(Would have been) An introduction to Google Adwords

So, I was going to do a complete walkthrough for people interested in using Google Adwords for advertising, and its something I was really looking forward to writing.

I would not normally have cared to do such a thing because I’m cheap, but Google sent me out a £75 voucher in January.

(As Always) there was an issue; Google’s coupons are rendered useless if you have ever accessed Adwords before (longer than 14 days ago).

Not ‘Created a Campaign’, Not ‘Filled in Billing Details’, but if you go to www.google.com/adwords and just ‘TryAdwords now’, 14 days later there is no coupon on the planet that will help you.

So, I recieved this coupon half way through January 2010, which is almost exactly a month after I, naievly, clicked on that ‘Access Adwords’ link.

I did nothing with it; checked out the keyword list for this site, but didnt actually create a campaign. Until today. (the coupon expires tomorrow)

After getting all the way through the process, including billing information, I am presented with this;

Oh, great, so basically, to redeem this coupon that you very kindly sent me, I need to hop in my handy DeLorean, go back two weeks before you even sent me the coupon, and give you all my billing and account details all over again.

To top it all, before you can verify a coupon, you have to enter the rest of your billing details, so now I may be getting slapped with a £5 charge for ‘diddly squat’. Thats gonna be a pain to argue about…

I have no doubt that the rest of the Adwords system is fine, this just really annoyed me.