Freelance Editing Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

The Digital Content Editor creates, edits, and stewards digital content across the Garden Group portfolio — Fine Gardening magazine, Garden Gate magazine, and Horticulture magazine — with accountability for quality, cadence, and performance across all three brands.

The right person for this role has already spent years in this work. They know the difference between content that serves an audience and content that merely fills a slot. They’ve edited pieces that made a reader stop, screenshot something, send it to a friend — and they’ve also built the editorial systems that make that kind of work possible week after week. They understand that a story about the best ground covers for a dry slope is, at its core, a story about solving a real problem for a real gardener — and they know how to make it land.

This role moves fluidly between craft and strategy: editing a feature on shade perennials in the morning, reviewing analytics to shape next month’s calendar in the afternoon. It requires genuine gardening knowledge — enough to catch a bad plant recommendation, to know which voices in the horticulture world carry real authority, and to recognize when a contributor has written something worth the audience’s time.

Success is measured by engagement, member growth and retention, and a consistent content cadence — earned through disciplined, audience-first editorial work across three distinct brands.

What You’ll Own

Content Creation & Editorial Production

– Write, edit, and produce accurate, high-quality content across the Garden Group portfolio, including articles, posts, and video.

– Edit legacy content in WordPress/Contentful using SEO best practices, improving discoverability without sacrificing voice.

– Partner with the Multimedia/Video Producer to develop short- and long-form video for web and social.

– Research and implement innovations in content engagement, storytelling formats, and editorial presentation.

– Use AI tools thoughtfully to support research, drafting, and production — with rigorous human review and adherence to company guidelines.

– Meet strict content delivery deadlines across multiple concurrent projects and platforms.

Contributor & Freelance Management

– Manage, assign, and edit submissions from contributors across all three brands.

– Evaluate content proposals from prospective authors; provide clear editorial direction to freelancers.

– Identify story opportunities and develop ideas with contributors and stakeholders that support membership growth and audience depth.

Strategy, Analytics & Cross-Team Collaboration

– Use analytics, SEMRush, and audience data — in partnership with the Executive Digital Editor — to identify content gaps and inform editorial priorities.

– Collaborate on monthly/seasonally compelling content calendars for each brand, balancing SEO needs, article performance, and editorial judgment.

– Contribute to creative content promotion campaigns, digital publishing best practices, and e-letter planning and execution.

– Work cross-functionally with Digital Production, Social Media, and editorial teams to align publishing schedules and brand voice.

Special Projects, Webinars & E-Learning

– Support planning and execution of online webinars and digital events, from topic development through promotion and post-event follow-up.

– Contribute to e-learning content, including course structure, instructional copy, and subject matter expert coordination.

– Help develop project guides, white papers, and downloadable resources for members across experience levels.

– Monitor webinar and digital event metrics; share insights to shape future programming.

What You Bring

This role requires an experienced editor who can operate independently, manage competing priorities, and maintain high editorial standards under deadline pressure. Gardening knowledge isn’t optional — it’s the lens through which everything else works.

– 3–5+ years in digital editorial, ideally in home, garden, lifestyle, or enthusiast media.

– Demonstrated ability to manage contributors, meet deadlines, and oversee multi-platform production schedules.

– Working knowledge of WordPress or Contentful and SEO best practices.

– Proficiency with analytics tools (Google Analytics, SEMRush, or equivalent).

– Strong written communication across multiple brand voices.

– Experience managing competing priorities with minimal supervision.

Additional Experience:

– Genuine knowledge of gardening, horticulture, or outdoor living — enough to edit for accuracy, not just clarity.

– Experience producing or editing video and multimedia content.

– Familiarity with webinar production or e-learning content development.

– Background in lifestyle, home, garden, food, or enthusiast media.

– Comfort with project management tools (Trello, Monday.com, or similar).

Active Interest Media values diversity in the workplace and is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.