I didn’t want to dig another ditch for irrigation or fix another toilet again unless it was my own. My goal was to find a career that had a good work-life balance, had the possibility for remote work, paid well, and was easier on my body as I creep closer to 40. That’s when I stumbled upon Seth Jared Hymes’ Digital Marketing Career Blueprint course.
There are many courses out there, and countless amount of YouTube videos that will teach you digital marketing. I decided to go with Hymes’ course because he came off as a good dude who generally wants to help people, especially young people from going into massive college debt for worthless degrees that teach zero real-world skills.
The reviews backed up everything I thought about Hymes from the few videos I saw of him. Most of his former students can’t say enough good things about the guy. It was hard to find a bad review of the course.
Oh yes, and the price. The course cost me $797. That’s less than the newest version of iCrack. I’ve easily paid for this course and then some with a part-time gig I landed shortly after finishing the course.
*You also have the payment option of $297 for 3 months.
Table of Contents
What is Digital Marketing?
Six months ago, I had a vague idea of what digital marketing consisted of. It’s not complicated. Digital marketing is an umbrella term for marketing using the Internet. That’s really it.
It’s the exact opposite of traditional marketing. Traditional marketing is dying. Think of traditional marketing as commercials, radio ads, newspaper ads, flyers, brochures, billboards, blimps, and the dude on the side of the street flipping a sign around.
While some of these methods are still effective they can’t compare to digital marketing. That’s because all forms of traditional marketing are interruption marketing. When you’re watching your favorite show the last thing you want to see is a commercial for insurance. You’re tempted to upgrade your Spotify account – but you won’t because you’re cheap – so you don’t have to listen to ads. Traditional marketing is annoying and hard to measure.
Digital marketing is different. When you open up Google and type in “best digital marketing course” you’re actively searching for something. Then you’ll be taken to a giant database of information. Some of that info will be paid for to show up at the top of Google’s results (PPC) and some of that information will show up because Google deems it to be high quality (SEO).
Best of all, all this data can be tracked. Marketers can then use that data to throw money at what works and cut out what doesn’t.
Digital Marketing Jobs
There are many different types of digital marketing – search engine optimization, pay-per-click, analytics, social media, video, email, etc. etc.
However, Seth’s digital marketing course mostly focuses on PPC and SEO because that’s where you’re most likely going to find work.
PPC
A.k.a pay-per-click. You’re paying to show up at the top of Google whenever someone types in the keywords that you’ve bid for. You’ll notice pay ads at the top of SERP whenever you do a Google Search. They’ll say “sponsored” at the top. As a PPC expert, you will help clients refine their Google ad campaigns so they only get clicked by potential customers.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the practice of trying to get your site ranked at the top of Google organically by creating content that Google likes, building quality backlinks, and making sure to take care of technical stuff like website speed.
What’s the Course All About?
The course is broken into several sections with videos and projects.
Introduction to your Digital Career: Gives you a better understanding of digital marketing and the mindset shift you need to make when getting into this field.
In Demand Skills 101: Here is where Seth lays out the skills employers are actually looking for. He goes through PPC, SEO, analytics, Facebook Ads, social media and email marketing.
Generating Your Experience: This is where you’ll complete projects like an SEO audit, building your website, and then setting up an ad campaign for that site. He’ll also teach you how to find clients when you’re starting.
From Experience to the Jobs: Strategies to beat the “experience paradox”, certifications that will help you stand out, and how to work with clients.
Starting Your Career: He talks about what employers are really looking for, how to build a resume, a job search master class, interview questions, etc.
Networking & Support
This course gives you access to coaching calls every Wednesday and Saturday as well as a Network of former students and current students.
I’ll admit I haven’t taken advantage of this resource enough, and need to get better at reaching out.
Is Digital Marketing Career Blueprint Legit?
The answer to this question is a simple, yes. But it’s not going to magically land you a job. Like everything else in life, you’ll get out of it what you put in.
Let’s clear one thing up, what Seth and the other instructors teach you in this course isn’t anything you couldn’t find scouring YouTube. The difference is that the DMCB course organizes this information for you in a step-by-step process that makes sense. In my opinion, that’s worth paying for.
It’s NOT an advanced course on PPC and SEO. It will, however, teach you enough to get yourself a PPC or SEO entry-level job. It’s at your job and through independent study that you’ll become an expert who can demand higher pay.
You’re also paying for the support of other instructors(former students) who were once in the same position as you. This course allows you to get coaching from real-world digital marketers and pick their brains a bit.
You’ll also have access to a network of students currently taking the course. You know what they say, your network is your net worth.
Final thoughts
Seth is highly optimistic that his students will have no problem finding jobs. He’s constantly stressing how the digital marketing job market is growing and doesn’t have enough qualified marketers.
He’s not wrong.
Here’s a quick search I did on the LinkedIn jobs board for “digital marketers”
78,369 results.
Not bad. But most of these jobs are getting flooded with applicants. It’s not rare to see most of these jobs with over 100 applicants in just a few days after being posted.
I was fortunate to find a part-time gig quickly but I haven’t had much luck applying to other jobs or even finding clients since. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get into digital marketing it just means it’s a bit more competitive than Seth sometimes leads you to believe.
All in all, I think the course was helpful and well worth $797. If you’re interested in getting into digital marketing I highly recommend Seth’s course.
