With technology evolving at breakneck speeds, the online world is constantly changing. As a result, it can be kind of difficult to keep up with all the slang, lingo, jargon…whatever you want to call it.
Just in case you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, I’ve created a short list for you.
So, here are…
40 Common Internet Marketing Terms:
A-List bloggers:
“Professional bloggers” with a large following that generally make a full-time income through blogging.
AJAX:
Used to create attractive web applications. It’s a programming language, but made up of several different technologies/web development methods.
Above The Fold:
The fold is the point where you need to scroll to keep reading. In most cases, it’s a good idea to put your most important or interesting info above the fold. This is especially true for sales pages and landing pages.
Algorithm:
The magic formula that decides whether your site sinks or swims. In online marketing, when most people hear “algorithm”, they think of search algorithms. In general an algorithm is list of well-defined instructions used to “calculate” a function.
Backlinks:
aka incoming links, inbound links, inlinks and inward links. A backlink is create when any other website links to your page. This is one way to gauge the popularity of a particular site. The more backlinks for a site, the greater the SEO benefits.
Behavioral Targeting:
If you were to collect an individual’s web browsing behavior (searches made, websites visited, etc) and use that info to send ads related to that data— you would be using behavioral targeting. This is one way to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns (especially PPC campaigns).
Click Through Rate (CTR):
Usually based on a per-hundred ad impressions basis, your CTR is the average number of clicks received. Click through rates are always shown as a percentage.
Cloaking:
Link cloaking is where instead of showing your actual affiliate link, you make it appears as if it redirects somewhere else. For example, instead of affiliateoffer.com/id=123abc your link would look like yoursite.com/coolthing. It’s a great way to create a more comfortable experience (which usually means better conversions).
Content Management System (CMS):
If you have little knowledge of programming or coding, a CMS is a great solution to easily create and manage website content. One of the most popular is WordPress.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA):
An advertising method, which allows the advertiser to only pay when an ad delivers an acquisition. This is effective, because the advertiser only has to pay when the ad has served its purpose.
Cost Per Click (CPC):
Simply put, this is how much money you’ll have to pay each time someone clicks on an ad from your Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign.
Cost Per Impressions (CPM):
Similar to CPC, cost-per-impressions is measured on a per-thousand impression basis. An impression is created any time an ad server displays your ad.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM):
Have you ever used or heard of a list management service? Such services, which allow you to keep in touch with customers through e-mail marketing, are an example of a customer relationship management system.
Dynamic Web Pages:
Unlike a static webpage, a dynamic web page has the ability to create fresh information (whether it be content or appearance) for each visitor (where necessary).
For example, a page that changes with time (such as a news site) is a dynamic page. Another example, could be a page that appears differently, based on whether or not you’re logged in.
Eyetracking – Golden Triangle:
In general, eye tracking is used to measure where a user looks on a web page. This is useful for determining things such as how much exposure an advertisement is getting.
Feed (web):
If you’re familiar with RSS, then you already know what a feed is. If not, a feed is nothing more than a data format that produces frequently updated content.
For example, some sites let you subscribe to their feeds. Doing so means that every time their page is updated (with a new blog post, for example), you will receive a notification that it’s available.
Geo Targeting:
If you have an advertisement/offer that only a specific part of the world could use, geo targeting allows you to target your message to that specific location.
For example, if you were a New York advertising company specialized in helping local businesses, you could use a geo-targeted campaign to make sure only businesses in your area would receive it.
Image Maps:
Imagine you owned a website with facts about each state of the United States. If you had a large image of a US map on your site, an image map would allow you to create multiple hyperlinks.
In other words, instead of being able to click the picture and go to one specific web page, you could make it so that clicking on each state takes you to that state’s fact page.
Interstitial Advertising:
An interstitial webpage is displayed between a visit from one page to another. If you’ve ever been on a site and tried to go to a page and were first presented with an ad (usually with a “skip this ad” button in the top corner), that is an interstitial ad.
YouTube and Pandora are two great examples of where you’ll find these ads.
Keyword Stuffing:
Keyword stuffing is usually done by folks that think keyword stuffing will get their keyword stuffed content ranked better, for whatever phrase they are keyword stuffing for.
