On the surface, most content marketing courses look the same.
They all offer video courses on roughly the same topics and provide some action items.
However, the content marketing courses that are most effective at helping you accelerate your career and generate the most revenue come down to a few differences, like the instructor’s experience, feedback opportunities, and the recency of the advice (e.g., does it account for the ever-changing content marketing landscape and AI?).
In this post, I’ll share a content marketing course evaluation criteria to help you choose the best content marketing course for your needs.
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Content Marketing Course Evaluation Criteria
Most content marketing courses look similar on the surface. They all offer video courses with action items for users and the advice is usually sound in that it follows best practices.
However, not all content marketing courses are equally effective.
To help you choose a course that aligns with your needs, here’s the evaluation criteria we’ll measure each course against:
| Factor | Why it Matters |
| Instructor Credibility | Has the instructor used content marketing to grow a business? And do they have any stats to prove it? |
| Content Formats Covered | Today, writing blog posts isn’t a sufficient content marketing strategy. Do they also cover social media, email, and other content formats? |
| Advice Recency | AI has changed the content marketing landscape. Is the advice tailored to current content marketing trends? |
| Feedback and Individual Support | Do you get any one on one support? Or is it just the course material? |
| Community | Do you have access to a community where you can ask questions? |
| Pricing | Is it a one time fee or a membership? |
Below, we’ll evaluate each of the following content marketing courses against this criteria to help you decide which one is best for you.
1.) Copyblogger Academy
Copyblogger Academy is a course and community operated by two seven-figure entrepreneurs (myself and Charles Miller) who have used content marketing to build their businesses.
Charles has built an impressive following of 220,000 followers on X and over 100,000 followers on LinkedIn. And, he’s helped dozens of other entrepreneurs build their personal brands.
While Charles is a master at social media and personal branding, I’ve built multiple seven-figure companies through SEO, including a digital marketing agency.
And most importantly, we’re both still in the game. I’m running Quantum Leads, a healthcare marketing agency, and Charles helps seven figure entrepreneurs build their personal brands.
The fact that both of them are still in the game is critical because it means they can tell you what is and is not working.
So what do you get when you join Copyblogger Academy?
Instructor Credibility
Copyblogger Academy is a course and community operated by two seven-figure entrepreneurs who have used content marketing to build their businesses.
Charles Miller has built an impressive following of 220,000 followers on X and over 100,000 on LinkedIn. And, he’s helped dozens of other entrepreneurs build their personal brands.
While Charles is a master at social media and personal branding I’ve built multiple seven figure companies through SEO, including a digital marketing agency.
And most importantly, we’re both still in the game. I’m running Quantum Leads, a healthcare marketing agency, and Charles helps seven figure entrepreneurs build their personal brands.
The fact that both of them are still in the game is critical because it means they can tell you what is and is not working.
So what do you get when you join Copyblogger Academy?
Course Content
Content marketing isn’t just about writing blog posts anymore. You also need to understand personal branding, how to craft excellent hooks, and how to write emails.
Additionally, you need to be able to close clients.
That’s why Copyblogger Academy offers six hyper-specific courses:
- High Caliber Copywriting
- Influence to Income
- Conversion Copywriting
- Cashflow Cold Outreach
- Email Seller Playbook
- SEO Profit Powerhouse
Charles and I developed each of these courses, and we have actually used the tactics outlined in these courses to generate millions of dollars.
Community
Additionally, you can ask for feedback directly inside the group, and you’ll get a response from Charles or myself as well as other group members:
There’s also a tab in the community where you can collaborate with other group members:
There are also exclusive monthly mini courses where you can learn new skills from Charles or myself:
Copyblogger Academy is the resource we wish we had earlier in our entrepreneurial career.
Rather than just giving you a course and hoping you figure out the rest, Charles, myself, and the rest of the group will be there with you every step of the way.
Pricing
You can join for just $1 to see if this group is the right fit for you.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Copyblogger Academy is operated by two seven figure entrepreneurs who have built their businesses through writing. Tim Stoddart: Tim has built multiple seven figure businesses, including Copyblogger and a marketing agency. And, content marketing is the primary method he used to generate leads for both. Charles Miller: Charles has over 140k followers on LinkedIn and 220k followers on X. He’s helped multiple entrepreneurs build personal brands on social media that have generated millions of dollars. |
| Content Formats Covered | Copywriting, SEO content, email copywriting, and personal branding |
| Advice Recency | Current: Both Charles and Tim currently operate their own businesses and use content marketing to drive leads. Even as the AI landscape evolves, both of them are dealing with this in their own businesses. |
| Feedback and Individual Support | Personalized: There’s a tab in the community where you can submit your work and ask Tim and Charles for personal feedback. |
| Community | There’s an active community where you can ask unlimited questions, exchange intros, and create engagement groups. |
| Pricing | It’s $1 to join and then you can join the monthly membership. |
2.) HubSpot Content Marketing Course
HubSpot’s Content Marketing Certification Course is a free, 8.5-hour program designed to help marketers develop and execute a comprehensive content marketing strategy.
