If you are advertising through pay per click in the search engines, I found a very useful guide on the how to improve the results of your search engine marketing. This paper from the Internet Advertising Bureau entitled “Turning 10 Paid Search Mistakes into Pure Profit” is a must-read for every marketer working to reach customers via search engine marketing.

What I like most about the paper is that it clearly identifies the problem, discusses why this is a mistake, and suggests ways to remedy the mistake and increase effectiveness of the campaign. Here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid:

1. Not developing 3, 4 and 5 word phrase keywords
2. Writing ad copy that doesn’t qualify prospects (e.g. too broad ad copy)
3. Sending searchers to non relevant landing pages that doesn’t match the search listing
4. Poorly designed and focused landing pages
5. Set it and forget it – too much reliance on bid management technology
6. Allowing affiliates to bid on trademarks
7. Bidding to the top position mentality
8. Not analyzing what competitors are doing in search
9. Not understanding the differences in the search engines
10. Not looking out for, and watching out, for click fraud