Address
A unique identifier for a computer or site online, usually a URL for a web site or marked with an @ for an email address. Literally, it is how your computer finds a location on the information highway.
Adwords
The name for Googles ‘pay per click’ advertising scheme.
Adsense
Another marketing scheme from Google, Adsense means you get paid to advertise other websites on your own website.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the process of providing a financial incentive for others to promote your product or services. The incentive could be either a payment for each lead, a % of each sale or a fixed amount per sale. If a person clicks on an affiliate link then the "owner" of that link is credited with that lead (and possible sale).
Algorithm
The process a search engine applies to web pages so it can accurately produce a list of results based on a search term. Search engines regularly change their algorithms to improve the quality of the search results. Hence search engine optimisation tends to require constant research and monitoring.
B2B
Business to Business
B2C
Business to Consumer
Bandwidth
How much information (text, images, video, sound) can be sent through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move approximately 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video requires about 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
Backlinks
Backlinks are incoming links to a webpage. Backlinks are important for search engine optimization (SEO) because some search engines give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks.
Blog
A blog is an online journal or "log" of any given subject. Blogs are easy to update, manage, and syndicate, powered by invividuals and/or corporations and enable users to comment on postings.
Bookmark
A bookmark is an easy way to find your way Back to a web site - just like a real bookmark helps you keep your place in a book you are reading.
Bounce Rate
This shows a percentage of entrances on any given page that resulted in an exit from the page without entering any other page on the site.
Broadband
An internet connection that is always on and that delivers a higher bit rate (128kbps or above) than a standard dial-up connection. It allows for a better online experience as pages load quickly and you can download items faster.
Browser
An application used to view information from the Internet. Browsers provide a user-friendly interface for navigating through and accessing the vast amount of information on the Internet. The most common browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.
Buttons
Objects that, when clicked once, cause something to happen. For example an ‘add to cart’ button on an E-commerce site.
Bytes
A byte is a unit of information transferred over a network (or stored on a hard drive or in memory). Every web page, image, or other type of file is composed of some number of bytes. Large files, such as video clips, may be composed of millions of bytes ("megabytes").
Cache
Cache is a storage area for frequently accessed information. Retrieval of the information is faster from the cache than the originating source. Most search engines work by storing information retrieved from their ‘robots’ in a cache.
Click
The opportunity for a visitor to be transferred to a location by clicking on an ad, link or button.
Click-Through Rate
This relates to Pay Per Click Advertising/Google Adwords. Percentage of times a user responded to an advertisement by clicking on the ad button/banner. At one time the granddaddy of Web-marketing measurements, click-through is based on the idea that online promotions that do what they're intended to do will elicit a click. CTR is one metric Internet marketers use to measure the performance of an ad campaign.
Code
Anything written in a language intended for computers to interpret.
Content
The words and pictures on the pages of a website, within a design framework.
Content Management System (CMS)
This is a specific HTML editing software that allows easy editing of the content of a website.
Copywriting
Writing the content for a website, advert or pay per click banner.
Conversion Rate
This is the percentage of your clicks that generate sales or leads.. This number is given by dividing the number of sale/leads by the number of clicks you send to the offer. For example, if 100 clicks generated 100 visitors to your site, and they generate 5 sales/leads then your conversion rate would be 20%
Cookie
A file on your computer that records information such as where you have been on the World Wide Web. The browser stores this information which allows a site to remember the browser in future transactions or requests. This allows browsers to remember your passwords for websites, search terms for the search engines and recent browsing history.
CPC
Cost Per Click. Also called Pay per Click (PPC). A performance-based advertising model where the advertiser pays a set fee for every click on an ad.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheet (file.css). A way of creating features that will be consistent across a number of pages of a website (eg a banner or footer that will be the same on every page).
CTR
Click Through Rate – this relates to ‘pay per click’ advertising, and means the percentage of people that click on your advert once it has flashed up.
Crawler
A program used by a search engine to "crawl" links on the Internet to find and index content. Also called a robot or spider.
Description
A short piece of descriptive text to describe a web page or website. With most search engines, they gain this information primarily from the meta data element of a web page. Directories approve or edit the description based on the submission that is made for a particular URL.
Directory
An index of websites based mainly on human editing and categorisation. In most cases the content is submitted to the directory, the editorial team will then approve a title and description and place the URL in an appropriate category. For example, Yahoo! is a human edited directory.
DNS - Domain Name System
Translates domain names to IP addresses. When a domain name is delegated to a name server, the domain name system ensures the name can be translated to the IP address of the web server. When changing to a new website you will change the DNS records on your domain name to point your domain name to your new site.
