Meals & nutrition

I thought SEO writing would be simple. Pick a keyword, write about it, and publish the page. After trying it myself, I realized there is much more to it. My sentences started sounding awkward, and I kept changing the same paragraph. I am wondering if I should pay someone to do SEO copywriting instead. Has anyone used outside help for this? Did the writer need detailed instructions from you? I would like to know how much information you normally provide before they start working on a page.