10 best freelance jobs in high demand that pay well (2024)
Freelancing is on the rise. Here are 10 best freelance jobs you can start a career in and places you can sign your first client.
As a freelancer, I know how difficult it can be to find your niche and sign your first client.
With the rise in remote jobs and freelancing platforms, it can be tough to know where to start.
But in all honesty, opportunity is abundant when it comes to freelancing — especially if you’re patient.
This is why I always recommend first-time freelancers to start freelancing part-time before they dive in head first. So in this article, we’ll go over some of the best freelance jobs for beginners right now, how to find work using freelance websites, and how to create a great client experience so you can continue to find work in the long run.
Freelance jobs are on the rise
For the past several years, the freelance market has been on the rise. And according to Statista, they will continue to rise well into 2028 and beyond.
In the US alone, there are currently over 70 million freelancers! And by 2028 that number is predicted to rise to over 90 million.
So if you’re asking yourself if freelancing is worth it, and how difficult the job search is, there’s good news — small businesses will always need help from freelancers and contractors.
Of course, not every freelance job is created equal. Some pay more than others. Some are one-off projects, while others are long-term projects. And some have more opportunities than others.
But as a freelancer myself, I can tell you that regardless of what freelance job you pick, there is an abundant amount of work if you’re willing to put in the time to become one of the best in your field. You might even end up turning down projects because you’ll have too much work.
What is the highest-paid freelance job in 2024?
According to Indeed, the highest-paying freelance jobs involve programming and software development. But that doesn’t mean that other freelance jobs don’t pay well. In fact, that’s far from the case.
Here are some of the highest-paying freelance jobs:
- Web development
- SEO and content marketing
- Paid advertising
- Graphic and web design
- Copywriting or editing
- Freelance photographer
There are lots of different freelancing roles out there. But, usually, the highest paying ones are based on the type of clients you go after.
For example, a small mom-and-pop shop may not have a large budget for a logo design, but a tech company that just raised millions of dollars in venture capital will.
So when it comes to freelancing, the type of client you go after is almost as, if not more, important than the type of work you do.
So keep that in mind. Now, let’s go over some of the best freelancing jobs you can start doing this year.
Top 10 best freelance jobs in demand in 2024
Here are some of the best freelance jobs right now:
- Freelance copywriting
- Freelance web design
- Freelance web development
- Freelance graphic design
- Freelance SEO
- Freelance content marketing
- Freelance photography
- Freelance social media management
- Freelance editing
- Freelance paid advertising
Okay, let’s dive deeper into each one.
1. Freelance copywriting
Freelance copywriting is a job that will continue to stay in demand for a long time. For as long as businesses need written content, there will always be room for freelancers in this space.
Be it blog posts, landing pages, emails, postcards, you name it — there is a lot of opportunity as a freelance copywriter.
One might think that freelance copywriting is going to become obsolete with the rise of ChatGPT and other AI content writing tools. However, there will always be a space for opinionated, authentic content that is written from the perspective of a human.
In fact, I’m writing this as a freelance writer myself — so rest assured that businesses still want to pay real humans to write content for them. I’ll also show you a few places where you can find freelance writing gigs in the section below.
But first, I need to tell you the key to becoming a successful freelance writer.
The best freelance writers I know are masters of their industry, only take on projects they’re excited about, and are authentic in their writing style.
Simple, right? You’d be surprised how many freelance writers fail to do this. And you’d be even more surprised to find out that many businesses that work with freelance writers have a hard time wanting to continue to hire them — this is especially true for B2B content.
How you feel about a given topic your writing about will show in your writing. If you write about topics you have no business writing about, you’ll sound robotic and do your readers a disservice.
Find topics you know and enjoy writing about. It will show in your writing, help you build a strong portfolio of work, and help you find more work as clients will gladly refer you to other businesses that could use your services.
Where to find copywriting jobs
Now that we have gone over the opportunity of becoming a freelance writer, let’s talk about some places where you can find your first few gigs.
Here’s a list of places to find freelance writing jobs:
It’s also a good idea to put yourself out there and start writing on your personal blog. Whether it’s a Substack newsletter, Medium profile, or your own website, putting your work out there will allow you to attract clients instead of you having to constantly hunt them down.
2. Freelance web design
Freelance web design has been around since the dawn of the internet. If you have a passion for helping businesses craft beautiful looking sites, this is a freelance career that can be extremely rewarding.
After all, every business could use a website.
Being a great freelance web designer requires that you have a strong understanding of web design best practices and know the modern day tools that web designers use.
Web designers also need to keep up with the latest design trends and have knowledge around what creates a great user experience (UX) and user interface (UI).
Web design is equal parts form and function.
And today, there are many different web design tools that can help freelance web designers. For example, Figma is one of the main tools that freelance web designers use to not only design sites, but also collaborate with clients to get feedback on their designs.
However, this role is starting to change with new technologies. For example, Webflow now allows web designers to turn into front-end web developers and create custom sites without knowing how to code.
So if you want to maximize your earning potential as a freelance web designer, it might be a good idea to start learning how to turn your designs into bespoke websites.
