WebDiggin.com: An Adventure to Make Money Online

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have since gotten out promotional codes to work and received $50 in credit from Google AdWords and $50 in credit from Yahoo Search Marketing.

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We received a $50 promotional code for Google AdWords and a $50 promotional code for Yahoo Search Marketing when we moved our website business to BlueHost. Unfortunately when my wife created her account, the money was not immediately available for our use. Here is how Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing have responded to providing the free $50.

Part 1. How to Get $50 from Google AdWords for Free.

The $45 credit did not appear immediately when we created our account ($50 less a $5 non-refundable account start up charge.) We contacted Google AdWords and they responded quite quickly. Apparently the PREPAY option does not allow you to use your promotional code balance.

In the past we allowed prepay advertisers to begin serving ads using a promotional code from a coupon before making a payment; however, we’ve recently updated the way our system processes these codes.

AdWords advertisers who have chosen to pay for their AdWords advertising by bank transfer, boleto bancario, ChinaPay, Korea INICIS or any other prepay form of payment, can use their AdWords sign up promotional code after making their first payment and paying the account activation fee.

The activation fee will be deducted from the first successful payment and not from the coupon amount. Once we’ve received the first payment and the activation fee has been paid, we will fund the new account with the amount of the coupon and allow the advertiser to serve ads against it as per the terms of the promotion.

And apparently you can’t switch from a PREPAY account to a POSTPAY account with Google AdWords:

Please note that once you have selected your billing method, you cannot sitch it from prepay to postpay or vice versa. However, you can switch your forms of payment within prepay or postpay. In prepay, we offer two kinds of payment: credit card and bank transfer.

So we ended up putting $10 (the minimum amount) into our prepay account from our Credit Card. Our account now reads a $55 balance is available to spend on sponsored ads.

Part 2. How to Get $50 from Yahoo Search Marketing for Free.

Yahoo Search Marketing responded to our inquiry about the missing $50 promotional offer. Although we had to pay $30 into our account right away to activate the account, Yahoo did not automatically credit us with $50 promotional dollars. Apparently it takes approximately two business days for the credit to be applied:

We appreciate the opportunity to assist you today. Our records show that when you created your account, you entered a promotional code good for a $50.00 credit. Please allow approximately two business days for this credit to be applied. We appreciate your patience. This credit is shown in the Billing Transaction Detail report as an Adjustment. To view this report, log into your account and click the Reports tab. Click the Billing Transaction Detail Report and look for the Adjustment line item.

When we log into the report section and view the Billing Transaction Detail, there’s no mention of the $50 credit as an adjustment, but we’ll wait two business days to see what happens.

Bottom Line: We spent $10 of our own money to get $55 from Google. (You might want to try signing up with a POSTPAID account and see if your promotional money is activated right away.) We also spent $30 of our own money to start an account with Yahoo (but we’re still waiting for the $50 credit to appear). We’ll keep you posted.