Full Time SEO's

What should you bring to the table?

[simonmc]

I've been asked to recruit a full time SEO for a business in the UK (this is not a job ad as I will be recruiting from the UK via a newspaper).

The business serves a niche market and has several websites with some moderate to stiff competetition. I need some advice as this is not something I am

1. What should a fulltime SEO (the only SEO in the business) bring to the table as far as technical skills go?

2. What areas of SEO should they cover as a minimum? Such as link building, Social bookmarking, Commenting, Articles etc to give the business the best bang for buck?

3. What about reporting and analytics? What would you expect as a minimum?

4. Proof of previous experience and success. How would you measure that?

5. Is £30K a year (in the UK) a fair salary for this position?

I'm sure this is too brief, what am I missing as I don't want to end up with someone that talks the talk but can't walk the walk.

Any pointers and help appreciated.

[canadafred]

If the SEO insists that his link building schemes are unsurpassed then you don't want him.

What you want is someone who clearly knows how to work with the on-site factors, can write exceptional content and has experience positioning webpages at the top of the organic search engine results pages for competitive keyphrases.

A good search engine optimizer is worth about $60,000 annually Canadian. A proven ethical SEO can go for $100,000 and more.

[Roie]

In my opinion, any full time SEO needs at least the following:
1. Full understanding of HTML+CSS and web standards
2. Excellent writing skills (unless you want to pay extra)
3. Deep understanding of PC environment and MS Excel for reporting
4. Have enough relevant connections in the industry to build links.
5. Proven knowledge can be proved by showing and knowing industry tools (Yahoo site explorer and many Google tools, to name a few) - and he very likely to have a site or two of his own. He must have at least one area of expertise (search wise) so ask him about this area, what are the competitors like, how are the leading players, what are the top keywords etc.
6. I have no idea about the salary :)
6.