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The world of marketing has sometimes been referred to as one of "smoke & mirrors." We don't necessarily agree – but lately, the industry does seem to be transforming itself ever more rapidly!
Keeping up with the terms, the technology and the hype sometimes feels like a full-time job.
Our goal with this glossary is to save you some time and help you discern between some otherwise confusing options. Some terms should be familiar to all; others have come into being in just the past several years or even months.
And if we're occasionally irreverent about the real meaning of some of these words, please forgive us. We have to keep a sense of humor about it all! Rest assured that we do treat business seriously. You can learn more about how we approach business in the Appendix.
A-B Split — The process of dividing a list for a mailing in half by selecting every other name and then testing one feature of the ad (headline, color, price, etc.) to see which pulls best. Impatient marketers who attempt to test more than one feature never really know what made the difference in response rates.
Ad Blocker – Software on your browser that keeps advertisements from being displayed.
Ad Copy – A copywriting term that describes words in an advertisement typically written in to persuade the reader to take a particular action such as "purchase the product."
Ad Graphics – Photos, artistic renderings or illustrations included in an ad. In some cases, this can include lines or even typestyle treatments. (A cardinal sin in advertising is to over-use graphics or multiple colors that overpower the selling copy and the effectiveness of the ad.)
Ad Impressions – Refers to the number of times an ad is "pushed" to the viewer, for example via email, or "pulled" to the site via the viewer's browser. Because an ad is displayed doesn't always mean it is actually viewed, however – as some social media advertisers are finding out.
Adsense – Google runs this ad serving program that allows participating website owners to make money by displaying ads on their websites. Google provides text, image and video advertisements that appear based on the keywords and content on the website. Theoretically, this connection makes the ads more relevant to the reader.
Webmasters are paid when an Internet user clicks on an ad on their web page. Depending on the perceived "value" of the ad, the revenue may be a few cents up to a dollar per click.
The ads used in Adsense are gathered from participants in Google's Adwords advertising program.
Caution. Since webmasters are paid regardless of whether anything is purchased at the advertiser's site, it may be tempting for the webmaster to click on all of the ads on his or her site. However, Google watches for this type of activity. If a web page is showing signs of click fraud, a webmaster may lose access to Google Adsense permanently.
Ad Tracker – A software program or web-based script that tracks the effectiveness of advertisements. The data collected can then be used by the advertiser to improve the effectiveness of their ads and increase their rate of response and return on investment.
Advertising – The classic definition is "propaganda — electronic, printed or recorded sales messages (ads or commercials) for which you pay a fee to have aired on appropriate media." Most traditional advertising media companies (for example, magazines) provide some sort of commission or discount to advertising agencies for placing the ads with them, typically 15 – 20% of the cost of running the ads or commercials. Commissions are, as always, negotiable.
Advertising Agency – Creates advertising campaigns as well as individual ads on behalf of clients. Most agencies maintain an in-house creative team of Art Directors, Graphic Artists, Copywriters and Media Specialists. Smaller agencies may hire "freelance talent" on a regular basis and even larger ones will do so on specialized jobs. Agencies earn their income on a combination of fees and commissions from advertising they create and place on behalf of clients. The more ads that are placed (hence the greater the income from commissions), the lower fees they can charge. Arrangements vary from one agency and client to another.
Advertising Specialties – Gifts, trinkets, gimmicks and giveaways, usually imprinted with your logo or a sales message. Specialties range from pens, note pads and coffee cups to baseball caps, calculators or anything that will (you hope) be memorable enough for recipients to retain and that will remind them of your products or services. (Most products come from Asian sources; markup is expansive.)
Adware – Free software that downloads and displays advertising.
Adwords – Google's advertising product and main source of revenue. Adwords offers pay-per-click advertising for text and banner ads. When advertisers use Adwords to promote their product or service, their ads appear on any related website that is using Adsense.
Adwords advertisements are short, and consist of a title and two content lines. Advertisers pick keywords that relate to their ad, and then bid on these keywords. They pay each time someone clicks on their ad. The advertisement will take the clicker to the merchant's website.
Keywords cost more when they are more popular. If a lot of people are bidding on the word "internet marketing" the cost per click will be much higher. Depending on the keyword, a click may cost anywhere from $0.10 to several dollars.
Mastering the use of Google Adwords and effective pay-per-click campaign management is one of the keys to success in online business. It also requires adroit avoidance of Google's ever-changing restrictions.
Affiliate – When you become an affiliate with a specific company, or affiliate program, you are rewarded for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer that you provide to the company. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular forms of business on the web, and an effective way to promote businesses and products.
The basic set up, from the affiliate's side, goes as follows: You (the Affiliate) find a company or product that you would like to promote. You join the "affiliate program" of the company and receive the tools by which you can send customers to the company's website. This most often includes a special URL link, which will let the company know that the customer has come from you. You will get credit when people visit the company's website. Details can vary, but in most cases you receive a percentage of the revenue from sales that the company makes from customers following your link.
Affiliate Link – A "hot link" used by affiliates when they promote products and services that takes the reader to the seller's website or shopping cart. The custom link identifies the referring affiliate so they can receive credit for the purchase.
Affiliate Provider – This is the third party business that provides a platform for businesses to market their products/services through an affiliate program. Affiliates can sign up through the Affiliate Program Provider to promote the products and services being offered by companies that are clients of the particular Affiliate Program Provider.
AIM – This is an anagram of AOL Instant Messenger. After 20 years, the program shut down as of December 15, 2017; text messaging made it superfluous.
Alexa – This is a proprietary a website that ranks levels of website activity, among other things. Some internet marketers use it to gauge the popularity of a site, but critics say it's not all that accurate because its statistics are based on users who have the Alexa toolbar installed.
Alexa from Amazon — Echo and other Alexa devices let you instantly connect to Alexa to play music, control your smart home, get information, news, weather, and more using just your voice.
Alt or Alternate Text – The words that show when images have not been enabled, or that show in a "balloon" when the mouse hovers over an image.
Analytics – The process of capturing data and then analyzing it to make decisions. Google Analytics, for example, shows visits (number, length, etc.) to a website to help the owner make marketing decisions.
Anchor Text – When a link to another page or site is created, it can have two parts, the link itself and the anchor text. Good marketing practice suggests always using both to make it easier for the reader and to emphasize keywords as appropriate. Example:
- the link itself, in html code, might look something like this:
<a href="http://www.websiteaboutmarketing.com">
- the anchor text is what the reader sees on the page:
Marketing Tips For You
API (Application Program Interface) – This refers to the routines, protocols and tools provided by the operating environment (such as Windows) to guide the programmer in developing a new piece of software. A good API means that programs will be consistent and have a better chance of working for all users.
App – An abbreviation for the word "application." An app is a self-contained piece of software that runs alone to perform a specific task. It can run on the Internet, on your computer, or on your phone or other electronic device. Some are found in app stores, the most popular being Apple App Store, Google Play and Amazon AppStore. Some apps are free, others cost. Over 200 BILLION apps were downloaded in 2017!
Applet – A small program or application, under the control of the browser, which performs a small, specific task. Popular applets written in Java, for example, power animation sequences.
Arbitrage – The ability to capitalize on a differential in value . . . buying at one cost and selling immediately at (hopefully) a higher cost. The main difference between arbitrage and investment gain is the difference in value at the same point in time.
Art Director – A talented individual who oversees the design and visual execution of ads, TV commercials, printed materials, etc. (Some Art Directors are also artists in their own right.)
Article Directory – A website that accepts original articles and arranges them in categories or niches. The author typically includes a link to his or her personal site in the "bio box" or "resource box" at the end of the article. Depending on the rules of the site, articles may be used by other websites as content.
