My new, old friend is a gifted marketer. It’s because she’s other-focused and entranced by music. Her only flaw is that she has a tendency to live in the 4th row of the concert of her own life because she’s so about helping others – and that flaw is a matter of perspective. At an agency where we worked she was the best marketer in the room and she was just answering the phones.
We were talkin’ about her career prospects a couple weeks ago and she was flowering about her passions, which align with a project me and the team I’m on is close to completing. I pointed out that all her skills are transferrable online. It’s the tools she needs to learn to communicate them. Now, it doesn’t mean she’ll be able to draw a logo from scratch (which is typically “pick a font you have rights too and add a little color and shading”), today, but she could down the road.
But she’ll be able to make her messages sing to her audiences.
For her, it’s a case of, “Where to start?”
So I told her I would make her a list…
There’s 6 Tools Needed to Start Digital Marketing
- HTML
- SEO
- CPC (Google Adwords / Facebook Adds)
- Copywriting / Blogging
- Social Media
- Analytics
So, my old, new friend, before we start…
…a little pre-reading:
- How Google Works Search Works – Yeah, more web strategies are based on how it’ll work in Google & Facebook. Design & Marketing as well. Google has nice videos and text you can read & watch while at your temp job.
Once You’ve gotten those taken care of…
6 Simple, Basic Tools to Master to Begin Digital Marketing
1) HTML
- HTML Stands for HyperText Markup Language. It’s the lame coding uses to tell web browsers about what assets go where. “This image goes here on the left and pads a little bit from the content,” stuff. There’a great online school called W3Schools.com. It’s go tutorials for HTML, CSS and more advanced stuff like PHP, XML, Web Server Scripting…but for this, you’ll start with the basic HTML Tutorials. [NOTE: the navigation is a little funky on the left-hand side column of the W3Schools site. Once you’re in a section, that side column changes to show all the elements within the section!]
- HTML 5 – The standard at the time of this writing is technically HTML 4. But HTML 5 is becoming the new standard. So, yeah, you’ll learn both. If you have time for CSS and more, great. But you can save them for advanced as well
- NOTE – the best way to learn HTMl is to use a simple text document. Not a word process document because they use markup characters for fonts and stuff. And no using an HTML editor! Go raw! You won’t regret it!
2) SEO – Search Engine Optimization
You’re going to learn that not every website was designed with search engines in mind. Once you get into this, when you’re thinkin’ digital marketing, you’re thinking SEO.
There’s a couple places to go for learning:
- Nat Finn’s SEO section. I’m building it for business folks. Let me know what you think.
- Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (read it twice)
- SEOMoz’s learn SEO section
3) CPC – Sponsored Search / Paid Search
You know those ads that appear on the side of Google Searches? Welcome to Google’s number #1 money maker. Why? IT WORKS! Honestly, the best thing to do here is take Google’s AdWords Tutorials. Start with “How Google Ads Work,” and go straight into the “Google Adwords Tutorial.” And, if you get certified, all the better!
4) Copywriting / Blogging – there is a fine line.
To me, the line is, “rant.” If your sh**isn’t backed up with verifiable resources, you’re probably just blogging. That said, you’ll learn that blog platforms are essential in Post-Panda SEO. Dabble a little of those SEO techniques you just learned and some blogging techniques and you’ll be ready to go. Places to learn
- Corporate Blogging for Dummies by Douglas Karr
- Marketing Tech Blog by Douglas Karr (yeah, I learned most of it from reading his stuff)
- How to Start a Blog – and old project
5) Social Media – awwgawd.
Twitter, Facebook. Share other’s stuff more than you post your own stuff. Follow more than you have follow. Put the social buttons on every page of your site – for the site and for the page. Make them laugh. There, social media in 10 seconds. But, for reading:
- Twitter Marketing for Dummies by Kyle Lacy
- KyleLacy.com – he can’t inhale without saying, “Social Media,” three times, but his stuff is on point for businessy folks.
- Social Media Explorer – Jason Falls out of Louisville. Good lesson in there from the team.
6) Analytics
Once again, with your new skills, go through the Google Partners for certification. This is the best way to learn about how to track and measure your stats and how to set them to track for exactly what you’re looking for.
Review Lesson – InboundMarketing.com
When you got the tools learn, the next thing to do is to learn how they work together. Go through InboundMarketing.com’s lessons – it’s FREE. Great lessons from some of the industry’s leaders. Go through the videos, the lessons, pass the test! And you’ll have a great perspective
Additional Reading –
My old boss used to tell me that 20% of your job should be spent reading. So, here, some reading to keep up:
- ChrisBrogan.com – For the first 3 months he’ll show you new perspects, then the next 3 months he’ll be inspiration. The last 3, he’ll be review.
- ConvinceandConvert.com – Jay Baer – you’ll like him because he’ll be more technical yet stay practical. In fact, I should read him more. Sorry, Jay.
- SeachEngineWatch.com – it’s like SearchEngineLand.com, but you don’t have to pay.
- WebmasterWorld – ESSENTIAL READING. Keep’s you up to date on the going’s on from the industry’s top website webmasters. Worth the fee!
- Mashable – Social Media / Tech reading for when TechCrunch is too snarky.
- TechCrunch – Social Media / Tech reading for when Mashable is too f*****’ dry.
- Cracked – how social media is done without ever having to write about it! Awesome sh**
- Google Webmaster Blog – necessary reading
- Google Analytics Blog – more necessary reading
Advanced Classes
- CSS – Cascading Style Sheets
- PHP
- Photoshop (or free web design equivalents like Gimp!!!)
- Apache (super-advanced web serving – or other web server tutorials from W3Schools)