Where to find web design jobs
Web design jobs are very popular, especially in tech related fields where UI/UX matters a lot.
Here are a few places you can find web design jobs:
It’s also important to note that most successful freelancers often find large clients through referrals. These freelance marketplaces are a great place to start and build your professional portfolio. But at some point, it’s a good idea to create your own web design portfolio site and showcase your work publicly.
3. Freelance web development
Just like web design, freelance web development has been around since websites were a thing — which is a long time.
If you’re looking to take on potentially longer projects with a great upside (financially speaking), freelance web development is a great freelance career to get into.
Of course, this is going to require a lot of knowledge on how to program and code. But just like web design, there are many different tools out there that can help you speed up the development process.
From iOS app development, software development, game development, or developing SaaS (software as a service) applications, there are tons of opportunities in this space. And many freelance web developers start part-time on the side of their full-time jobs — something you should definitely consider before diving headfirst into the world of self employment.
Where to find web development jobs
Web development work will always be in demand. Companies will always need software, apps, and websites, so if you decide to go down this route, rest assured that you’ll be able to find a steady stream of work.
Here are a few place to find web development jobs:
Freelance web development can yield the highest paying projects, so make sure you analyze potential clients carefully and choose projects you’ll be excited about.
4. Freelance graphic design
Just like freelance copywriting, freelance graphic design is one of the more sought-after freelance jobs out there.
Just go on sites like Fiverr and you’ll see tons of freelancer graphic designers posting services for things like logo creation, animations, packaging designs, branding materials, advertisements, and more.
This is a broad field of freelancing, so the key here is to figure out what your niche is and become the best at it.
In fact, to be a successful freelancer, in any job, you want to find your niche. So when it comes to graphic design, pick a field of work (and type of company) you like working in the most.
Do you want to design branding guidelines for tech startups? Do you want to help local businesses with their logos? Do you want to help ecommerce businesses with their package designs?
Find your niche!
Where to find graphic design jobs
Because graphic design is such a popular field in design, and many designers do it part-time on the side of their full-time jobs, there are many different marketplaces to find work fairly quickly.
Here are a few great places to find graphic design work:
Just like most freelance jobs, it’s a great idea to create your own graphic design portfolio to showcase your work and give potential clients an easy way to see your previous designs and get in touch with you.
5. Freelance SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of helping businesses and websites show up in search engines. This type of work can range from helping companies show up in Google, Bing, or even Pinterest. But most SEOs primarily focus on Google (for now).
Given that there are millions of websites on the web, all fighting for attention, there is a lot of work in this space. But just like the other freelancing roles we talked about, SEO is one of those spaces where you really want to niche down.
Do you want to help local businesses show up in Google? Do you want to help SaaS companies create high-quality content that ranks well in Google? Do you want to help tech companies with their technical SEO?
To be a successful SEO freelancer, you want to figure out if you’re going to be focused on content SEO, technical/programmatic SEO, or local SEO — the day-to-day work will look different for each of these.
Where to find SEO jobs
SEO jobs can range from small one-off projects to longer monthly contracts, especially if you’re focused on content which we will get into in the next section.
Here are a few places to find freelance SEO jobs:
If you’re an expert in SEO, it might also make sense to identify sites (you want to work with) that have the potential to rank well in Google and reach out to the founders of those companies explaining exactly how you can help them. In fact, this was my strategy for how I landed my first SEO client!
6. Freelance content marketing
Freelance content marketing is near and dear to my heart as it’s the area of freelancing, and work in general, that I’m most passionate about.
At the time of writing this, I’m a full-time freelance content marketer! So I know this space all too well. In fact, I wrote an article about freelance marketing that you should definitely check out if you want to learn more about my process here. But I’ll try to give you a summary right now.
Freelance content marketing can range from a wide variety of content formats. The most popular involves blog posts, just like this one. But content marketing can also include things like producing videos, writing case studies, helping craft a website’s overall content strategy, and almost anything related to content.
This is why it makes the most sense to stack this career with a few other skills like SEO and copywriting if you want to maximize your earning potential.
For example, you can help a company craft a content strategy (content marketing), help them actually write the content (copywriting), and make sure the content ranks well in Google (SEO).
There’s a lot you can do in this space. And just like the few other freelance jobs we went over, you definitely want to niche down here. For example, my niche is working with SaaS companies. So if that’s something you’re interested in, you should definitely read my guide on this.
Where to find content marketing jobs
Just like SEO, the big money is made in identifying the exact type of clients you want to work with and do some manual outreach.
If you’re just starting out, here are a few places you can find freelance content marketing jobs:
As with many freelancing roles, if you do a good job with your first few clients, you’ll start to get referrals and a consistent stream of work. However, niche freelance marketplaces are great to get the ball rolling.
7. Freelance photography
Just like freelance writing and graphic design, photography is one of those areas of freelancing that has been around for a long time.
In fact, freelance photography is probably the least affected by all of these AI tools as it can be human intensive — depending on the type of photography you do.
Freelance photographers must be extremely skilled in the art of taking photos and editing them in post production to add any finishing touches. Becoming an expert in lighting and composition are also important skill sets to pick up on.
