Glossary of Terms – Thanks in part to Quirk.biz.
A
Above the Fold That portion of a webpage that is
displayed on the user’s screen without scrolling. All of your
most important messages should appear above the fold.
ASPActive Server Pages- It’s the same abbreviation
as that for Application Service Provider but definitely not the
same thing. Active Server Pages are Microsoft's server-side
technology for dynamically-generated webpages. ASP of this variety
is marketed as an add-on to IIS.
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A lot
faster than ISDN, ADSL is a high speed method of accessing the Internet.
Adsense/Adwords Text and image advertisements
by Google that appear on websites.
Affiliate Marketing An agreement
between two sites in which one site - the affiliate, agrees to feature
content or an advertisement designed to drive traffic to another
site.
In return the affiliate site receives a percentage of sales generated
by traffic it sends towards this site.
AJAXAbbreviation of Asynchronous JavaScript and
XML, AJAX is a web development technique for creating interactive
web applications. AJAX increases usability and speed by ensuring
the webpage doesn’t have to reload each time a change is made
by the user.
Alexa Rank A number indicating how popular your
site is compared to other sites, based on information returned by
the Alexa Toolbar and SearchStatus. The number is the index of a
given site in long ordered list of popularity, the most popular
site at index 1, the second most at index 2 etc.
Alt Text This refers to the "alt"
attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute
a text field to an image on a webpage, normally with a descriptive
function, telling a user what an image is about and displaying the
text in instance where the image is unable to load.
Apache An open source web server, Apache HTTP Server
is the most popular web server in use today.
Ask.com This search engine formally known as Ask
Jeeves was founded by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen. Ask Jeeves
allowed users to ask questions in everyday language and became an
extremely popular engine. As the bigwigs (Google, MSN and Yahoo!)
began indexing pages faster, Ask Jeeves suffered. Though its user
base is still significantly smaller than those of the big wigs,
Ask.com is still a popular engine.
ASP Abbreviation of Application Service Provider,
essentially a business that provides computer-based services to
customers over a network.
B
B2B Stands for Business to Business. When businesses
sell products/services to other businesses and not to consumers.
B2C Stands for Business to Consumers.
When businesses sell products/services to consumers.
Backlink All the links on other
pages that will take the user to a specific webpage. Each link to
that specific page is known as an inbound/backlink. The number of
backlinks influences PageRank so the more backlinks the better.
Black Hat A term coined by the SEO industry to
define the unethical techniques some search engine optimisers use
to get their sites ranking at number 1. These practises include
keyword stuffing, hidden text and duplication of content. The immediate
results may be astounding but the long term results are detrimental
as black hat SEO techniques are a no go with the search engines:
employ these tactics at your own peril.
Blacklists Blacklists are lists of IP addresses
belonging to organizations that have been identified as SPAMMERS!
The ISP’s then use the IP addresses to add to the filter thereby
blocking these messages from reaching their final destination.
Blog Also known as a web log, a
blog is just that - almost like an online diary. A blog allows users
to post entries on different topics and allows readers to comment
on these posts. Blog types range from being personal diaries to
news commentaries. Blogs are easy to update, encourage repeat visits,
create fresh content and natural links.
Bounces The number of emails that
were unable to reach their final destination due to a hard or soft
bounce.
C
Cache A cache is a temporary copy of a collection
of data. If accessing the original data is proving to be resource
heavy (read time-consuming), then users can access the cache thereby
not having to reload the original data.
Call To Action A CTA is a phrase
written to motivate the reader to take action. (sign up for our
newsletter, etc.).
Click Paths The pattern of clicks,
entry and exit points of a user’s interaction with a website.
Click-through Rate The number and
percentage of recipients who clicked on a particular URL included
in an email, a webpage etc.
CMS Content Management System -
A script or program for maintaining websites. If you have a CMS
program you no longer have to depend on anyone else when it comes
to maintaining your site - but be sure that you get a good one!
Contextual Advertising Advertising
within content rather than on search sites.
Conversion Rate The percentage
of visitors to a website that perform a desired action, such as
making a purchase or filling out a form. For example, if 30 visitors
out of 100 subscribe to a newsletter the conversion rate is 30%.
Cookies Small text files that are
stored on an end-user’s computer that allow websites to identify
the user, and allow the website owner to construct a profile of
that user.
CPA Cost Per Action. Refers to
the cost of acquiring a new customer. The advertiser only pays when
a desired action is achieved (sometimes called cost per acquisition).
CPC Cost Per Click. Refers to when
an advertiser only pays when their ad is clicked upon, giving them
a visitor to their site - typically from a search engine in Pay
Per Click search marketing.
CPM Cost Per Thousand (Mille).
Refers to Cost per 1000 ad impressions. An advertiser pays each
time 1000 impressions of their ad are shown.