Art Service – Firms that provide some type of service in the design or rendering of artwork. Most Art Services specialize in some type of art or industry category. (Ex: Some services do only technical product renderings while others might specialize in signage for supermarket interiors, etc.) When dealing with an Art Service (or any firm providing design, photographic or film preparation for that matter) contractual terms should be reviewed to secure ownership of the original artwork, designs, film, etc. Compensation is usually hourly or by fee.
Aspect Ratio –The width-to-height ratio of a picture or video frame. Popular TVs allow the viewer to switch between regular 4:3 ratio and wide screen at 16: 9. When an image is re-sized, the aspect ratio is typically maintained.
Attachment – A file or group of files that is included with an email message. You can attach files through most email programs. Caution: The most common way that computers get infected with viruses is through email attachments. Never open any attachment you receive from someone you do not know!
Autoresponder – Autoresponders are automatic list management & email response programs. They have become one of the essential tools for Internet marketers, affiliate marketers and other who do a large amount of business on the web. The autoresponder program will send pre-entered email messages instantly to people who request information from a website, newsletter or online merchant. The autoresponder can also "drip" information via a pre-set schedule, making it perfect for delivering learning courses. Autoresponders make it possible for Internet business people to effortlessly follow up with their clients.
Avatar – An icon that represents you on message boards, chat rooms, and in virtual worlds. Your avatar can be whatever you want it to be. Graphic elements, animals, cartoons and pictures are used as avatars on the Internet.
B2B, B2C – Acronyms for Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer activities. Many advertising campaigns and/or websites focus on business-to-business relationships and services (like wholesale suppliers), while others focus on providing services and products directly to individual purchasers.
Back Button – Typically an arrow pointing to the left at the top of a Web browser. It allows you to "go back" to the previous web page that you were looking at. Not infrequently, using the "x" at the top right hand side of the page will disconnect you entirely from what you were working on, so the back button is a good first choice when you think, "Go back."
Back End – Generally referring to activities after the initial sale that generate more significant profits. You may, for example, sell to a new customer at a small profit or even a loss because you know from experience that the additional purchases will yield higher profits. Initial response to the catalogs that you receive periodically (especially during holiday season) are typically in the 1-2% range with a low initial purchase. These initial sales are rarely very profitable and most often the loss-leader is really an "investment" to build the customer list. Secondary response from these new customers can be in the double-digits, 20-30-40%, etc. and the purchases can exceed $100.
Bandwidth – The rate at which communications can be transmitted, typically expressed in kilobits per second or megabits per second. It has also come to mean time or intellectual "capacity" in general, as in "That exceeds my bandwidth."
Banner Ad – An online ad on a web page that links to another website or landing page. Banner ads were one of the first methods of advertising on the web and are still a mainstay. They have different costs depending on how much traffic and page views the website gets. As people have become used to banner ads, it has required more creativity to make them work.
Banner Exchange – A group of web sites that display each other's ad banners in exchange for credits. The more impressions you display the more credits you receive. The credits are converted into ad spaces for you to display your ad banner on participating websites. This can be an effective way to drive traffic to a website.
Beta – A test version of a product. Volunteers sometimes get a special incentive to participate in the beta test of new software. As with all new things, the Beta version is sometimes not quite perfected. Newbies are cautioned when considering the Beta version of anything.
Bindery – The operations of cutting, die-cutting, perforating, folding, binding, etc. that "finish" printed items. Most printers and mailers perform many of their own bindery operations.
Black Hat – This term (mostly attributed to search engine optimization) is usually attributed to "gaming the system" using tactics that are of questionable ethics (or even those specifically banned) to increase response. As search engines become more sophisticated , safeguards are built in that recognize such tactics and penalize the user. Black hat tactics are becoming more difficult – and even dangerous – to use.
Blog – Blog is a shortened term for "weblog." Either term refers to a website where entries (called "posts") are made similar to a journal or diary. The entries are presented in reverse chronological order, with the newest entry on top. Although blogs were originally used like a personal journal on everyday events, they have evolved into a multipurpose tool. There are blogs on every topic imaginable, from food to politics to celebrity gossip. Generally, blogs combine the text entries with images, links to other blogs and other related media. Search engines "like" blogs because they usually contain fresh, ever-changing content on the website.
A blog can also include comments from readers, categories (commonly called tags) that label the blog entry by subject, and trackback links, which are links to other sites that refer to the blog entry.
Bloggers – "Bloggers" is the blanket term for anyone that uses a blog to post information on topics that are of interest to them. Becoming a blogger is actually simpler than it might seem. As blogging has grown in popularity, many websites offer platforms that quickly and easily create a blog.
Some of the most popular free blogging software platforms are WordPress.com, Blogger, and Tumblr. New platforms seem to emerge regularly. These websites will host your blog and provide you with the tools to create blog posts without having to know a lot about software. WordPress offers both a free site that they host (WordPress.com) and a site that you control (WordPress.org).
BMP or bmp – A Microsoft Windows image format. It stands for bitmap. The images you see when Windows starts up and closes, and the wallpaper that cover the computer desktop, are all in BMP format.
Bookmark – With so many interesting web pages out there, it's hard to keep track of sites that you want to revisit again and again. Using bookmarks can help you keep tabs on the sites you like. Your Internet Browser will have a tab at the top that says "Bookmarks" or "Favorites." When you are on a website that you want to bookmark, you can select "Bookmark this page" (or a similar phrase) and your web browser will save the URL information for that site.
Your bookmarks will be stored in the browser in your "Bookmarks" or "Favorites" menu. Normally the bookmarks are stored in chronological order, with the oldest bookmarks at the top of your list. Most browsers offer the option to organize the bookmarks in folders. This makes your bookmarks easily accessible and you can group them together based on topics.
Bot – Short for robot, a bot is automated software typically sent out by search engines to find websites or website pages. In the 2016 elections, Russian bots posted messages and advertising on U.S. social media sites.
Branding – In marketing in general, as well as Internet marketing, branding is important to establishing the company identity. Branding is the result of an accumulation of experiences that consumers have with a particular company or product.
A brand creates associations and expectations about the service provided or the products made by a company. The brand is a symbol for all of the information that is connected with or to a company, a product or a service. Branding can include a logo, font selection, color schemes and symbols that work together to create an impression of the values, ideas as well as the culture and personality of the company.
Branding has significant importance in Internet marketing where the competition is huge. Having a noteworthy and unique branding strategy can help companies stand out in the vast and fluid online marketplace.
Individuals can also develop a form of personal branding, which can help establish credibility with their online customers and target a specific niche of people.
Bricks & Mortar – A slang term that is used to describe physical structures for businesses, as opposed to those that have no retail location, but sell online.
Browser – A software program that searches for and displays content on the World Wide Web. Popular browsers include Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Business Plan – The document that all businesses should have that describes the enterprise, it objectives and how the organization intends to reach them. It's a well –known fact that the best business plans are those with the most flexibility that allows the business to respond to actual conditions and changing circumstances.
Button – A graphic that when clicked executes an action. Common buttons include the infamous and often unfriendly "Submit" button, and the easily understood "Buy Now" button.
Cache – ("Cash") This is the action of storing Web files so that they can be easily accessed at a later date. When you are browsing the Internet, your Internet browser will store HTML page code, graphics and multimedia elements in the cache. This way when you return to that particular Web page, the information doesn't have to be downloaded all over again.
The cache is actually a form of high-speed memory. Keep in mind that the cache can build up over time and actually slow down your hard drive. It is advisable to clean out your cache from time to time.