With photography work, it’s also important to pick your niche. Do you want to shoot weddings, family photos, self portraits, landscapes, etc.?
Whatever your eyes can see, your camera can see. So the world of photography is limitless and full of possibilities for the type of work you want to do.
Where to find photography jobs
As mentioned above, freelance photography is very popular — giving you lots of options to find work on different freelance platforms.
Here are a few places you can find photography work:
- Instagram outreach
- Cold outreach at local coffee shops
- Facebook Marketplace
- Craigslist
As you can see, finding meaningful photography jobs is tough through freelance sites. In many cases, freelance photography can be very location-dependent. Chances are you’ll have to do some cold outreach on social media or through email to land the types of clients you want.
You could also post your photos on stock photo sites to grow a following and show your portfolio of work.
8. Freelance social media management
With so many social media platforms out there, many companies need help with posting on, and managing, all of their accounts.
Be it on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, or whatever new platform that comes up, there are tons of places businesses are leveraging social media marketing today.
If you’re an avid consumer on social media, and you know how the platforms work inside out, you can help businesses grow on these platforms.
You could either help companies manage all of their content or you could niche down and help a brand post on just one social media platform.
For example, you could help ecommerce brands scale their content production on TikTok and charge a fixed fee each month.
The possibilities are endless with freelance digital marketing. However, it is important to look at things from a business perspective here. Companies invest in social media because they believe it will help them with brand awareness and potentially drive new business.
So make sure you market yourself as someone who knows how to do these things, and don’t just offer to post memes online (unless a business specifically says they want that!).
Where to find social media jobs
With social media platforms being a large part of the internet these days, with no signs of slowing down, there are a lot of job seekers in this space.
Here are a few places you can find social media jobs today:
With this, you may be able to find shorter freelance gigs on a platform like Upwork. But if you want longer-term work, it might make sense to apply to roles on LinkedIn or even reach out to agencies that offer social media services and ask if you can help them as a contractor.
9. Freelance editing
With very similar overlap to that of copywriting, freelance editing is a great job to pursue for those who love editing and improving on existing work.
There’s a saying in writing that goes, “kill your darlings.” Essentially, this means to remove aspects of your writing that add no value to your readers.
And many writers, myself included, have a hard time deleting content we think adds value but doesn't. This is why editors are so valuable, because they’re able to see writing from a new perspective and have no emotional attachment to the writing itself.
Many marketing agencies and companies that focus on producing written content also have editors on staff, so there is a lot of demand for this type of work.
But editing is not just limited to written content. You could also be a video producer and editor. For example, you could reach out to businesses that could use educational videos and help them produce them. Or, you could even reach out to YouTubers and ask to edit their videos — many medium to large YouTubers outsource their editing to freelancers.
The possibilities are endless.
Where to find editing jobs
For as long as written content exists, there will always be a need for editors.
Here are a few places to find freelance editing jobs:
When it comes to finding a freelance editing job, Upwork and LinkedIn are great. In fact, I’ve worked with some talented editors from Upwork! So if you’re just starting out, it’s a great place to look for work.
10. Freelance paid advertising
Of all the freelance marketing jobs out there, paid advertising has to be at the top of the list (best for last I guess!).
This can range anywhere from providing companies with Google PPC consulting, running Facebook and Instagram ads, launching TikTok ads, or even helping companies close deals with influencers.
There’s a lot of freelance work in this space, and many jobs in this field offer high-paying gigs. Just like with many other freelance jobs, if you’re already a marketer running ads for your employer, it can be a good idea to start freelancing on the side — just make sure it’s allowed in your work contract.
If you’re just managing campaigns and doing work as a data analyst, it might not take much work once you get things up and running. But if you’re responsible for producing ad creatives and doing constant A/B testing it can be more time intensive.
Where to find paid ads jobs
Like with a lot of freelancing work, a consistent stream of work is most likely going to come from referrals. But to get the ball rolling, here are a few places you can find freelance work:
If you do decide to become a freelance paid ads consultant, it’s also important to note that clients will stick around if you provide great results and an even better client experience.
Which is why hundreds of freelance marketers use Copilot to help them create client portals and give their clients a professional experience.
Conclusion
Starting a freelance business can be a great way to build your confidence in your professional career. And if you decide to take on freelance work on the side of your full-time job, it can be a great source of extra income.
While we did go over 10 different freelance jobs that are in high demand right now, I truly believe that being a happy freelancer comes from doing work you love, with people you respect.
So, regardless of what you do as a freelancer, make sure you do it for the right reasons. And make sure you work with people that see your value.
In other words, find your niche.
In the beginning, it’s good to get experience with different industries and work, but over time, a fruitful career will come from being laser focused on providing one type of service to one type of client — better than anyone else can.
And one of the ways you make clients love working with you is to provide them with a great client experience. That’s why Copilot exists. And I’m not just saying that because this is written on the Copilot blog. I’m saying that as a customer of Copilot.
Being able to create a client portal that your clients can log into at any time and view messages, files, and reports, gives a premium feeling to your business. It makes your service-based business feel more like a software business — opening up an endless amount of possibilities to productize your services in the future.