“Daddy, where do web pages come from?”
“Well, someone has an idea and they find a web developer that they like very much and…”
“No daddy, I already know that from the playground. What I want to know is what is S-E-O all about”
“Oh boy, I didn’t think I’d be having this discussion with you so soon…”

Tonight I asked my wife to describe what I do, and her description was “Um… You try to get traffic to sites, and then someone makes money”. Maybe my 5 year old understands what I do?… ok maybe not: “You work on a computer”. But what about customers? Do they know what it is they’re getting themselves in for? There are three types of customers that I’ve come across, those that don’t know what it is, but they want it and those that know enough to be dangerous (those that actually know enough to do it themselves aren’t necessarily in the customers bucket). For both sets of customers education is the key, understanding what they know, filling in the gaps for them, and setting realistic expectations are the best ways to go. Basically treat them like you’d want to be treated by a vendor. If you don’t it’s only going to come back and bite you in a soft tender spot at some point, and if that happens too often you might find yourself having to explain to your spouse exactly what your new job is… although maybe it’ll be an easier one for them to understand.

(thanks to SEOWife for the idea behind this post)