Domain
A domain is the main subdivision of Internet addresses, the last three letters after the final dot, and it tells you what kind of organization you are dealing with. There are several top-level domains widely used: .com (commercial) .edu (educational),.net (network operations), .gov (government), and .org (organisation). Other, two letter domains represent countries; thus;.co.uk for the United Kingdom, .eu for Europe, .dk for Denmark, .fr for France, .de for Germany, .es for Spain, .it for Italy and so on.
Domain Name
A domain name is the address at which a website can be found eg (www.jdrwebsites.co.uk). Just about all websites will have their own, unique domain name. A domain name must be registered with a domain registrar, with a registration fee paid on an annual (or bi-annual) basis. Along with a domain name comes the right to use that address for email (e.g. willwilliamson@jdrbusinesscoaches.com).
E-commerce
Broadly, eCommerce is the buying and selling of products and services over the internet. It requires a website at which the goods or services are offered for sale, an order process and a way to pay for the item.
Email marketing
Email marketing involves collecting email addresses from people who are interested in your products or services, then sending out regular email newsletters to that mailing list. Each email must have an option (or instructions) on how to "unsubscribe". This is legitimate email marketing and is not spam!
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
FAQ is a commonly used abbreviation for "Frequently Asked Questions." Most Internet sites will have a "FAQ" to explain answers to the most common questions by customers.
Firewall
A security barrier placed between a computer - or computer network - and the Internet. It keeps your information in, and unwanted people out.
Flash
An animation program that has become a popular technology used to deliver content. Any moving images or text on a website will usually have been designed in Flash. Currently search engines have difficulty indexing flash effectively as robots cannot read the text that is held within.
Forms
The pages in most browsers that accept information in text-entry or checkbox fields. They can be customised to receive specific information – for example a job application form or a customer account application form.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. A protocol that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another. FTP access codes allow you into the files of your website. These are important for making changes to a website without Content Management (CMS), for example if you are making changes for the purposes of search engine optimisation (SEO).
GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)
GIF is a graphics format that can be displayed on almost all web browsers. It is a common compression format used for transferring graphics files between different computers. Most of the "pictures" you see online are GIF files. They display in 256 colors and have built-in compression. GIF images are the most common form of banner creative.
History
Most browsers have a pull-down menu which displays the sites you've recently visited so you can return to site instantly or view your latest surfing session. The same mechanism makes it possible for servers to track where you were before visiting a particular site -- better viewing habit information than television networks ever dreamed of providing.
Hit
A hit is simply any request to the web server for any type of file. This can be an HTML page, an image (jpeg, gif, png, etc.), a sound clip, a cgi script, and many other file types. An HTML page can account for several hits: the page itself, each image on the page, and any embedded sound or video clips. Therefore, the number of hits a website receives is not a valid popularity gauge, but rather is an indication of server use and loading.
Home Page
The page designated as the main point of entry of a Web site (or main page) or the starting point when a browser first connects to the Internet. Typically, it welcomes you and introduces the purpose of the site, and then provides links to the lower-level pages of the site. In business terms, it's the grabber. If your home page downloads too slowly, or it's unclear or uninteresting, you will probably lose a customer.
Hosting
Hosting is the service that makes a website accessible via the internet. A website is made up of files (text, graphics, audio etc) that need to be viewed by someone wanting to see that website. The files are stored on a host server that is permanently connected to the internet. When you pay for hosting, you are paying for the physical space that your website sits on, the maintenance of the service (so that your website is always available), and various other functionality such as email, web statistics and backup software.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is a coding language used to make hypertext documents for use on the Web. HTML resembles old-fashioned typesetting code, where a block of text is surrounded by codes that indicate how it should appear. HTML allows text to be "linked" to another file on the Internet.
HTTP
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol, the format of the World Wide Web. When a browser sees "HTTP" at the beginning of an address, it knows that it is viewing a WWW page.
Hyperlink
This is the clickable link in text or graphics on a web page that takes you to another place on the same page, another page or a whole other site.
Instant Messaging (IM)
Instant Messaging – allows you to ‘chat’ in real time to someone on the internet.
Inbound Link
An inbound link is a hyperlink to a particular Web page from an outside site, bringing traffic to that Web page. Inbound links important because many search engine algorithms use the quality and quantity of inbound links to measure the popularity of a Web page.
