I got a free promotional code for a $100 credit from Google AdWords, the search engine advertising service that lists advertising links on the right side of your Google searches. The code I received expires at the end of November, so I decided to sign up and give it a try for a friend’s photo business; this would be useful experience to help me understand how a pay-per-click advertising model works.

It’s not quite free; there’s a $5 balance minimum you need to maintain, and a $10 “activation fee” which is apparently in place to deter fraudulent users from signing up and dumping accounts.