These days, the whole making money on the internet thing is no longer as novel as it was a decade ago.
Millions of people are doing it, and so you may finally be at the point where you’re saying: “If so many other people have created successful online businesses, then maybe I really can do it myself.”
I’m going to tell it to you straight: you can.
But with dozens of different types of businesses you can choose from, you should be deliberate in how you get started if you’re new to the whole online business world.
My best advice? Try your hand at freelance writing.
There are a lot of reasons as to why you should start freelance writing, but the basics are:
- It’s a skill you’ve already got
- There’s a ton of demand
- It’s easy to start quickly
But where do you start exactly?
8 Remote Writing Jobs (Even a Total Beginner Can Do)
Prefer to watch? Here’s the video version of this post:
Well, that’s what we’re going to cover in this post. I’m going to share with you 8 remote writing jobs that you can do from home (or on the road) and are perfect for the beginning freelance writer.
1) Email Outreach: An underrated remote writing job
We included email outreach as our first remote writing jobs, because I think it’s one of the most under-the-radar opportunities out there right now.
As bloggers and businesses are continuing to double down on content marketing for their businesses, they’re also more actively working on their search engine optimization.
One of the ways they’re doing this is by sending out emails by the hundreds to other website owners asking for guest posts and links. If you don’t know, links are the currency of the internet. The more links that point back to you, the better your site will do in search rankings.
The problem? Most people are horrible at this type of outreach. They automate it and make it impersonal, leading to poor results.
If you can hone your skills at writing personalized emails to real people, and build up those relationships on behalf of a blog owner? There is true value there and it’s something a lot of people will pay for.
The best way to get started? Ironically enough: cold email outreach.
Resources to Check out:
- How to Write a Pitch – This will at least point you in the right direction for how to send high-quality, personalized emails.
- Rewriting the Worst Freelance Pitch Ever – In this video, I breakdown exactly why this particular outreach email is so bad, and rewrite it to make it much better.
- Premium: How to Pitch: The Ultimate Guide for Sending Cold Emails – This course is one of the most underrated things we’ve ever created here.
2) Transcription Writing: An excellent place for beginners to start
There’s nothing overly sexy about transcribing content.
Essentially you listen to someone talk in a video, podcast, audio-note – and then you type out what you hear. There are automated services out there for this, but a lot of people prefer the extra accuracy of a human doing it.
There’s also a big opportunity in translation work if you can speak two languages, or if you’re considering freelance writing as a non-native English speaker.
Resources to Check Out:
- 23 Places to Find Freelance Transcription Jobs – Everything you need to know to get started as a transcriptionist!
- Rev – This is the most well-known transcription service out there, and a great starting point for finding a remote transcription job.
- Transcribeme – Another company similar to Rev. The pay is definitely entry-level, but this is a great entry point to other remote writing jobs on the list.
3) Proofreading Jobs: Just Don’t Be a Jerk About It
With millions of blog posts being published on a daily basis, that means there are millions of grammatical and spelling errors, also being published on a daily basis.
Guaranteed, there will be at least one on this post.
Are you someone with great attention to detail? Then you may be an excellent proofreader or editor.
Sure, there are AI services like Grammarly out there, that will do a lot of this for you. But honestly? They’re not perfect. Far from it.
I can't think of a good reason why anyone shouldn't at least have the free version of Grammarly installed. It's SO incredibly helpful. And if you upgrade? It's even more useful. Here's a free month of Grammarly premium on us.
*Free plans and paid plans.
Some businesses swear by having a proofreader check their services, while others will prefer not to spend money on it and do it themselves.
But this is one remote writing job that can be very lucrative if you find the right client.
Just one word of advice…
If you do cold outreach to bloggers offering proofreading services, don’t be a jerk. Choosing one of their blog posts and marking it up with red ink to show “how bad” their published work is? That’s a great way to get your email deleted and not get the job.
Resources to Check Out:
- Indeed.com – I’ve often found part-time proofreading jobs here, and it’s a good place to keep an eye on if looking for this type of work.
- Proofreading Services – Another website that hires proofreaders for their clients.
- Fiverr – Throw up a profile on Fiverr. You never know when someone will come knocking on your door.
- 40 Places to Get High-Paying Proofreading Jobs Online – An excellent starting point if you’re looking for proofreading jobs.
4) Blog Content Writing: Where most new freelancers start
Ah the blog content writing generalist, the ultimate entry point for people who truly want to look at freelance writing as a career.
With over 4 million blog posts being published each day there’s an incredible need for content out there to keep up with the competition.
As such there are so many opportunities for new freelance writers right now.
All of the experts will say “you have to niche down!” – which honestly, isn’t bad advice.
But here’s the good news: if you don’t have a niche? You can still be a successful remote freelance writer!
But regardless of whether or not you become a freelance writing generalist, or if you already have a niche in mind, this is a fantastic place for beginners to start. It can be a lucrative longterm career, or the ultimate bridge business.