Call to Action (CTA) – This is the copy in direct response marketing pieces that invites the reader to take action. Examples might be: Call this number, Click this link, Send a text to…
Campaign – A series of ads or advertising messages that focus on one particular brand or product. A campaign may last just a few hours or extend to years.
Camtasia – Screen capture software; a program that is useful for coordinating video and voice recordings.
Chat Rooms – A place to make connections with real people in real time over the Internet. When you use a chat room, whatever you type appears in the main screen next to your login name or handle. Other users will appear in the main screen with their messages next to their handles. Many people using chat rooms wish to remain anonymous.
Most chat rooms have a specific topic that everyone will discuss. However, other chat rooms are simply for meeting other people. There are some chat rooms that are designed as intricate 3-D environments, where you select an avatar that will represent you in the virtual meeting place.
ClickBank – A large company which essentially acts as a distributer of digital products, and also runs an affiliate program. They are very popular because it is easy for anyone to sign up with them and use them to distribute digital products such as eBooks. In addition to processing payment the biggest advantage of using ClickBank is having a "built in" affiliate program with thousands of potential affiliates.
Click-through Rate (CTR) –The success of online advertising is measured by the number of people arriving at a page who actually notice and then click on that particular ad. The higher the click-through rate, the more money the site owner can earn from advertising revenue. Typical click-through rates are often only two to three per 1,000 viewers.
Consultant – A person or firm providing specialized or expert advice and guidance for either an hourly rate or flat fee. While there are many variations, a Consultant typically trades on the value of objectivity. The lack of "vested interests" in any media or methodology assures clients of impartial and "best effort" advice and counsel.
Content – Any information shared on a website, whether as text, a video, audio, or images. Humans and search engines like fresh, original, valuable content.
Context or Contextual Marketing – Delivering your advertising or other content (the right message) to a particular viewer (the right person) based on his or her previous behavior (the right time). Often, the decisions are based on a person's web viewing or web purchasing history. As artificial intelligence becomes ever more sophisticated, it will be brought to bear on contextual marketing.
Continuation – Repeated use of the same list or media following a successful test.
Conversion Rate –The number of desired actions performed by users in a campaign, for example, the number of viewers of an ad that actually purchased the item for sale.
Copy –The words that go into ads, news stories, brochures, commercials, etc. Good copy communicates persuasively in terms that are readily understood by the targeted audience or recipients.
Cookie –A string of text that tracks certain movements of a computer user. The information can be stored indefinitely or only for one "session." Cookies are commonly used in online sales to track where the ad came from that generated the sale.
COPPA – Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1998. Check the latest developments to protect yourself and your online business!
Copyright — Under the copyright law, the creator of an original document, photograph, piece of music, etc. is its author, and the author is the owner of copyright unless a written agreement assigns the copyright to someone else. In cases of "works made for hire," where the work is done by a hired copywriter or artist, the employer or commissioning party is considered to be the author. A copyright notice, while not required, informs the world of ownership. It generally consists of the symbol or word copyright, the name of the owner, and the year of first publication, for example, "© 2010, The Marketing Machine®" or "Copyright, 2010, The Marketing Machine®."
Copywriter – One of the most important people on the creative team . . . revered by Creative Directors and often despised or feared by Designers or Graphic Artists (who see words as graphic elements). The copywriter writes the "copy" for advertisements, sales letters, news releases, brochures, etc.
With few exceptions, professional copywriters specialize in particular industries, products and/or media. (Not everybody has the breadth of vocabulary or industry knowledge to do all things well.) Direct marketing copywriters are expensive to hire, but worth their weight in gold as their work produces measurable and profitable levels of response to marketing campaigns. Most professional Direct Marketing copywriters charge by the project. Others charge by the page or even by the word count.
Copywriting — The process of writing words to promote a business, person, opinion or idea. Copywriting can include plain text messages and a variety of other online media. The main purpose of copywriting is to persuade the reader to act somehow, whether that is buying a product, signing up for an e-course or clicking on a link.
Copywriting can also refer to the SEO methods that are used to achieve higher rankings in search engines. This type of copywriting is often referred to as content writing. Copywriting for website placement involves the strategic repetition of keywords and keyword phrases within articles.
CPA or Cost per Action/ CPC or Cost per Click – Advertising that measures its effectiveness – and calculates its cost – based on the viewer taking a specific action, such as clicking, filling out a form or making a purchase. The more difficult the "action," the higher the commission payment (i.e. cost per click versus click through to purchase).
Cpanel – A popular web hosting control panel that is particularly user friendly, enabling users (yes, you become a "webmaster") to easily install scripts and perform many website management tasks.
CPA (Cost per Action) – An affiliate program most commonly used by businesses which are collecting leads (which makes "clicking" an "action" as opposed to a full sale). There are CPA networks which act as an Affiliate Program Providers specializing in CPA offers.
CPC (Cost per click) –A term used by advertisers who are utilizing pay-per-click advertising, as well as any form of paid advertising. For example, if you spend $100 to place a banner on a website and 25 visitors to that site "click through" to your site, your cost per click will be $4 each.
CPM – This one is tricky, so pay attention. Traditionally it means "cost per 1,000." It's used in the direct mail industry to represent the cost for each 1,000 names you rent. It's also used in the printing industry to represent the cost for a thousand printed pieces. For example, if you order 100,000 names and you pay $5,000, your cost per thousand is really five cents per name or $50 per thousand. (If you buy names for less than $10-$15/m, they aren't likely to bring you a high level of response!)
Where this gets "tricky" is when you get engineers or financial types involved. They like to use "k" to represent 1,000 (i.e. $10k = $10,000) and reserve the "m" for millions. The message here is "don't mix the numbers and wine!"
CRM – Customer Relationship Management. The practices and procedures associated with a company's interaction with customers. CRM software automates these procedures.
Crawler – A "crawler" (also called a spider) is a program that searches the Internet and locates new public resources. These resources can include web documents and other types of files. Crawlers "index" or report their finds to an Internet database.
Each search engine has its own crawler program. Spider technology is necessary because the amount of information being added to the Internet on a daily basis is more than any human team can index.
Cross Promotion – A campaign that promotes two different products or services to one recipient.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) – A form of HTML coding, that utilizes a specific formatting system. In general, CSS is superior to traditional HTML, and one of the main advantages is being able to change stylistic elements of a website by only changing one page (the CSS style sheet), rather than having to edit each individual page separately.
Data Card – In Direct Mail, the data card is the specification sheet that describes all aspects of a mailing list, including counts, terms and information relative to the source of the names and the market/s the list reaches.
Dedicated Hosting – A web server that is dedicated to hosting your web site. In other words, the server is not being shared with other customers. For extremely high traffic sites, or those with very resource-intensive applications, a dedicated server may be necessary.
Enterprise sized websites with massive traffic may be hosted on many dedicated servers with a load balancing system.
Dedicated Server – Entire server "dedicated" to only your sites. For the average internet marketer, a dedicated server is unnecessary.
del.icio.us – del.icio.us is an example of a social book marking site. It is for storing and sharing web bookmarks with other users. del.icio.us first came online in late 2003; it has since been sold several times and renamed to delicious.com.
You can use the delicious interface to keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music etc. You can also share your favorites with anyone who has an email address. It also has a search function that allows you to explore what others are book marking, and find other websites that are related to your interests.
Demographics – A descriptive term for the process of categorizing people by their life characteristics, such as age, sex, amount of education, family status, income level, etc. In the world of direct response marketing, demographics is just the first level of identifying the market. "Just because people have enough income to buy doesn't mean they will be interested." See also: Psychographics, Ergraphics, Technographics & Geographics.