CSS Cascading Style Sheets. This
is a language used to describe how an HTML document should be formatted
-- look. Cascading Style Sheets provide the ability to separate
the layout and styles of a webpage from the data or
information.
D
Data Mining The process of analyzing large amounts
of data for patterns. This process can be used to predict buying
habits, credit card purchases and cross sale capabilities.
Database Essentially an electronic
filing system. Information is organized and stored in a manner that
allows you to select the exact data you require.
Directory Directory websites provide an ordered
listing of registered websites in different categories. They are
similar to an e-version of Yellow Pages. Yahoo! and Excite are the
best known examples of directories.
DJ’s Three Rules of Marketing Also known
as the Holy Grail. They are 1. Who is Your Customer? 2. What Do
They Want? 3. Give it To Them!
Domain Name The name of a server that distinguishes
it from other systems on the World Wide Web: our domain name is
digstrat.com
Double Opt-in Opt-in is the process by which an
individual requests to receive email correspondence from a company.
Double Opt-in is the act of getting subscribers to confirm their
initial subscription via a follow up email asking them to validate
their address and hence opt-in again.
E
eCataloging Process and/or technology for cataloging
product information to present to customers and trading partners
via the internet and other forms of electronic communication.
eCommerce The conducting of business
communication and transactions over networks and through computers.
Specifically, the buying and selling of goods and services, and
the transfer of funds, through digital communications.
eMail marketing Email marketing
is the most effective of all online marketing tactics. It is extremely
cost effective, can be highly targeted and customized, is measurable
and best of all takes advantage of the consumer's most prolific
touch point with the Internet, their inbox.
eMarketing The process of marketing
a brand using the Internet. In a world where online is everything
you must include online as part of your advertising channels and
have a strategy.
eNewsletter Like a traditional
print newsletter but delivered to your inbox rather than to
your post box.
Encryption Mathematical algorithms
are used to encrypt data in order to protect it from unauthorized
use.
eZine An electronic magazine.
F
Feed See RSS and RSS Reader.
Firewall A combination of hardware
and security software that can protect your business computer network
from outside attacks like viruses.
Flash Developed by Macromedia,
Flash is essentially a multi-media technology that incorporates
interactivity into a site. It brings the wow factor to a site, but
be warned… the search engines are far from fond of this technology.
A
little Flash maybe, all Flash – most definitely not.
Fold Everything you see on your
computer screen for that page. All your critical or most important
information should lie above the fold in order to reduce scrolling.
Forums/Newsgroup An online discussion
group.
Frames An HTML technique used to
combine two or more HTML documents within a single web browser screen.
Frames can often cause accessibility and usability issues and their
use is largely discouraged by good designers.
Frequency This is the interval,
at which email efforts such as newsletters are repeated, (weekly/monthly
etc.).
FTP File Transfer Protocol is a
standardized method of moving files across the Internet.
G
Geographical Targeting Like real estate online
is all location, location, location these days. Geographical Targeting or
Geotargeting is specifically useful to location specific businesses.
It allows you to see where your visitors come from and to give them
specific information that is relevant to them.
H
Header Tags Header tags (H1, H2, H3 etc) are standard
elements used to define headings and subheadings on a webpage. The
number indicates the importance, so H1 tags are viewed by the spiders
as being more important that the H3 tags. Using targeted key phrases
in your H tags is essential for effective SEO.
Hidden Text A technique where the
keywords are invisible to the naked eye as they are the same color
as the page's background. Search engines are not fooled by this
unethical technique and sites will be penalized for employing it.
Hit A hit, though often mistaken
for a measure of popularity, is a request from a user’s browser
to view a particular page or image.
Home Page The first page of any
website. The home page gives users a glimpse into what your site
is about.
HTML The abbreviation for HyperText
Markup Language, read by web browsers. Certain HTML "tags"
are used to structure the information and features within a webpage.
Hyperlink A link in a webpage that
allows you, once you click on it, to follow the link to the relevant
webpage.
I
IM Instant Messaging is a technology that allows
its users to communicate in real-time. Essentially your IM system
alerts you when a contact on your list is online; you can then initiate
a chat session. Also known as IMing.
Impressions The number of times
a webpage or ad is viewed.
Index The searchable catalog of
documents and pages created by a search engine. Web spiders index
websites with the search engines by scanning or“crawling”
them.
IP Address The Internet Protocol
(IP) address is an exclusive number, which is used to represent
every single computer in a network.
ISP Internet Service Provider –
this is the company that is providing you access to the Internet
e.g., AOL, Yahoo! etc).
J
Java A programming language which allows multifaceted
and graphical customer applications to be written and then accessed
from a web browser.
