The typcial business owner finds SEO a mystery. They are easy prey for the "guaranteed rankings" scam, because a guarantee sounds like it's "safe". How can a guarantee be a scam, right? I also agree about the link-exchange scams, but now people have taken it to the other extreme and are afraid to exchange any links. I think modest and targeted link exchanges are still very valuable, especially if they involve useful content exchanges. Offline, this is called partnerships and referrals, and it is a good thing. Ditch the script - any automated linking is bad - and look for partners that are in related businesses or in a similar geographical area.