there will always be people that are better at marketing then others...even if you do copy everyone of my campaigns and the keywords and such... you can't copy my mind and my backend strategies.

Ever heard of this being said by some1:" That guys is so stupid, hes paying 2$ per click just to be number 1" etc...

I know some people that are paying that much simply because they can...they have a well thought sales process and know how to market to their customers.

Ofc there are big companies that pay that kinda of money simply because they have like 10$ MIL of advertising budget but thats another playing field.

Some 3 to 5 years from now? Hmmmm... let me go downstairs and get my crystal ball. Hold on a minute, I'll bring it up here to the living room where I can see it better.

Huff and puff - I'm rolling it up the steps now. It sure is big and heavy.

I just hit the "on" switch, it needs about 3 minutes to boot up and reconnect to the Universe.

Ahh, there I've got it. Oh no! It shows me Bill Gates buying Google and Yahoo and raising the minimum cost per click to $27. Wow!

I guess in 3 to 5 years we will all be using offline advertising.

:-Don

It doesn't matter that these days every advertiser is spying on every other advertiser.
What matters is what you DO with the traffic, what releationship you build with your prospects.
Usually people that just copy Adwords campaigns don't follow through and fail to replicate the entire sales process.

In 3-4 years from now I guess we will see major companies dominating the PPC game insead of single individuals working from home.
This happen with every industry that grows up
.

PPC will evolve in the next 3 to 5 years, just as it has in the last 3 to 5. As long as there are search engines, there will be PPC. What form it will take, anybody's guess. Maybe audio ads will be common, video too? How about direct dial using Skype?

But your question was about software programs. First, you assume they copy existing *profitable* campaigns. Who says they're profitable?

Also, as I've said in another thread, be different, don't copy. I think that those who use these programs will soon get out of PPC before of not differentiate themselves as well as possibly copying unprofitable ads. So I think more and more people will try PPC. But only the smart ones will fourish. So I'm of the same opinion as Marian: you can copy some of what I do but not all. You can't copy my mind.

So let them copy. Most of them will be gone sooner or later. Sputnik is right also: it's what you DO with the traffic that will determine your overall success. I don't agree with him however that there won't be as many "little people" using PPC.

Expanding on Marian's comment about paying $2 per click, sometimes a click is worth that much or even more. It's not always because they can afford it. Paying $2 a click on an item you sell for $10 and converting at 5% is stupid. Paying $2, or even $5 on a service where each client may pay hundreds per month, is not stupid.