The course includes 14 lessons, 54 videos, and 11 quizzes and it offers a certification that you can add on LinkedIn.
Instructor Credibility
Most of the courses are taught by Justin Champion, HubSpot’s Global Head of Surround Sound Growth (SEO + AEO), so you’re getting tips from a real expert with experience.
They also have guests like Andy Crestodina (author of Content Chemistry and co-founder of Orbit Media) and Matthew Howells-Barby (Director of Acquisition at HubSpot), both of whom are genuine content marketing experts.
Course Content
The content formats covered include:
- Storytelling and brand positioning
- Blog strategy and SEO frameworks (topic clusters, pillar pages)
- Video marketing strategy
- Guest blogging and repurposing content
- Content promotion and performance measurement
These topics are useful for brands, but the course doesn’t include email marketing or personal branding, both of which are essential for startup founders, side hustlers, and consultants/coaches who want to generate money through content.
Additionally, there isn’t any content related to AI and how to adjust your content strategy to adapt to the modern content marketing landscape.
Community
The course is self-paced and pre-recorded, with no one-on-one feedback or instructor interaction.
You’ll go through the videos and quizzes independently, so there isn’t much support if you get stuck along the way or have trouble executing the material.
In fact, the biggest drawback is the lack of focus on execution.
There is also no community or group for support and networking.
Pricing
The course is completely free and offers a digital certification upon completion.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Justin Champion is HubSpot’s Global Head of Surround Sound Growth (SEO + AEO), so he is a genuine expert who currently executes what he teaches. |
| Content Formats Covered | It primarily covers traditional content marketing strategies, including blogging, guest blogging, and video marketing. |
| Advice Recency | It doesn’t say when these video lessons were recorded, but they won’t continue to be updated. |
| Feedback and Individual Support | It’s a self paced course, so there is no feedback or individual support. |
| Community | There is no community for support. |
| Pricing | The course is free. |
3.) Grow and Convert’s Customers From Content Course & Community
Grow and Convert’s Customers from Content course promises to help you create content that actually drives conversions.
Created and taught by Benji Hyam and Devesh Khanal, this program is based on the same system they’ve used to grow traffic and leads for over 40 B2B and B2C brands, including Leadfeeder, Patreon, CrazyEgg, and CognitiveFX.
They’ve built their brand around the promise that their leads will actually drive conversions rather than just traffic. And, they teach you how to track ROI as well.
Instructor Credibility
Benji Hyam and Devesh Khanal are founders of the Grow and Convert agency, which is known for driving sales rather than just traffic.
They have a well documented system for executing these results, and in this content marketing course, they share each of those systems.
Course Content
The course is broken into five modules:
- Strategy: How to identify high-converting keywords and build a content strategy for B2B, B2C, SaaS, or service businesses.
- Writing: How to write blog content that ranks and resonates, with line-by-line breakdowns of strong vs. weak articles.
- Promotion: Tactical guides for paid and organic promotion, including Facebook, Twitter, influencer outreach, and link building.
- Conversions: How to measure ROI from content, track attribution in Google Analytics, and optimize CTAs for leads.
- Hiring: How to scale operations by finding and managing great writers.
Each lesson includes real client case studies, and Devesh and Benji frequently jump into the comments section to answer questions and help.
The content is also continuously updated and evolves as Benji and Devesh improve their own systems and processes. This is a key differentiator because it means their content updates and evolves with the current marketing landscape.
Community
The course is built directly inside a private discussion forum and members can:
- Ask questions directly to Benji and Devesh and receive detailed written or video feedback.
- Share keyword strategies, outlines, and drafts for review.
- Join monthly live Zoom calls for coaching and strategy teardown sessions.
It feels more like joining an agency apprenticeship than a typical online course.