Defining a target market by profiling customers is a basic maxim of Direct Marketing and Direct Response Advertising that you ignore at your own peril. For more on this most important of subjects, visit http://TheMarketingMachineGroup.com where you'll find several references to this topic.
Design Elements – The individual components of a graphic design.
Designer – A talented "Graphic Designer" who creates original art for commercial use.
Design Studio – Firm that provides some type of service in the design of products, brochures, etc. Design studios typically work for firms that maintain an in-house agency or do not have a large enough budget to warrant working with a large agency. Design Studios focus primarily on art and graphics and many will specialize in packaging, industrial design, logo development, etc. Some will oversee printing and, as such, act as print brokers with a markup that is consistent with their overhead and profit objectives (typically 20-45%).
Digg – A Social Media news site that lets users share articles, blog posts or websites and then encourages them to vote on what is most valuable, most interesting, etc. Its tagline is, "What the internet is talking about now."
Digital Delivery – A digital download on the internet of an eBook, eNewsletter, etc… The advantage of digital delivery is a product fulfillment cost of zero or near zero which can mean bigger profit margins and (in most cases) lack of sales taxes.
Direct Mail Advertising – Using the mail (or alternate physical delivery, parcel service, etc.) to send printed advertising messages to predetermined recipients. (After 9/11 and the anthrax scare, the industry suffered significantly when people became afraid to open envelopes. This led to a resurgence of the popularity of postcards.) Advances in technology now make targeted direct mail effective and popular with smaller businesses.
Direct Response Advertising – A specialized discipline of creating advertising with a "call to action" that evokes a response from recipients. The response can take the form of return cards, coupons, email, sending a text message to a specific number, or calling a telephone number.
Directory Site – A directory site is an organized list of websites, and can be a place to get your site listed to obtain a link.
Domain Name – This is the address or URL of a particular website. For example www.Google.com is the domain name for the Google search engine. The domain name is the text name that covers up the numeric IP address of a computer that is hooked up to the Internet.
Domain names can be registered at: www.GoDaddy.com, www.Namecheap.com or www.HostGator.com and others. Domain names are easier to remember and use instead of needing to remember a string of random numbers. Website domain names are registered to prevent duplications. Registering a domain name for an online venture can cost as little as $8. When you want to set up your online business, the first step is to get that domain name. The next step is to decide where to host your domain. (See hosting.)
Doorway or Landing Page – Page on a website designed to attract traffic (usually through search engines), and then "feed" that traffic into the main website.
Download – The act of transferring a file or files (including pdf documents, photos, and software) from one computer to another using the Internet. There are a few basic methods of downloading from the Internet. You can download directly from a website or an ftp site. You can also download from email attachments (although it is highly recommended that you do not download email attachments from unknown sources). Downloading is one of the most highly used functions of the Internet.
DownSell – This refers to an offer that is presented after rejection of the original offer or following an upsell (and often only if the upsell is refused). For example, after a customer buys (or rejects) a $49 product, she may be offered a $27 downsell.
Double Opt-In – This is a technique used in permission based marketing. It ensures that a potential customer actually wants to receive the offered materials and is a way to prevent unwanted spam. The basic process is as follows:
- A potential customer requests information from a website and is asked to confirm that they want the information to come to their email address.
- The potential customer then receives a confirmation email in their inbox. This email requires them to click on a verification link to receive further information.
- Once the potential customer verifies their request, they will receive the requested item and future messages from the mailing list, e-course or autoresponder series.
eBay – The first major site on the internet where physical products were bought and sold via an auction process. Products range from one-of-a-kind family heirlooms to lots of excess inventory.
eBusiness – An ebusiness is defined as any business that derives most of its income from selling products or services online.
Among the many advantages to running an eBusiness, as opposed to a traditional business, are the relatively low start-up costs . . . all you really need is a website and an internet connection. There can be added costs for advertising and accepting payments.
You can do business directly from your home, and with certain suppliers, you don't even have to have inventory. Another advantage to doing business online, as opposed to locally, is that you can sell to the entire world instead of just your local community.
eBusiness can also be used to refer to any business practices that are handled electronically (such as supply chain management, order tracking and processing, and payroll).
Finally, eBusiness can also refer to eCommerce, which has the same definition of selling products or services online, but usually refers to the biggest online stores such as Amazon and eBay. These companies have revolutionized the commercial world, competing fiercely with traditional brick and mortar stores, giving customers a way to rate purchases, and manipulating pricing on a daily, hourly or even minute-by-minute basis.
eBook – This is a digital document that can be downloaded and viewed on a computer or electronic "reader" (such as Kindle). Most ebooks are saved as pdf files in Adobe Acrobat and require Adobe Acrobat (a free program) or other pdf-enabled reader to be accessed. Ebooks are quickly becoming the newest way to receive information online. Many free eBooks are available on the web, and there are also ebooks available for purchase. When you purchase an ebook, you can download it directly to your computer.
eBook reader or eReader – Tablets about the size of a thin book that allow readers to download books electronically. Even book lovers admit to the convenience and efficiency of having an electronic library instantly available. The eReaders deliver specially formatted ebooks, often at prices very similar to the price of a hard-bound book. Popular eReaders are Kindle and Nook.
eMail (Electronic Mail) – eMail is "mail" (comprised of correspondence or other documents) that is electronically sent to or from your computer. Email is delivered instantly as long as your ISP is operating and the internet is live. It is free to use, and allows you to communicate worldwide.
To use eMail, you need a computer, an online connection, an eMail account and an eMail program such as MS Outlook or other service. The email account can be obtained through your ISP, or from one of several free eMail services online. The "original" eMail service was AOL; today, the most popular eMail services are Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and Outlook.
Many people use more than one eMail address to separate their business and personal eMails or just to uncomplicate (or complicateJ) their lives.
eMail Marketing Campaigns – This is a form of Direct Marketing (AKA: Direct Response Advertising) that uses electronic mail to communicate commercial and fundraising messages. These focus on gathering email addresses of web visitors. These addresses are added to a potential customer mailing list, and the list receives updates on the company or business, free eCourses, and special offers. Autoresponders are an essential part of email marketing campaigns.
Emoticons and Emoji – One of the biggest problems with communicating over the Internet is the inability to show emotion. Emoticons first filled that gap by providing ways to use text to describe feelings. (For example, a semicolon followed by a parenthesis mark indicated a sideways smile.) Recently Emoji — little pictures of smiley/frowing faces, common objects, sports, the weather, etc. have taken the place of emoticons.
Emoticons and emoji are normally used at the end of a sentence in order to convey the feeling associated with that sentence.
Encrypt – Encryption is a security procedure. It converts data so that it cannot be read by unauthorized people. A message can be encrypted when it is sent; it must be decrypted when received, using the correct decryption "key." So-called Strong Encryption – that cannot be broken by computers or read unless the exact key is available – is controversial; governments feel they should be able to control its use.
EPC – (Earnings Per Click) Assigning a dollar value to visitor activity on a website.
Ergraphics – A work-related descriptive term used by direct response practitioners for the process of categorizing people by their vocational classification, type of education (as opposed to amount), professional associations, etc. (From the Greek word erg.) See also Psychographics and Demographics.
eZine – Term used to describe an "electronic magazine" that is commonly used to describe a variety of online publications that are delivered on a website or through email.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) – A list of questions and answers about a product, service, web site, newsgroup or software etc. Hopefully, most readers can find answers to most of their questions on the FAQ list, thus reducing contacts for customer service or tech support services.
Fantastico – A program used to set up a website that is usually integrated with the Cpanel hosting platform. This enables users to easily install various applications (blogs, forums, etc.) on their website with only a few clicks.
