KickstarterForum.org

I have run some display adverts recently on Google and have been surprised by some of the findings, which may be down to my ad experience but given some of the findings not exclusively.

So I ran some trial ads targeting specific demographics, locations, based on apps they use and habits, their income, language, age, intention, keywords etc..

I was seeing a lot of impressions, and a CTR of 2% for an add spend CPC of $0.07 each on a $30 daily budget. However digging into the placements, 2/3rds of these were going to children's channels, which are of no use or targeted for, primarily I believe this is parents using their phones for their children to view on, Though what they are doing up at 4am watching on a blue light device is anyones is another debate entirely. So filtering these placements out, along with the foreign channels again we targeted English,,, left us with a 90% reduction in impressions...

So is this a true statement or to general?

If you’re not selling the right products, generating sales or leads with Adwords could be close to impossible. This is because of the following reasons:

"No one is searching for the products, brands or categories that you sell. Nor are they searching for any problems that your product solves. Take a look at the Google Keyword Tool to get a feel for what people are searching for (and how often that happens!)
Your margins are small or your average order value is really low. (It’s hard to be profitable selling a $6 product if each click costs $0.5)
Your website isn’t generating any sales: people visit your site but can’t find their way to the checkout or they don’t want to the products that you’re selling.
You sell rare or unique products. If you have a very limited inventory (like 1 product), the scale of Adwords doesn’t work in your favour because ut takes a while to find the best combination of keywords, ads and bids that generate the best results.
If an entrepreneur tells me they can’t get Adwords to work, it’s usually because of one of those 3 facts." https://www.storegrowers.com/3-facts-th ... ine-store/

And for information on the issue of Children channels, https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-exc ... vertising/


What's your experiences using google ads to build your email list?

Google ads did not work for me unfortunately. Although I did get a few clicks, nothing came out from it. I could have chosen the wrong words to advertise to or advertised to the wrong market, but o well. That said, running a giveaway on Gleam worked much better and I spent a fraction. I have heard a few good things about Kingsumo too. The only downside about Gleam is that you need a subscription for people to link to your giveaway to get more entries, which is how giveaways really propagate. Right now I just posted them on Reddit /r/sweepstakes and /r/giveaways and it seems to be doing well.

I've avoided Google Ads myself, I've used them in the past without much success, so I've concentrated on Facebook ads as I already know I have an audience there (due to having a FB page set up etc). I'm also more confident in Facebook's targeting.

Thanks for sharing your experience with Google Ads. It sounds like you've been diving deep into the data!

Yeah, targeting can be tricky sometimes, especially with unexpected placements like children's channels popping up. Filtering them out seems like a smart move to focus your efforts better.
As for using Google Ads for Kickstarter projects, it really depends on your product and audience. If your target market isn't actively searching for similar products or if your margins are tight, it might be tough to see results. But hey, don't lose hope! Have you considered trying out a Facebook ads dashboard? It could offer different targeting options and might be worth a shot alongside Google Ads.