How to teach yourself digital marketing?

The Emerald Archer

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Sup fellas,

I'm trying to learn digital marketing and potentially make a pivot into that career and the tech industry. I've consistently read that the outlook for that career is very good, and that it is in high-demand with very low supply.

I've started learning some programming on codeacademy (currently starting with Python) and was wondering if there are any similar resources like that for digital marketing?

Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated!
 

Mr.Rob

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The Emerald Archer

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Hey Mr. Rob!

I think I remember you mentioning back in the fall that you were teaching yourself digital marketing, I'm glad you chimed in!

I'm a fan of Nat Eliason too! I'm familiar with those articles you're talking about. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think he says one of the best ways to learn is to start a blog and then attempt to drive up traffic by experimenting no?

Personally, I've always wanted to start a blog I think it would be a great way to organize my thoughts and improve my critical thinking skills by writing about stuff I like. Are you starting a blog by chance? What kind of projects are you currently working on/have worked on in the past to hone your marketing skills?
 

Mr.Rob

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The Emerald Archer said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think he says one of the best ways to learn is to start a blog and then attempt to drive up traffic by experimenting no?

That is correct.

The Emerald Archer said:
Personally, I've always wanted to start a blog I think it would be a great way to organize my thoughts and improve my critical thinking skills by writing about stuff I like. Are you starting a blog by chance? What kind of projects are you currently working on/have worked on in the past to hone your marketing skills?

Yeah I kinda had a late start since then but currently working on a content SEO strategy atm and hopefully start writing/publishing articles soon :)

Other than that I've done some freelance copywriting for landing pages (though not much). Actually GirlsChase is about to publish a landing page for bootcamps that I wrote the copy for which should be coming out this month, super stoke on that (actually cool story I proposed to Chase I'd write it and he'd only pay if he liked it. He liked it and I'll be the first person Chase has ever allowed to write copy for the site other than himself. Score).

But ya man I'm getting started slow n steady. Any good resources to share yourself man? What niche you plan to cover or you just do a personal blog like Nat?

btw read the article on easy projects to take on I linked. Good section on working for non profits for free to gain experience. Literally take a udemy course and you have more knowhow than most ppl running a website.
 

The Emerald Archer

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Yeah I kinda had a late start since then but currently working on a content SEO strategy atm and hopefully start writing/publishing articles soon :)

Other than that I've done some freelance copywriting for landing pages (though not much). Actually GirlsChase is about to publish a landing page for bootcamps that I wrote the copy for which should be coming out this month, super stoke on that (actually cool story I proposed to Chase I'd write it and he'd only pay if he liked it. He liked it and I'll be the first person Chase has ever allowed to write copy for the site other than himself. Score).

But ya man I'm getting started slow n steady. Any good resources to share yourself man? What niche you plan to cover or you just do a personal blog like Nat?

btw read the article on easy projects to take on I linked. Good section on working for non profits for free to gain experience. Literally take a udemy course and you have more knowhow than most ppl running a website.

Hell yeah man good for you! That's dope that you got some work done for Girls Chase. I've been doing the keyword consulting that they posted up last fall and that piqued my interest for getting into this field. Plus, it's cool to be able to contribute to this community.

Here's 2 articles I found that may be of use:

On the 2nd article, I signed up for the free course and have gone through the first 2 lessons. I guess there's a paid version that is an extension, but I haven't yet looked into it. I may or may not sign up for that depending.

On the blogging, I think I would go for more like what Nat has and make my blog my first and last name. That way I could talk about a variety of subjects and be less prone to burning out. Some topics I would like to talk about off the top of my head are:

  • 1. The current education system and why I think it's extremely flawed
  • 2. A series on my experiences in college, since I was in undergrad for ~7 years, and I feel there's a lot to say. Also, I would aim to help those who have decided to go to college to extract the most possible value by detailing my mistakes and how I would approach it if I could do it over
  • 3. My personal philosophy on strength training and conditioning, detailing my experiences and some of my biggest influences on my working out philosophy, as well as nutrition and how to avoid the "hype" and misleading mainstream information on health and fitness

So yeah stuff like that and some politics, opinions on living your own life and blazing your own path vs. blindly listening to society and authority figures, etc.

Where did you learn copywriting by chance and how did you get freelance work?
 

The Emerald Archer

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Hey Mr. Rob,

I read that article by Nat Eliason about ideas for marketing projects, that was good stuff! I really like the diversity of ideas he presents, and how he breaks down that learning in the trenches is really the only way to go because college is worthless for it haha.

Just wanted to follow up on your copywriting, Nat mentioned that no matter where your niche will be in marketing it is a huge boon to learn copywriting.

How did you go about teaching yourself, did you take any courses and work through them online? What was your process like until you got to the point where you were comfortable to bid for freelance projects online?
 

Mr.Rob

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Hey Emerald,

Sorry to not respond I'm not as active on the boards here as I used to be.

Good questions tho and cool articles you linked to so thansk for that. So for my copywriting I got the $12 udemy course on Landing Page Design https://www.udemy.com/course/landing-page-design-best-practices/ (you have to wait till it goes on sale I think you just log back in a few days later and check the price and it'll lower it or they have flash sales all the time).

That course talks about landing page design but also copywriting for landing pages and websites in general. He also walks you through examples of good copy and even builds a landing page where he talks about copywriting for the landing page (plus u learn a bunch of other cool stuff). So its mostly the principles of good LP copy w/ examples.

From there I studied landing page copy in the PUA industry that I liked and modeled/stole most of my work directly from other companies stuff and just reworked it to sound like GirlsChase.

Again that was my first time ever copywriting so I wrote the whole thing out and then rewrote it the whole thing over again cutting out the unnecessary until by my 3rd or 4th draft it was pretty on point imo.

Ever heard of a swipe file? Or a collection of good copywriting that you get ideas/inspiration from. Here's a cool site with a huge collection to draw from: https://swiped.co/

I got the job with Chase because I do bootcamp sales for GC and just propositioned Chase with it. However I might put a few offers on upwork freelance site now for some low bids to build my skillset more and see if I can get more experience and portfolio.

Cheers man!
 

The Emerald Archer

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Ah I see, so landing pages -->conversions is what you're working on. I'll have to check that course out, thanks for that! I never heard of a swipe file, but I clicked on that link. Seems like a good resource to draw inspiration from and even write up some mock drafts to copy/rewrite.

from there I studied landing page copy in the PUA industry that I liked and modeled/stole most of my work directly from other companies stuff and just reworked it to sound like GirlsChase.

Again that was my first time ever copywriting so I wrote the whole thing out and then rewrote it the whole thing over again cutting out the unnecessary until by my 3rd or 4th draft it was pretty on point imo.

The old fashioned way, eh? ;)

Thanks for the feedback on those questions. And best of luck to ya down the road! Hopefully we can update each other in the future and trade notes, say through PMs if you're not completely opposed.

Cheers!
 

Mr.Rob

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The Emerald Archer said:
Thanks for the feedback on those questions. And best of luck to ya down the road! Hopefully we can update each other in the future and trade notes, say through PMs if you're not completely opposed.

Totally bro and we could even set up a skype sesh or something to trade notes. It helps to know your not alone learning stuff like this from scratch.
 

Rambalt

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Hey Mr Rob, i just started learning copywriting. is it okay if I only focus on learning sales letters and emails?
 

Mr.Rob

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Hey Mr Rob, i just started learning copywriting. is it okay if I only focus on learning sales letters and emails?

Yeah man. Copy writing is a great skill to learn. Can't go wrong there.
 
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