Pricing
The course offers lifetime access for a one-time payment of $699, or six monthly payments of $135. You then have ongoing access to the community, monthly calls, and all future course updates without any subscription.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Benji and Devesh are both agency owners and the entire course is based on their genuine experience. |
| Content Formats Covered | The course covers each granular detail of content marketing, including keyword research, writing content that converts, content promotion, and tracking conversions. |
| Advice Recency | The course is continuously updated as Devesh and Benji experiment. |
| Feedback and Individual Support | You can ask Benji and Devesh questions directly in the chat and they’ll get back to you with responses. There are also monthly zoom calls. |
| Community | There is an active community you can also use for support. |
| Pricing | It is $699 as a one time payment or six monthly payments of $135. |
4.) Superpath
Superpath isn’t a course per say, but it is a thriving community of content marketers that can help you accelerate your content marketing career.
Founded by Jimmy Daly, a veteran content leader formerly at Animalz, Superpath has become one of the most respected spaces for career development, networking, and advanced content strategy education.
Instructor Credibility
While Jimmy Daly is the leader of Superpath, the real value of Superpath is from the other members and content from leaders at top SaaS and B2B companies like Shopify, HubSpot, Clearscope, Podia, and Intercom.
Course Content
Superpath doesn’t follow a linear curriculum. Instead, it offers graduate-level “mini-courses,” templates, teardowns, and workshops inside the membership area. Here are a few of the topics you can expect to be covered:
- Content strategy development and planning
- SEO and distribution frameworks
- Content analytics and reporting
- Hiring and team management for content leads
- Thought leadership and brand storytelling
However, keep in mind that most of the content on Superpath is focused on blog content for SaaS and it doesn’t cover topics like personal branding, social media content, or video content.
Community and Support
While the courses are helpful, the community is where Superpath shines. Members get access to:
- Private Slack channels with over 400+ active marketers
- Monthly 1:1 peer calls for personalized feedback and networking
- Monthly group calls and AMAs with experienced content leaders
- Weekly coworking sessions to stay accountable
- A no-algorithm, no-clickbait environment focused on real discussion
Superpath is essentially the graduate school for content marketers as it’s less about theory, more about learning from what’s actually working in the field.
Pricing
Superpath offers three pricing tiers:
- Free: Newsletter, podcast, templates, and job board access
- Pro ($50/month or $500/year): Slack access, monthly events, advanced training materials, and AMAs
- Advanced ($1,000/year): Everything in Pro, plus 1:1 coaching calls, exclusive channels, and office hours
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Founded by Jimmy Daly (ex-Animalz), with members from leading B2B and SaaS companies. |
| Content Formats Covered | Less of a course and more of a collaborative community. However, it does have mini courses, teardowns, templates, workshops, and advanced strategy guides. |
| Advice Recency | Constantly updated through real-time peer discussions and monthly expert sessions. |
| Feedback and Individual Support | Exceptional with 1:1 calls, AMAs, and peer feedback loops. |
| Community | One of the strongest in content marketing; over 400+ active pros. |
| Pricing | Free tier available with Pro starting at $50/month or $500/year and Advanced at $1,000/year. |
5.) Ahrefs’ Blogging For Beginners
Ahrefs’ Blogging for Business is a free 5-hour course that promises to help marketers start a blog from scratch, grow it to over 100,000 monthly visitors, and convert that traffic into customers.
The course includes 40 lessons across 11 modules, with no signup required. It’s taught by Ahrefs’ CMO, Tim Soulo, who shares the exact strategies that helped Ahrefs build one of the most successful content-driven SaaS brands in the world.
Instructor Credibility
Tim Soulo is the Chief Marketing Officer at Ahrefs, where he has helped grow the company’s blog to millions of monthly visitors, primarily through organic search.
He’s a well-respected professional in SEO and content marketing circles, having spoken at many of the most well-respected SEO events.
The course also features guest interviews with well-known creators and entrepreneurs, including Noah Kagan (AppSumo), Bryan Harris (Growth Tools), and Ramsay Taplin (Blog Tyrant), who each offer unique insights on audience growth, list building, and monetization.
Course Content
This Ahrefs’ course focuses exclusively on blog-driven content marketing and SEO.
Here are some of the lessons covered:
- The compound effect of content marketing
- Keyword research and search demand analysis
- Content optimization and search intent
- Link-worthy content creation and promotion
- Guest blogging and outreach strategies
It’s a tactical, step-by-step playbook for creating blog content that ranks and covers basic best practices.
However, the biggest drawback of this course is that it was recorded in 2020, and therefore doesn’t include any information on how to adjust to the current search landscape and AI.
