Whether you want to level up your writing so you can market your business, write a book, or become a professional freelance author, there’s an online writing course for you. In this guide, we’ll show you the best free writing courses online.
🔎 We’ll look at three types of writing courses:
There’s a lot to learn, 👨🎓 so let’s dive into this list of the best free writing courses online!
Best free copywriting courses ✒️
1. Free Copywriting Course: Make Money with $0 in One Month
We’re starting our list of free writing courses online with one of the most in-depth free copywriting courses around. Free Copywriting Course: Make Money with $0 in One Month contains 19 video lessons. The lessons cover broad subjects, like copywriting structure, and more specific topics, like how to write sales copy and marketing emails. You’ll also get information about how to search for copywriting clients.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Complete beginners who want to learn how to build a robust copywriting business.
🎯 Goals: Understand how to build a copywriting business, from creating a variety of copy types to finding your first high-quality client.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with a thorough understanding of copywriting principles and techniques. In addition, you’ll be equipped with the tools you need to start building your client list.
2. Introduction into Copywriting, Content Writing & Persuasion
If you’re looking for free writing courses online, Udemy is a great place to start, and this is one of the best Udemy courses for copywriting. It starts with an introduction to copywriting basics, then dives into specific types of copywriting, like ad writing for social media platforms (e.g., Facebook and Instagram). You’ll also get access to some PDF resources and quizzes to help make sure you understand the lessons.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Beginner copywriters who want to focus on writing for social media marketing and ads.
🎯 Goals: Understand the basics of copywriting and learn how to create ads for platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with a better understanding of persuasive writing and specific tools for creating social media content and ads.
3. Copywriting for Beginners and Pros
This is a 14-part video course that goes beyond basics like headlines and calls to action (CTAs) to explain core copywriting concepts, like customer journeys and how to use storytelling in marketing. The course also provides a series of exercises you can do to help you better understand how these concepts work when put into practice.
🤔 Who this course is best for: This course is best for people who have some experience with copywriting, but don’t yet consider themselves experts.
🎯 Goals: Understand customer journeys, pain points, and storytelling in marketing. This way you can create copy that connects with customers and persuades them to make a purchase.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with a deeper understanding of how to use psychology and storytelling to create persuasive copy. The practical exercises will also help you understand how these strategies work when put into practice.
Best free business writing courses 💼
1. High-Impact Business Writing
High-Impact Business Writing is a course offered by the University of California, Irvine, made available through Coursera. Coursera also is one of the best places to find free writing courses online. The course is four weeks long and covers the basics of business writing, as well as more specialized information like how to write business reports.
By default, this course is set to be part of a specialization to earn a certificate for display on your LinkedIn. This option costs money, so you’ll need to choose “Audit the course” to access course materials for free.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Beginners who want to understand the basics of creating written business communications.
🎯 Goals: Understand the most common types of business communication and how to write them effectively.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with the skills you need to write basic business documents like reports, as well as a better understanding of spelling and grammar.
2. Complete Guide for Effective Business Communication
This course is all about how to write business communication documents in a clear, concise manner. It’s divided into five sections and offers lessons on both verbal business communication and written communication. The final section teaches you how to use both types of communication skills in the workplace.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Beginners who want to learn both written and verbal business communications skills to help them perform better in their jobs.
🎯 Goals: Understand both written and verbal business communication and how they can be applied in a variety of workplaces.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with the tools you need to communicate in professional spaces effectively.
3. Better Business Writing in English
Offered by the Georgia Institute of Technology via Coursera, this course will teach you how to write business proposals, reports, and PowerPoint presentation slides. You can also get a certificate for completing this course, although you can’t bundle it into any Coursera specializations.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Beginners who want to learn specialized business writing skills like creating proposals.
🎯 Goals: Understand how to write clear, concise business documents and develop your personal writing voice.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with the knowledge you need to write specific business documents. These include proposals and PowerPoint presentation slides (note that it will not teach you how to actually use PowerPoint).
Best free creative writing courses ⌨️
1. Start Writing Fiction
FutureLearn is one of the best places to look for free writing courses online. That’s also where you’ll find this highly recommended course from The Open University. Start Writing Fiction is eight weeks long and will teach you how to build a writing habit, create a story, develop characters, and edit your work.
Don’t want to take the full eight weeks? You can spring for a paid subscription to this course for $27.99 for the first two months ($39.99 after). This will also give you access to other courses provided by The Open University.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Beginners looking to write their first fictional story.
🎯 Goals: Understand story, character, and the editing process.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with all the tools you need to complete your first fictional story.
2. Memoir and Personal Essay: Write About Yourself
This “course” is actually a Coursera specialization that consists of four courses on key topics related to writing memoirs and personal essays. You’ll learn how to manage your relationship with readers, write in first person, write a personal essay, and write stories about yourself.
Note that the default signup option will tell you to enroll in the full specialization with a free seven-day trial. In order to access the courses for free, you’ll need to select a single course from the list. Then choose “Audit the course” during the signup process. Users who are auditing a course cannot participate in graded quizzes or assignments and will not be eligible for a certificate. However, you can sign up to audit all four courses at once.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Beginners interested in writing their personal stories.
🎯 Goals: Understand storytelling techniques and the writing process as a whole.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with all the tools you need to complete your first series of personal essays and/or write a full memoir.
3. Creative Writing: The Craft of Character
This course is offered by Wesleyan University through Coursera and can be taken on its own or as part of the Creative Writing Specialization. It’s five weeks long and focuses on topics like discovering characters, creating characters on the page, as well as dialogue and monologue.
Like the Memoir and Personal Essay courses, this course will ask you to enroll in a free trial for the paid version. In order to take this course for free, select “Audit the course” during the signup process. This will give you access to the core course materials for free. Unfortunately, you won’t get access to the quizzes, graded assignments, or certification, though. However, the video course materials will teach you everything you need to know to start creating fascinating characters.
🤔 Who this course is best for: Intermediate writers who want to level up their character creation and development skills.
🎯 Goals: Understand how to create characters in a variety of ways and how to develop existing characters.
⌛ Results you can expect: You can expect to finish this course with all the tools you need to create fascinating characters. Plus, you’ll have a deeper understanding of how characters fit within a narrative.
Final advice on the best free writing courses online
The great thing about living in the internet age is that if you want to learn something, you can probably find a way to learn it for free. In this article, we’ve looked at nine of the best free writing courses online.
✒️ If you want to become a copywriter, consider these courses:
💼 If you want to write better business documents, consider these courses:
⌨️ If you want to get into creative writing, consider these courses:
💡 If you enjoyed this roundup of the best free writing courses online then you’ll also probably appreciate our guide to the 20 best freelance writing websites. Check it out!
Do you have any other writing courses that you’ve taken that you think should’ve made our list? Let us know in the comments below!