Since the pandemic Covid 19, a massive lay off impacted increased unemployment. People try many ways to get income, including being freelancers. Recently, we’re facing a massive spike in worker resignations caused by stress, burnout, and a host of other reasons, dubbed the Great Resignation. Business owners are scrambling to hire freelancers to fill gaps caused by a worker shortage.

Freelancing is not just side hustle. As technology gets advanced and internet access gets massively spreading, people can easily find online jobs. They can work at home without dealing with traffic jams and create their own comfortable office space in-house. Freelancing has prospects of a work-life balance, higher pay, and job satisfaction, so the number of freelancers is going to increase over time.

If you have an interest in becoming a freelancer, learning about freelancing skills in demand is the first step you can take. It will help you to choose an area of expertise. Listed below are most demanded freelance skills that can help you to achieve a steady income as a freelancer. The lists are based on research from credible sources.

Data Analysis

Data analytics demand is getting increase. According to a report published by the World Economic Forum, 85% of companies will use big data and analytics technologies in 2022. Data analysis is categorized as most demanded freelance skill. Recently, in this big data era, almost all of the industry is looking for data analysis to make better business decisions. Therefore, it will cause businesses to compete to get qualified data analysis and make data analysis as most demanded freelance skill.

To be a data analyst, you must combine multiple skills such as business intelligence, quick analysis, and coding. If you’re new to the world of data analysis, you should start to develop foundational knowledge and technical skills such as math, statistics, data visualization, SQL, and programming language. You can get them through self-study, courses, boot camps, or alternative programs. That will save time if you can learn it in an integrated.

Website Design

Currently, website design is in high demand by businesses. This field is expected to grow 27% by the year 2024. Companies are competing with website design and investing millions of dollars in it. It is because almost 90% of customers go to competitors if the business’ website is poorly designed according to an expert marketing organization, WebFX.

If you are passionate about this field, this is a big opportunity to learn and develop skills in website design. To be a website designer, you must have research skills on design trends, use creative software like Photoshop to create exciting drafts,  and website-oriented coding languages, such as HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). As a beginner, you can join Coursera. They will teach you all aspects of website design from scratch.

Graphic Design

In an increasingly digital world, graphic designers are needed to create visually appealing and effective layouts for company websites and social media pages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 24,800 openings for graphic designers are projected each year, on average, over the decade, that’s why graphic design is most demanded freelance skill.

You must build a strong portfolio to be standout. So, you need to have good skills at least in a few design programs like Adobe. You can learn in various ways such as self-learning, joining boot camps, or courses on Skillshare.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Nowadays, search engine optimization is one of most demanded freelance skills in the digital market world. Every business wants to be top of the search result page if people input the name of their product or service. Therefore, an SEO specialist takes an important role to meet that goal. In order to rank higher in search engine results pages and attract more customers, they help businesses optimize their websites and content.

You should consider becoming an SEO specialist now if you’re thinking about it. SEO is in demand at all levels, from entry to executive level. You can start self-learning, taking the certification, joining an apprenticeship, or enrolling in an online course.

Copywriting

Copywriting demand will always be high as long as businesses compete in marketing. As globalization emerges, the marketing world is facing greater competition. Any company wants to deliver a message to targeted customers, in order so, they can win customers. So, they always need a copywriter to deal with it.

To be a copywriter, you have to be able to persuade the target. You can’t learn this ability just for a night. However, you can keep discovering and learning the techniques to keep up with the consumer market. You can learn from any free or paid sources. Furthermore, there are a lot of sites that offer copywriting courses such as Coursera.