Killshot.rip

The Challenge

The project began with a significant challenge: launching a brand new web app with a shoestring budget into a niche market. As a single-page application, the site was ineligible for traditional monetization like AdSense due to "low content." The primary objective was to build a foundational audience and prove a path to profitability through direct engagement and alternative revenue streams, without relying on virality alone.

My Approach

To overcome these challenges, I developed a three-pillar growth strategy:

• Analytics Foundation: My first step was to build a reliable data foundation by implementing a clean Google Analytics 4 (GA4) setup from scratch and configuring custom events to track critical user behaviors.
• Organic Community Growth: I launched a grassroots marketing campaign by authentically engaging with horror fans on Reddit, Twitter, and Letterboxd, positioning the game as a fan-made project to drive high-quality organic traffic.
• Data-Driven Paid Acquisition: I developed and personally managed a multi-phased Google Ads strategy with a starting budget of only $5/day, pivoting from a targeted Search campaign to a broader Performance Max campaign to find new users.

The Results

My integrated strategy produced the following results in the first 30 days:

• Audience Growth: Successfully acquired 1,176 unique users across 40+ countries.
• Player Engagement: Achieved a total of 670 game completions, demonstrating a high visitor-to-player engagement rate.
• Game Mode Analysis: Data revealed the Kill Count Challenge (90 completions) and Daily Killshot (83 completions) as the most popular game modes.
• Early Monetization & Virality Signals: Generated 49 outbound affiliate clicks and 19 "Share Result" clicks, validating initial monetization loops.
• Mobile-First Audience: A key insight from the data was that over 92% of all users accessed the game via mobile devices, which immediately informed a mobile-first design and UX priority.