Selling hype or setting unrealistic expectations is one of LEAST intelligent things you can do to build long term client relationships. Instead of scrambling to outdo next self proclaimed SEO guy's claims, why not try something more in nature of a soft sell.

By teaching your prospective clients truth about SEO process actually will:

--Enhance your reputation as a professional

--Diffuse those competitors who ONLY sell hype

--Increase new sales

--Generate increased referral business

--Establish long term client relationships

--Establish tremendous client loyalty

--Firmly establish YOUR CREDIBILITY in both community as well as industry as a professional who knows how to get results.

In other words, teach people TRUTH about process and you'll already gain some immediate advantages because you are educating prospect by offering them some facts but even more important, something that is EASY to believe. Something that blows away old misconceptions.

Most people are tired of hearing a lot of sales hype.

Try de-mystifying SEO process and help your prospects to understand what search engine optimization (SEO) can do for their business. It's really just a simple, old-fashioned principle.

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More SE visibility = more success for client More client success = more referral business for you

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Most of time, your clients will sell your services better than you can ever sell yourself.

Every time you help someone achieve success, it is literally impossible for your business not to benefit as well. Okay, here are some real simple tips:

A. Educate your prospect by telling them truth.

Try using some of following points when speaking to your prospects:

--Explain to your prospect, that your job is not just building a web site. Designing a web site is relatively easy, but this is only 50% of job. Explain that your effort continues long after launch of site.

--Teach them about a few of ways your service differs from traditional Web developer. Your true objective entails more than just concept or design.

--Your skill is positioning their web site squarely in front of their ideal target audience. Once you get them positioned for maximum exposure, it's your aim to keep them there, right in limelight.

--If you're presenting to a group of 2 or more, ask them name of their favorite search engine. Don't be surprised by their reply but 98% of time, they'll name one of MAJOR search engines. This is a great way to begin teaching them something they may have never heard before.

--Since there are only a "handful" of search engines that everyone uses (the major ones), this is where we place our best promotional efforts. You can demonstrate where their traffic will come from if other clients give you permission to use a couple of their reports as samples.

Ask your prospect, "Did you know that "HITS" are irrelevant?

"That's right, hits do not matter because a HIT is NOT a visitor." You can then explain that each HIT is really an action from server. In other words, a hit occurs for each and every element downloaded. The number of HITS to a site, are nearly always larger numbers, but this does NOT mean you had any great number of visitors. Teach them about importance of unique visitor sessions.

Why is this important?

In explaining this difference between a HIT and a VISITOR, you have taught your prospect a truth that could work against next competitor who comes along behind you and only talks about HITS (which is what many do).

Why do so many competitors talk all about HITS?

Simply because they are BIG numbers which sound impressive particularly if you have no intention of providing customer with detailed reporting. Teach your prospect truth, that important numbers to watch are actual visitor session counts, not just hits.

Help your client to understand what it is you do.

Does your prospect see your "behind scenes" service as VITAL? If not, they need some understanding! Explain, "the reason" that business owners hire you, is to ensure their web site is built and launched properly very first time".

There can be no question that Internet is continuing to grow at an amazing pace. While fact that so many consumers are online is important, it is even more crucial to understand what these consumers are doing while online. The two most outstanding reasons people use Internet is to communicate (e-mail) and to research (using search engines).

Again, here are a few statistics regarding how people spend their time online (for more statistics and a list of sources, visit http://www.10xmarketing.com/information.asp):

•88% of all Internet users use search engines

•37% of online shoppers used Google to search for online retailers. Search was used by 25 percent of consumers searching Web for holiday purchases

•For car buying decisions, search engine advertising proved itself a stronger influencer (26 percent) than TV ads (17 percent)

•Virtually all affluent adult shoppers (HHI $100K+) use Web to make or research their purchases. For automobile, computer and travel purchases, Internet use is extraordinarily high (over 90 percent of those surveyed)

When consumers go to Internet, they use search engines because they are able to find products they want, reviews, descriptions, consumer ratings, and best price possible. Consumers are less concerned with where they buy their products as much as they are concerned with how much product they can get for their dollar.