This blog discusses search engine marketing and the most common misconceptions associated with creating paid search ads (pay-per-click ads).

When I first became acquainted with search marketing, I naturally assumed that anything that was “free and open to the public,” like Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing was easy and could be done by practically anyone. And, so my first misconception about SEM was born.

Misconception #1: SEM is something anyone can do, previous skills and search marketing expertise not required.
 
It seems so simple. Pay-per-click advertising has so many tools that are free, and the giant of them all, Google AdWords offers plenty of “how-to” guidance on the site. If you need more help, there are books for that, right?

The illusion of these tools is their simplicity. The instructions for Google AdWords basically tell you to just create an account, pick keywords, write an ad and go!

What I’ve learned: Creating effective pay-per-click ads that affect your bottom line is a discipline and must be managed with an experienced and diligent eye, just like search engine optimization.

In my last blog series,  I made the same mistake with SEO, assuming it was easy to learn. Though services like Google AdWords are free and come with basic instructions, it takes time, dedication and experience to effectively execute pay-per-click ads.

My own experience with AdWords was, dare I say, a failed attempt (and I’m not picking on Google, it’s just the first place most people start). In addition to my own missteps, I often see businesses become frustrated with search marketing because they think it doesn’t work.

The truth of the matter is, a large portion of the people who use Google AdWords operate under this exact misconception, that search marketing is something everyone can do. They are not experienced enough to amass successful results from AdWords and, unfortunately don’t understand that SEM is a professional discipline.

So, if people misinterpret the actual complexity of Google AdWords, is it possible that there may be a few other misconceptions associated with SEM? I’m thinking of a word. A keyword, that is.

For the many people trying out the search engine marketing arena, a keyword may be a simple choice of words related to their business. My next blog will tell you why that just won’t do.