Most people who earn their living by writing sometimes want to work from home. We don’t know whether the prevailing love towards written speech instead of face-to-face communication is the reason or the result of such introspective stay-at-home behavior and we won’t try to figure this out. Let the psychologists deal with it.
What we want to do with this article is to solve the more essential problem of what job to choose if you love writing, but prefer to do it from home. Here you will see a description of the 7 most popular jobs of 2018 for masters of words. The main benefit of each position listed here is that you can work within each of them from any place in the world with a fast and reliable Internet connection.
Academic writer
Academic writing, editing, and proofreading are the most popular jobs for students, recently graduated people with no experience, teachers, and those seeking a part-time job online. Academic writers provide help with composing different types of papers in different disciplines, from simple English 101 essays for schoolchildren to physics research papers for university students.
Along with the possibility for a writer to choose the volume of work he or she is willing to perform during a week, this job also allows choosing the fields of writing a person is an expert in. On the other hand, it is the opportunity to study new subjects and topics while completing papers on them, which is the part academic writers find especially motivating and challenging about the job.
Copywriter
In the Ogilvy era, only the creative forces of advertising agencies were called “copywriters.” But modern copywriters, along with advertisements, create millions of other types of content on the Internet as well. They write texts for the billions of sites there are online, as the Internet is a content-based structure always hungry for new data. They write posts for blogs. They write product reviews and sales presentations. They write posts for business accounts on social media. They write the emails you will get from sites, applications, and online shops. They are the main tool for content marketing, and the new instrument of sales. They create engagement and interaction, connecting a brand with customers.
Most copywriters in small companies also cover the duties of an SMM specialist, SEO copywriter, UX writer, and technical writer. However, in big companies, the duties are differentiated among positions.
SEO copywriter
Fortunately, over the past ten years, search engines have become smarter. However, it is important to understand that search robots are not human. They work only within the parameters set by the program without the ability to go beyond these parameters. The person who came to the site, however, will easily determine the quality of the content and, if it is of poor quality, will leave the site. This will be a negative signal for search engines that track behavioral factors very well.
This is why modern sites need SEO-copywriters whose job is to insert keywords into interesting and informative texts naturally and organically so that the user won’t leave the landing page immediately. SEO writing is the ideal occupation for those who love verbal puzzles. Those who like managing challenging tasks like “writing an interesting and exciting story within 1500 words about doorknobs” will also find this job attractive.
SMM specialist
The ideal position for those who follow digital trends and love social media. A social media marketing specialist creates content plans, writes posts, responds to users’ comments on business account posts, monitors the reputation of a business online, and apologizes to customers of the business if something goes wrong.
The job duties of the position differ in each company, and while in some cases an SMM specialist is more of a blogger, in other cases he or she is a marketer to a greater extent. In both cases, an SMM specialist should understand the target audience well, its needs, and be aware that conversion is much more important than creative content.
UX writer
This is probably the most remarkable position on the list. These writers compose texts that influence user experience on sites and applications. Now is the golden era of microcopy, and modern UX writers can be compared with advertising copywriters of the 60s, as each word of theirs is meaningful. A UX writer creates texts for buttons you would want to press, the push notifications you would want to read, oops-notifications you will laugh at, comments that make the order form perfectly clear, and sweet 404-page texts. They are also in charge of explanations for the login names and passwords you enter that should contain underscores, numbers, punctuation marks, capital letters, a plot, a conclusion, and intrigue to fit the safety policy of the site.
UX writing is a perfect choice for those who need constant feedback, as the effectiveness of microcopy can be calculated as soon as it is uploaded to a site. The job has one downside if the reason why you prefer working online is that you want to do your job alone. A UX writer works in close connection with designers, and for effective cooperation, there should be either the opportunity to speak to each other all the time or well-tuned communication channels and the ability to work simultaneously with one document.
Technical writer
It is the most difficult job for linguists and language specialists. Here, in addition to writing skills, a person should have a deep knowledge in the technical sphere as well. Technical writers describe innovations and compose tutorials for techies. In order to be an effective technical writer, you need to have a good handle of IT and technology or have an incredible ability to learn.
The most difficult part of the job is that such a writer must explain complex things in simple language. However, the position has some advantages as well. Technical writers are in constant demand in IT and tech markets, and they have the highest average wages compared to other positions from this list.
Journalist/blogger
There are reporters who describe what is happening in the world. There are journalists who analyze what has happened. There are interviewers whose main task is to talk to people and ask the right questions. And there are investigative journalists who find information that no one wants to share with the public. Hundreds of adventurous films were shot about them. It is the images of Clark Kent (Superman), Bob Woodward (the one who initiated the Watergate scandal), Raul Duke (why not, quite a bright character), and many others that have pushed many of us into the world of writing.
Modern bloggers also belong to category of journalists. Moreover, today more and more of them, living on donations, can write truly independent investigation articles, or honest and objective product reviews. Anybody can become one, although most of the time bloggers who’ve just started to create content have to settle for likes and shares, which are rarely converted into money.
How to get a job
Which job is easier to get?
If you are not a marketer, linguist, or journalist, if you are still learning, if you currently have no experience in writing, or if you understand that despite a great desire, there is a lot more you have to learn, try academic writing. As a rule, academic writing services do not require special experience from employees, although good English and the ability to express oneself coherently are usually musts.
Social media and blogging
If you have some extra hours in your week, try blogging! Even if you think you yourself or your hobby are boring, when you create unique content on a topic you love, your audience finds you. The stories of modern popular bloggers show that you never know where things you really love can lead you.
Social networks provide incredible opportunities for modern people who want to spread and share what they do, be it pictures, songs, cake decorations, handmade clothes, or novels. Today, if you make a good product, you can become famous for it with minimum labor efforts and money spent, with simple (but proper!) social media accounts.
Start it! Make your personal account more professional, or create a new account or blog dedicated to your writing. Create a podcast or a YouTube channel! It doesn’t have to be exclusively on writing, as employers can see whether a person is capable of creating high-quality content through texts on any subject. Running an account doesn’t require a lot of money from you, but dramatically increases your attractiveness in the eyes of employers. Be careful as well. It is crazy how difficult it is to delete information from the Internet once it is there.
Freelance platforms
The pros and cons of freelancing have been described numerous times, and only you can decide what to choose: work for one employer who provides you with a stable workload, a salary, social insurance, and the ability to work online from wherever you are, or independent sailing on the freelance marketplace with all the benefits and all the risks of self-employment. If you prefer the second option, create a portfolio. Don’t forget to read the taxation laws for freelance activity in your country, and choose only reliable customers.
Whatever type of writing online you choose as a job, we wish you success, inspiration, and self-confidence! Being happy with what you do is possible—all you have to do is choose the right job.