Intranet
Intranets are private networks, usually maintained by corporations for internal communications, which use Internet protocols, software and servers. They are relatively cheap, fast, and reliable networking and information warehouse systems that link offices around the world. They make it is easy for corporate users to communicate with one another, and to access the information resources of the Internet.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A business that provides access to the Internet. Its services are available to either individuals or companies, and include a dial-in interface with the Internet, software supply and often web site and intranet design. There are currently over 3,000 ISPs in the U.S. alone.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
JPEG (pronounced "jay peg") is a graphics format newer than GIF which displays photographs and graphic images with millions of colours, it also compresses well and is easy to download.
Keyword
A word - or often phrase - used to focus an online search. Keyword searching is the most common form of text search on the web. Most search engines do their text query and retrieval using keywords. Essentially, this means that search engines pull out and index words that are believed to be significant. Words that are mentioned towards the top of a document and words that are repeated several times throughout the document are more likely to be deemed important.
Keyword Research
Keyword research includes the processes and methodologies to research keywords that would be used for search and internet marketing campaigns.
Link
An electronic connection between two Web sites (also called "hot link").
Link Building
The process of getting quality Web sites to link to your Web site, in order to improve search engine rankings. Link building techniques can include reciprocal linking, entering barter arrangements, and may include buying links.
Mailing List
A list of email addresses that may have requested to receive information from a company or organisation. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to a mailing list by sending a message via email.
Meta tags
An optional HTML tag that is used to specify information about a Web page. Some search engines read the information contained within the tag and use it to index the page. There are several meta tags, but the most important for search engine indexing are the Description and Keywords tags. The Description tag returns a description of the page in place of the summary the search engine would ordinarily create. The Keywords tag provides keywords for the search engine to associate with your page. An example might look like this:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Glossary</TITLE>
<META name="description"
content="Web site building terms">
<META name="keywords"
content="Web sites, Web pages, search engines">
</HEAD>
Page
All Web sites are a collection of electronic "pages." Each Web page is a document formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that contains text, images or media objects such as RealAudio player files, QuickTime videos or Java applets. The "home page" is typically a visitor's first point of entry and features a site index.
Payment Gateway
A Payment gateways is the service for processing credit card payments over the internet. Most banks will offer merchant facilities to people with shopping cart websites, to enable them to receive payments via a credit card. The bank will approve or decline a credit card payment (based on the validity of the card at that point in time) and then transfer the funds into the merchant's bank account. Examples include Paypal, Google Checkout, WorldPay amongst others.
Paypal
Paypal is a credit card (and now bank account) processing service, owned by eBay. It is an extremely popular method of making and receiving payments and, as such, is a viable alternative to having merchant facilities provided by the banks. We often recommend that our clients use Paypal initially to keep the costs of setting up an ecommerce site to a minimum.
Pay-per-Click (PPC)
Advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies based on how many consumers clicked on a promotion. A type of campaign or service which applies a CPC price to relevant keyword phrases to easily and accurately calculate positioning, online marketing costs and ROI for your website. As opposed to a Maintenance or Optimization SEO campaign, the client only pays for the traffic that is provided, based on the agreed CPC.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Management
The process of managing PPC accounts, campaigns, ad groups, and keywords.
PDF
Portable Document Format. Word processing software, business applications or desktop publishing files on the Web that look exactly like the originals. Businesses use PDF format for downloadable information on websites as unlike other word processing formats, they cannot easily be edited.
PHP
PHP is a scripting language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. Any webpages using calculators are normally designed using PHP programming.
Podcast
A method of publishing audio files to the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.
Referrer
The URL or webpage that the user clicked on to arrive at your web page. This is often recorded in the log files via the web server software.
Registration
A process for site visitors to enter information about themselves. Some sites require certain registration in order to access their content. Some sites use voluntary registration. Fee-based sites conduct registration in the form of a transaction (take a credit card to pay for the content). A registered user is a user who visits a Web site and elects, or is required, to provide certain information. Non-registered users may be denied access to a site requiring registration.
Robot
See spider or crawler.Robots.txt
A file place on your website directory tree which gives instructions to robots/spiders as to what content to access.
ROI
Return on investment = (Revenue - Cost)/ Cost, expressed as a percentage. A term describing the calculation of the financial return on a Internet marketing or advertising initiative that incurs some cost. Determining ROI and the actual ROI in Internet marketing and advertising has been much more accurate than television, radio, and traditional media.
RSS
Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. RSS is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, a format for distributing news headlines on the Web, also known as syndication.
Search Engine
A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. The most popular search engine currently is Google, then Yahoo and MSN, with several other smaller search engines also being used (like AOL, Alta Vista, Lycos)
Search Engine Marketing
The process of building and marketing a site with the goal of improving its position in search engine results. SEM includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC), as well as using all other areas and services offered by Search Engines.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization is the ongoing process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. SEO includes technical tasks to make it easier for search engines to find and index a site for the appropriate keywords, as well as marketing-focused tasks to make a site more appealing to users. Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.
