23 Courses to Master Content Writing (FREE)

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Ernest Hemingway once said, “You have to learn how to write.” And to write good content, I’d add, you need to spend a lot more hours learning. (Hint: content writing courses !)

To write impactful content, you need to write for a specific audience, maintain tone and style, and understand SEO. All of which take time to master. 

The good news is you can level up your content writing (and marketing) skills quickly by signing up for online courses. And even better, you can complete these courses at your own pace and get a certificate on successful completion. 

Not sure which course will take your content writing skills to the next level? Here’s a list of 23 courses for every stage as a content writer.


Content Writing Courses For Beginners

If it’s your first time writing content, I’d recommend you take the Good with Words: Writing and Editing Specialisation on Coursera. This four-course specialisation will equip you with everything you need to know before you start writing content. 

#1 Writing and Editing: Word Choice and Word Order (Coursera)

This course teaches beginner content writers the fundamentals of persuasive writing, including:

  • Arranging complex information
  • Syntax
  • Storytelling techniques
  • Adding style to content, and more.

#2 Writing and Editing: Structure and Organization (Coursera)

This course covers four modules to help writers structure content better, including:

  • Sentence flow
  • Corresponding ideas in corresponding form principle
  • The show-and-tell technique
  • Using paragraphs when writing

#3 Writing and Editing: Drafting (Coursera)

Writing those first 100 words is perhaps the most challenging part. And this course covers strategies to help you with just that. So sign up for this course and learn techniques to master:

  • Perfectionism
  • Inefficient planning
  • The mammoth task of drafting and researching a piece

#4 Writing and Editing: Revising (Coursera)

All good content is a product of revisions. And this short course helps you master it. Throughout the course, you will learn the following:

  • The difference between editing and proofreading
  • Making writing compelling with data and statistics
  • How to give and receive feedback effectively

#5 How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro (Reedsy)

Those who know how to self-edit their pieces can create higher-quality content than those who don’t. One way to learn this skill is by enrolling in the How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro course by Lisa Lepki.

This short daily course helps you:

  • Identify and fix common writing mistakes like excessive pronoun usage, sticky sentences and overused words
  • Make stylistic edits like improving vocabulary, using strong words, etc.

#6 Editing and Proofreading Masterclass (Skillshare)

The Editing and Proofreading Masterclass by Nitay L on Skillshare is a brilliant course for editing enthusiasts and novice proofreaders. Key modules from the course include:

  • Keyboard shortcuts and English AutoCorrect software
  • Proofreading with MS Word
  • Sven tips for proofreading better
  • Identifying and correcting punctuation errors
  • Clarifying syntax, passive voice and modifiers
  • Maintaining a consistent style

#7 Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking (EDX)

Clear writing is key when communicating with businesspeople. Good thing it is a learned skill. You can audit the Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking for free on edX and become proficient in:

  • Constructing and defending arguments
  • Writing more persuasively
  • Developing a persuasive style of writing

#8 Master the 5 Key Elements of Story (Udemy)

All engaging content pieces are held together with a good story. Want to improve your storytelling abilities? This Udemy course can help you out.

Master the 5 Key Elements of Story might be geared towards novelists, but it teaches all its learners the art of building momentum while writing. By the end of the course, everyone can write more compelling, engaging content.

#9 Audience Analysis-Coping Strategies for Business Writers (Udemy)

Good content is part writing well and part writing to the right people. Udemy’s Audience Analysis – Coping Strategies for Business Writers course helps with the latter. The models cover topics like:

  • Readability indexes and tools
  • Types of readers
  • Tips for researching for audience analysis
  • Rewrite text for audience categories

For Learning to Write Content That Stands Out

#10 The Secret Sauce of Great Writing (Udemy)

What makes good writing impactful? According to Shani Raja’s course, The Secret Sauce of Great Writing, four things:

  • Simplicity
  • Clarity
  • Elegance
  • Evocativeness

This 37-minute course is packed with information (and exercises) to improve on all these four aspects of excellent writing. And the best part? All the modules are entirely free on Udemy!

#11 Make Your Writing Stand Out in Eight Easy Steps (Udemy)

Another brilliant course to hone your writing skills, Make Your Writing Stand Out in Eight Easy Steps, is a quick one-hour free course that goes over writing fundamentals, namely-

  • Practicing word usage
  • Improving word order and sentence flow
  • Creating impactful sentence structures
  • Crafting impactful intros and strong narratives
  • Maintaining logical flow
  • Adding an edge to the writing
  • Create habits to write better content consistently 

#12 10 Tips to Master the Art of Storytelling for Content Marketing (Online Marketing Institute)

Available on a free-trial basis on the Online Marketing Institute platform, the ‘Content Storytelling’ course is perfect for anyone interested in making their writing more engaging.

