If you've spent more than five minutes researching digital marketing, content marketing, or what it takes to succeed online, you've probably heard this simple quote: "Content is king." 

That statement was first written by Bill Gates in 1996, only five years after the internet became widely available to the general public. And today, with approximately 2 billion websites on the internet, it is more applicable than ever. 

Think about it. Two billion websites. Even if you consider that "only" 400 million of those are active, that's still a whole heckuva lot of competition. 

~ As a side note, these days "websites" and "blogs" are essentially the same thing. Therefore you'll hear me referring mostly to "websites," but everything I discuss applies to "blogs" as well. ~

So how in the world is a small business website supposed to compete? What does it take to make sure your potential customer is able to find you?

There are two options for getting your site "found" on the internet:

• expensive paid advertising (and a whole lot of it), or
• free high quality content (and a whole lot of it)

Since most start-up businesses, small business owners, or fledgling entrepreneurs aren't exactly swimming in cash, Option #1 (paid advertising) isn't viable. So that leaves Option #2: high quality content (and a whole lot of it)

The whole purpose of having a website or blog is to connect you or your business with your ideal target market. Even if you're not selling anything, even if you're just writing for fun or posting photos or sharing your ideas, ideally you want to connect your website or blog with the people that will resonate with whatever you're putting "out there." 

But with 2 billion websites out there, you simply must do more than just slap up a few pages and call it good. That's like throwing a needle in a very, very big haystack, and hoping that your ideal reader or customer just happens to find you.

The solution is to create high quality content, and ideally a lot of it; designed in a very specific way and utilizing something we call SEO, which I'll explain in a minute. When designed and written correctly, Google sees your website as a "match" for what someone is searching for, and connects the two of you. Think of Google like a big match-maker. Google's sole purpose is to give its users whatever they are looking for; so if you can help Google see what your site is about, Google is more likely to connect you with your soulmate. 

But how do you tell Google what your site is about? Well, it won't happen with a sentence or two on your page, and it certainly won't happen with a few random images (especially unoptimized images). And if your "Products" page is simply titled "Products," do you know how many million (literally) other pages there are called the same thing? 

The secret is to carefully craft and create optimized content, so that Google can say, "Aha! I know exactly what this website or blog is about, and now I can connect it with the right people." But without optimized content, your site is going to get lost in the sea of millions of other sites, floating out there in a vast ocean where nobody even knows you exist. 

In a word, no.

In a few words, and in my personal opinion, social media is a horrible business strategy.

Now don't get me wrong. Social media should be an important part of your content marketing strategy. But you should not use social media as your sole source of marketing, and you definitely should not replace a high-content, high-quality website or blog with social media. Why not?

I could go on for hours about this: but basically, it comes down to these points:

• No one will take you seriously without a solid website or blog.
• Social media is fleeting; you have to be constantly posting in hopes of getting in front of the right people at the right time.
• People on social media are mindlessly wasting time, they aren't actively looking for solutions.
• Social media platforms can come and go in a heartbeat. What if you build up an entire audience and then that company gets sold or goes under? Or what if you get hacked, or mistakenly post something wrong, and they shut you down? There goes your entire business strategy, and your entire audience. Again, not a good business strategy.  

Why not, instead, put yourself in front of people who are actively looking for what you offer?

Again, if you've spent any amount of time researching what it takes to help your business succeed, you have probably heard the term "SEO."  It's one of the most talked-about topics on the web today, and for good reason.

SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization." Basically, it is the process by which you tell search engines (mainly Google) what your site is about, so that the search engine (SE) can connect you with the people who are looking for what you offer. And since Google (and the other search engines) aren't mind readers, you have to tell them. And you do this by using specific, targeted content. 

How? Well, that's an incredibly long, detailed, complex, and constantly-changing answer. Seriously, you can search "What is SEO" to figure it out yourself; but be prepared to get sucked into the rabbit hole.

Or, you can hire someone who has spent over a decade learning everything there is to know about SEO and putting it into practice. 

And that, my friend, is the very long-winded answer to the original question, which was "Why should you hire a freelance writer?". 

While I am more than willing and able to write on just about any topic under the sun (and I truly love learning new things!), it is always a bonus when you find a writer who has a specialty area or "niche" with which they are already familiar. There's just a certain extra level of quality when a writer is personally knowledgable about a topic. 

Therefore, here are just a few of the niches in which I have personal or professional experience:

I pride myself on being a "one-stop shop" in that I can provide complete packages of whatever you might need. In addition to writing great content, I also offer the following services:

• Stock Photo Research: I have a few great resources for free, commercial-use stock photography, and love to find the right images to convey your message.
• Photo Editing with Photoshop or Lightroom: While I am not an expert in these programs, I can definitely edit, manipulate, and perfect images to meet your needs. 
• Software: WordPress, Email Autoresponders (Aweber, GetResponse, Constant Contact, etc.), Screenflow Video Editing

Why divide up your project between contractors when you can get everything done at once, in a more cohesive manner?