Interested in working from home, here are the best typing jobs from home in 2023. If you’re good at typing, you can get one of these online typing jobs!
Best Typing Jobs From Home
If you’ve been looking for a way to break into the work-from-home market, but aren’t sure what to do… ask yourself, “How good am I at typing?”
Online typing jobs are among the easiest options for pursuing a work-from-home career. Even if you’re not a particularly fast typist – in fact, even if you type rather slowly – you can take advantage of free online resources to practice with.
If you’re interested in pursuing any of the great opportunities discussed in this guide, take a look at these ways to improve your typing:
Types of Online Typing Jobs From Home
There are 6 types of online typing jobs that you can do from home. We’re going to give you some important information on all of them, including which companies to approach online if you’re looking to find that type of work.
No matter your skills, strengths, and/or weaknesses, there’s an opportunity here for you! Keeping reading to find out what (and where) that opportunity is.
1. Data Entry
One of the easiest typing jobs available for remote workers – including absolute novices – is data entry. All you need to do is read the original copy and retype it as directed.
This can include tasks such as transferring data to a spreadsheet, entering it into the company’s system, or even recreating a PDF in a Word document. More involved data entry jobs may include verifying the accuracy of information and/or editing the data (for example, summarizing it).
In general, the only type of data entry that requires any special training – or even certification – is when working with medical or legal documents: for example, scopistry (the practice of editing and reviewing court transcripts).
One thing to bear in mind is that data entry can be a highly repetitive task. But if you’re able to go long periods without it affecting your focus, data entry can be potentially lucrative.
Pay
As a general rule, you can expect to earn between $10 and $22 an hour doing data entry. How much that translates to over a year will depend on the hourly wages you receive and how many hours you work. On average, data entry clerks earn roughly $31,957 a year.
Requirements/Skills
If you’re planning on doing medical or legal data entry, the requirements are typically higher. As mentioned earlier, you may be expected to have certification, or even prior experience working in that particular field.
However, for most other data entry jobs, all you need is a personal computer (desktop or laptop), high-speed internet access, and data processing programs. Nothing fancy. Microsoft Office and/or G Suite software is the typical standard.
You will also want to be a fairly fast typist. While some data entry companies are happy with a typing speed of 50 words-per-minute (WPM), the industry standard is typically 60 WPM, and some companies require a typing speed as high as 70 WPM.
Companies
Here are 5 of the best companies hiring data entry clerks for work-from-home positions. Be sure to double-check their specific requirements before applying:
2. Transcription
Transcription work is fairly similar to data entry, except that, instead of copying text, you’ll be listening to audio and typing out what is said.
It’s also a fairly simple typing job, though you’ll still want to be a fairly fast typist to make the most of it. Transcription work typically pays according to the length of the audio (or video) file, not by how long it takes you to transcribe that audio. More on this later.
As is the case with data entry, you generally don’t need any prior experience or qualifications to find work as a transcriber – unless you want to specialize in medical or legal transcriptions.
For the most part, all you need is a good ear, quiet work environment (or noise-canceling headphones), and a high typing speed.
Pay
When starting out, you can expect to earn around $15 to $25 per audio hour. Expert transcribers generally consider anything less than $45 to $50 an audio hour to be too low, so you can definitely start earning more as you gain experience.
Requirements/Skills
We’d recommend a minimum typing speed of 60 WPM, though how many words you actually end up typing while transcribing audio is largely going to depend on the audio quality. (For the most part, 1 audio hour can take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours to transcribe depending on its quality.)
You’ll also need a personal computer with high-speed internet access, a word processor, and software such as VLC Media Player. Headphones are preferable, especially for longer transcription periods. If you can get a noise-canceling pair, even better.
Some companies may additionally require you to use specific transcription software and/or a foot pedal.
Companies
Here are 5 of the best companies to find transcription work with. Be sure to check their specific requirements before applying:
3. Ghostwriter
Ghostwriting can make for very interesting work. You’ll be hired to write articles, books, or even speeches for other people.
Your main responsibility as a ghostwriter is to write in the other person’s specific tone and style, as it will be their name that goes onto the published work instead of yours. For the most part, you’ll be writing on behalf of someone who has a creative idea or a particular point of view they want to share, but lacks the ability to write the story, article, or speech (etc.) themselves.
Some ghostwriters may even be asked to collaborate with an established author. If this happens, you may be required to share an office with that person for the duration of the project, but for the most part you’ll be able to work in your own space (so long as there’s sufficient communication).
Pay
Ghostwriters are typically paid per project, which could mean getting paid according to the word count rather than by the hour. This largely depends on the company you operate through, however.
On average, ghostwriters can earn $36,000 to $64,000 a year.
Requirements/Skills
As long as you have good writing skills, you won’t often be asked to have any qualifications beyond that of a high school diploma. However, if you’re planning on working in a specialized field – such as the common examples of medical or legal writing – you may be required to have additional qualifications.