JavaScript A highly popular scripting
language that is used in web pages to improve the design, validate
forms, create cookies and control the popping up of new windows
among other functions.
K
Keywords, practically synonymous with Key Phrases
or search terms, keywords are entered as search queries into a search
engine. SEO's try to optimise their sites for these search terms.
Keyword Density This relates to the number of times
a keyword/key phrases appear on a webpage. This divided by the total
number of words that appear on a page gives you a percentage. The
higher the better - but not too high - you don't want to be penalised
for keyword stuffing.
L
Landing Page The page a user reaches when clicking
on a paid or organic search engine listing. The pages that have
the most success are those that match up as closely as possible
with the users search query.
Link Same as Hyperlink.
Load Time The length of time it
takes for a page to open completely in the browser window.
Log File A file that is automatically
created by a web server listing actions that have occurred. Log
file analysis tools show where visitors are coming from, how often
they visit, and track their path through the site. When used in
conjunction with cookies they provide a much greater depth of information.
M
Marketing, DJ’s Three Rules of Also known
as the Holy Grail. They are 1. Who is Your Customer? 2. What Do
They Want? 3. Give it To Them!
Marketing Mix The four elements
businesses need to consider for the success of their marketing efforts:
Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The focus that is placed on
each one is entirely dependant on the goals of the marketing
strategy.
Meta Tags There to tell the spiders
what exactly the webpages are about. It's important that your Meta
tags are optimized for the targeted key phrases. Meta tags are made
up of meta titles, meta descriptions and meta keywords.
Meta-Search Engines A search tool that will allow
a user to conduct a search across two or more search engines and
directories. Examples of meta-search engines include Clusty and
Dogpile.
N
Natural Search These are the listings generally
found on the left hand side in search engines, and are not influenced
by direct financial payments. Listings are results based on factors
such as keyword relevancy within a webpage: SEO
is used to boost success. Also known as Organic Search.
Navigation Allows users to move
from page to page in your site. It is essential your navigation
is user friendly. If the users can’t easily find their way,
they won’t travel deeper into your site.
O
Open Rate This is also referred to as the read
rate. This is the number of emails that are opened in an email marketing
campaign as a proportion of the total emails sent.
Open Source Free for everyone to
use.
Opt-In Also known as subscribe
- Requesting to receive information from a company via email. All
responsible email marketers ensure that only users who have opted
in receive their communication. If you haven't opted in - it's SPAM!
Opt-Out Also known as unsubscribe
- The act of removing oneself from a list or lists so that specified
information is no longer received via e-mail.
Organic Search These are the listings generally
found on the left hand side in search engines, and are not influenced
by direct financial payments. Listings are results based on factors
such as keyword relevancy within a webpage: SEO is used to boost
success. Also see Natural Search.
Outbound links These links will, once clicked on,
take users to another website.
P
PageRank A ranking or score to every webpage on
the Internet based on the number and quality of the page's backlinks,
this score is a number out of 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10
being the highest.
Pay Per Click Buying sponsored
ads on search engine results pages and content pages, while only
paying for those ads on a performance basis.
Pay Per Lead Similar to Pay Per
Click, PPL is an advertising payment model in which payment is made
on leads not just clicks.
Phishing A criminal activity where
“Phishers” attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive
information, such as passwords and credit card details. Often this
is done by masquerading as a party the victim is likely to trust
(another person or
reputable business) via some form of electronic communication like
email, IM or even telephone.
Plug-in A nifty little extension
that adds on to the capabilities of a major software package.
Podcasting Publishing audio programs
via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files.
Podcasting enables independent producers to create selfpublished,
syndicated "radio shows". Listeners may subscribe to feeds
using"podcatching" software (a type of aggregator), which
periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically.
R
Reach The number of unique users who’ve viewed
an online advertisement.
Reciprocal Link This is when a site agrees to link
to another site providing that the other site links back to it in
return.
Referrer When a user clicks on a link from one
website to another website the user left is the referrer. Most browsers
log the referrer’s URL in “referrer strings,”
this information is vital to determining which queries are being
used to find
specific sites.
RSS Really Simple Syndication provides
you with specific content you want. RSS allows you to receive/syndicate
this information without requiring you to constantly open new pages
in your browser. Also see RSS Reader.
RSS Reader This is how you read
RSS Feeds. Also known as RSS Aggregator.
S
Scripting Language A high level language used to
control what the user sees on a site or to manipulate the data stored
on a server.
Search Searching is the process
of finding information on the net. Go to your preferred search engine
type in your search query and natural (and maybe paid) listings
will be displayed.
