6 Trends Every Freelance Writer Should Know in 2014

There are currently more freelance writing jobs then ever available online. With the average writer online earning up to $26.00 an hour with a 6% growth increase over the next decade, it is definitely a lucrative career path.

Below are 6 trends that we will continue to see in 2014 to make money writing online:

1. Content Marketing Will Drive Demand for Freelance Writers – Practically every report you read about content marketing in some way touts how it’s growing by leaps and bounds. Companies are investing in it like never before. Proof? Content Marketing Budgets:

54% of B2B marketers will increase their spend on content marketing over the next 12 months

33% of B2B marketing budgets are now allocated to content marketing

Companies with fewer than 10 employees allocate 42% of their marketing budget to content marketing

Companies with over 1,000 employees allocate 24% of their marketing budget to content marketing

2. The Demand for Qualified SEO Writers Will Grow – If you’re an online freelance writer, it’s becoming increasingly important to at least learn the fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO). Why? Simply because it’s how web surfers find information online. So clients are looking for writers who can not only produce well-written copy, but copy that can help their website / blog get returned in SERP results. This means knowing about things like how to do keyword research; what long-tail keywords are; writing themed content; the impact Google algorithm changes have on search results; how to write content that doesn’t run afoul of search engine guidelines; etc.

3. The Demand for Social Media Writers Will Increase – Social media has created a need for writers who specialize in this medium. What exactly is a social media writer, and how does it differ from SEO writing? As discussed in the post, What Is Social Media Writing and How Does It Differ from SEO Copywriting?: Social media (SM) writing can be defined as writing content with the specific intent of getting it widely distributed on social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (which, by the way, are the three largest social media outlets as of this writing). One word that I would say perfectly describes this type of content is “linkbait.”

4. Rise in Need for Content Marketing Strategists – Content marketing has created a need for writers who understand how to put together full-blown content marketing strategies. You see, once companies start to fully integrate content marketing into their overall marketing initiatives, there will be a need for it to become more fluid and regimented. Hence, the need for planners – writers who can plan content out days, weeks and months in advance, much like any other marketing initiative.

5. Self-Publishing & The Cottage Industry It’s Spawned – If you take the entrepreneurial bull by the horns, self-publishing can add another lucrative stream to your income as a freelance writer in 2014. There’s no slow-down in sight in this industry, which spells opportunity, opportunity, opportunity for motivated freelance writers. Proof? New analysis from Bowker – which issues ISBNs for books published in the US – shows that writers are jumping into self-publishing at an unprecedented rate. The number of self-published books in America grew by 287% to 235,625 books between 2006 and 2011.

6. More Work from Other Freelance Writers – The “freelance economy” has spawned a lot of successful writers – who are hiring other freelance writers to help them out. Just in the past year, I’ve had at least half a dozen – or more – freelancers contact me asking how to go about hiring outsource help because they’re too busy and/or to tell me that they’ve quit their 9-to-5 job in order to freelance full-time because they’re so busy.