' course, or explore other content to help get your business online. Gain the skills that you need to advance your career or get a new job. Demand for workers with specialist data skills has more than tripled over the last five years.
Is digital marketing easy or hard? ›To be honest, digital marketing is easy to learn. If you gain some basic skills and keep on exploring and reading magazines, you can easily learn digital marketing. But still, some people can find it hard to understand because of the technicality used in the analysis.
Is digital marketing a hard skill? ›
Digital marketing has become an essential aspect of the modern business landscape, and the skills required for success in this field are constantly evolving. While creativity and strategic thinking are undoubtedly important, a variety of hard skills are also necessary to thrive in digital marketing.
Can I become a digital marketer in 3 months? ›If you enroll in any institute to learn digital marketing, you can learn it in 3 months. Even if you go for advanced learning, it will take six months on average. However, your zeal, area of interest, and learning capability will decide how many months you take to become a digital marketing expert.
Is digital marketing a stressful job? ›In conclusion, Digital Marketing can be a stressful job, but it's not necessarily more stressful than other careers. Like any job, there are challenges and potential stressors, but there are also many rewards and benefits.
How much do you make doing online marketing? ›Digital marketing salaries for 2023
For example, the average digital marketing manager base salary in the US is $81,591, according to Glassdoor. This figure includes base pay and additional pay such as commission, cash bonuses, and profit sharing.
At its highest level, digital marketing has three main components: Lead Generation, Lead Capturing, and Lead Nurturing.
Is digital marketing a good career for beginners? ›As a beginner, it is common to wonder, 'is digital marketing a good career choice? ' Well, if you are enticed by a fast-paced working environment that holds the power to transform a business through engagement, digital marketing is a prospective career path for you.
What is the highest salary in digital marketing? ›Digital Marketing Manager salary in India ranges between ₹ 3.0 Lakhs to ₹ 18.1 Lakhs with an average annual salary of ₹ 6.5 Lakhs.
Why do most digital marketers fail? ›In conclusion, digital marketing failures can occur due to various reasons, including lack of clear goals and strategy, poor understanding of the target audience, ineffective content strategy, insufficient budget and resources, lack of data-driven decision making, inconsistent and ineffective branding, failure to adapt ...
What are common digital marketing mistakes? ›One of the biggest online marketing mistakes a business can make is creating an unfocused marketing campaign. If you don't set goals, you won't know what's going on with your campaign. Your campaign will have no focus, so you won't know when you achieve your goals or if you're achieving them in the right time frame.
What is a weakness of digital marketing? ›One of the biggest disadvantages of digital marketing campaigns is their time-consuming nature. Unorganized tactics and strategies may consume a lot of time, and it becomes difficult to devote the desired time to the campaign. This will eventually lead to negative results.
What are the 7 C's of digital marketing? ›
In contrast to other marketing models, the 7 Cs Compass Model considers both the marketing strategies as well as the segment to which the strategies are being targeted. The seven Cs are Corporation, Commodity, Cost, Communication, Channel, Consumer and Circumstances.
What are the 4 C's of digital marketing? ›The 4 C's of Marketing are Customer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. These 4 C's determine whether a company is likely to succeed or fail in the long run. The customer is the heart of any marketing strategy. If the customer doesn't buy your product or service, you're unlikely to turn a profit.
Can you be shy and do marketing? ›Being an introvert doesn't mean you won't be able to market effectively. Instead, it means that you'll find a way of attracting and connecting with clients that's different from how an extrovert approaches those tasks.
How can I be good at marketing myself? ›- Identify a target audience. Understand your potential employers inside out. ...
- Know your USP. ...
- A way with words. ...
- Show a little personality. ...
- Keep your finger on the pulse. ...
- Web savvy.
Philip Kotler, the five stages (Awareness, Appeal, Ask, Act and Advocacy) allow marketing and sales professionals to create a map of the customer's needs and priorities during the different parts of their purchase process.
What are the 5 rules of marketing? ›- Marketing is not about you and it never will be. BRAND MANAGEMENT. ...
- What others say about you is more important than what you say about you. ...
- Your highest performing salespeople are free. ...
- Do right by customers and you'll make your numbers every time. ...
- Measure the right things.
Marketing is about planning and executing the development, pricing, distribution and promotion of products and services to satisfy the needs of your customers. The main role of marketing is to deliver customer value to attracting new customers and keeping existing ones.
How can I market myself online for free? ›- Sign up to the right social media sites. The first step to promoting yourself is to choose the right social media platforms. ...
- Be honest and authentic. Online, honesty and authenticity are everything. ...
- Build a website. ...
- Create a blog. ...
- Interact with people. ...
- Be original.
Basic Design Skills
It is best practice for Digital Marketers to have basic knowledge about softwares such as Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, After Effects, illustrator, InDesign, etc), Canva, Inkscape that would help them in creating visual content.
Yes, you can definitely learn digital marketing theories on your own, but no, theoretical and practical are not the same. Here's something to help you out a little. If you search “Can I learn digital marketing online?” or “Can I learn digital marketing on my own?” on Google, the quick answer is yes.
Can you be a self taught marketer? ›
There are many people who cannot or are simply not interested in attending higher education right now. Not having formal training doesn't mean you can't become a meaningful contributor or leader in today's digital marketing landscape.