This might be old news to a lot of you, but there is a bit of buzz in the search marketing blogosphere about the end of “set it and forget it” pay-per-click marketing campaigns.

Now some of you PPC whipper-snappers might be wondering if you could ever just set up a PPC account and make money without any upkeep - but take it from old man Omdahl, the answer is yes. Back in the olden days (four years ago), we set up a Google account and after building it up, the thing just sat around and made money. We rarely touched it, and it seemed like if we did make changes, it hurt us more than it helped. So we set it and forgot about it…and counted the cash coming it.

I’m not going to lie to you - it ruled.

But I things started changing a couple years back. As time went on, we noticed the account was changing. Our return on the Google account we had “forgotten” about slowly diminished. Eventually, the money we were making off of the account became fairly insignificant, and other sites we promoted started surpassing it in income and ad placement.

The set it and forget it days were over. And we had to reconsider our approach…as did most PPC marketers. PPC could no longer be a passive activity…it took effort, time and knowledge.

These days, committing to a pay-per-click account is like committing to having a puppy. Pay-per-click accounts need regular attention, proper care, and an occasional bath.

Actually, after interacting with Google for a number of years, our PPC team is convinced that if a Google AdWords account is likened to a puppy, it should be compared to a slightly depressed, ADHD dachshund with a photographic memory that somehow produces cash. If the puppy existed, I have a feeling it would look like this:

I’m skurred.

Read more about the end of set and forget PPC from Lisa Barone over at the Bruce Clay Blog.

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