Anyone notice that clients you are doing SEO for are motivated as hell to do onsite optimization, but when it comes to long term link development they never want to be involved at all? It happens every single time. I give up on these people.
I can relate to what you're saying. What's even worse is the clients that want a full flash site and rank number one for their keywords. Let's be real though. Link development is boring and there's no instant gratification from doing it. You won't get as frustrated with your clients if you just take the reins and do what you have to do and accept the fact that your clients don't want to be involved.
Exactly, it's hard for most non-webmasters to grasp that something so tedious and seemingly trivial will actually help their search rankings. I've found you just have to do it yourself and charge for it or it won't get done and you'll be blamed.
Well link building takes time, and they probably expect you to do everything. After all, they DID hire you to do the work, right?