Many of today’s Internet marketing solutions rely upon writers producing interesting and informative content to be posted on websites, article databases, blogs and forums. Since many companies don’t always regularly employ copywriters, a multitude of freelance writing jobs are posted online on various job sites typically geared towards online writing opportunities.
The amount of writing jobs posted online can be overwhelming, but if you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can easily zero in on the types of online writing jobs that you are most skilled for, and earn a significant sum of money or even a career, all while working at home.
While some freelance job sites may contain many different types of job postings, there are a few main online writing jobs that companies are seeking freelance writers for.
1. Copywriter – This is typically the main type of writer businesses are hiring for. Typically, the copywriter will be sought for writing a variety of content, but more often than not the focus will be on articles that can be utilized for website content or newsletters, or article databases. Other types of content you may be asked to write would be press releases, product descriptions or reviews, advertising copy, or copy for email marketing campaigns.
2. Article Rewriter – The article rewriter is a copywriter who is skilled at taking an already existing article and rewriting so as to appear as a completely new article. Writers who are particularly skilled at rewriting will also be able to insert a fresh perspective while also maintaining the original subject of the article. Article rewrites are usually required by companies for the purpose of newsletters or submitting to article databases.
3. Blogger – Sometimes a company will hire a freelancer specifically for creating blog posts. The writer will be expected to write a multitude of blog posts for one or more blogs, and sometimes will be expected to post them as well.
4. Transcriber – The transcriber is retained for transcription services, typically from audio files that are sent to the writer.
5. Editing & Proofreading – Not exactly a copywriter, but still closely associated, the editor or proofreader will take existing content or articles and examine it for proper grammar and spelling, and will ensure that it reads well. It should be noted that content written for the web is typically edited somewhat differently than content written for a book or magazine article.
6. Forum Posting – Somewhat similar to blog posting, but the focus is usually on various forums related to the industry of the company you are hired by. The intention is to engage in a dialogue on various forum threads, which serves to increase brand awareness of the company as well as usually provide a link back to the company’s website or related landing page.
7. Product Reviews and Descriptions – As the name implies, you will be hired to write several reviews of various products, or product descriptions. You may or may not be given the actual products – sometimes you will be required to compile a review based on already existing reviews.
There are of course many other subcategories of copywriter, such as medical writer, technical writer, travel writing, academic writing, and more. You can browse through sites such as freelancer.com or online-writing-jobs.com to get more of an idea what types of copywriting and related jobs await you when you enter the world of freelance writing.
