Every now and then you have to get back to the basics. You may be learning the ropes and turning in some pretty good results with your search engine marketing efforts. You might be seeing higher rankings, more traffic and tons of links. Of course you might not be seeing an increase in sales. If that's the case, there's a good chance you've made one of three common mistakes with your search marketing campaign.

Mike Moran spells out these three mistakes in a post on the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog.

Here's the super-quick-slimmed-down version:

1: The Rank Amateur Error
Rookie search marketers often fixate on the rankings of their ads, thinking that getting a #1 position on an important keyword is the road to success.

2: The Traffic Report Error
Well, if it's not rankings, it must be traffic, right? After all, the purpose of search marketing is to drive traffic to your site. That's true, of course, but the business value of search marketing stems from buyers, not lookers.

3: The 24/7 Sales Pitch Error
It's natural for you to emphasize information about your products, such as advanced features, special deals and capabilities that differentiate your wares from competitors'. However, that information targets people who already know they need to buy something—folks who know that your product (or your competitor's) solves their problem. What about the people who know they have a problem, but have no idea what to do about it?

What Mike offers really is basic level marketing strategy. It doesn't matter how many people visit your site (or see your ad) if they're the wrong people or your offer isn't appealing. It doesn't matter what your rank is in the listings if those rankings aren't producing quality traffic.

Search marketing isn't a magic marketing bullet; it is simply another way to get your products and services in front of your audience. Unless you take the time to make sure your message is targeted and your offerings are clear, all the rankings and traffic in the world won't make up for the time and effort it takes to get them.

If you're sitting there scratching your head wondering why your super successful SEM campaign isn't driving sales, you might find the answers in Mike's post.