If you are just getting started in the world of digital marketing, it can be increasingly difficult to understand what skills to learn – and where to start can be equally as confusing.

What skills fall under the digital marketing umbrella?

And what are the most important things to learn when just beginning with digital marketing?

These are the essential digital marketing skills:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Website Design
• Social Media Management
• Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising
• Understanding Analytics and Reports

Of course, there are many other skills that could be considered to be a crucial part of digital marketing but if you are knowledgeable in these fields – you will be able to have the tools to be considered a professional in digital marketing.

Why are these skills so important?

Let’s explore how each of these skills can help make you become an expert digital marketer and some great resources to guide you to the best information available on the internet.

Digital Marketing Skill: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is one of the foundational fields of digital marketing and is useful for almost every single business – regardless of being online or a brick-and-mortar store.

Why is it so important?

It is what is required to have a business found online through search engines organically and without paying for clicks from new users.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving a business website or presence online to help it rank higher in search engine results.

This can be done through other websites linking back to a business, adding keywords on a site, improving a Google My Business listing, boosting reviews, and improving the speed of a website – just to name a few.

It is also a necessary component for creating content and writing articles online. Content creation (aka content marketing) and SEO go together and are both covered in an extensive SEO course.

There are a ton of different resources online that can help you learn search engine optimization and honestly – it can be quite difficult to find a reputable course that is affordable and reliable.

Best Resource for Learning Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

We have gone through many different courses – including ones offered by HubSpot, Google, Udemy, etc., etc.

The best online course that includes a fully comprehensive study on SEO would be the search engine optimization course offered by ClickMinded – one that was crafted by an expert who was responsible for growing PayPal and Airbnb.

They also offer other courses varying a wide range of digital marketing skills, but we found the SEO course to be the best information provided by their team.

Digital Marketing Skill: Website Design

Designing a website used to be a complicated skill – one that required many years of study and practice to learn how to code and build a site from scratch.

Fortunately, it is now a skill that can be learned much more quickly with a wide variety of helpful tools and website builders including WordPress, Shopify, and Squarespace.

It is one of the foundational skills to learn for digital marketing experts since a business website is at the core of all other strategies and many other aspects of marketing will require a website that is helpful and useful for new visitors.

There are many DIY website builders on the market – Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy…

The only issue with these builders is that they can often limit you on adding certain features and SEO tactics to a website. In other words, there is limited flexibility.

This is why WordPress or other Content Management Systems (CMS) are so popular among digital marketers. They offer a fine balance of being easy to understand but offering powerful customization based on your needs.

Best Resource for Website Design

Our favorite resource comes straight from WordPress.com as they offer a full library of helpful tips and videos for someone who is new to the content management system.

To further expand on this – there are many different themes available for the WordPress platform and a theme live Elegant Theme’s Divi, is an amazing choice since it features an online visual builder and has an online library full of helpful resources.

Digital Marketing Skill: Social Media Management:

Social media is another extremely useful skill for those looking to increase their digital marketing skills as it has become such an integral part of society these days. Working with social media is more than simply posting images, videos, and text to your audience. It is about a connection.

It is the ability to engage with your customers as well as your target audience. When your customers are feeling heard and understood by the brands and companies they work with and support – it can go a long way when they rave about it to their friends and family.

The power of social media to influence your customers and potential users is incredible and often overlooked by so many. This makes it important to truly understand how to craft compelling messages and how to emotionally touch your audience.

Best Resource for Social Media Management

Choosing the right course or learning path can be dependent upon which platforms you find will be useful for your business – or for your clients.

HubSpot really nailed it with their free social media course that is extensive and holds a ton of value that you would not expect from a free resource.

While it provides an incredible start in the world of social media to help build your digital marketing skills, it can be useful to continue a narrower subject such as TikTok or Facebook – depending on which platforms you believe you will find yourself using more than other.

Digital Marketing Skill: Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

This is exactly as it sounds – paying whenever a user clicks on your advertisement. This could be on any platform that offers the PPC model including services like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or YouTube.

This is an important skill and is a necessary strategy for businesses looking for quick, short-term growth.

If SEO is the long term strategy, then PPC advertising is the short term strategy. They are both essential elements to many businesses and work as complimentary services.

Best Resource for Learning PPC Advertising

Without a doubt, Wordstream has come up with one of the best resources available when it comes to learning all the ins and outs of paid advertising. They have an extensive library of articles and videos neatly organized in a way that makes sense. The best part? Their educational resources are completely free and require nothing in return.

Digital Marketing Skill: Analytics and Reporting

This is often not mentioned when it comes to important skills for digital marketing but it is without a doubt one of the most important skills seeing as it ties everything together.

What is the point of all the work in digital marketing strategies if you have nothing to show for it? You could provide the best work possible for a client but what good would it do if you cannot match it up with any analytics?

Analytics and reporting is the essential key to bring everything together in one place and is the proof that your digital marketing strategies are useful and provide value.

Best Resource for Analytics and Reporting

Fortunately, the most popular analytics reporting platform is 100% free – Google Analytics.

In addition, Google provides a full analytics academy available for free to aspiring digital marketing experts and even offers badges and awards to those who complete tests and quizzes along the way (and aces them of course).

Google Analytics is the foundation of all reporting and if you want to turn that into complex and beautiful reports that look visually appealing to clients – then Google Data Studio can connect with the data and provide robust reports that are clean and useful without any manual work.

Digital Marketing is a journey, not a Destination.

Yes, we have all heard the saying before…

“It’s all about the journey, and not the destination.”

In this case, it is very true as there is never an end destination when it comes to digital marketing knowledge. Not only is it an ever-changing landscape but there is always new things to learn for even the most skilled marketing veterans out there.

Get out there and put your brain to the test and spend the hours in extensive learning and your progress will pay off in no time. All it takes is devotion, time, and practice.