The Definitive Internet Marketing Glossary
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Internet Marketing Glossary
The following Internet Marketing Glossary is a list of terms that you may hear banded about in the world of Internet Marketing. These terms may also be used in other areas, however the definitions provided are ones recognised by the Internet Marketing industry at large. I have written the definitions from the viewpoint of an Internet Marketer.
It is worth noting that you DO NOT need to understand every term here to be successful in Internet Marketing but it can help you to become a perceived authority in your market and the knowledge will help you to think like an Internet Marketer.
3G
A type of mobile network that offers increased speeds which are useful for Downloading informational content. 3G is usually used by handheld mobile Devices such as Smart Phones such as iPhones, Blackberries, Androids and other devices such as Apple’s iPad.
Above The Fold
What is seen on a web page as soon as someone lands on it. This is the area of a web page that must grab the attention of the visitor.
A/B Split Testing
The process of scientifically testing one variable against another to see which performs best. See also Split Testing.
Adsense
An ad serving programme operated by Google that enables Website owners to earn an income by displaying adverts on their website. Adverts placed on websites are known as being on the Content Network.
AdSwap
An arrangement between two Internet Marketers (or internet marketing parties) where one internet marketer mails their email subscriber List with an offer in exchange for their AdSwap partner reciprocating by emailing their list with your offer. The objective is that both parties must benefit from the arrangement.
AdWords
Google’s advertising offering where advertisers can choose to advertise on Google’s search engine results (Search Network) or on participating websites (Content Network). See Adsense above.
The Definitive Internet Marketing Glossary
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Affiliate
An Internet Marketer that markets a Product on behalf of another person or company (the Product Owner) in a mutually beneficial arrangement where the product owner generates a sale for the affiliate’s efforts of providing Traffic. The affiliate earns a commission for the sale. See Affiliate Marketer.
Affiliate Army
A group of people that Product Owners recruit to drive Traffic to their Offer in exchange for rewarding them with commissions.
Affiliate Link
A special link that generates a Cookie which identifies the Affiliate and the Product Owner once it has been clicked. This enables both the affiliate and the product owner to be paid for a sale.
Affiliate Marketer
A marketer who sells someone else’s product by sending Traffic in return for a commission. See Affiliate.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the most popular Internet Marketing activity. It is an attractive proposition for so many as it is promoting products that other people have created in exchange for a commission on each sale. A Product Owner only needs to pay the Affiliate commission for each sale the affiliate makes.
Affiliate Toolbox
A collection of tools provided to affiliates to assist them in their promotional efforts. These can include banner ads, swipe emails, tweets, sig files, articles, blog posts and PPC ads.
AJAX
An acronym that stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and Extensible Markup Language which is a programming language that allows for the dynamic changes of Web Pages in real time. Facebook is a popular example of this.
Alt Tags
Tags that are given to images to label the images so they appear on image search results. Giving Tags to images on Web Pages increases the page’s relevancy and Organic listing in the Search Engines.
Anchor Text
A Hyperlink embedded within a keyword phrase.
The Definitive Internet Marketing Glossary
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Anti-Virus Software
Software that sits on a Client that scans incoming files for potential threats such as Viruses or Trojan Horses. The software can also scan the hard disk to identify and remove viruses already infecting the Local Machine.
API
An Application Programming Interface (API) is an interface implemented by a Software program to enable interaction with another program.
API Key
A key code that is required to permit one Software program to interact with another.
Applet
A tiny program that is usually written in JavaScript (jScript) and runs within a Web Browser. Applets power some of the fancier features of Internet pages such as various animations.
Application
A computer Program.
Article Directory
A Website that contains a directory of article listings available in the Public Domain. Articles are usually submitted by people as a means of cascading their content. The directory benefits from the large volume of content for its users. The marketer benefits because the article directory allow the marketer to include their name and a summary which can include a Banklink to their site.
Article Spinning
The process of converting an article into many different looking articles by changing many of its words in such a way that the article appears unique to Search Engines. If articles are deployed steadily to Article Directories, it is a means of gaining Traffic steadily.
ASP
An acronym that stands for Active Server Pages. A web Application framework to allow programmers to build dynamic Websites.
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Autoresponder
An autoresponder is an automatic email response Program. It can be either a desktop application that sits on your PC, or a web based application. Autoresponders enable marketers to build their own email subscriber Lists which they can follow up with again and again. Key features of the most popular autoresponders include Followup messages, Broadcast messages, blog broadcasts, social media propagation, parsing, list segmentation, web form creation and detailed metrics and reporting. Key players in the market for autoresponders are Aweber, GetResponse, Constant Contact and iContact. High end services such as InfusionSoft are often reserved for people that want a complete customer management solution.
Back End
Marketing communications that are in the latter stages of the relationship formed between the Prospect/Customer and the Internet Marketer.
Backlinks
Links on Web Pages that refer back to another web page. Backlinks form one of the three main elements that Google looks at in its Search Algorithm to determine the relevancy of the web page.
Bandwidth
The measure of network capacity that connects servers and the Internet. This is mainly measured in bits per second (bp/s), kilobits per second (kbp/s) or megabits per second (mbp/s).
Banner Ad
A picture of a flashing image or graphic that appears on a Website (most commonly at the top or right hand side) that contains special HTML or JavaScript code that redirects the Internet user to another location on the web. These graphics are mainly encoded with someone’s Affiliate Link, so the banner owner is credited with the sale should the visitor purchase.
Benefits
Solutions to a problem that the Offering will actually provide/resolve for the buyer/user.