The above is an example. But to clarify: keyword stuffing is the act of forcing the use of certain keywords into a body of text. Not only is this frowned upon, but focusing too much on these keywords usually makes your writing look “robotic”.
Link Authority:
The higher the pagerank of a site that links to you, the higher “link authority” it will have.
Link Popularity:
Your “link popularity” determines the value of your website, based on how many quality backlinks you have pointing to your pages.
Long Tail Keywords:
Highly-specific phrases, normally about 2-5 words long. For example, a main keyword might be “affordable lawyers”. A long tail version would be something like “affordable lawyers in city/state”
Mobile Marketing:
I’m sure you’re probably familiar with this one. Mobile marketing in general, is simply delivering your offers to prospects through their mobile devices.
This can be done through text messages, multimedia messages, mobile games, banner ads, etc.
Natural Listing:
This is the same thing as an “organic” listing. Instead of paid inclusion, your site is ranked naturally through the creation of great content.
PEBCAK error:
PEBCAK is an acronym that stands for “Problem Exists Between Computer And Keyboard. It’s a polite, humorous way of saying that whoever is using the computer is the problem, not the computer itself.
Paid Inclusion:
A service provided by search engine marketing companies. A paid inclusion is when a site owner, for example, pays a company a set fee to for their site to be included into their search index.
One advantage of this is that it lets site owners get their pages crawled faster. This also means that companies can see results in a matter of days, allowing them to optimize their pages quicker.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC):
This is one that mostly everyone will already know…
Pay-Per-Click is used to drive targeted traffic to websites. It gets its name from the fact that advertisers pay PPC network each time their ad is clicked.
Ping:
Your “ping” is determined by how much time it takes a packet (or group of packets) to be transmitted and received.
Retargeting:
If someone visits your site but leaves, a special line of code will place a non-malicious cookie in their browser. This cookie allows other site to display your ad and potentially bring them back to your sites/offer.
Return On Investment (ROI):
Another common phrase…
ROI is measured by how much money you make vs how much money you’ve spent to make it. (also known as “rate of return”).
Rich Media:
Also known as “interactive media”, rich media usually comes in the form of digital products or services. These interactive products respond to users’ reactions with text, graphics, video, animation, etc.
Scraping:
Online, there are several forms of scraping (blog scraping, screen scraping, web scraping, etc). In any case, the purpose of scraping is to automate the collection of a specific type of data. Scraping is normally looked down upon.
Search Engine Reputation Management:
These days, anyone can post their opinions online with ease. With that being the case, a lot of companies use Search Engine Reputation Management to protect and defend their brand again negative feedback.
These strategies include SEO and content management.
(Sidenote: On average, 70% of visitors will click a negative post before a positive post, if one is available)
Static Web Site:
As opposed to dynamic websites, a static website is one that constantly displays the same information.
Unique Visitor:
A unique visitor is a “unit” of traffic. Every time someone visits a webpage from a new IP address, they are considered a unique visitor.
Universal Search:
This is a feature that Google has been implementing over the last few years. Have you noticed that you now see news, twitter feeds, YouTube videos, etc in a lot of your searches?
This is the result universal searching, which is supposed to make searching for information more “integrated” for users.
Usability:
In short, the “usability” of a site, means how easy it is for anyone to come on to that site and get the maximum use out of it, with no specialized knowledge.
White Hat SEO:
Also known as “ethical” SEO. This is kind of a good vs bad analogy. White hat SEO means that everything that has been done to optimize a web page…follows all of the rules and guidelines of search engines.
That means that Black Hat SEO, is when a webmaster used “dirty” tactics to get their sites to rank higher.
XML:
This stands for “extensible markup language”. The goals of XML are to enhance the generality, usability and simplicity over the web.
That list could go on FOREVER…
But the 40 terms above are some of the most common that Online Marketers are confused about when they call us for a consultation.
So if you didn’t know or understand a lot of them before reading, you’re certainly not alone…
In fact, when you have us helping you with your online promotions, you really don’t have to worry about knowing them.
To help you even further, here are a few resources you can use to get traffic flowing to your site on-demand:
And if you haven’t started building your list yet…
Abe Cherian
PS. Are there any specific things you need help with? Feel free to give us a call at (845) 383-1007. Talk to you soon!