Check out these resources:
- How to Become a Freelance Writer: The Ultimate Guide – This is honestly the only blog post on the internet you need if you want to start freelance writing.
- Location Rebel Academy: Want someone to hold your hand and mentor you through the process of becoming a freelance writer? That’s what our Academy is for.
5) Product Descriptions: Short, Sweet, Kinda Tedious
You know when you’re on Amazon, or any other online store and you read about a product?
Someone has to write all of those product descriptions.
Sure big box retailers have teams of people to do that. But with the millions of independent e-commerce and Amazon stores out there, there are tons of entrepreneurs out there that need people to write their product descriptions.
When I was first starting out online, I worked for a company selling industrial key boxes. They had hundreds of different SKUs. Guess who got to write the descriptions for them? Meeeee, baby. Meeeeee. (Props if you know the Jack Black reference there).
While not the most fun work, it can be a great foot in the door for new remote writers who are looking to make a little money, without having to be the driving creative force behind things.
Resources to Check Out:
- Search on Google – This seems stupid and obvious. But rather than link to a bunch of individual sites, the best starting point for finding product description work? Simply google: “Product Description Jobs.”
6) SEO Articles: A Dying Breed, But Still Opportunities
When I first started looking for remote writing jobs, there were a ton of people hiring “SEO writers.”
Now, this did not mean they were hiring SEO professionals to make their blog posts more SEO friendly.
Rather there was a specific SEO strategy called “article marketing.”
Essentially this means you write hundreds of low-quality articles and then publish them on one of a number of “article farms.”
Generally, these posts were never meant to be read by anyone. But each one had a backlink to a client’s page that they wanted to rank.
Remember how we said links are the currency of the internet?
Well despite the fact on their own, any one of these links weren’t worth much. When you did them by the hundreds? Or thousands? That could have an effect.
This industry is nowhere close to what it was 10 years ago, but there’s still people out there doing variations on this today.
The pay isn’t huge, but if you’re looking for a low-stress way to build some confidence as a freelance writer, then SEO writing jobs could be perfect for you.
Resources to Check Out:
7) Random Writing Jobs on Fiverr: Yes, this is a thing.
It’s not much of a secret that Fiverr is home to a lot of pretty random jobs.
If you’re looking for, let’s say, an African Tribesperson to dance around and sing your grandma happy birthday? You’ll find someone who will do that for you on Fiverr.
Or how about the singer who did vocals for some of the tracks in 2001: A Space Odyssey? That you need for your own 2001 homage video and song? You’ll find them on Fiverr too. (This is a true story.)
But despite all of the irreverent, and often hilarious Fiverr jobs out there, this also means there’s a lot of opportunity for more…useful jobs as well.
Where would you find someone to write a Craigslist ad to help you sell your car? Or perhaps an eBay listing for those old speakers that have been collecting dust in your closet?
Fiverr can be a great place for that. So by doing a little research and getting creative with what you offer on your Fiverr profile, you could have a (very) niche writing business that actually pays the bills.
Resources to Check Out:
- How to Start Selling on Fiverr – Everything you need to get setup and start selling your services on the site.
8) Copywriting: Are you persuasive? This might be for you.
Copywriting is kind of the creme de la creme of remote writing jobs.
You might be thinking “I thought this was a post for easy writing jobs?”
Well it depends on who you are. If you have a background in sales or marketing, copywriting may come very naturally to you – and actually, be the best starting point for a remote writing job.
But if you’re just starting out, and not feeling quite as confident in your writing or persuasive abilities? Then one of the other options listed above may be a better starting point.
That said, Copywriting can be an incredibly lucrative skill to master – whether you freelance it or not. So I’d recommend spending a little time studying.
Resources to Check Out:
- What is Copywriting? How to Become a Copywriter – All of the basics you need to know for becoming a copywriter.
- 6 Genius Copywriting Exercises (That Will Make You Rich) – Looking for a starting point to hone your copywriting skills? I’d try these.
Other Resources for Remote Writing Jobs
These eight remote writing jobs are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much potential out there for freelance writers, and if you’re willing to put in a little bit of time? It can pay off in a big way.
Here are a handful of other useful resources that will be beneficial as you’re growing your career as a remote freelance writer:
- Freelance Writing for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know – Just starting out? Definitely read through this.
- The Exact 10 Steps You Need to Become a Writer – Don’t think of yourself as a writer at all? Then start here. You’ll be the next Steinbeck in no time. Well, ok, maybe not Steinbeck. But a writer nonetheless!
- How to Make Money Content Writing – Still not totally sure how to go about this whole remote writing thing? This will help you sort out some of the details.
Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle is the Founder of Location Rebel where he has spent the last 12+ years teaching people how to build online businesses that give them the freedom to do more of the things they like to do in life. When he's not in the coffee shops of Portland, or the beaches of Bali, he's probably sneaking into some other high-class establishment where he most certainly doesn't belong.Join over 40,000 people who have taken our 6 part freelance writing course. Sign up below and let’s do this together.
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