Freelancing is one of the best ways to get started quickly with working from home. Perhaps you’re tired of your day job? Or just want to earn a little side cash? Whatever your reason, there’s no denying that freelance jobs are on the rise. In today’s technology dependent society there has never been a better time to get started in freelancing. But what types of freelance jobs are there?

If you’re reading this then you’re probably thinking about going freelance but are a little unsure of how to get started. Before anything else, it helps to know what types of freelance jobs are the most common and what skills you might want to brush up on or even learn. As you’ll discover from this article, there are many different types of freelance jobs available in just one particular category – which is great news for you!

Finding your niche within the freelance job market is super crucial to leveraging your time, money and ultimately finding something you’d love to do. We discuss this more in our freelancing guide. But for now, here are the 7 most common types of freelance jobs

1. Freelance Writer

There is an increasing demand for quality writers around the globe as the digital world continues to flourish. Freelance writing is great for those who love to write their heart out, either creatively or in more formal styles. There are many different types of freelance writing jobs that are in demand. These include:

• writing articles
• copy writing for ads and public relations
• marketing
• blogging
• research work and informational products
• ghostwriting for book and ebooks

These are but a few examples, but among those often sought by online businesses and clients. Any of these can be something you can do as your starting point for freelance writing. One of the best things about being a freelance writer is being able to control your time. You really can work from almost anywhere, anytime. It’s also easy to get started with working as a freelance writer because there’s often no need to purchase or acquire special software to get started. All you need to have is access to computer or laptop, have a decently reliable internet connection, and use any word-processing software you may already have to begin. If you have these basics, you can get started as quickly as you’d like.

Thinking your lacking experience? Think again. Most freelance writing jobs require little to no experience. You don’t need a degree in marketing, english literature and so on to become a freelance writer. Depending on your niche you could provide proficiency in your writing ability through your resume (about me section) and it would be helpful to link any pieces of writing you have done in the past. If you’ve never had any experience with writing an article or essay ever, then you could simply write an model example article to your prospective employer. It’s really that simple and what’s more – it works!

2. Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant job varies immensely. For some it could include administration support, replying to emails, customer support, scheduling meetings for your employer or managing a certain kind of project. On the other hand, many virtual assistant jobs tend to crossover with freelancing writing. What makes them different from each other is that virtual assistant jobs often include a wide range of additional tasks beyond simply writing. Unlike freelance writers, virtual assistant freelancers may also handle things such as email and chat support, research, managing communications, and scheduling.

It all depends on the type of tasks their client needs them for, but overall, a virtual assistant’s tasks and responsibilities often match those of an office assistant in the offline world. Just think of it as someone who works as a personal assistant to somebody, except that they don’t work in an office or follow their employer or client around all day. And just like freelance writers, it’s easy to get started working as a virtual assistant if you are skilled, quick to learn, and have the basic tools to get working online.

Know code? Confident with HTML? Freelance web development or programming may be for you.

3. Freelance Web Developer or Programmer

This is a more specific and experience required expertise but nonetheless a great freelancing option. With the internet rapidly taking over world, everything has gone digital – including businesses. Businesses and even individuals are promoting themselves online far more than they would offline. The demand for websites whether it be cooperate or personal, continue to increase as the world shifts towards having a greater online presence.

If you are already a web developer or programmer then that’s great! You already have all the necessary skills and experience to jump right on board. We recommend that you start to think about your niche – where do your specialities lie? What kind of service are you going to provide? How are you going to brand yourself? Defining your ‘niche’ is crucial to making it in the freelance web developer and programming world.

Have little to no experience with web development or programming? Don’t rule this one completely out! There are plenty of resources online for you to get started, so much so that it can actually be a little overwhelming! We know plenty of people who had no experience with web development whatsoever and within a few months taught themselves HTML, CSS and WordPress. Those basic skills alone are enough to get your foot in the door when it comes to the world of freelance. If you have no experience with coding or want to brush up your skills we recommend the following sites:

• Udemy
• Codecademy
• Treehouse
• Lynda

4. Graphic Designer

Graphic designing is another type of freelance job that is in huge demand. What makes a good graphic designer is a little more subjective than others, since it requires you to have a certain level of craftsmanship and creativity. Like with all types of freelance jobs, being a freelance graphic designer requires you to decide your speciality and niche. Perhaps you want to solely focus on creating logos for companies? Perhaps your area is typography? Or t-shirt mockups? Maybe it’s less on the craft and more on the audience. Perhaps you focus solely on creating content for weddings? Or eCommerce stores? And the list goes on.