Binary Code
The code that a computer runs to execute a series of commands. This code is run once it has been compiled by a Compiler.
Bitrate
The speed of data transfer from one Internet location to another. Bitrate is measured in bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (mbps).
Black Hat
Sneaky tactics that are considered covert and undesirable by key web authorities such as Google.
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Blog
A blog is the short term for a web log. As blogs first came about on the Internet, people would use them to record their thoughts, lives and opinions. Blogs have become much more commercial in nature with some Internet Marketers making full time incomes and beyond. Blogs generally contain textual, audio and video content and are now often presented in rich multi-media format.
Blogger
A blogger is someone that uses Blogs to post information on topics that are of interest to them.
There are many different platforms for hosting a blog. Some of these are hosted on the web and others are self hosted. Examples of website hosted blogs include Blogger (owned by Google), Tumblr and WordPress.com. The most common platform for professional bloggers is the self hosted WordPress.org blog.
Blogging
The process of using Blogs to store content, build relationships through engagement and make sales through various methods of monetisation.
Blogging Platform
A solution for Bloggers to host their Blogs.
Blogosphere
Term used to express the sum of all Blogs on the Internet.
Bonus
Additional items that are included as part of an Offering which are not charged for within the Product price. Bonuses are used to increase the Perceived Value of the Offer and increase the likelihood of a sale being made.
Bounce Rate
1. The number of emails that are not delivered to an inbox. This can be due to the inbox registered being decommissioned or mistakenly declared on signup.
2. The percentage of people that only look at one page on a Website.
Branding
Branding is an activity undertaken by marketers to establish company identity in the marketplace.
Branding is an intangible element that often adds massive value to a company and enables an Internet Marketer to charge significantly more for their products due to the increase in Perceived Value attached to the brand. Branding can include a logo, a certain format or presentation or even a person that is symbolic of the brand. Richard Branson of the Virgin companies is a perfect example of this.
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Broadcast
A type of email that is sent to many people at the same time. Most Autoresponders give some control over which subscribers receive the message.
Buyer Keywords
Specific Product keywords which are strong indicators that the user searching with those Keywords already has a strong intention to purchase the product. Filling a Website with buyer keywords gives a marketer a greater possibility of getting buyer Traffic rather than people seeking for information.
Cache
Temporary internet files stored on the user’s hard drive. These often include the use of Cookies.
Call To Action
An instruction that gives a Prospect a strong instruction with a powerful reason to take an action desired by the marketer.
Chat Room
A chat room is an online area where people can talk to one another IRT (in real time). A chat room usually consists of more than two people where everyone can contribute to the discussion within the chat room at once. Chat rooms can be extremely fast moving when there are many people participating simultaneously.
Clickbank
The world’s leading digital product marketplace.
Click Tracking
The process of tracking the number of times Links have been clicked on.
Client
1. A machine that is the service requester. A client machine requests information (ie. service) from a Server.
2. A person or business that the marketer considers themselves to have a fiduciary responsibility to serve.
Cloaked Link
The process of disguising a Link which makes it more attractive or viable to click.
Cloud
Delivery model for applications and services that are based over the Internet.
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CMS
An acronym that stands for Content Management System which is an Application that enables users to update Web Pages with text, video and audio content without the need for technical knowledge, design or programming skills.
Coding
The process of writing computer programming code.
Cookies
A tiny piece of software contained within a Web Browser which records information about the user to improve their browsing experience. Cookies are legitimately used to improve the experience of the user by retaining information about them. Cookies can also be used illegitimately to track the keystrokes, movements and actions of the user and report them back to the cookie creator.
Compiler
Software that transforms code programmed by computers into Binary Code executed by the computer.
Consumer
The end user of a Product.
Content
A unit of value delivered from the marketer to the prospect. This could take the form of an email, a blog post, a PodCast, a product, an affiliate offer and a whole array of the other things.
Content Delivery Network
A CDN or a Content Delivery Network is a service that stores a website’s static files such as static JavaScript, CSS and images and serves them to the visitor from a location close to them. This means that pages are loaded faster for the visitor giving them a better browsing experience. SEO benefits are also given to the blogger for provided a better browsing experience.
Content Network
Options which PPC search providers give to enable adverts to be placed alongside the user’s mail file or on other Website’s that have elected to use the adverts as a means of monetising the site.
Content Rich
A Website or Web Page that has lots of content and is considered favourable content by Search Engines, therefore the website is given a high ranking with Google.
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Contributor
An Internet Marketer that provides a gift to a Giveaway Event with the objective of capturing the email addresses of Leads.
Conversion
A person taking an action that is considered favourable by the Internet Marketer. A favourable action for an Opt In Page is subscribing to the email List. A favourable action on a Blog is to leave a comment or share the post. A favourable action on a Sales Page is a sale. The process of conversions is a sophisticated science in the Internet Marketing world with many factors affecting Conversion Rates.
Conversion Rate
This is calculated as the number of favourable actions divided by the number of possible favourable actions multiplied by 100. Internet Marketers are always trying to increase their conversion rates in order to make the optimum use of the Traffic they generate.
Copyright
Work that must not be copied as it is protected by legislation. Copyright is often difficult to prove when someone copies it and changes a proportion of it to pass it off as their own work.
Copywriting
The art and science of persuading people to take a desired action using words. Certain Keywords are Emotional Triggers for people to take action. Such words as “secrets”, “free”, “discover”, “secure”,
“limited” all trigger a state within the reader which motivates them to take a certain action.
CPA