Into Search Engine Marketing (SEM)? What do you think your skills are worth? Thinking of adding a search engine marketer to your team and not sure how much you’ll need to pay? Findings from SEMPOs first survey of in-house SEM job salary compensation can give you an indication.

Based on 656 completed surveys, salaries range anywhere from $40,000 to $250,000 for someone with 5 - 7 years experience. Under 5 years experience, very few achieve 6 figures salaries, with the bulk between $30k - $80k.

Other findings:

- 26% of those with 5-7 years experience earn under $60,001 a yea

- 26% of SEM’s with 5-7 years of experience earned between $90k and $120k

- 21% of the 5 - 7 years experience group earn in excess of $120 a year

- Some 64% of the survey respondents had five years or less SEM experience.

- 33% of respondents manage monthly budgets at the $200,000 level

- 26.6% manage budgets of up to only $25,000/month

SEMPO is a non-profit organization whose activities are primarily focused on search engine marketing education and awareness. Membership is open to individuals and companies worldwide. The public can request quotes for search engine marketing services from SEMPO members by completing an RFP form on their site - it’s a free service.

Search is becoming an increasingly important part of marketing strategy and SEMPO’s current trend projections are that SEM spending will double by 2011 to over $18 billion.

You can read more of the SEMPO salary survey here

Related:

Hiring search engine marketers vs. doing it yourself - pros and cons.

Search engine optimization tips