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I'll offer some bullet points of advice ^^
1. Player Motivations: Ask the players what their characters main motivation is an play to that, at least at first. If someone wants gold, offer them gold. If a paladin wants to right wrongs and do good than give him a hook that will allow him to do that. In time they'll all fall into the party mentality and look out for each other, but in the beginning, especially with new players it's good to keep their goals simple and obtainable.
2. The Friend of my Enemy: A common enemy is a very good way to unify a group, someone who has wronged them all gives them a reason to band together, especially if the villain is clearly too much for them to take on single handedly. Don't worry about making him too cliche or "too evil", the first villain is often just a stepping stone to get the party together.
3. "Kid Glove" Rules: While you want to make sure they follow the rules and don't get out of hand try not to discourage player ideas. If they ask "can I throw him up there?" or "Can I use my dagger to pick the lock?" don't dismiss it immediately just because it's not in the rules. If you have just make up a quick house rule, picking a lock with a dagger is a simple Sleight of Hand check, or some such. Make the players feel smart and encourage creativity.
4. Have fun!: The one thing I always strive for in a Pathfinder game, no matter the group, is that everyone have fun. Often what "should" happen or what would happen "realistically" is not what will be the most fun for the group. New players will make mistakes, both with rules but also with role playing, so if they mouth off to the town guard or a high level NPC don't do something like kill them outright. This might seem only logical but you don't want the players to feel they are being punished by you specifically as opposed to the NPC. If they're very new don't pummel them with impossible battles, don't take away all their gear, don't road block them at every turn to fit the story, just have fun with it and make it light enough, even if you're a serious gamer :)
Hope that helps, if you want more advice send me a PM, been doing this for a while ^^
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I can't recommend Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering highly enough. It's well worth the price, and is the closest thing to a generic GM text book out there.
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I've been running games for 20 years and I still make mistakes all the time. For example I ran tonight and I forgot chokers have reach. (Bit stupid, I know.)
The trick is don't sweat it and be consistent. If you have to make a call make it then and there and then consider your position at length after the game.
As for common mistakes here's my ten top things not to do:
1) Don't have anyone turn up just to look cool.
I see this a lot from new GM's. They think that NPC X is cool so they have them turn up just to say hi. This is particularly bad if it's a former PC of the GM (using your old PC's as NPC's should be avoided IMO but YMMV.) NPC's should be there to move things along and give exposition. They are a tool and if they are doing nothing then they are useless.
2) Don't let the dice rule everything.
A simple one this, don't call for a roll if it's unnecessary especially if it will derail the game with a failure.
3) Don't be precious.
Your bad guys are there to get beaten to a pulp. No matter how cool you think they are if the players beat them in a round then kudos to them.
4) Learn to say no.
Players like what they like. However, if you don't want to allow (say) gunslingers then let everyone know that and stick to it. Lay down the type of game you want initially and then everyone will know where they stand.
5) Create characters as a group at the same time.
Characters that are created at the same time tend to be created as a group rather than individuals. Players will then develop links between backgrounds and tend to link themselves together (even if it's only subconscious.)
6) Don't be afraid to kill your players...
Risk is important, without it your players are just passive observers. Whilst you shouldn't seek character deaths you should challenge them and the occasional death is part of this.
7) ...but don't slaughter them either.
If you are hacking PC's apart on a regular basis then something is wrong. After a while repeated deaths are not fun. Challenge them, don't pick on them.
8) A background should be the prelude not the novel.
Some people like to write backgrounds for their characters. That's great but anything more than a few paragraphs is too much. The emphasis should be on the events of the game, not what happened on someone's 16th birthday in their tenth page of background.
Too much background is difficult to implement for a GM and when it's not the player can feel slighted. Encourage brevity.
9) Fun is the objective.
If you are not having fun change things. The same goes for your players, if they are not having fun change things so they are.
10) Rules are meant to be broken.
If you don't like these rules, ignore them. I am not the god of roleplaying nor is anyone else.
Motivation to adventure- the kernel for each character should be the need or desire to leave their current situation- leave it up to them if it's for gold, glory, or greed. Our group often creates characters together, so that one isn't always the healer, or the tank, etc. and everyone knows what the others have in mind.
All adventures start somewhere, so find that place and a reason for the party to be there- Serpent's Skull (which I am DMing for my first campaign) begins as a shipwreck. The group chose a reason to be there through the campaign trait. You should engineer their first meeting, even if it's "an elf, a barbarian, and a sorcerer walk into a bar..."
Don't be afraid to be wrong. With new players, they might not catch a rules slip up, but if you feel like you were wrong at some point, address it and move on. They will admire your honesty.
If you don't know how hard something is to accomplish, DC 15 is the magic number. DC 20 for higher level PCs or harder stuff, and really, really tough stuff is DC 30.
And have fun! Check in with your players to make sure everyone's having fun. Maybe the thief wants more traps, maybe the paladin wants to smite more evil, perhaps the wizard is looking for a particular wand. Play with them, not against them.