Andrew Hazen grows his search engine optimization company into a $3M- plus enterprise

Andrew Hazen has never made a single cold call. But he's grown his search engine optimization company, Prime Visibility, into a $3 million-plus enterprise.

Since launching the business in 1999, he's chosen an education approach to convert prospects into clients. "We call it 'Tell, don't sell,'" Hazen said.

As clothing retailer Sy Sims tirelessly advocated, the educated consumer is the best customer. That mantra is particularly critical in the tech field. Because technology is always changing, many businesses are not aware of the latest advances - so it behooves a tech company to keep prospective clients informed.

Hazen finds it beneficial to talk up the benefits of search engine optimization, a service that includes incorporating keywords, links and more on Web sites to help companies improve their rankings on search engines such as Google and Yahoo. He has educated a broad spectrum of prospects, thanks partially to a...