Are you new to graphic design? Once you’ve decided on the type of graphic design work you’re going to focus and your niche, it’s important to then do some research on how other graphic designers are pitching themselves in that market. Do they use online job boards such as freelancer or Elance? What types of rates are they charging? How can you improve your portfolio?

If you have no experience in graphic design then don’t expect to get any work. Again for this type of freelance job, it’s less about your degree and more on your portfolio of work. You need to have something to back yourself up. Offer to help design a logo for a local business or a friends band. Show off your creative side with some more personal projects you’ve done, or simply provide model examples of the type of work you could do. Experience doesn’t necessarily mean previous employable experience, it’s all about showing what you can offer.

5. Bookkeeping

There is also a place in freelancing for those who are into traditional accounting type jobs. Some business owners don’t want to handle the bookkeeping side of their business themselves, which is why many opt to look for someone else to do it for them. If you’re well-versed with accounting or bookkeeping, your skills are surely in demand as well. If you haven’t learned to make use of modern bookkeeping and accounting software yet, you should learn it first, even now, as you will be needing knowledge in this area to find work online. If you already know how to handle this type of work without software, it won’t be too difficult to learn at all. As long as you know how things work with accounting and bookkeeping, doing the job with a digital partner will be just as easy for you.

Passionate about photography?

6. Freelance Photography

Freelance photography is one of the most popular types of freelance jobs. It’s also a rather interesting one because it’s not limited to simply taking photos for a particular client. However, if you want to go down the traditional route then you need to have a good and relevant portfolio. Don’t fret if you haven’t had any actual previous experience in terms of photography gigs, this portfolio is simply a reflection of your best work and that can be personal. Like all types of freelance jobs, you should identify your niche. Some examples include of freelance photography includes:

• wedding photographer
• wildlife photographer
• pet photographer
• fashion photographer
• music/concert photographer
• child/family photographer
• portrait photography
• stock photo photographer
• lifestyle photographer

Apart from lifestyle photographer, you can see that freelance photography can get pretty specific. It’s much easier to approach a potential client and pitch yourself when you already know where your speciality lies. A lifestyle photographer tends to be someone who is a jack of all trades and so mainly works with brands to sell a certain type of ‘lifestyle’.

If you’re interested in going into a creative field like photography, there are great online learning websites such as Skillshare, specifically aimed at freelance creatives. It’s a great way to see if it’s something for you, to improve your skills and get great advice from those who successfully do it!

7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is a process of optimizing a website in order to rank as highly as possible in search engines for keywords that relate to the content of that website. Google is by far the most used and important search engine and so it’s the main focus for SEO purposes.

The thing about SEO is that you can learn all the theory on it (and trust me there’s a lot) but you can only really get good at it through experience. Unlike all the other types of freelance jobs, this one really does require both the know-how and the results. However, one thing people do get wrong with SEO is that they think they have to know everything about SEO. This isn’t true, you simply have to know more than the person paying you do the work.

There is a lot of information out there on the best SEO techniques and strategies and the information can vary quite a lot. If you plan on becoming an SEO freelancer you must stay up to date with Google’s latest updates, algorithms and SEO techniques and practices – even the most experienced SEO professionals have to. We recommend you purchase in an online SEO course, again through such online learning sites like Udemy. There’s 4 main areas to SEO that an SEO freelancer should have in their toolbelt:

• keyword research
• competitive analysis
• on-site analysis
• link building

Just know that you simply cannot blag this. If you try to, your failed or lacking results will prove otherwise anyway.The best way to get some SEO experience under your belt is simply to start practising on your own sites. If you have a friend with a website that’s performing badly, or just simply isn’t optimized, then why not offer to help improve their SEO for free. There’s good money to be made from SEO freelance since so many businesses are now online and want to make sure their website ranks for their chosen keywords and services.

There Are Many Types of Freelance Jobs to Choose From

Overall it’s pretty clear that there are many types of freelance jobs to choose from. Whilst we’ve only listed 7 of the most common types of freelance jobs, as we have shown, they can each be broken down into sub-categories and niches. With everything become connected through the digital world there has never been more opportunity for those thinking of getting started with freelance. We highly encourage that once you’ve chosen the type of freelance job you want to do, you then go a step further and break it down into certain areas of speciality. Whilst there is a lot of opportunity out there, there is also increasing competition. So by having a clear picture of what your ideal customer/client is from the get-go, will only make this process a whole lot easier.