ads

Paid Acquisition & Ad Copy

Paid acquisition amplifies what's already working. If your landing page doesn't convert organic traffic, ads won't fix it. This skill helps you run profitable Google Ads on a small budget — from campaign setup to weekly optimization.

Core Principles

• Paid acquisition amplifies what's already working. If your landing page doesn't convert organic traffic, ads won't fix it.
• Start with the highest-intent keywords. People searching for "[Competitor] alternative" are closer to buying than people searching for "what is [category]."
• Small budgets demand focus. $10-20/day on 5-10 exact-match keywords beats $100/day spread across 500 broad-match keywords.
• Test the message, not the channel. If Google Ads doesn't work at $10/day, the problem is usually your ad copy or landing page, not the channel.
• CAC must be less than 1/3 of LTV from day one. If the math doesn't work at small scale, it won't work at large scale.
• Every dollar should be traceable to a conversion. If you can't track it, don't spend it.

Prerequisites (Before Spending a Dollar)

• Landing page converts organic visitors at 2%+ (signup rate)
• Analytics tracking working (can attribute signups to source)
• Payment flow works (can track ad spend → signup → payment)
• You know your activation rate (what % of signups become real users)
• You have a rough LTV estimate (even if based on pricing × estimated retention)

If any of these are missing, fix them first. Ads on a broken funnel is burning money.

Google Ads for SaaS

Campaign Structure for Solo Founders

Start with ONE campaign, 2-3 ad groups:

Campaign: [Product Name] — Search
  Budget: $10-20/day
  Bidding: Maximize conversions (once you have 15+ conversions)
           OR Manual CPC to start (set bids at $2-5 range)
  Network: Search only (NOT Display, NOT Search Partners)
  Location: Countries where your ICP lives

  Ad Group 1: Competitor Keywords (highest intent)
    Keywords:
      [competitor name] alternative
      [competitor name] vs
      [competitor name] pricing
      switch from [competitor name]
      [competitor name] review

  Ad Group 2: Problem Keywords (high intent)
    Keywords:
      [specific problem] tool
      [specific problem] software
      how to [solve specific problem]
      best [category] for [audience]
      [category] for small teams

  Ad Group 3: Solution Keywords (medium intent)
    Keywords:
      [category] software
      [category] platform
      [category] app
      online [category] tool