CAP’s Product Manager Arjun Jolly is at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference in San Jose this week, getting all the latest info from one of the search engine industry's biggest events.
This week's Conference is the 10th annual SES event. Strategically situated in Silicon Valley, home to the world's largest concentration of successful internet and high-tech companies, SES San Jose is designed to accommodate everyone from Internet marketing newbies to SES Alumni, offering information on how to maximize "Search Engine Marketing (SEM) opportunities, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search advertising,"
SES describes this conference as "the largest learning and networking opportunity of the year, as the 70+ sessions (80% of which are new to the agenda) will cover everything that is search-related, and the numerous networking parties are back, including the famed Google Dance and Search Bash."
(Speaking of the Google Dance, Arjun has provided some pictures below of that and other highlights, courtesy of Andy Beal from MarketingPilgrim.com.)
We spoke to Arjun earlier about the show's highlights:
What exhibit do you think has been most useful? Although I visited nearly all of the companies that are exhibiting here at SES, I really enjoyed the product demonstration Omniture gave me of their Search Center and Site Catalyst. Their products really let you dive down into your campaigns and analytics to find the best ways to improve your conversions. Not to mention that their software also allows for some great data-crunching and reporting capabilities.
What kind of turnout are you seeing there? The turnout has been great! The speaker sessions range from beginner to advanced, yet they all seem equally crowded. And of course it's great to see both old and new faces, and there’s been some great networking at the parties … the Search Bash and Google Dance were a blast!
Would you recommend SES to others? For anyone looking to learn SEM, or who wants to integrate a search marketing strategy into your company's marketing plans, it's definitely a great conference with lots of information to be had. I do, however, wish that there was more discussion and debate over search marketing vs. affiliate marketing, but I guess you can't always have the best of both worlds!