For the most part, you’ll just need to be an expert writer, which means having a good knowledge base of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Naturally, you’ll also need a personal computer to work on.
Companies
If ghostwriting is a typing job you think you’d be interested in, take a look at these platforms. Pay and requirements will vary, so be sure to take a look at the job specifications before applying, as well as any membership and/or commission fees charged by the platform:
- Freelancer.com (various fees – see here)
- Guru (sliding commission fee, membership fees, and bidding costs – see here)
- LinkedIn (membership fees for premium – see here for advantages of using LinkedIn Premium)
- Upwork (sliding commission fee – Upwork is also introducing mandatory bidding fees as of May 2019)
4. Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants perform similar duties to their in-office counterparts, dedicated assistants. The obvious difference is that instead of having to work in your client’s office, you get to work from home.
This has some major advantages. For example, you don’t have to worry about traveling costs and you can have more than one client at a time (though you’d need to go freelance to take advantage of the latter, as some virtual assistant companies pair you up with one client at a time).
Virtual assistants essentially help clients with data entry, handling emails and phone calls, setting up appointments (and reminders for those appointments), and any number of other tasks.
Pay
Pay depends on a number of factors: how many clients you take on, whether you’ve gone freelance or are working through a company, which company you choose, the type of virtual assistant tasks you’re asked to perform, and hours worked.
Depending on the above-mentioned factors, most virtual assistants tend to earn between $15 and $60 an hour. Average annual income is around $57,000.
Requirements/Skills
This too depends on a number of factors – almost all of the same factors that determine your pay, in fact.
Depending on the client(s) you work for, you may be required to have prior experience, certifications, and/or specialized equipment. For the most part, a personal computer with high-speed internet access, Microsoft Suite and/or G Suite, and a comfortable work environment are standard requirements.
Companies
Here are our top 5 recommended companies to work for that hire virtual assistants. Be sure to take a look at their requirements before sending in your application:
5. Captioning
Captioning work is highly similar to transcription: you’ll be listening to audio and typing out what you hear.
The big difference is that you’ll only be working with video files. When captioning, you’re creating the closed-captions (subtitles) for those who are hard of hearing (or those who prefer subtitles). Sometimes, this includes more involved work – such as making note of the background noises as well.
This makes captioning far more demanding work than regular transcriptions, especially if you’re asked to do captioning for live events. There’s typically a very short delay in broadcasting such events, so you’ll need to have a typing speed of 70+ WPM without any errors.
Pay
While captioning can pay significantly more than regular transcription work, your earnings are still going to depend on the company you work through and the amount of workload you can take on.
As a good indication, Rev.com (one of the companies we recommend for captioning work) says their captioners earn anywhere between $240 and $1,570 a month ($2,880 to $18,840 a year), though it’s possible to make $55,000 to $60,000 a year.
Requirements/Skills
Similar to transcription work, you’ll need a fast typing speed (we’d recommend 70 WPM, especially for live events captioning), a personal computer with high-speed internet connection, and good-quality headphones – preferably noise-canceling if you can afford them.
You may be required to have certification and/or a stenotype machine as well.
Companies
Here are our top 4 recommendations for finding captioning work. As always, be sure to check their specific requirements before applying:
6. Microtasks
Microtasks are exactly that – small tasks that need to be performed.A lot of microtasking work has overlaps with some of the other online typing jobs we’ve covered already. You may be asked to transcribe small audio files, do data entry for short notes, update a spreadsheet, identify elements in a photograph – in fact, there’s almost no limit to the type of microtasks available!
These are typically very easy jobs that don’t take long to complete (and can often be done while you’re watching TV or waiting for the kettle to boil).
PayOf course, microtasks mean micropay. Depending on the task (and the platform you use to find these tasks), you could earn anywhere from a couple of cents to a couple of dollars per microtask. For the most part, don’t expect more than $10 an hour. Microtasks should be considered a source of supplementary income.
Requirements/SkillsThe requirements for doing microtasks vary according to the task, of course. As a general rule, you should expect to need a stable internet connection and the Microsoft Suite or G Suite.
Some microtasks may require headphones and/or additional software.CompaniesIf you’d like to boost your online typing income using microtasks, take a look at the following platforms:
Other Places to Find Online Typing Jobs From Home
We’ve covered a number of companies and platforms where you can find online typing jobs from home. But just in case you’re looking for a few more options to consider:
- FlexJobs – membership fees apply
- Indeed.com – free, though lots of competition
- ProBlogger jobs board – free, though lots of competition
Conclusion
So – are you ready to start making money with one of the online typing jobs we’ve introduced you to?
Using the Best Typing Jobs From Home information and resources we’ve provided, we’re certain you can make a success of your work-from-home venture!
