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We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

andreaskambanis.com

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Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#81

Post by andreaskam »

laurent123456 wrote: post #62

With 17,000+ pre-registrations, it sounds like their ad campaign wasn't well targeted either. You can get a ton of people visiting your app page but if it's done based on vague or generic keywords, the clicks you get won't mean much. Seems a bit crazy to spend that much without any cap for a small indie company too. If the app is any good, you can always run more ad campaigns after the launch.

We didn't cap it because we were getting conversions at around $1.36 USD. This is more than we'd normally spend for an install, but we thought it's worth it because it also gives us launch day momentum. Obviously, had we known that actually only 1 in 12 were going to install, we'd of killed that campaign instantly.

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#82

Post by carlosjobim »

munk-a wrote: post #74
safety1st wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 1995 the Internet existed, it was basically great, and basically no website was ad funded. I cannot think of a single essential service I use on the Internet today which is ad funded. If it's essential I'm paying for it because the free, ad-funded version is shitty and unreliable. We could ban Internet advertising tomorrow (give people time to migrate to paid services) and I genuinely don't think it would have muc…

I'd also add that personally motivated hosting is basically what gets small sites through the day. I worked on a MUD for quite a while where a small portion of the playerbase was working professionals and the majority of the playerbase was broke college students with far too much free time. The working folks would shell out a completely inconsequential 30 dollars a month between ten of them just so they could have fu…

> If you're an independent reporter running a blog you can easily cover the hosting costs by just writing an occasional article for a major organization.

I agree with most of what you wrote except for the above. Unless you're an independent reporter in things like gardening or motor sports, the major media organizations see you as an enemy and would prefer to shut you down.

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#85

Post by AshamedCaptain »

safety1st wrote: post #68
alexb_ wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has such a gigantic incentive to lie about how effective their advertising is. It's impossible to verify and they make more money the more effective they say it is. So it's something I've suspected is happening for a long time. The question then becomes, what does the internet look like if advertisers only spent 10% of what they do now? How much of the internet is built on the lie that digital advertising work…

In 1995 the Internet existed, it was basically great, and basically no website was ad funded. I cannot think of a single essential service I use on the Internet today which is ad funded. If it's essential I'm paying for it because the free, ad-funded version is shitty and unreliable. We could ban Internet advertising tomorrow (give people time to migrate to paid services) and I genuinely don't think it would have muc…

> In 1995 the Internet existed, it was basically great, and basically no website was ad funded.

Sorry, but which parallel universe is this?

Advertising was definitely less intrusive, but I would say that an even larger proportion of websites was ad-funded than today.

A shitton of content is (and was) on platforms which are entirely ad-funded. Think geocities, the various blogging platforms, and twitter et al. today. You remove ads, you force the authors of this content to pay for their publication (a ridiculously cheap amount sure, but the large majority of them won't pay a dime).

I have paid for hosting my personal/hobby websites since approx 1993, but I know very well I'm a 1 to 10000 exception, based on the ratio of people who participate on my website.

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#86

Post by phpnode »

aantix wrote: post #70
l5870uoo9y wrote: post #42

> MealPrepPro is built by a small indie dev team and $20k was a painful amount of money for us to waste. With pre-registration ads you're putting all your faith in Google that they'll deliver the conversions they're showing in the ads reports I am running a small independent startup myself where I count every nickel and dime. I tried Google Ads (there was an offer to spend $400 to get an additional $400). Besides a f…

Just thinking out loud - is there any way to create a profitable Google Ad campaign without sinking thousands of money ramping up and learning? It doesn't appear so.

The best way to learn is to become a PPC expert at some marketing company, you'll still burn through thousands learning all the tricks, but at least they won't be your thousands.

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#87

Post by JimtheCoder »

aantix wrote: post #70
l5870uoo9y wrote: post #42

> MealPrepPro is built by a small indie dev team and $20k was a painful amount of money for us to waste. With pre-registration ads you're putting all your faith in Google that they'll deliver the conversions they're showing in the ads reports I am running a small independent startup myself where I count every nickel and dime. I tried Google Ads (there was an offer to spend $400 to get an additional $400). Besides a f…

Just thinking out loud - is there any way to create a profitable Google Ad campaign without sinking thousands of money ramping up and learning? It doesn't appear so.

"is there any way to create a profitable Google Ad campaign without sinking thousands of money ramping up and learning?"

Yes, it's called hiring an expert with a track record who will get you profitable a lot faster than you probably could yourself (assuming you are inexperienced).

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#88

Post by phpnode »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #85
safety1st wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 1995 the Internet existed, it was basically great, and basically no website was ad funded. I cannot think of a single essential service I use on the Internet today which is ad funded. If it's essential I'm paying for it because the free, ad-funded version is shitty and unreliable. We could ban Internet advertising tomorrow (give people time to migrate to paid services) and I genuinely don't think it would have muc…

> In 1995 the Internet existed, it was basically great, and basically no website was ad funded. Sorry, but which parallel universe is this? Advertising was definitely less intrusive, but I would say that an even larger proportion of websites was ad-funded than today. A shitton of content is (and was) on platforms which are entirely ad-funded. Think geocities, the various blogging platforms, and twitter et al. today.…

Ads were of course common in 1995, but monetisation in general was rarer. A greater proportion of the web was hobbyists writing and collating information about subjects they were interested in, not because of financial incentives.

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#89

Post by JimtheCoder »

cpncrunch wrote: post #34
sdflhasjd wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is sending someone a push notification really worth $1 though?

Is paying $1-3 simply for a click on google ads worth it either? (In my experience, no).

Depends on your conversion rate and customer LTV.

Check Mesothelioma ad click rates on Google...

Re: We spent $20k on Google Play pre-registration ads

#90

Post by HaZeust »

aantix wrote: post #70
l5870uoo9y wrote: post #42

> MealPrepPro is built by a small indie dev team and $20k was a painful amount of money for us to waste. With pre-registration ads you're putting all your faith in Google that they'll deliver the conversions they're showing in the ads reports I am running a small independent startup myself where I count every nickel and dime. I tried Google Ads (there was an offer to spend $400 to get an additional $400). Besides a f…

Just thinking out loud - is there any way to create a profitable Google Ad campaign without sinking thousands of money ramping up and learning? It doesn't appear so.

Generally yes, it's just a different approach. Most people in the Google Ads space actually get their start with warm intros to companies and/or individuals that want to get into digital marketing, and just get a percentage of their monthly ad-spend for contribution. You can haggle with price per lead or revenue share from the leads that convert, but you still need capital to initially launch those campaigns.

When I started out in lead-generation using Google Ads for ACA coverage, Final Expense insurance, roofing and solar installs, I did it in this order:

1.) Reached out to insurance agencies & roofing companies I already knew, convinced them I could do their digital marketing campaigns for a percentage of their monthly ad spend;

2.) Got upfront capital through that ad spend percentage and had the clients manage the ad spend for their own campaigns, and used the ad spend percentage capital to build cost per-lead campaigns for other clients. These were far more lucrative in investment, but cost a lot of money upfront.

3.) Proved my merit for clients in both approaches, and used my second quarter audit to "upgrade" the clients in number 1 to a cost per-lead, and negotiated with clients in number 2 to a revenue share for converted leads.

It's a grind, it's hard, but it can be done.

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