15 replies to this topic

[webishqiptar]

While browsing, webmaster tools, I saw this message coming from Google, but can't find it anymore. They gave me a piece of code, a promotional code. But unfortunately I didn't have a credit card, so I couldn't receive the fund. Did anyone get this message?

[shadowx]

Sounds like a scam to me.

Did this come from the OFFICIAL google website?

And why do you need a credit card? Are they saying they will put money straight into your account, or that you nee dto buy google adword/sense and they will give you £30 credit when you do?

[webishqiptar]

I am not sure, but this came as a message, while I was browsing webmaster tools, so it can't be a scam inside Google website.. I don't know.

[shadowx]

It does seem like google *was* offering a £30 adwords voucher, which will "buy" you £30 worth of google advertising, presumably when you spend a certain amount. However the offer has expired now it seems.

I cant say if the message you got was real or fake. Just remember to always check the site address begins with "google" or is in the format subsite.google.com or google.com/subsite. If in doubt then search the internet and see if you can find a reference to the offer on a reputable, trustable site. If not, and it is a really good deal then actually phone, or email, google via an official google page, NOT the page offering the deal, but another, official google page, and send them the link and ask them to validate it.

Remember that the only details they need are the details on the card you wish to use to pay with and your name and address/contact details. They do not need, and will never ask for, your password for any account or any PIN numbers or numbers that are not on the credit card itself. So if they ask for a pin number then forget it!

(some services might ask for a username, i think the Xisto billing service asks for your T17 username, or perhaps another site im thinking of.... usernames are generally ok, but be careful and never give them a password. Same goes for setting up accounts for things like internet and mobile phones, they often ask you to set a password over the phone or in-store. I always refuse and ask them for a website i can do it on myself. Although i have *some* trust in them out of principal i will not let them know my password.)

[mahesh2k]

It's not a scam. Google is giving out few discount coupons these days. If you're analytics user then chances are there that you got this email now. I don't know about UK pounds but for asian members they're offering 1500/Rs to use on adwords.

They ask us to sign up to adwords and enter credit card information and when it comes to payment. Just enter the promo code. With this promo code the first slot of 1500rs(bucks) is free for advertising. So if you can use credit cards on google adwords then you can take help of that promo code. But for that you must get your own promo code mailed by adwords team.

As i said earlier, adwords team sent this coupon code to google analytics member. If you have decent traffic then they are likely to send you this promo code on your gmail account. Also google webmasters are getting this email as well. So if you are using any of webmaster services like analytics,webmaster tools,optimizer then chances are there that you'll get the email before 15th December as the end date of that coupon code is 15th December.

[anwiii]

why would you think it was a scam? google has offered promotional codes for a new adwords account ever since adwords came in to existance.

if i were to do a quick search, i could probably find 5 active codes or promotional links right now. they are all over the place. including $50 ones.

[xpress]

Yes, I was also given a promotional offer of Rs. 2500 voucher for adwords... I redeemed it too.. but the problem is, we have to activate my account with at least Rs. 500 through credit card or through prepay netbanking. Once we activate it we could use that Rs. 2500 to promote our website.. My account is still in suspended state with a balance of Rs 2500. I haven't activated it yet...

Edited by xpress, 27 November 2009 - 09:38 AM.

[anwiii]

yup! that's the catch to most of the promotional offers for google adwords. you have to use your own money as well when you sign up. so i suggest anyone NOT to take advantage of such offers until they know how to properaly construct ads and when the ads should be run to make it most beneficial to a website. also, if you aren't even selling anything on your website, it's not even worth the investment. you will get a surge of trafic ofr a month. that's about it unless you want an adwords compaign so they can click on your adsense ads. that gets tricky.....

xpress, on Nov 27 2009, 04:36 AM, said:

Yes, I was also given a promotional offer of Rs. 2500 voucher for adwords... I redeemed it too.. but the problem is, we have to activate my account with at least Rs. 500 through credit card or through prepay netbanking. Once we activate it we could use that Rs. 2500 to promote our website.. My account is still in suspended state with a balance of Rs 2500. I haven't activated it yet...

[webishqiptar]

xpress, on Nov 27 2009, 10:36 AM, said:

Yes, I was also given a promotional offer of Rs. 2500 voucher for adwords... I redeemed it too.. but the problem is, we have to activate my account with at least Rs. 500 through credit card or through prepay netbanking. Once we activate it we could use that Rs. 2500 to promote our website.. My account is still in suspended state with a balance of Rs 2500. I haven't activated it yet...

yes that's right, it costs 5 pounds, but I can't find the promotional code still, anyone any suggestions where I can find this offer again?

[mahesh2k]

Quote

Yes, I was also given a promotional offer of Rs. 2500 voucher for adwords... I redeemed it too.. but the problem is, we have to activate my account with at least Rs. 500 through credit card or through prepay netbanking. Once we activate it we could use that Rs. 2500 to promote our website.. My account is still in suspended state with a balance of Rs 2500. I haven't activated it yet...

Right, you need to have credit card in order to use them. They don't accept any other payment solution as well. Like paypal or liberty reserve so it is quite possible that they want you to invest something to get more in return. Besides that 3000 rs. advertisement on google adwords is not bad deal if we want to promote blog or website or product. Only IM people knows how much adwords worth if it's coming in free package. I wanted to redeem it but can't spend 10$ or 500RS as of now. So i dropped the thought as well. I prefer using CPM ads for now. as i know there are plenty of adsense fraud cases so i don't want to invest in PPC.

Quote

yes that's right, it costs 5 pounds, but I can't find the promotional code still, anyone any suggestions where I can find this offer again?

Do you have google webmasters account ? or Google Analytics account ? If so, then based on your account usage or google team's preference of picking random account. You'll likely to get this promot code inside your gmail account. So check back gmail regularly.