We're looking to use google ads to sign up developers on HackerEarth.com. Has anyone else used Google AdWords for a similar activity? Does it work as well as Facebook?
Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#2You will be able to find developers this way and generate sign ups.
I do not know enough about your business to say whether or not you will be able to do so in a cost effective way.
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#3Though I have never worked in this domain, I can say based on my experience that -
1) It does not work if you have competitors (not just for your business but also for the keywords you target), which is a highly likely scenario.
2) It works only when a)you do not have competitors or b) when you target niche keywords, in which case volume might not be as expected.
To actually understand whether it works or not before starting the campaign, list out all of the keywords and check the keyword volume associated and the companies that are bidding for the keywords.
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#4This post will be 100x more effective (in my sample set of 1)
Edit: Signed up to see how it worked but don't actually want a public profile indicating I'm looking for a job - how do I delete my profile?
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#5How do you define "it works" ?
The price of a user is defined by the following formula [0] : CPU = CPC * (C / U)
Google AdWords gives you the CPC and if you have a Google Analytics set up you should be able to know the C / U ratio. That will define how much you have to pay to get a user using Google AdWords.
For the C / U ratio to be precise you should use only the organic search numbers (people coming to your website from Google after a search) because it is closest behavior you can study.
[0] : * CPU : Cost per User
* CPC : Cost per Click [on ad]
* C : Click [visitor comes on the website from ad]
* U : User [visitor becomes a user after he clicked on the ad]
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#6I'd first spend money improving the spelling and grammar across your site...
https://www.hackerearth.com/recruit/source/ for instance, at the bottom under past challenges has a lot of spelling and grammar errors. Hire a US-based copy editor.
Also why not advertise on careers.stackoverflow.com? Or stackoverflow itself in certain markets, is probably more cost effective and targeted than your google ads.
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#7I would consider advertising on StackOverflow instead. I sold developer products for 7 years and they were the 2nd best conversion after Google Ads, but our product was a tool where specific search terms were obviously going to convert. Even on SO, we advertised on questions related to our product -- so you might not do as well.
3rd was developer focussed online magazines. I would also try retargeting (from Google) in conjunction.
Google ads works best when you are really the answer the searcher was looking for -- if you have search terms that you think you are legitimately the top result and the competition for ads isn't insane, it's worth a try.
You can go in a little and measure the results for all of these choices.
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#8This is the wrong question to ask. You should ask, what are the cheapest ways to acquire users? Most companies can successfully market themselves through a dozen or more channels, yet almost all never use more than 3.
Search traffic is bottom of the funnel where people express intent. If there is existing demand for your service, than search traffic is valuable. If there isn't demand but there are competitors, bid on their brands, if you are in a new industry with no real competitors you probably need a reality check but search is not where you will find users.
Because search is bottom of the funnel and demonstrates explicit intent it is the most expensive traffic out there. It definitely works though and anyone who says differently just gave up before finding profitability.
I tell my clients to invest $5k in search the first $1k will return $500 (lose $500). The second $1k will return $800. The third will break even, the fourth will show a 25% profit and the last $1k will find profits you can scale.
If you don't go in planning on losing a bit to find what works (or go in with a site that won't convert) it won't work. If not there is no reason it can't work.
All that being said...Facebook right now has the most robust targeting in the advertising world short of massive enterprise DMPs. Milk it for all its worth if you can.
Read jonloomer.com to master Facebook ads.
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#9What's your budget? It definitely 'works', but you need to see if it 'works for your case' or not. It can look expensive so before you jump in, determine LTV of a customer and then calculate how much of it are you willing to spend on acquiring a customer.
Re: Ask HN: Do Google ads work for user acquisition?
#10Do not think that we wouldnt see this as an action for user acquisition already! Well played.