Book marketing. Ugh.
In my last blog, I noted that, love it or hate it, marketing is vital to your success. This is true whether your book has been released by a publisher or you’ve released it from your own indie publishing company.
In addition to the outstanding educational opportunities offered by RMFW, there are some helpful presentations on the internet—for free! Most are of short duration, so they may fit nicely in your busy fall and holiday schedule. Continuing the list from my last blog, here are more free course offerings.
The Free Email Course by Kirsten Oliphant
It’s called a free email course and a video, but it’s really a 27-minute podcast, presented casually and energetically. Kirsten stresses the power of personal connection, and that it’s all about content and traffic strategy.
The Perfect Year by J.A. Huss
Scientist-turned-author J. A. Huss presents this free author marketing video course, produced in 2017. It consists of eight—That’s right, eight!—videos that range in length from 16 minutes to 50, with most around 30. Huss has an informal delivery (with more than a few expletives, be forewarned), presenting her material with as much warmth and humor as if she were sitting with you at the bar during the Colorado Gold over a glass of wine, telling you her marketing journey.
This leading online learning platform has an extensive catalog of free courses, including over 500 on marketing.
AUTHORS BEWARE, however. After trying several different ways to access Udemy courses under $10.95, I encountered “post and share” forum-type sites that will show you how to find Udemy’s free courses, but you must first give them your email. These sites had many complaints and regrets from people who revealed their Google and/or Facebook information to them. Much safer, I’m thinking, to just pay $10.95 and try one of the Udemy courses that interests you.
For further research
Researching this topic, I discovered it’s not an easy task to find free courses. I started by Googling “How can I learn digital marketing for free?” This is the message I received from my search, along with comments of what I learned when following the links.
Check out these five top free online courses to build your digital marketing skills:
Google Online Marketing Challenge
Googling this brought up extensive information about educational programs, but I didn’t see the magic word free in any of the course offerings.
WordStream’s PPC University
This search produced information about the WordStream PPC Advisor and an invitation to “start your seven-day free trial.” Free trials generally mean you provide your credit card info and if you want a refund, it will be granted, but that can be troublesome.
Social Media Quickstarter Digital Marketing Course
They want your contact information, and there’s no mention of a free course.
Inbound Digital Marketing Course Plus Official Certification
This search produced information about an inbound digital marketing course, but instead of stating free, it mentioned tuition and loan programs available.
Alison Free Diploma in E-Business
This search produced information about a diploma in e-business, with a URL that took me to Alison.com. Once there, I saw the word free! I’m not sure who Alison is, but they state that the online marketing course is free. The 15-module curriculum mentioned the importance of online marketing and a good website, and includes marketing through Google, Google Ad Words, AdSense, and Google Analytics.
So, out of five suggestions, only one mentioned free. Furthermore, the free course was a comprehensive study of Google ad offerings, not an overall view of digital marketing.
“You get what you pay for” comes to mind, but still. If you’re willing to absorb some sales messages along with your lessons, there are similar free courses (vlogs and sample instructional videos from book marketing gurus, like Mark Dawson’s free “List Building for Authors” and Nick Stephenson’s “Free Video Training for Authors”). Their tips are useful but limited, and if you take the free offer, you’ll need to agree to receiving a healthy number of sales emails that urge you to buy their full package of marketing info and secrets (for an eye-popping price).
After this online journey, I have concluded that all freebie searchers should beware. Yes, there are some genuine educational jewels to be discovered, but the majority of “free” educational opportunities are limited free samples that urge you to open your wallet.
This search has given me an even greater appreciation for the generosity of RMFW’s published authors who present educational workshops at our annual Colorado Gold. Attending these conference workshops and RMFW’s excellent educational offerings—kudos to Education Chair Terri Benson and Program Chairs Jodi Burnett and Anne Marie—will give you useful information. Most presenters also provide an assessment of these professional educational programs, with pros and cons based on personal experience. Following most workshops, an invaluable question-and-answer session helps you make more informed choices when seeking courses to build your marketing skills.
Have you found some free online courses or workshops? If so, please share!
Thank you, Janet!
And much success on #6.