Search Terms
Text that is typed into a search engine to gain results leading to related content.
Server
Servers are the Backbone of the Internet, the computers that are linked by communication lines and "serve up" information in the form of text, graphics and multimedia to online computers that request data -- that's you. (When a server "goes down" it loses its online link and the information it holds can not be accessed.)
Shopping Cart
Shopping cart software is software to assist people to make purchases online. The software allows online shopping customers to place items in the cart. Upon checkout, the software typically calculates a total for the order, including shipping and handling (i.e. postage and packing) charges and the associated taxes, as applicable. The software allows customers to "place" items in the cart. Upon checkout, the software calculates a total for the order, including shipping and handling (i.e. postage and packing) charges and the associated taxes, as applicable.
Social Media
A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn, Beebo, Twitter, Facebook, or My Space. These are popular ways for businesses to advertise or keep in touch with a a customer base – typically businesses that appeal to younger people e.g. nightclubs.
Spam
The use of mailing lists to blanket usenets or private email boxes with indiscriminate advertising messages. Very bad ‘netiquette’. Even worse, it's bad business. The future of marketing online is about customising products and information for individual users. Anyone who tries to use old mass market techniques in the new media environment is bound to fail.
Spider
It is a software program which combs the web for new sites and updated information on old ones, like a spider looking for a fly.
Splash Page
Splash pages are presentations that appear before a websites home page. They start with a "splash," usually using flash graphics to create a certain impression or deliver key information before entering a site. These can have a ‘skip intro’ or ‘enter site’ button, however many users find them frustrating as they want to get straight in to a website.
Split Testing
In split testing, you unleash two different versions of a keyword, advertisement, website, web/landing page, banner design or variable and see which performs the best. You test version A vs. version B to see how different versions perform.
Submission
Refers to content submitted or suggested to a search engine or directory. Several search engines and directories supply forms for users to complete to suggest or pay for content to be included. In most cases the actual submission should be optimized to include relevant keyword phrases to increase the chances of being found in a search.
Surfing
Exploring World Wide Web. Commonly seen as "Surfing the 'Net."
Title
An element of a web page which appears in the top left of most browsers. It is also the part of a directory submission that represents the title of the website. Arguably one of the most important parts of SEO is ensuring an optimized title or unique titles across all pages of a website.
Traffic
Generally measured by the amount of visitors to a website.
Upload
To send a file from one computer to another.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator, an HTTP address used by the World Wide Web to specify a certain site. This is the unique identifier, or address, of a web page on the Internet.
View Source
Most browsers allow you to see the HTML coding behind the actual Web page that you see with your Web browser software. The command is under the View menu. It's a terrific way to quickly learn how Web sites accomplish neat effects, what kind of keywords are used by your competition, etc., etc.
Virus
These are programs that can be downloaded onto your computer or network from the Internet. Some are harmless, others are programmed to destroy your system, trash your files and disable your software. No kidding. So be careful. Use anti-virus programs. They take a few extra minutes every day to use, but the protection is worth it.
Vlog
A vlog is a video blog.
Visits
A sequence of requests made by one user at one site. If a visitor does not request any new information for a period of time, known as the "time-out" period, then the next request by the visitor is considered a new visit.
Web page
A HTML (Hypertext markup Language) document on the web, usually one of many together that makeup a web site.
Webmail
Webmail is an internet-based method for accessing email, which doesn't require software to be installed on your computer. This means that you can access webmail from any computer with an internet connection (as long as you can remember your username and password!). This makes webmail very popular for travellers and people without their own computers. People tend to use webmail to access free email accounts such as hotmail, gmail and yahoo. Most hosting accounts also include webmail facilities so you can access your POP3 mailbox when you are away from your primary computer.
Webmaster
The individual assigned to administering a corporation or organisation's web site. This person lays out the information trees, designs the look, codes HTML pages, handles editing and additions and checks that links are intact. In addition, he or she monitors, routes and sometimes responds to email generated by the site
Web Site
The virtual location for an organisation's presence on the World Wide Web, usually making up several web pages and a single home page designated by a unique URL.
White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO
"White hat" SEO is the legitimate actions that can be done to increase ranking while "black hat" SEO are prohibited actions such as cloaking and backdoors. Using black hat techniques can get your website blacklisted from the search engines (which means your listing will be removed altogether). So, it is much better to practice "white hat" SEO.