Also, it focuses exclusively on blogging and SEO and therefore doesn’t cover other key content formats like email marketing, video, or social media.
Community
Ahrefs does not offer a built-in community for course participants as it is a self paced course.
Pricing
The course is completely free, and it’s now available on YouTube as well.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Tim Soulo is the CMO of Ahrefs and one of the most credible and well respected SEOs in the world. |
| Content Formats Covered | He covers exclusively blogging, so you won’t learn any other types of content marketing, but he is very thorough on blogging. |
| Advice Recency | Unfortunately, this video course was recorded in 2020 and therefore doesn’t offer recent advice on the current landscape with AI. |
| Feedback and Individual Support | There is no feedback or individual support as it’s a self paced course. |
| Community | The only community is the comments section. |
| Pricing | It’s free. |
6.) Semrush Academy Content Marketing
Semrush offers a variety of different content marketing courses, and the two we’ll focus on are:
Both of these courses were recorded in 2022, so slightly before the AI boom. However, they still contain excellent information with real case studies supporting each tactic.
Instructor Credibility
Brian Dean is one of the most well-respected SEO influencers, having created and sold the SEO blog, Backlinko, to Semrush.
He also started and sold the SaaS brand Exploding Topics to Semrush, so he has genuine experience using SEO to grow a successful company.
Course Content
The topics covered in the two courses are slightly different, so here’s an overview of each.
Advanced Content Marketing (21+ lessons, 4-17 minutes each, about 4 hours total)
- Step-by-step process for growing a blog quickly.
- Blog post frameworks such as Step-by-Step Guides, Be the Source, Curated Lists, Content Hubs, Annual Guides, and How-I-Did-It posts.
- Techniques for driving traffic, generating email subscribers, and optimizing for conversions.
- Pre-launch and launch content strategies for selling products from your blog.
- Tips on lead magnets, popups, and using content to convert readers into customers.
Content-Led SEO (29 lessons, 7-26 minutes each, about 6 hours total)
- Focuses on ranking high in Google and driving traffic through content designed for “Linkreators” (people who share and link to content).
- Advanced content frameworks: Trademark Technique, Go-To Guidebook, Expanded List Post, AwardsBait, Industry Studies, Crowdsourced Manuals, Detailed Checklists.
- Link-building strategies: Content Curator, Renovation, Roundup Link Building.
- Optimizing CTR, dwell time, and search intent.
- Copywriting foundations and scaling content production.
Both courses include worksheets, templates, and step-by-step instructions, making it easy to implement strategies immediately.
Brian does a great job making each lesson concise, actionable, and practical with examples to support each action item.
The biggest drawback of these courses is that they are several years old and therefore don’t contain up-to-date case studies.
Community and Support
Unfortunately, there is not a community as these are self paced courses.
Pricing
The courses are free.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko and Exploding Topics. He is a globally recognized SEO and content expert with millions of readers. |
| Content Formats Covered | Advanced blogging frameworks, content campaigns, SEO optimization, link building, traffic growth, lead generation, and conversion optimization. |
| Advice Recency | Recorded in 2022 |
| Feedback and Individual Support | There is no feedback or one on one support. |
| Community | There is no community |
| Pricing | Free |
7.) CXL Content Marketing Course
The CXL Content Marketing Research Course is approximately an hour long and comprises six lessons that cover how to develop and execute an effective content marketing strategy.
It’s excellent if you want a relatively quick overview of basic content marketing that works and how to build a strategy.
This content marketing course doesn’t delve into the details of how to write content, but I appreciate that it discusses how to distribute it effectively.
Instructor Credibility
The course is taught by Derek Gleason, who is currently the SEO and Content Lead at Shopify.
Derek oversees nearly 90 long-form posts per year and manages a content library of over 700 posts. Before Shopify, he spent years at a digital marketing agency, developing content strategies and managing SEO for major clients, like Twitter, Land O’Lakes, and Virginia Tech.
Therefore, all the strategies you’ll learn in this course are based on real experiences that Derek has used to help Shopify grow.
Course Content
The course offers a comprehensive overview of creating and executing an effective content marketing strategy.
Here’s an overview of what you’ll learn:
- Identifying content topics
- How to audit existing content
- How to distribute content
- How to identify themes and topics
- How to turn topics into strategy
This content was published in 2024, although there are no direct references to how AI has impacted the current landscape.