FFA Pages –FFA stands for Free For All. In general they are pages where anyone can submit any website (there may be a requirement of "subscribing" and viewing some of the other websites submitted to the page). Originally, this was a good way to get traffic, but today the search engines may penalize sites using them.
Firesale – A promotional sale that implies big savings for quick action.
First Cookie – An affiliate tracking system in which credits the sale to the first affiliate to refer a visitor.
Flaming – The act of deliberately posting messages to a message board or eMail list that are hostile, rude or insulting. The messages are called "flames." A flame may look like a normal message, but it will have a degrading tone and intent. Some flamers are attempting to assert their authority or establish superiority on a subject in a condescending manner. Most often flames are insulting messages that are posted by someone who has strong feelings on the subject matter and disagrees with a previous entry or message.
Flash – a programming language used for websites that is used to support video and graphic elements in motion. Generally, it does not lend itself to recognition by search engines.
Folksonomy – An open ended labeling system (such as the use of "tags") that helps Internet users to categorize content online. Folksonomy is used to categorize web pages, online photographs and web links. It is changing the way that people search for information on the Internet.
The key difference between folksonomy and other labeling systems is that users develop the labels, choosing them freely and subjectively. As a result, the labels that are created are more "organic" to the group of users.
Forum – An Internet forum is a place on the World Wide Web for holding discussions. Normally, forum members will either discuss one specific topic or have a common thread among all of the members. For example, there are discussion groups for Work At Home mothers where they will discuss not only business related topics, but parenting, budgeting and time-management as well.
Forums allow individuals to really connect with one another across distance using the Internet. Unlike email, messages posted to the forum will be viewable by all forum members. In fact, information posted on forums is part of the public knowledge for years to come.
Forums are supported by many different software platforms, and are very user friendly. For a lot of Internet newcomers, forums are their first entry into using the Internet. Some of the other common terms for forums are web forums, discussion forums, bulletin boards, message boards, discussion boards and discussion groups.
Forward – Redirecting mail from your inbox to another email user. If you have messages from one person that you would like to share with another person, you can forward the messages to the latter. Normally, this is achieved by simply clicking the "forward" button on your email program and entering the second party's email address. This is also a helpful way of distributing important information to whole groups.
A couple of cautions: 1) Forwarding, then forwarding again, can carry a whole string of messages with info in them that was not meant to be shared. We have all experienced this embarrassment. Forward with care. 2) Certain forwarded messages are online versions of chain letters, annoying to most recipients and discouraged as part of good netiquette. 3) Forwarding an email with an attachment may not be successful; at some point the attachment drops off.
Freelancer – An independent contractor you hire on an hourly, "per task" or per job basis.
Free Reprint Articles (FRA) – Articles that are free to publish on web pages. Normally, these articles are distributed by article directories and are categorized by topic. FRAs are used to add content to web pages that will help attract search engine traffic.
Article directories list available articles in specific categories and normally have a searchable database. There are literally hundreds of article sites. Some of the most popular article directory sites are:
- www.eHow.com
- www.eZineArticles.com
- www.Squidoo.com
- www.HubPages.com
- www.examiner.com
- www.GoArticles.com
- www.ArticleAlley.com
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) – This is the standard method for downloading and uploading files on the Internet. There are many FTP public archive sites online that you can access with your eMail address. If you plan to create your own website, you will find that a working knowledge of FTP is mandatory.
Fulfillment – The process of sending out literature or items requested through response to ads, promises of salespeople, etc. Some mailing houses offer specialized shipping and fulfillment services to manufacturers or mail order houses. Some large retailers like Amazon now offer fulfillment services to their affiliates.
Geographics – Geographic characteristics used by direct marketers; they categorize people or companies by where they are located. Zip codes are the most common means of delineating. See also Demographics, Ergraphics and Psychographics.
Defining a target market by profiling customers is a basic maxim of Direct Marketing and Direct Response Advertising that you ignore at your own peril.
Ghost Site – The name for a web site that is no longer maintained by a Webmaster, but remains online. Some ghost sites continue to be useful because the content may not be outdated. A ghost site will typically have a statement acknowledging that the site will no longer be updated.
Ghostwriter – A person who writes content – for a fee — but allows someone else to take credit for it.
GIF or .gif – A compressed graphics file (Graphics Interface Format) that is used to display images online. Images in GIF format, rather than JPG format, will typically load faster. (P.S., you may pronounce it "Giff" but apparently others – like the original designers of the software — pronounce it "Jiff!")
Giveaway Rights – The recipient or buyer is authorized (and even encouraged) to give the product (usually an eBook or other digitally delivered product) in order to gain circulation for the creator. Typically, the receiver is prohibited from changing any of the text which usually includes affiliate links for the creator. Think of this as a pro-active form of "viral" marketing.
Graphic – A photograph or still image that is generated on a computer. Graphics give websites, forums and emails dimension and interest.
Graphic Artist – Someone who draws or constructs artwork, probably using the computer.
Group – An important part of the Social Media phenomenon, "Groups" are formed online when people sign up to follow a particular topic of interest (on a site or blog) or a particular person (via Facebook, Twitter, etc.). A group typically has a leader or moderator, but it's the group members that create the majority of the content for the site.
Guest Writer – A person who writes content for another person or site, under his own name. Usually the guest writer is "paid" by getting a link back to his own site.
Guru – An expert teacher with influence and a following in a particular area. The term came into popular use in the '60s when The Beatles adopted the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation. (This has absolutely no known relationship to the use of the term "guru" in internet marketing!
In fact, in the internet marketing world, the term "guru" is often looked upon negatively, due to the perception by many that so-called "gurus" prey upon newcomers to the field and sell them all manner of questionable products.
Handle – A synonym for "login name" or "user name." (Actually, a holdover from the CB world – Citizens' Band radio — the famous "Good Buddy" radio system used by truckers in the United States.)
Hardware – All of the electronic components that take up space on your desk as part of a computer system. These include monitors, the hard drive, CD-ROM drives, speakers, keyboards, stylus pens, mice, external hard and floppy and now thumb or flash drives.
Headline – The most important copy element in an ad or sales letter.
Hits – A way of measuring the number of visitors to a website that is not a true measure since every page visited counts as a "hit."
Home-Based Business – Any business where the working office is located in the home. Although most home-based business owners work at home mostly, there are a number of service-based businesses where the owners spend most of their time in the field, such as landscapers, truck drivers and real estate professionals.
Operating a home-based business offers a number of advantages. Home-based business owners enjoy a level of personal freedom that is not possible in the corporate world. Home-based business owners typically work on a flexible schedule and save on time and money by not commuting to work. There can also be tax advantages to operating a home-based business.
As the economy continues to be difficult to predict, and as employment continues to be sporadic, more people are looking at home-based businesses out of necessity.
Hosting – The business of providing the equipment and services required to display websites. If you run a website or do business on the Web, you need to find a reliable host for your domain. Hosting packages are available for very reasonable rates. Do research based on uptime, customer service and quality of technical service before choosing a hosting company based only on price.
Hotline names – Most recent additions to a rental list; typically, the newer, the better.
Hot Link – Link taking a visitor directly to an image on a different website.
HTML — Hypertext Markup Language is the set of symbols or codes inserted in an electronic file that determine how it will be displayed on a World Wide Web browser page.
Information in HTML is "sandwiched" between two symbols, the opening tag (<>) and the closing tag (</>). Some common html tags include:
<center> to center the text or image </center>
<br>add a break in a line of text</br>
Hosting – Where a website resides on the web. Hosting includes the software support for the site operation. Quality and range of services vary widely and research into services provided by different companies is recommended.
