How much is an SEO individual worth?

Contract negotiations coming up....

[grnidone]

I need to re-negotiate my contract coming up at the end of the month. Do any of you know where I can find the average salary of an SEO individual? It seems most SEO's hang up their own shingle and contract themselves out, but I don't have that luxury.

(I tried to convince my boss of $95 Million, but all she did was laugh...)

Thanks everyone,
-G

[scott]

SEO will become KWB (keyword bidder)!

[Mike_Mackin]

grnidone:

Send me Email.
I may be able to get you a letter out of Houston.
:)

[WebRookie]

Grnidone if it helps any I'm making under 35k in a company setting for northern California. I'm not in a software company so this may make a difference. From the research I've done so far this is lower than bay area salaries.

[bigjohnt]

Whatever SEO becomes, there will be a strong need for those with the skills, and temperament to deal with it. The fact that it is changing so rapidly, and requires so much study, will not go away. Even if the sport is reduced to dealing with a paid media, there will be a high demand for those familiar with it. Case in point, isn't choosing a category and writing a killer description while submitting to Yahoo a form of optimization? (subject to the ever vigilant editors of course)

Maybe there will be less algo-cracking and analysis, but there will still be a need for an intelligent and higly paid individual to develop a strategy, implement it, and manage it.

[Mike_Mackin]

RIGHT ON :)

[rcjordan]

>Case in point, isn't choosing a category and writing a killer description while submitting to Yahoo a form of optimization?

I can GUARANTEE that it is in Snap LiveDirectory (now NBCi) or any other SE that counts clicks. And working with/around those ever-vigilant editors is, too.

[seth_wilde]

"Case in point, isn't choosing a category and writing a killer description while submitting to Yahoo a form of optimization?"

Not to mention that you still have to optimize a page submitted to ODP or Looksmart if you want to rank well on their partner sites (which is were the real traffic comes from anyway)