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Tim Weller, chief executive officer of Incisivemedia led the just-completed acquisition of the Search Engine Strategies circuited conference, Clickz and the online search engine journal SearchEngineWatch from Jupitermedia. The purchase raised more than a few eyebrows in the search engine world as the SES conferences are a major venue for the industry.

What do you think about Tim Weller's comments? Give us your view over at WebProWorld.

One of the hottest topics at the SES conference this year is the conference itself. With the recent purchase of the SES and Clickz by Incisive Media. WebProNews' own Mike McDonald caught up with Incisivemedia's CEO, Tim Weller for a few quick comments about the immediate future of SES.

First of all, many were worried about a possible downsizing of those Jupiter employees tied directly to the sale. Jupiter had reported, as mentioned in Mike's earlier story that those affected employees would be independent contractors. Weller told WebProNews, "This will not be any sort of downsizing, we want to grow this business and brand."

Incisive actually plans to keep the staff local in Darian and stated the intention of opening a new office in Darian to maintain the marketing, sales and operations for SES. The sub-contracting deal will be maintained for up to a year although Weller said he expects the time to be less.

Weller didn't talk about the details of Danny Sullivan's contract but he made it a point that the retention of the people involved with these sites was a primary objective. This means everybody will be staying right where there are for the moment.

Incisive has had a minimal online presence so far with only about 8% of their business online before the SES purchase. Weller told McDonald their formula had been more along the development of a property starting with a magazine or print publication. When asked about print component to for any of the new properties, Weller indicated that all options were still on the table at this point.

Weller said he believes that Incisive will be able to give the SES a level of attention and resources that Jupitermedia could not in light of its interests in other areas. Their short term goals include an expansion of the cities to the current SES tour in the U.S., Europe and Asia as well as expanding certain verticals within the brand.

In any event, some of this news should come as a pleasant relief to those folks who might have been a little unsure. As far as the SES conference itself, Incisive will begin running the show at the Stockholm edition. What changes might ensue as a result of the purchase remains to be seen. As Weller said though, all options were still on the table.

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.