It covers:

  • How storytelling impacts content marketing
  • Seven impactful storytelling techniques to improve your everyday writing

#13 Business Writing Course: Taught by Bestselling Author Daniel Pink (HubSpot)

Want a refresher on content writing with insights from the greats? Hubspot’s free Business Writing Course covers content writing tips and skills for every stage of the writing process. This includes:

  • Ideation
  • Research
  • Outline
  • Drafting
  • Editing and Proofreading

For Content Marketing Basics

#14 Content Marketing Principles for Business (SEMRush)

Taught by the renowned SEO content strategist Chima Mmeje, Content Marketing Principles for Business is a free, hands-on course by SEMrush for writers who want to see their content rank well. It covers:

  • How to research content
  • How to develop content aligned with audience intent
  • How to use tools like SEMrush to research, develop, and measure content performance

#15 Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises (Udemy)

Want to take your B2B writing skills up a notch? Then check the intermediate-level course Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises on Udemy.

This short 37-minute free course covers:

  • The basics of creating interesting content
  • How to build stackable content
  • Content management with Trello
  • How to publish content that converts
  • CRM and landing tools for content creation
  • How to bring content in front of an audience
  • Discovering the right channels
  • Metrics of quality content
  • Tools to track metrics and much more.

#16 HubSpot’s Inbound Certification

If you want a free course that offers a certificate of completion at the end, you can’t go wrong with  Hubspot’s Inbound Certification course. In less than two hours, the course teaches you:

  • Fundamentals of inbound marketing
  • How online lead generation works
  • What are buyer personas, and how to define them
  • How to use marketing automation software
  • Metrics
  • Aligning sales and marketing, and more from experts

#17 Fundamentals of Marketing Analytics (SEMRush)

While writing content is a major aspect of content marketing, tracking its performance is equally important. SEMrush’s free Fundamentals of Marketing Analytics course teaches you just that.

Anyone who enrols for the course becomes fluent with:

  • Fundamentals of Google Analytics (GA4), Google Tag Manager and Search Console
  • Using Semrush to understand traffic analytics and organic performance and optimise off-page strategies with backlinks

#18 SEO Principles: An Essential Guide for Beginners (SEMRush)

Whether you’re familiar with SEO or a complete beginner, SEO Principles: An Essential Guide for Beginners is the course to take if you want to learn SEO principles quickly. Guided by the Director of Organic Search at SEMrush, Kyel Byers, this hands-on course goes over:

  • Keyword research fundamentals
  • Basics of On-page, Off-Page and Technical SEO


For Mastering Different Content Forms

#19 Content Marketing Blogging for Business (LinkedIn’s content writing courses)

If you’ve never taken a course from LinkedIn, this next recommendation is for you.

The Content Marketing: Blogging for Business course on LinkedIn is a short 48-minute course that will help anyone looking to grow a business blog.

Taught by social media and marketing expert Martin Waxman, the course module covers the following:

  • Blog design and development
  • Creating guidelines for blogging
  • Writing and SEO
  • And distributing the blog on social channels too.

#20 Basics of Social Media Marketing (HubSpot)

This free course is geared towards complete beginners and helps learners approach social media marketing from scratch. The Basics of Social Media Marketing certificate course covers the following:

  • Difference between social media usage and social media marketing
  • Fundamentals of sales psychology
  • SEO in digital marketing
  • Social media metrics
  • Ad formats and tools for Facebook marketing
  • Fundamentals of YouTube Marketing
  • How platforms like Pinterest, Twitter and Quora are effective branding tools

#21 Email Marketing Course (HubSpot)

As content writers, one can craft marketing emails that deliver results. This is exactly where a certificate course like Email Marketing Course by HubSpot can help with. The self-paced course goes over the following:

  • How a good email marketing approach can enhance your business
  • Identifying customer life cycle stages and segmentation
  • Email design and functionality
  • Basics and email deliverability
  • Nurturing leads through email
  • Metrics
  • Optimization and testing

#22 How to Write a Good Case Study (Udemy)

Struggle with writing effective case studies? Then How to Write a Good Case Study on Udemy is one course you should take. This short 36-minute course covers the following:

  • The aim of a case study
  • Identifying components of a strong case study
  • Asking relevant questions to create an impactful narrative
  • The tone of voice to use while writing

#23 The Strategy of Content Marketing (Coursera)

Available for free on Coursera, The Strategy on Content Marketing is specifically for those writers who want to foray into marketing and strategize content assets. This self-paced course covers the following:

  • The content marketing ecosystem
  • The 7A Framework
  • Mapping the content journey
  • Types of content
  • Managing content


Are These Content Writing Courses Right For You?

The above courses can help you level up from a complete novice to a content creator with a strong grasp of the fundamentals. All you need to do is take the courses and put in the time and effort to complete them.

And if you want to specialise in B2B SaaS, Ukti’s weekly blog is sure to help your efforts. Check it out!


About the Author

A content writer by the day and avid reader by anytime remaining, Akshada’s genres range from philosophy to good old-fashioned classics. Anything that can add value to the human mind has the ability to grab her attention; the question often is whether it can hold it.