There is something alluring and attractive about ‘online jobs’. To get the obvious positives out of the way – you get to be your own boss effectively, eliminate any sort of commute, work to your own schedule, and take vacations as and when you please. These are the images that everybody thinks of when they consider working online from home but it also requires a lot of discipline. The online job market is not for everyone but it’s a great opportunity especially if you live in remote areas.
The online job market was growing all over the world even before the COVID-19 but the job opportunities were limited to certain industries. Logistic and technical issues prevented many businesses from letting their employees work from home but the coronavirus emergency has forced companies to adjust to remote work. The best part of the online job market is that it’s not limited to Australia. There are endless job opportunities online for English speakers and we have picked out some of the most common jobs online, available right now at Australian or international companies.
1. Copy Writer & Blog Writer
This is probably one of the easiest fields to break into, but it certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. To start with, not everybody has a knack for putting together enjoyable, readable, and even legible content! On top of this, not everybody has the patience and creativeness to produce new material day in and day out, and potentially write thousands of words each day depending on the job.
Now let’s look on the flip side, there are no real qualifications to get started with writing although some places may ask to see some form of English degree. The only exception would be if you wanted to go into copywriting or translations, which is a bit more specialized. You could easily create a freelancer account on various sites both locally and internationally. One of the largest global sites for Freelancers is Upwork and you can register an account for free offering companies all over the world your services within a large number of fields. Another great way to get started is to open an account at a free blog portal where you can publish your own articles and give as a reference when you apply for jobs.
2. Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate jobs come in different forms. An affiliate account manager is usually employed by a company to handle the contracts they have with independent affiliates but you can also become an affiliate yourself. There are lots of great opportunities within the affiliate marketing industry. It’s often sold to people in a way that it is a fast track to make a ton of money but there is a lot more work behind it. If you already have a substantial social media profile with at least 1000 followers then it becomes a lot easier and you could already get into affiliate marketing. To understand this, you first need to know exactly how affiliate marketing works.
Affiliate marketing is something where an individual or a business promotes other products and are paid a percentage on each sale coming from their traffic. Affiliate marketing became popular with the growth of the online gaming industry about 15 years ago and the idea has since spread to other industries. According to Jack Harris, site manager at Australia-Casino.org, their site also started as a small affiliate business, run by a few people, but has since developed into an authority within the Australian gaming industry. To become an affiliate you don’t need to go big. It’s enough to have an active social media account and start to become affiliated with one brand and expand from there. Most affiliate programs are available on all different types of social media platforms including Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. You basically advertise the product/brand you are affiliated with and each time somebody viewed your posts and videos then proceeded to make a purchase through your affiliate link, you would be paid.
3. Social Media Management
This is an awesome one because most of us are quite active on social media anyway. We know how Facebook and Instagram work, and we know what kind of content and posts tend to attract and engage our attention the most. For this reason, the vast majority of us already have a sound foundation for venturing into social media management. The trick here is to find a social media management role you could do remotely, whether this is for an employer or through self-employment.
All of this may sound great, but like all things that are easy to get into, it’s a competitive market and you have to be able to do something exceptionally well to stand out. Think about it – are you great at putting engaging videos together and editing them? If so, offer your services to companies that want to be active on YouTube. If you live to tweet, then offer companies to take care of their Twitter account. Many small businesses today don’t need a full website or blog and instead use Instagram or Facebook for their online branding.
During the last year, social media has become a priority platform for every business owner but few have the capacity to handle their social media accounts alone. Even if you have no proven experience as a social media manager you can still find clients that have smaller budgets but also fewer requirements and this is a great way to start your freelancing career. As a freelancer, this is a great way to make money.
The possibilities really are endless with social media management, and it’s an awesome job to do online if you find the right clients.
4. Customer Service Assistant
There are lots of jobs available as a customer support agent, many of them within the health and medical industry. Being a customer service assistant might not sound like the most glamorous line of work, but hey, it’s something you can do from home and be paid a decent amount for. Customer service covers a broad scope of communications channels such as email management, phone assistance, social media response (in some cases), monitoring live chat systems, and much more depending on the business you work for.
The best thing about looking into customer service roles is that the onboard training is minimal and the demands of the job aren’t exactly strenuous. Just think, you could be sitting at home answering emails and chatting with customers through a live chat system and be getting paid for it. That means no commute, no micromanagers, no dealing with colleagues you don’t like – was there anything we’ve missed?
This list of available jobs is by no means conclusive. Only at Seek there are currently more than 6,000 jobs available as “work from home” within all types of industries. Those we mention here are some of the easiest to get into and the most rewarding in terms of pay.