Rising competition online and advances in search technology mean there’s more to content writing than a solid command of the English language.
Great content that performs well takes into account a variety of marketing factors that even the most seasoned writers don’t necessarily know about.
Before you start writing content, you’ll want to consider:
- How you will optimize the article with keywords, topical relevance, internal linking, etc.
- How you will write for a diverse audience.
- How you will ensure that all writing has a consistent tone and style.
- Whether you need to hire expert writers in the field or expert writers in writing online content. In some industries, it can be difficult to find both.
- How much are you going to pay your writers?
- How many articles you are able to write and publish per week.
- Who will manage content when it comes to responding to comments, ensuring links aren’t broken, etc.
- In marketing terms, what analytics reports you will use to draw conclusions about the success or failure of each piece.
- How you will integrate different types of content – video, infographics, ebooks, polls, reviews, interviews, etc.
It’s safe to say that if you want to write successful content that gets a lot of attention, it’s probably a good idea to get training in both writing and marketing.
Fortunately, getting the training you need doesn’t have to mean shelling out big bucks from your budget.
There are tons of free online courses that can help you learn everything you need to know to get the links and share your business needs.
Read on for some favorites from myself and my friends!
Top 8 Free Online Courses in Content Marketing and Copywriting
Disclaimer: I haven’t taken all of the courses listed below, but I have taken a few and know at least one person who has recommended the others.
They have also received many positive reviews from the hundreds of other people who have taken the courses.
Without further ado, here are some of the best.
Skills Sharing Courses
Skillshare lets you start free for 14 days, then after that the annual fee is $96.00.
Once you have paid for membership, all courses are free in Skillshare.
If you don’t want to purchase a subscription, the courses below can be purchased separately for anywhere between $10-20.
Still, I added them to the list because you can take several courses for free during your 14-day trial.
1. Content Marketing: Blogging for Growth
This course is taught by Eric Siu, CEO of Single Grain and Founder of Growth Everywhere.
This 80-minute course will teach you different blog writing styles, how to brainstorm a topic, and then develop your notes from a brainstorming session to a full blog post. It even explains in detail how to create an attractive title and image.
This is a perfect beginner’s course for business owners and marketers, and it has a 95% positive review rate.
By the end of the course, you will have written an original blog post to share, which will hopefully be the first of a successful content marketing strategy!
2. Become a better blogger: content planning
This is a course from Andrea Goulet Ford of Corgibytes, a team of expert developers who not only offer maintenance services, but courses on top of that!
Ford was an unknown name to me, but his loyal followers seem to swear by his advice, so I gave the course a try and was very impressed.
She has worked with government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and many more in all walks of life.
This subject sounds simple enough, but the planning can be very complex. She helps you build a library of resources to refer to in the future, AND she makes sure you walk away with three months of all-planned online content.
Udemy Courses
Udemy is probably the most popular avenue for online marketers when it comes to taking free courses.
They have free options (all mentioned below) as well as paid options and offer over 32,000 courses, 18,000 instructors and over 80 course languages.
3. Content Marketing for B2B Businesses
This course is the best for B2B companies, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s one of the few good free Udemy courses.
The course is taught by William Flanagan, CEO and Founder of Audienti, and it’s great because it uses real-life scenarios that Flanagan has dealt with at his own company as well as from his clients.
There are six sections in the class including creating interesting relevant content, posting content for conversion, and delivering content in front of your audience.
4. WordPress for Beginners: Building a Website Step by Step
It might sound unconventional, but part of content marketing is knowing how to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
This is important for SEO as well as user experience.
The course covers posts vs pages, content editor, media files, categories and tags, content widgets and the more confusing little options you have.
This is a basic course and ideal for beginners, but necessary if you have any questions about what WordPress has to offer.
Coursera courses
Coursera courses are on the rise.
The education platform partners with top universities and organizations around the world and makes it easy for anyone to enroll (like Udemy, except it’s a bit more expensive and works with colleges and universities). universities).
Coursera also has one of the largest class libraries in any category, so it’s one of my favorite platforms.
5. Content strategy for professional specialization
There are four parts to this course: ‘Engage Audiences’, ‘Manage Content’, ‘Extend Your Content’s Reach’ and ‘Ensure Your Content’s Impact’.
The course ends with a final project in which you use the knowledge gained in the previous four courses to design a content strategy package.
The course says it’s designed for entry-level, for-profit, non-profit, voluntary, and government businesses, and it’s a great way to learn some of the basics of content marketing and how to do it. can be tied to a business strategy as a whole.
It’s a beginner level course, and if you spend about two hours a week on the lessons, you’ll be done in about four months.
The best part is that it’s completely free, although you have the option of getting a verified certificate from Northwestern University for completing the course for $49.00.
6. High Impact Business Writing
It’s the only course on the list that isn’t free, but it’s only $35 for eight hours of videos, readings, and quizzes, which is pretty inexpensive for a University of California Coursera course. California to Irvine.
This course is unique because it is one of the few options that emphasizes the actual act of writing as opposed to content marketing.
It teaches you how to write and communicate effectively in the business world.
Naturally, a big part of that is writing for online audiences and online publications (although it does come into writing business proposals, memos, etc.). If you want to brush up on your writing skills, this unique course is a great option.
This course is part of a series of 10 courses called Career Success Specialization, which you can choose to take from the link above.
General courses on the website
If you keep an eye out, you will notice that different agencies and companies on the web often offer courses taught by their professionals. Below are two of my favorites:
7. HubSpot Incoming Certification
This course doesn’t focus specifically on content writing or marketing, but it’s worth mentioning if you’re interested in how these two areas contribute to an overall online strategy.
You learn everything from creating landing pages, closing sales, and more.
HubSpot is one of the leading marketing resources on the web with some of the best content featured on their five blogs, so their course is undoubtedly top notch.
Once you successfully complete the course, you get a personalized badge and certificate that you can display on your website, email signature, LinkedIn profiles, and more.
8. Online Marketing Institute: Content Storytelling Rules for the Digital Marketer
Just like Skillshare, the Online Marketing Institute offers a free trial that lets you try out any course you want.
They have 70 different content marketing courses to choose from, sorted by beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.
The Content Storytelling class is quite unique because it helps you understand the fundamentals of storytelling and how you can get creative to make your content more engaging.
Creativity is something that many businesses lack, so this is a cool course if you’re looking to step out of your comfort zone.
Conclusion
Good content writers are in high demand, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon.
It’s even possible to earn a full-time income just from content writing if you take the time to learn the ins and outs of the business.
The list above is a great starting point if you’re looking to develop your content writing skills, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list.
More resources:
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