It’s “Horses for Courses” at SES London

One of my favorite British expressions is “horses for courses.” According to The Phrase Finder, “It’s a racing term. Certain horses run better on certain courses.”

This phrase came to mind as I was looking over the conference agenda for Search Engine Strategies London, which will be held February 19-21, 2008, at the Business Design Centre.

There will be three concurrent conference tracks at Search Engine Strategies London. Since no delegate will be able to attend all 39 sessions, business professionals may want to take advantage to “a little-known codicil” in the registration information.

Under the subhead, Special Group Discounts, it clearly states: “The first conference registrant pays full price, the second and subsequent person from the same organization, registering at the same time qualifies for 50% off their registration fee (of equal value).”

Now, why would your organization want to send more than one person to SES London?

There are three key reasons:

1. You can’t afford to miss it! Search is hotter than ever and world-renowned search authorities Mike Grehan and Kevin Ryan have put together an exciting line up.
2. This year, the Conference and Expo is being brought back to the Business Design Center in Islington, eliminating last year’s commute to the Docklands.
3. Delegates at this event will be getting access to the most comprehensive SEM, SEO and PPC learning opportunity in the UK in addition to networking with the largest gathering of search professionals in Europe.

And sending a team will enable your organization to put different “horses” on different “courses.”

For example, someone entering the SEM steeplechase for the first time will race through the seven sessions in the Fundamentals Track on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the five sessions in the Improve Me Track on Thursday.

Meanwhile, someone who’s been around the SEO racecourse a few times will gallop through the two sessions in the Global Track on Tuesday, five sessions in the Organic and Beyond Track on Wednesday, and five sessions in the Organic Track on Thursday.

To extend the metaphor, someone who already knows how to harness PPC will be trotting through the seven sessions in the Search Advertising Track on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the five sessions in the Issues & Tactics Track on Thursday.

And your entire stable of search marketing thoroughbreds will benefit by attending the two Orion Panels with the All Star Analytics Team and the gurus of Universal, Blended and Vertical Search on Tuesday, as well as the keynote presentation by Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, on Wednesday.

Finally, even your workhorses will benefit by registering for one or more of the SEM Training Workshops which will be held on Friday, February 22.

You get the idea: horses for courses.

(I should disclose that SES London is now a client, although I’ve been speaking at – and writing articles about – the event since 2005. I should also disclose that no animals were harmed in the writing of this article.)

If your organization decides to send a team to Search Engine Strategies London, then you might want to register before Friday, February 1. If you do, you’ll save £100 per person. And these days, £100 in the UK is worth about $200 in the US – or the equivalent of 10 bottles of whisky and a bag of crisps.

Even if you just come by yourself, all SES London attendees will get a free pass to Market Motive – a $299 value in the US. That’s about £150 in the UK – or the equivalent of 15 bottles of whisky and a bag of crisps.

That’s right, as an added bonus to attendees of Search Engine Strategies London, SES has arranged for an additional month of training and Q&A with some of our most popular speakers. Members get online lessons and Q&A sessions with recognized leaders in Internet marketing:

• Bryan Eisenberg on conversion optimization,
• Alan Rimm-Kaufman on paid search / PPC,
• Matt Bailey on social media,
• Avinash Kaushik and John Marshall on web analytics,
• Todd Malicoat on SEO, and
• Jamie O’Donnell (and me) on online publicity

The free pass from Market Motive is good for new accounts only and may be redeemed anytime up to 30 days after the show’s end. And there’s sure to be a pony somewhere under all this horse manure.

Greg Jarboe is the president and co-founder of SEO-PR, a search engine optimization and public relations firm. He is also the news search, blog search and PR correspondent for the Search Engine Watch Blog.

Search Headlines

We report the top search marketing news daily at the Search Engine Watch Blog. You’ll find more news from around the Web below.

• Microsoft’s Bid for FAST Could Lead to Ad Deals, ClickZ News
• Webmaster Tool Wish List for 2008, ClickZ Experts
• Where SEO Belongs In The Web Site Development Cycle, Search Engine Land
• Google Maps Making Inroads Against Leader, Mapquest, Hitwise Intelligence
• The SEO Success Pyramid, Small Business SEM
• SEOs must Coordinate with Designers too, Ramblings About SEO
• Are You a White Hat or Black Hat Web Analyst?, Search Marketing Gurus
• Stop Words Are Dead! Did I Miss Another Memo?, SEO Fast Start
• Microsoft’s acquisitions chief leaving the company, Todd Bishop
• 3 Tips for In-House Search Engine Marketers, John W Ellis