Determine fair Internet industry pay before hiring new employees

Internet industry salaries really run the gamut due to several factors, including job type, experience level, company size and location. Deciphering what a specific position is worth can be dizzying - especially if this is the first Internet industry professional you've brought on board. Fortunately, there are a variety of Internet industry salary tools available that are easy to use and typically provide current information on Internet industry compensation.

I recommend: PayScale provides a graph that shows median Internet industry salaries for such positions as web developer, marketing manager and software engineer. You can also plug in a job title, location and years of experience to help you find IT industry salary information for various positions. Computerworld has a Smart Salary Tool that lets you select a job title, an industry and a region from dropdown menus to compare salaries in the Internet industry. 

Stay current on Internet industry salaries to keep employees happy

Offering a competitive Internet industry salary to a new employee is essential, but it's also important to regularly provide fair salary increases to existing staff members. At the very least, all employees should get a cost-of-living increase at review time.

I recommend: Purchase a salary increase summary from Economic Research Institute to get the latest projections on salaries in the Internet industry. For a basic cost-of-living calculator, check out the American Institute for Economic Research.

Keep employee benefits in mind when establishing Internet industry salaries

An Internet industry salary is not that only thing that will attract and keep employees. Benefits such as medical and dental insurance, vacation pay, life insurance, flexible hours, casual dress, stock options and more are factors for many workers. Keep all benefits in mind when coming up with salaries in the Internet industry.

I recommend: Get a free subscription to Employee Benefit News to stay on top of the latest in employee benefits. Consider hiring an employee benefits consultant, such as GCG, to determine how your benefits package compares to other similar companies. Provide your contact information and GCG will send a free benchmarking analysis to get you started. Use tools like Stock Informatics or OptionTrax to sweeten Internet salaries with a stock option program.