Community and Support
The course is self-paced, and doesn’t offer any direct feedback from the instructor. Additionally, there is no built-in community for peer support or networking.
Pricing
This is a paid course, and CXL offers three different subscription options:
- Annual at $133/month ($1599 paid yearly)
- Quarterly at $183/month ($549 paid quarterly)
- Monthly at $289/month
You can also purchase this single course for a one-time fee of $299.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | It is taught by Derek Gleason, the SEO and Content Lead at Shopify. He also has extensive experience in SEO and content strategy for major brands like Twitter and Virginia Tech. |
| Content Formats Covered | It provides an overview of how to create a general content marketing strategy. It does not contain any advice on actually writing articles. |
| Advice Recency | Recorded in 2024 |
| Feedback and Individual Support | None |
| Community | No |
| Pricing | $299 for a one time purchase |
8.) Content Marketing Masterclass: Create Content That Sells (Udemy)
The Content Marketing Masterclass is an all-in-one marketing course designed for entrepreneurs, marketers, and business owners who want to master content creation, promotion, copywriting, SEO, email marketing, and more.
Instructor Credibility
The course is taught by Brad Merrill, the CEO of Merrill Media.
He founded VentureBreak, an innovation news site where he personally interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs, and later sold it in 2015.
Merrill also runs mDash Courses, where he creates simple yet experience-backed courses for students in 180+ countries. However, his own broad experience makes the content marketing course somewhat broad. For example, instead of laser focusing on blog and LinkedIn content, his course offers more general guidance on storytelling, the AIDA framework, web design best practices, and other broader topics.
Therefore, his course isn’t quite as specific as some of the other options.
Course Content
The course is 3 hours and 46 minutes long, divided into 95 lectures across 14 sections. It covers every stage of content marketing, from strategy to promotion.
Here’s an overview of the content:
- Marketing Fundamentals: Understand the cognitive buying journey, AIDA framework, and classic marketing principles.
- Content Marketing Essentials: Learn storytelling, defining goals, and creating detailed buyer personas.
- Web Design for Marketing: Optimize your website for content, lead capture, and user experience.
- Content Ideation: Build a system to consistently generate new, high-value content ideas.
- Copywriting: Master headlines, structure, tone, calls-to-action, and editing to write persuasive content.
- Types of Content: Explore effective content formats including lists, tutorials, interviews, reviews, research, case studies, and more.
- Content Formats and Repurposing: Learn to turn one piece of content into multiple assets for maximum reach.
- SEO Fundamentals: Optimize content for search engines to drive consistent organic traffic.
- Content Promotion: Promote content across social media, guest posting, niche communities, and external channels.
- Email Marketing: Grow your email list, create lead magnets, and nurture subscribers into buyers.
- External Marketing Channels: Leverage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms to boost reach.
- Analytics and Measurement: Track performance and optimize campaigns for better ROI.
This course was last updated in July 2023, but there isn’t any mention of AI and its impact on the current marketing landscape.
It’s also much broader than some of the other courses.
Community and Support
The course is self-paced with no direct instructor feedback. However, Udemy’s Q&A and reviews sections allow you to ask questions.
There is no dedicated community, though students can engage via Udemy’s platform for questions and discussion.
Pricing
If you have a Udemy plan, it’s included in that plan. Otherwise, it is $109.99.
| Factor | Details |
| Instructor Credibility | Brad Merrill is a media entrepreneur and the CEO of Merrill Media. |
| Content Formats Covered | Content strategy, storytelling, buyer personas, SEO, copywriting, email marketing, social media promotion, analytics, and lead generation. |
| Advice Recency | Last updated in July 2023, so it doesn’t include a lot of new AI advancements |
| Feedback and Individual Support | Self-paced, but there is only very limited instructor interaction via Udemy Q&A. |
| Community | None |
| Pricing | $109.99 (Udemy premium) |
Choosing The Best Content Marketing Course For You
There isn’t a definitive “best” content marketing course for all people, as it really depends on your goals and learning style.
Specifically, does the course teach the topics you’re interested in? Has the instructor achieved the success you aspire to achieve? Does the course structure offer the community and instructor support you need?
If you’re looking for a course and community that offers guidance in personal branding, content marketing, email marketing, and copywriting, consider joining Copyblogger Academy.
You’ll have access to courses on all of these topics, and you’ll also have access to a community of other marketers and side hustlers with similar goals.
You can also ask for feedback on your work from the community and Charles and I.Try Copyblogger Academy today for just $1.
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