IMO the only way to learn is to make a quick Wordpress site on one of those easy 1 click install hosts and start writing content and marketing it. (It's easy to get lost playing with the backend of websites so don't even give yourself the ability to do it)
That is just one kind of digital marketing. Getting traffic to a site is not the same thing as getting a business to buy a product. And selling a SaaS product is different then selling a service or a physical device. Every different goal has different channels that will work, different audiences, and thereby needs different marketing plans.
To really understand digital marketing, you first need to understand marketing in general, and then learn how to apply it to digital channels.
Yeah but driving traffic to a blog teaches the basics and core ideas. What is seo, what is ppc, what is good copywriting, how to find a niche, pick an audience, learn analytics etc. Won't teach you everything, but its how I got started.
Get a free yoursite.wordpress.com blog, write about something you enjoy, start posting links and content in forums/social media/etc. Install analytics and poke around. All the articles/etc are good starting grounds, but you just have to build something, mess around, and break it a couple times.