ICQ – A free Internet Marketing program you can download to your computer. ICQ allows you to contact other ICQ members through instant messaging. It also offers electronic greeting cards, games and worldwide chat rooms.
IM – Instant Messaging or "texting" is the act of instantly communicating over the Internet, using one of many Instant Messaging platforms. IM is one of the most popular methods to have private one-on-one conversation online; some also allow for group conversations. A favorite mode of communication for teenagers especially, IM technology differs from email in that the conversation can take place in real time.
Instant messaging makes it easy to confirm details on contracts and other business matters. It is also a popular social tool, and the driving force behind the development of IM features has been mainly social and not business oriented. There are many popular IM programs that can be used. Most, if not all of them, are available for free.
IM programs are downloaded to your computer or mobile phone; the best ones are attractive to look at, efficient without being cluttered.
IM – Also refers to Internet Marketing and to Internet Marketers (IMers). Internet marketing is an umbrella term that refers to the marketing and advertising, the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet.
Impression – Here's another example of a term with multiple meanings, depending on who is using it. To the printer, it is the number of time the ink is pressed onto the page.
To the Internet Marketer, it is used in banner advertising . . . where an impression is when a visitor to a website loads the ad onto a separate page. If an ad is loaded 335 times, that's 325 impressions.
Inbound Link – A link directing visitors from another website into your website. Inbound links are a key factor in getting recognition by search engines..
Incentive – A reason for someone to take action like visiting your website or making a purchase. Often, an incentive is a free product or discounted price, etc.
Info-Product – An informational product. Examples include: eBooks, Reports, Video and Audio recordings, etc.
Internet – The Internet is also referred to as just the Net, and is a worldwide system of computer networks, connected through copper wires, fiber optic cables or wireless connections. The Internet consists of millions of smaller networks that have been established by businesses, academic institutions and government networks.
It is a common misconception that the Internet and World Wide Web are interchangeable terms. Actually the Internet refers to the physical or wireless connection between computers. The World Wide Web refers to the connected documents that exist on the Internet.
You connect on the Internet using an Internet Service Provider (or ISP). ISPs provide the portal to the rest of the World Wide Web and are normally monthly fee-based services. Common methods of accessing the Internet from home are dial-up, broadband (connection over fiber optic or copper wires), satellite and Wi-Fi. These connection methods have various speeds and download times. Some are not available in all areas, so make sure to check with companies in your area before making a switch of connection type.
Internet Marketing – This is also known as eMarketing, online marketing and web marketing. This method of marketing combines traditional Direct Marketing principles with the unique interactive elements of the World Wide Web. The purpose of Internet marketing is to promote products and services principally online.
IRT – (In Real Time) For example, Texting or Instant Messaging allows individuals to converse IRT.
ISP (Internet Service Provider) – A company that provides users with access to the Internet. Before you can connect to the Internet, you must first establish an account with an ISP. For a monthly fee the Internet Service provider gives you the software package, a user name, a password and an access phone number. Often free email addresses are included.
Once the ISP software is installed on your computer, and you register your service, you will be able to connect to the Internet and access (or "surf") the World Wide Web. The speed of the Internet connection will depend on the bandwidth of the hardware of your ISP.
ISPs have a wide range of prices and packages to choose from. The two most popular direct connection protocols for the general public are DSL and cable.
When selecting an ISP, be sure to choose a provider that has a local access number so you can avoid paying long-distance charges when you connect. Other bonuses to look for are accounts that offer unlimited access, as well as free space for hosting your own Web site.
Javascript – a programming language used to perform certain functions on websites. It often adds interactive or animated functions to HTML . . . such as a countdown clock.
JPG – (.jpg) Pronounced "jay peg", this is one of a number of common image formats used on the Internet. The format is either abbreviated as JPG or jpeg from "Joint Photographic Experts Group." JPG technology was designed for compressing full-color or gray-scale images of natural, real-world scenes. It works well on photographs, naturalistic artwork and similar material. When a standard image is compressed into JPG format, some of the decompressed image isn't quite as sharp as it was before.
Junk Mail – Anything the recipient doesn't like or didn't request. Usually, readers define junk mail as mail they get too much of, or that they consider irrelevant. Obviously, the definition changes from individual to individual and even day to day, depending on the person's mood!
JV (Joint Venture) – Although the term "joint venture" is not exclusive to the Internet, the concept is an important part of many Internet marketing programs. Basically, a joint venture is a business arrangement between two or more Internet Marketers that works to the mutual advantage of each. In the Internet world, this process can take one of many forms.
– A can offer B's product on A's mailing list. This is done when B has a viable product, but only a small (or non-existent) list of customers or prospects. A will normally receive a percentage of the profit from sales made on the mailing list of 50% or more, while B then acquires the buyer from A's list as his or her own..
– A and B can collaborate to create a new product or service. Both parties will promote the product to their respective emailing lists. This typically happens with information products, and can include a number of collaborators.
– A can conduct an interview with B for a video, an article, short report or MP3 audio program. B will receive promotion for their product, and A gets exclusive access to the information that they can use to sell B's product for an affiliate commission.
Joint Ventures are a common, "driving force" in the Internet Marketing world, and successful marketers will find ways to make JV deals an integral part of their marketing strategies.
JV Broker – A company or person who specializes in connecting JV partners with each other. Most often, a person with a product to promote will hire a JV Broker (either by flat fee, a percentage of sales, or a 2nd commission tier) to recruit affiliates to promote the product to their list.
Keyword – A word or phrase that you type into a search engine to begin an online search. Keywords are also used in HTML to help search engines identify and index a Web site.
Keyword Density – Also referred to as "keyword weight," the number of times a keyword appears on a page, compared to the total amount of words on a page. For example, if a page has an article with 200 words, and 5 of those words are the keyword, the density is 2.5%. For search engine recognition purposes, you want to repeat your targeted keywords, but you don't want to have too high of a density or the God of Google might determine you are spamming by "stuffing" keywords. Generally, 3% density is considered good. Over that number and you risk being penalized by the search engine.
Keyword Research – The search for keywords that are related to your Web site subject or online business, in order to analyze which ones yield the highest return on investment for PPC and other types of advertising. WordTracker and Google Keyword Tool are two of the most popular keyword research aides.
Landing Page – A page designed to attract visitors to "land" on who are coming through particular traffic sources like PPC. The landing page is often a squeeze page designed to collect the email and/or other information from the visitor. Sometimes it could be a sales page, or it may be designed to direct the visitor elsewhere. If a keyword is used in the advertisement, the landing page should be relevant to that particular keyword.
Last Cookie – The tracking system for affiliate programs that give credit for the salemost recent visitor.
Lead – An inquiry by a potential customer or client. The name and email address and other contact data may be involved.
Lead Capture Page – The page where a visitor enters his or her name requesting more information or to obtain a product being offered as incentive. See "Squeeze Page."
Left Click – In case you somehow missed this (maybe you were in a coma for the past 10 years?), clicking on the button on the left side of the mouse will be your primary tool for selecting items and tasks. Sometimes you have to click twice to select something or to open a file.
LetterShop – A business that specializes in producing, assembling and mailing advertising literature, business mail and other material in quantity.
Link – This is actually a hyperlink connection to another website, document, resource or web landing page. Links are "clickable," which means that by placing your cursor over the link and "clicking," the computer will take you directly to the destination site and information that you are looking for.
Links can also be used as a form of "internet" currency. Google ranks websites based on the number of appropriate, related links that they have to and from their website. Many online businesses seek to add links to their websites, thereby increasing their ranking on Google and other search engines.
