You may have noticed that many websites are now offering podcasts and teleseminars. This is a great way for these website owners to reach out to their existing customers and promote their products and services to new customers.

This has also opened up many positions for people to work from as general transcriptionists. These website owners need people to listen to the audio files and type out what they hear into documents that can be given away or sold to customers.

As popular as these audio files are, some people still prefer to read and smart website owners are offering both an Mp3 file of audio to their customers, as well as a pdf file containing a written version of the audio.

Unlike medical transcription, there are no course requirements for general transcription. You simply need to be able to type what you hear. There is software available for you to slow down the audio files you are listening to, which will allow you to listen and type at a reasonable pace. You do not need to be a super fast typist, but will need to type accurately at a moderate speed.

In addition to decent typing skills, you’ll also need the ability to sit for a long period of time and have a good knowledge of language, vocabulary and grammar. The spell check function of your word processor will catch many of your errors, but it may be a good idea to brush up on the basics.

Many of your clients may prefer to have you type the files into a Microsoft Word document. They may ask you to also convert the file into a pdf format, and you can find free converters online. If you do not already have high speed internet access, you may want to look into it. You will be receiving audio files from your clients, and those can be difficult to receive with dial-up internet. You’ll be sending the completed work back to them via the internet, and again, this can be a slow process if you do not have DSL or cable internet.

You can locate these types of jobs by searching through online job boards and freelance job sites such as elance.com. Many online staffing companies are now seeking out general transcriptions, too. If you know of some sites that offer pdf versions of audio recordings, you can also contact them directly to see if they are hiring.

There are many opportunities in this growing filed and establishing yourself now can lead to a solid and steady career.