Using these platforms we compete with other freelance professionals and teams by bidding for projects that have been posted. Naturally pricing determines a huge chunk of the proposal and a lot of start ups that don't know where to start with their digital assets turn to these platforms.

The most difficult thing to overcome is the need for client education. I have bid for countless jobs and lost, only to be swept up in the next round of bidding several weeks later for the task of cleaning up the task that the "cheap" freelancer had failed to complete to an adequate standard - if at all.

If you're going to pay $2 for a 500 word article do not expect it to be of a standard that will put you on the first page of Google. It won't. My associates charge between £5 and £15 for a 500 word article and we provide a polished, well researched and plagiarism free end product that has SEO and keyword strategy already integrated. Paying for dirt cheap digital work often ends up costing a small fortune.

Self Starting

However Start ups can make a hugely visible impact in the digital sphere with very little money and carefully managed time frames.

Self starters can build their own websites and blogs using Blogger and WordPress, Blogger being Google's own and WordPress ranking exceptionally highly already makes the SEO much easier. It will all boil down to clean design and original content combined with links to well serviced Social Media platforms.

Websites

Build a Search Engine optimised Website with Googles Blogger. You'll find detailed instructions here.
There are literally thousands of free templates and themes to choose from and if you're prepared to spend a few dollars you may even find exactly what you're looking for over here. Remember Google prioritises its own, so your google web assets will be crawled with priority - make them perform and Google will love you.

Social Media

Build a network of Social Media sites using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest/Flickr/Tumblr. Post and cross post to the sites at least once a day. Learn about Social Media and optimising it for your business here.

Create content

Create one content item every day. Reuse content that is a year old and update it if its is necessary. use multiple types of content : written, images, video infographics, slides, interactive etc. Post the content on the relevant site using it initially in a blog or one of your web pages and the cross posting the link.

Advertise

Use Facebook and Adwords campaigns - done properly they work wonders for business.

Educate yourself

One of the best things that one man and small businesses can do is to self educate. The learning curve is quite steep, however if you don't need a Rolls Royce then don't pay for one. Identify what you need for your business to make it visible and if you can gain the skills and streamline them so that after an initial effort at setting up all your web assets you can allocate an hour a day between yourself and your colleagues, you will find that the long term rewards pay off.