There was a time when freelancing wasn’t considered a proper job. But our world has changed drastically since then with people opening up to the potential of this alternative career. If you are tired of struggling in the 9-to-5 rat race, then you are bound to relish the immense independence flexibility, and opportunity that freelancing offers. To help you transition, we have collated a list of the 11 hot-selling freelance skills which can help you earn a full-time income without leaving the comfort of your home.
Top 11 High-Demand Freelance Skills in 2023
1. Website Design
One of the main aspects which set apart a business’ e-commerce website from its competitors is its design. A poorly designed website will simply end up losing customers to competitors offering easily navigable portals. This is why companies are investing millions in getting their website designed by top professionals. As a web designer, your scope of work will include researching design trends and coming up with exciting drafts. Web designers also need to be skilled in different website-oriented codings languages like Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and HTML since they need to work with front-end developers for coding each site.
Average monthly salary – $4500 to 5000
Average hourly rate – $28-35
2. Content Writing
You don’t need to be an author for earning your living as a freelancer. Given the immense development of online media, business houses are hiring external talent who will create content for their virtual magazines and blogs. However, the freelance writing world is bubbling with talent and so you need to develop your expertise in a specific field so that you can create engaging content. You can choose between niches like education, history, motherhood, tech, and more. If you are passionate about the chosen topic, then you can easily turn it into a lucrative profession even without any certification.
Average monthly salary – $4500
Average hourly rate – $30-50
3. SEO
SEO is a highly demanded-digital marketing skill wherein you need to ensure first-page rankings of your client’s website on Google and other search engines. Companies that don’t rank high enough are most likely to miss out on potential customers. The general number of SEO experts is quite low and this offers impetus to more freelancers to venture into this field. You just require in-depth knowledge of the working of search engines to become an SEO specialist.
Average monthly salary – $4500
Average hourly rate – $75 -150
4. Social Media Marketing
Companies are slowly opening up to the importance of having a strong online presence for making their mark. This is why they are searching for individuals to help them launch strong social media campaigns. Irrespective of the size of the business, entrepreneurs are hiring social media marketers to climb up the popularity ladder. Your area of responsibility as a social media marketer will be to design online campaigns fostering a particular audience group. Since each campaign varies according to the requirements of your client, you need to be highly creative to flourish in this field.
Average monthly salary – $3900
Average hourly rate – $47-60
5. eCommerce
The world is going digital and a massive demand can be felt for online shopping. This is why eCommerce specialists are being demanded by top online portals for monitoring the daily progress, researching new business opportunities, and analyzing data to identify areas of improvement. They look after everything ranging from content to SEO, catalog, and overall business health of important products and services which are sold through the portal.
Average monthly salary – $4580
Average hourly rate – $25.99
6. Data Analytics
This is one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the job market which offers constant opportunities for freelancers trying to make a career out of it. As a data analyst, your area of application will include organizing, compiling, and analyzing big quantities of data to come up with informative reports for each business. They need to work closely with web developers for creating seamless data collection systems.
Average monthly salary – $5000
Average hourly rate – $40
7. Video Production
As a video production specialist, you will be required to look after the entire video production process starting from planning to creating, processing, uploading, editing, and managing video for different distribution channels. They have to create 30-minute instructional videos, two-minute advertisements, commercials, promotional videos, highlight videos, and even product demos.
Average monthly salary – $3943
Average hourly rate – $24.47
8. Application development
The demand for both iOS and Android app developers have been growing rhetorically with more and more people spending time on their smartphone. This has opened up opportunities for app developers who can monetize their talents. Companies often post requirements for freelancers who will design, code, and test their applications. You need to possess coding knowledge in Swift, and Java to become an app development expert.
Average monthly salary – $8202
Average hourly rate – $48.01
9. AI Development
If you have an interest in machine learning, the operation of machines, and their way of interacting with people, then you can think of building a career as an AI developer. The main aim of AI is to make our daily life simpler and so each algorithm is designed to solve a real-world problem. Since AI algorithm is an extremely broad area, you need to possess knowledge of creating algorithms, programming facial recognition software, and constructing humanoid robots. For becoming an AI specialist you should possess knowledge of complex mathematical problems to handle different aspects of computer science.
Average monthly salary – $8905
Average hourly rate – $44 to 52
10. Accounting and bookkeeping
Most business owners don’t have adequate funds for hiring a full-time expert. This leads to a demand for freelance accountants and bookkeepers who can offer the same services at a reduced cost. The area of application of an accountant and bookkeeper is managing payroll, keeping track of financial records, calculating taxes, and creating annual reports for the year ahead. If your client gets into trouble, then you might also have to deal with fraud investigations and tax refunds.
Average monthly salary – $3812
Average hourly rate – $21.99
11. Voice-over acting
Voice has been taking over the media field since the last decade and its popularity is expected to rise in days to come. Voice actors have been finding employment for narrating audiobooks, videos, intros, video games, movie trailers, and many more. High demand is being felt for unique accents and tones. If you have a distinctive voice, then this can come to your advantage and help you stand out during auditions. Just having a great voice isn’t enough, you should also learn to manipulate your voice as per your project.
Average monthly salary – $6733
Average hourly rate – $31.90
Conclusion
If you are consistent with the work, then freelancing can help set your hours and enjoy complete autonomy over the projects you work on. But for best results, you need to nurture the skill you are naturally interested in. Coupled with the development of technology and easy access to the internet, it has become easy to find work online. Maybe this is the reason behind the paradigm shift of people from traditional careers to offbeat freelancing offering better pay, work-life balance, and job satisfaction.