I’ve been to quite a few conferences regularly since Web & Graphic Solutions went into business full-time back in 2005.

First, there was Search Engine Strategies: Chicago in 2005. That show was useful in showing us that there weren’t, in our opinion, many companies strongly serving the small business market.

Next, there was Search Engine Strategies: Chicago in 2006. After talking with Web Pro News’ Mike McDonald about how appreciated his industry interviews and coverage are, they interviewed me as part of their coverage.

In 2007 I attended 4 major conferences.

Search Engine Watch: Columbus in May ( A 1-day search marketing conference)
How Conference by HowDesign in Atlanta in June (a 4-day graphic design conference)
HostingCon 2007 in Chicago in July (a 3-day web hosting conference)
and
PubCon 2007 in Las Vegas in December (a 4-day search marketing conference).

Typically I get the front row middle-aisle seats at the conference sessions. It makes it easier to absorb the presentations without getting distracted, and also makes it easy to get one’s questions answered when the panel looks for raised hands to take questions from.

I have attended three search marketing conferences-worth of local search marketing sessions and 4 conferences-worth of small business search marketing sessions.

With that said, the speakers at these conferences are often book publishers who are talking about optimizing small business sites and totally miss the easiest and best methods for optimizing small business websites by rather giving tips that are geared for bigger businesses or themselves as publishers(”great content is the key to success”). Some sessions also are more about vendors selling their advertising with their products more than it is about teaching you how to compete on your own(”You can’t compete against Internet YellowPages directories, so buy our expensive advertising options instead” — not true, you can compete and outrank them in your service-area as a small business).

PubCon was much better for small businesses from an insight standpoint than Search Engine Strategies. If you are a small business looking for a search engine marketing conference to go to next year, I highly recommend PubCon over Search Engine Strategies.