Link Bait – (Not related to "jail bait" J)Typically, this refers to a blog post written for the express purpose (and in such a way) to obtain inbound links from visitors to the host site. This can be achieved through the way the blog post is written, or the nature of the offer. Good "link bait" can include reference to a dramatic subject or method or a controversial topic..
Link Cloaking – Using a "redirect" to hide the target URL of a link. This is most often used by affiliate marketers, to disguise their affiliate links and prevent them from being "hijacked.".
Link Exchange – Trading links with other websites. You put their link on your site, and they put your link on theirs.
Link List Broker – A person or firm who acts as an intermediary between a company using mailing lists and a list owner or manager. With over 40,000 mailing lists available for rental (very few lists are "sold" to sophisticated users), a good list broker is an invaluable source of knowledge on the best lists to rent for specific products or services.
Since not all list brokers are knowledgeable in all fields, care must be taken to utilize brokers with direct experience that relates to a particular industry, product, service or market segment. (List brokers typically receive their commission of up to 20% from the list owner or manager providing the list.)
List – The Customer List is the single most important asset of most businesses. It includes the people who have purchased from you and with whom you have an established relationship. The Prospect or Inquiry List is the next most valuable group of people. This is comprised of inquiries by people who are interested in what you have to offer but have yet to make an actual purchase. Names from other people's lists are only valuable to you when they respond to something you offer. This applies to direct mail as well as eMail marketing.
The list is the single most important factor in the success of a Direct Mail campaign as well as an eMail campaign and the list's Psychographics are more important than Demographics.
List Broker – A List Broker is a firm or individual who specializes in renting or selling the names from other people's lists for you to use in prospect mailings. A professional list broker can guide you in determining which of the tens of thousands of available list are most likely to work for you. Renting email lists is more problematic than names for direct mailings.
List Building – The two-step act of creating a permission-based contact list for eMail Marketing purposes. This is one of the most important and effective activities of direct marketing. List building on the internet is often done through the use of giveaways and squeeze pages.
List Manager – Company or individual that manages a list of customers, inquirers or other related names & addresses. In some cases companies will have their own List Manager on staff. List Managers only rent their own proprietary lists. If their lists are rented through List Brokers, they split the commissions.
List Rental – In most cases Premium, Performance or Response Lists refer to lists of people who have taken action to get on the list. These lists are usually the best performing (highest response) lists. Such lists of customers, donors, inquirers or subscribers are available on a single-usage rental basis. Re-Use Rights must be negotiated separately for repeat mailings. (You don't want to buy the list anyway because then you inherit the costly task of maintaining and updating the list.) (See also Database, Directories & Compiled Lists.)
Load Time – The amount of time it takes for a web page to fully appear in someone's browser. The more complex and image –filled a site is, the onger it will take to load.
Log In – (Sometimes spelled "login") This term is the same as (and interchangeable with) the term "log on." When you "log in" to the Internet you are connecting to the World Wide Web. The term also refers to the act of entering your user name and password into a website, email program, instant messenger system, message board or chat room. When you are "logged in" to the Internet, website or program, you then have access to the features you have paid for.
Login Name – Also referred to as a "user name" or "user ID," this is the name you use to access certain programs, websites, software or networks. A login name is the "nickname" for you as a user on the Internet. Frequently, the user picks his or her own login name.
Mailbot – An automated email program (or email "robot' AKA: autoresponder ) that automatically responds to requests for information. .
Mailing List – Addresses, names, email addresses or other destination listings for advertising message distribution. Mailing lists come from a variety of sources, some of which are highly specialized. While some lists are readily available to any user (i.e. telephone directory listings), others are extremely valuable and made available only to qualified users on a rental or name-for-name exchange basis (Ex: customer, donor or subscriber lists, etc.).
When you rent (or get usage rights on an exchange basis of) a list, it is typically for one-time-usage. Your mailing piece must be submitted to the list owner for approval and people who respond to your mailing then become your customers or subscribers.
Generally speaking, the more "targeted" the list, the greater the value to a user and hence a higher rental charge is likely to apply. A rule of thumb: Get the best list you can find, with the most current names and addresses. Even though you will pay more for it, you will more than make up the difference in savings (fewer pieces of mail) and greater results.
Mailing Service – Sometimes referred to as "mailing houses" or "letter shops," these are the firms that prepare and process physical mailings. Some mailing houses have printing equipment and can perform certain kinds of print production and bindery operations (folding, perforating, etc.) as well.
Marketing Database – A complex arrangement of an "enhanced" mailing list that allows manipulation and analysis by specific characteristics. In other words, a file that can be manipulated to yield prospects or customers that have certain characteristics, exhibit specific behavior patterns (i.e. demographic, ergraphic, geographic or psychographic data, etc.). Combining a great database with modern print-on-demand equipment allows for mailings to be personalized within the body of the copy, resulting in higher response rates.
Marketing Mix – The various marketing & sales tactics outlined as part of the overall strategy in the Marketing Plan. Examples would be Print Advertising, Direct Mail, Social Media, etc.
Master Resale Rights (MRR) – The right to sell a product that includes subsequent Resale Rights. In general, if you have MRR, you also own Resale Rights, which means you can also sell the product to other users. PLR (Product Resale Rights) may or may not include the right to sell Master Resale Rights. Specific rights to modifying and reselling a product will vary by company and product, so be sure you read the license that comes with the product.
Media – A catch-all term for newspapers, radio, TV stations, direct mail lists, billboards, transit posters and (to be all inclusive) probably even smoke signals!
Membership Site – Members join a membership site and pay a recurring monthly or annual fee in order to have access to the information, products or advice available there.
Meme – An image with a title or saying, usually meant to entertain or inspire. Memes are easy to share and often get forwarded thousands of times.
Message Boards – An alternate term for forums. Please see "forum" entry.
Merchant Account – The company handling the credit card transaction.
Merge, Purge & Merge-Purge – Merging combines two or more Mailing Lists into a single, mail-ready file. In a merge-purge, two or more lists are combined, but duplicate files are purged, or eliminated. Aside from the obvious need to eliminate duplicate mailings, being able to code multiple entries – duplicate names coming from two or more lists – can indicate exceptionally strong prospects because of their response to multiple offers. You might also want to purge existing customers from a list of prospects, long-time customers from a list of new customers, etc. in order to be able to target your solicitation more tightly.
Meta Tags – Meta tags are HTML code that is part of what makes up a web page, and provide information about the content that is found on the page. Meta tags are placed in between the <head> and </head> sections of an HTML document.
The meta tags are not visible to the person looking at the website through an Internet browser, but are visible to the web browser and are used by search engines (like Google or Yahoo). They have been considered a key component of search engine optimization.
Minisite – A small, dedicated website, usually consisting of only a few pages. A typical example would be a site that contains a squeeze page, a sales page, and a thank-you page. Minisites are popular with info-product marketers, because of their simplicity, but not so popular with search engines.
Mobile – Hand-held, portable communication devices. This refers to the use of mobile phones, tablets or smart phones for marketing. An area that is growing dramatically, effective mobile marketing requires decisions regarding how to design a "mobile friendly" website, determining what functions your mobile site needs to have, etc. Much mobile activity focuses on local businesses, so not all businesses can take full advantage of mobile marketing, but those that need it, need it!
MLM – Multi level marketing is a marketing model in which marketers (often called distributors, reps, consultants, agents, etc.) sell a parent company's product(s) and also may engage in selling the "opportunity" to others that become their "downline" and on whom they make a percentage override on their sales. As the name suggests, it's a multi-tiered program, in which commissions may be paid on many levels. The MLM model has received a lot of criticism, and should be approached with caution. Many companies that do not focus on product sales run the risk of being branded as "Ponzi Schemes" and are often put out of business.
