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I’ve been attending SES San Jose every year since 2003. And each year a healthy proportion of attendees are attending their first search engine marketing conference ever.

This is healthy because it expands the number of marketers who “get it.”

I can’t tell you the number of times when prospective clients mistakenly assume that search engine marketing (SEM) isn’t rocket science. Or they mistakenly believe that search engine optimization (SEO) is something their information technology (IT) department took care of years ago. Or they mistakenly think that a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign takes 15 minutes to set up. Or they mistakenly hope that their public relations (PR) people have a good handle on social media marketing.

So, I’m delighted to see the large number of first time attendees at Search Engine Strategies conferences — because after they’ve sat in on a dozen sessions over three days they come away knowing how much more there is to learn.

Hey, if it were easy, we’d all rank #1.

So, with SES San Jose 2009 coming up August 10-14, I thought I’d highlight some of the conference sessions that I’d recommend to first time attendees. I’ve been doing this for several years — and even spoke along with Matt Bailey of SiteLogic in a few “First Timer’s Guide to SES and SEM” sessions at some events.

But, most marketers like to plan ahead. So, look over the SES conference agenda and check out some of the sessions that address your needs and your organization’s issues.

If you want some suggestions, here are sessions specially focused on search fundamentals for first time attendees:
• Introduction to Search Engine Marketing provides a clear and concise overview of the concepts involved in search engine marketing.
• Successful Site Architecture offers a fresh look at topics on how to successfully design a site for search engines, including JavaScript, robots.txt use, frames, secure area usage and much more.
• Turn Brain Science into Bucks: Incorporating Persuasive Messaging into Your Content Strategy showcases current online content campaigns and explains the best content strategies to help persuade buyers, build trust, and get great search engine listings using Twitter, white papers, optimized web pages and more.
• SEO Tools of the Trade: What’s in YOUR Toolbox? describes the tools that will help accomplish tasks, including indexing, competitive analysis, site ranking, diagnosing and remedying problems and much more.
• Search Advertising 101 describes the basic principles and applications of paid placement.
• Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations presents an overview of the important keywords customers are searching for and how to target the right terms in paid and organic search marketing.
• Discover the Power of Linking: Link Building Basics focuses on the role of link analysis in search engine site rankings and how to increase site traffic by building quality links.
• The Findability Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach to SEM features search engine guru Heather Lutze taking a fresh look at how search engines find content and what steps to take to ensure a successful online marketing campaign.
• Extreme Makeover is a series of four sessions held throughout day three of the conference. Volunteers are taken from the audience, their websites are examined and feedback is provided. Sessions include:
Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic provides general feedback about improving websites and gaining more traffic from search engines.
Extreme Makeover: Live Twitter & Blogging Clinic provides general feedback about how to improve your website’s use of Twitter and blogging.
Extreme Makeover: Live Landing Page Clinic provides feedback on how to improve landing pages.
Extreme Makeover Live! Why Am I Not Making Enough Sales? covers the most common reasons many sites have low conversion rates and gives tips on how to turn more site visitors into paying customers.

I think you can see from the suggestions above that there is more to SEM, SEO, PPC and social media than a handful of tricks that you can pick up by reading a blog post. Oh, and if the folks over in finance are still cutting travel budgets these days, ask them this rhetorical question: “If I don’t learn how to improve our search engine marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, or social media marketing, then how will the company be able to pay your salaries next year?”

Okay, so maybe you don’t want to actually say that to their faces. And you don’t want to start calling finance the “department of sales prevention.” They are just doing their job.

But you can show them the SES conference agenda and let them know that you’ve picked out sessions to attend that will provide your company with a return on its investment (ROI) in marketing. Finance folks love it when you talk about ROI. Your talking their language.

Or, ask them to watch the video below. Yes, yes, it makes the case for going to Search Engine Strategies. But it also demonstrates visually that SES San Jose, which is the largest search engine marketing expo on the West Coast, will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes, and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, and more.

In February, visual search engine Searchme began testing a search advertising program in a closed beta. Now, the ad program is officially launching to all interested advertisers.

Searchme’s results offer up images of website pages, which provides search marketers with an opportunity to include more design concepts into their campaigns.

“We’ve basically fused together the best elements of brand and keyword advertising. At the same time, we’re helping consumers know exactly what they’re getting before they click on an ad,” said John Galatea, Searchme vice president of sales and marketing.

As a result, search marketers may find their cost-per-click maximized.

“The Searchme Ad Platform delivers more valuable clicks leading to increased conversions while reducing consumer frustration at clicking through to ads that don’t match their needs,” continued Galatea. “The future of search advertising is visual.”

Galatea is basing his statements on the success of the beta program. Mindshare, part of the Group M unit of WPP, is including Searchme ads in their client strategy.

“We’re doing a lot of testing on the Searchme Ad Platform for a number of different brands. We see some very cutting-edge, unique opportunities and we’ll continue to introduce this to our clients,” said Chris Westmeyer, Senior Search Strategist at Mindshare.

Mindshare isn’t alone. Media Contacts, the global interactive media network of Havas Digital, is also experiencing success with Searchme ads.

“What is appealing for Media Contacts’ clients is the idea of providing a pre-click site-preview in the SERP to qualify the audience and ultimately improve efficiency,” said Rob Griffin, Media Contact’s Senior Vice President, U.S. Director of Search, Data & Analytics. “The innovative format and integration of the ads with the organic content itself allows our clients to be part of the page flow which lends to a cleaner, less cluttered environment enabling better brand messaging at the same time.”

Will you be checking out Searchme ads? Let us know your interest in the comments below.

We’ve already seen comScore and StatCounter report an auspicious start for Microsoft’s newly launched Bing search engine. Now, Hitwise shares Initial Bing Stats for US and Canada.

According to Heather Dougherty, Hitwise’s director of research:

That’s quite a hot start, though it remains to be seen how long that traffic level can be sustained. It’s driving awareness with its TV ad campaigns, media coverage, and curiosity, but those things won’t keep Bing going at these levels for long. Microsoft needs to offer searchers something that exceeds what they can get from their current search engine — most likely Google — to make them change their behavior.

The surge in traffic is at least worth a short-term look from advertisers. Melissa Mackey took a look at Bing from an advertiser perspective today in “Can Bing Really Bring It for PPC Advertisers?” She says it’s more than just rebranded Live Search, and Microsoft has promised more advertising innovations coming down the line soon.