Search Engine Algorithm Search engines rank webpages
based on different sets of criteria: while they may attribute different
values of importance to the criteria they tend to consider the same
factors in general. The program which search engines use to judge
these factors and rank webpages in their SERPs is called their ranking
algorithm. Algorithms are regularly updated to combat spam and black
hat tactics. As the algorithms change and put more or less importance
on certain factors SEO’s do the same. Google’s change
in algorithm is termed the Google Dance.
Search Engines Search engines are programs that
allow users to search for information stored on the Internet. When
you enter a search term you will find both organic and paid for
listings.
Search Engine Copywriting The practice of writing
content specifically designed for chosen key phrases. This enhances
spiderability and results in higher rankings on search engines.
Search Engine Submission Supplying a URL to the
search engines to make them aware that the site/webpage actually
exists, in hopes of the site/page being indexed faster.
SEM Search Engine Marketing - This
is the process of getting a website to achieve top rankings for
its chosen key phrases on the search engines. See SEO, Organic Search,
Natural Search.
SEO Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO) is the creation or tweaking of a website to increase the amount
of traffic to the website by ranking high in the search results
of a search engine.
Shopping Cart Online shopping software
that allows you to add the product offerings on a website to your
cart. You can add, delete and purchase the merchandise in your cart.
Also known as shopping basket.
Site Analytics Site analytics are
essential to the success of any website – they provide you
with information detailing how visitors are interacting with your
site as well as how successful your supporting eMarketing techniques
are affecting your site’s performance. Data for the analysis
is mined using specialized software. Site analytics provide you
with a comprehensive and insightful analysis of your website as
well as an insight into what needs to be done to ensure
even greater success.
Site Architecture The design and
planning of websites involving the technical, aesthetic and functional
elements that combines to create a website.
Social Network In the online sense,
this refers to a type of website model where individual members
become part of a broader virtual community. You'll find that users
provide personal information about them in a profile and reveal
themselves through participation in the online community.
Soft Bounce The failed delivery
of an email due to a deviating reason like an overloaded mail box
or a server failure.
Spam Email sent to someone who
has not requested to receive it.
Spiders A program that browses
the net in order to create a copy of all visited pages for processing
by a search engine. This data is what the search engines turn to
when you enter a search term. The more often your site is crawled
and
the happier the spiders are the happier you will be. Also knows
as bots, crawlers and ants.
Splash Page This is a page, usually
animated and containing some kind of variation of the phrase “click
here to enter this site”. These types are an absolute no-no
in terms of search engine optimization. Search engine spiders hate
them.
Subject Line The title of the email
communication. As it is the first element of the communication that
will be seen, it needs to be attention grabbing and must not sound
Spam-like. The subject line dramatically affects the open rate.
T
Title Tags The (preferably optimized) title text
you select will appear in the reverse bar of a user’s browser
when they view the webpage. Title tags should be a brief and accurate
description of the page’s content.
Touch Point Every instance the
consumer comes into contact with a brand.
Tracking Measuring the effectiveness
of a campaign by collecting and evaluating statistics.
Traffic Essential statistic traffic
indicates the amount of visits a site receives in a given amount
of time. Remember that traffic alone isn’t a measure of success
– getting those visitors to convert is the ultimate goal.
Also known
as website traffic.
U
URL This is a website’s address e.g. http://www.digstrat.com.
Usability Usability is a measure
of how easy it is for a user to complete a desired task. Sites with
excellent usability fare far better than those that are difficult
to use.
V
Vertical Search Also known as specialized or niche
search. A search within a particular area of interest: where the
search database is highly refined for relevance to a particular
subject.
Viral Marketing Takes your message
and powerfully and quickly spreads it across the Internet, just
like the age-old concept of "word-of-mouth", but in an
electronic context – very powerful.
Virus A virus is a destructive
program that is loaded onto your PC (hopefully without your knowledge).
These little programs can delete or corrupt your files so get yourself
a good anti-virus software package.
W
Web Analytics A software tool that collects data
on web site users based on metrics to measure its performance.
Web Design The layout and structure
of a webpage. Web design is not solely about making the page look
pretty, it’s about functionality and usability.
Web Presence Your web presence
is determined on whether you have a webpage or website on the net.
If you don’t you are unknown and are losing out!
Web2.0 The network as a platform
for content and functionality. This includes delivering and allowing
multiple users access to dynamic web applications and content; online
collaboration, generation and distribution of data and a
richer interactive user experience through website pplications that
enhance value and ease-of-use. Web2.0 is often considered to include
RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) built in AJAX, Flash, Java applets
or ActiveX.
WebPR Public relations on the web.
Online press releases and article syndication promote brands as
well as drive traffic to sites.
WordTracker WordTracker helps website owners and
search engine marketers identify keywords and phrases that are relevant
to their or their client's business and most likely to be used as
queries by search engine visitors.
X
XML An abbreviation of Extensible Markup Language,
XML is the programming language used to create custom tags.