Mod – This is an abbreviation for "moderator" . . . a volunteer who screens messages for a forum, group or mailing list. The moderator's main job is to keep the conversations on the group flowing freely, and making sure they stay within the site or group guidelines. They watch for blatant advertising, inappropriate language, "flaming" and messages that are not "on topic." Depending on the rules of the site or list, moderators may even be able to change the overall look and style of the page.
Mouse – This is, of course, the inanimate mouse-like device that connects to your computer and is used to move the cursor on your screen. A standard mouse is equipped with two or more control buttons; clicking them allows you to do all sorts of things, like highlight text, open menu items, launch programs and inadvertently screw up documents. J
MSN – MSN is the acronym that stands for MicroSoft Network. MSN offers a wide variety of programs and features to Internet users: the MSN homepage with news and information, MSN Instant Messaging, and MSN's email service "Hotmail."
MySQL – A database program used on web servers (including those with the Cpanel hosting control panel). Many scripts (including internet marketing related programs) utilize MySQL databases.
Navigate – The act of roving around on the internet (or World-Wide Web) by clicking on the links that take you from one site or page to another. As you navigate, you may actually jump from one server to another without realizing it.
NCOA – The National Change of Address file provided by the U.S. Postal Service against which most commercial mailing lists are "run" to eliminate non-deliverable names & addresses. Accuracy of the NCOA depends almost entirely on consumers and businesses notifying the Post Office of changes. Unfortunately for internet marketers, there is nothing that compares in accuracy.
Netiquette – This is a sort of "code of conduct" and the unofficial rules that govern how you should conduct yourself in your online communications. The word is derived from a combination of "net" and "etiquette." Understanding the basics of netiquette will go a long way toward getting along with other Internet users and getting help when you need it.
Although there are slightly different rules depending on the newsgroup, forum or mailing list, there are some basic guidelines that are followed everywhere.
Some of the accepted dos and don'ts of Netiquette include the following:
- Think before you post to a group. If what you are going to post will not make a positive contribution to the newsgroup, forum or email list…don't post it! Use private email for more personal conversations, off the list.
- Re-read and edit your posts and email carefully before sending them. Make sure to check your spelling, grammar and capitalization.
- Don't send spam or other non-necessary messages.
- Use proper capitalization. Using all caps is considered YELLING online, and all lower case is too casual for business communications.
Netizen – Another made up word that is actually a combination of the words "citizen" and "Internet." Some people spend so much time on the web that they run the risk of digitizing their humanity, trading their citizenship for netizenship . J
Networking – Making meaningful "connections" with people in your industry or niche. Some may become buyers while others can refer business to you if you nurture the relationship properly. Professional Networking is a skill that can pay off handsomely if practiced with skill and sincerity. For the amateur or pushy sales type, it is counterproductive. Networking can also be engaged on the internet, especially through groups on social media and works best for the person who is prepared to spend a lot of time on the Internet. For more information on Professional Networking, visit http://MarketingMachineHQ.Info/Networking.
Newbie – A silly, slang word for any person who is new to the online world, or a specific forum or chat room. Some people use newbie as a derogatory term, although it does not necessarily have that meaning. At some point, everyone online was a newbie.
Newsletter – A dedicated publication, which may be printed and distributed by mail, published online or emailed, and is usually published regularly, quarterly, weekly or monthly).
Niche & Niche Marketing – A niche is a focused and target-able portion of the market. A business that focuses on a niche market is attending to the need for a customized product or service that is not being addressed by the mainstream market. The niche market narrowly defines a group of potential customers.
One of the advantages of dealing in niche markets is the ability to be one of the only suppliers meeting that need. The key is to find an untapped niche market whose customers are accessible.
Nth Name – Describes the process of selecting every 5th,9th or 27th name, etc. on a mailing list in order to gauge the veracity of response in a mailing list test. Selecting names in this fashion distributes the geographic sample relatively equally across a list since most lists are provided in Zip Code order.
Offer – A sale requires that something be offered that the purchaser wants. An offer may require payment, or it may be free. In order to get the offer, the customer follows the call to action.
Offline – Off-line refers to non-internet communications (face-to-face, phone etc.) and businesses with physical locations. Generally it even applies to service providers bringing online skills and selling tools to the bricks & mortar establishments.
On-Demand Printing – A relatively recent printing technology that is changing both the direct marketing world and the printing industry. A digital, laser-based imaging system that allows us to "print" in full color in very short runs as there is virtually no printing master setup. Since the imprinting is data-driven, each piece produced can be personalized (name, address, and other variations) according to the data source.
One Time Offer (OTO) – Like the "Firesale" a one-time offer is precisely what it says. A marketer creates a special sale which forces the visitor to make a decision upon their first viewing of the offer. If the visitor chooses to not accept the offer, the offer will generally not be made to them again. OTO's are often used as an upsell offering after an initial sale is made.
Online – Being connected to the internet is called "online. Online can be used to describe a variety of activities that users can do on the Internet . . . such as online shopping, online search, online store etc.
Opt-in & Permission-Based Marketing – This is assures that the persons being contacted are consciously giving their permission to be put on a mailing list and interested in the products being sold. This evolved in reaction to the distrust and annoyance of spam marketing. The terms "opt-in" and "permission based" are basically interchangeable.
In permission-based marketing practices, a prospective customer will knowingly give his or her consent to receive marketing information (normally through eMail), and then future, follow-on communications canbe tailored to that customer's expressed interest.
Outsource – Contracting with businesses or individuals to perform tasks and specific services for you.
Overlay – The process of appending demographic data onto a mailing list, typically a composite mail file. When done properly, this combines any psychographic or ergraphic information with a demographic profile of both the names receiving the mail and those responding to it.
Page Impressions – A record of actual pages viewed. Page impressions refer to the number of times that a particular web page is requested (clicked on) from a server. This is one of the more preferred methods of measuring specific interests and counting traffic.
Password – A random or specific combination of letters, symbols and numbers that must be entered to "log in" to a computer system, program, website or internet feature (such as eMail). It is important to make your password difficult to guess and to keep your password secret. As annoying as it can be to remember, it's important to use different passwords for different programs. This keeps unauthorized users from breaking into your personal information and files. Changing passwords regularly is also recommended.
When you are creating a password, try to make it "cryptic" or unintelligible to read. This means that it is nonsensical or has an ambiguous meaning that cannot easily be linked to any of your personal information. Using your middle name, street address, children's names, etc., is not advised. It is also better to use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters and include numbers and/or symbols in your password. (One of the most common – and dangerous — passwords is . . . you guessed it, "password!")
Payment Threshold – Some minimum (dollar amount) level of payment to qualify for the release of funds or payment on an account.
PayPal – When business is transacted over the internet, money needs to be able to change hands quickly and securely. A number of merchant services companies such as PayPal have sprung up to serve this role. People can open a PayPal account and then buy online without having to reveal credit card account or other personal information.
Payment Processor – A company that handles payment transactions. As an online marketer, you can use a 3rd party payment processor such as PayPal, or you can get a merchant account.
PDF (Portable Download Format) — This is a "static" file format, originally created by Adobe Systems, that captures all the elements of a printed document as a single image so it can be viewed, downloaded, shared, etc. without its being altered. PDFs are now offered by a variety of software providers.
The PDF has revolutionized the printing industry, becoming the standard way for publishers to offer a hard copy version and a PDF version. eBooks are commonly delivered in PDF format, which makes them instantly downloadable.
Phishing – The all-too-common, sneaky process of sending out what looks like a legitimate email, often from a well-known company with which you are likely to have done business (PayPal, E-Bay, your bank) asking you to update personal information such as account or credit card numbers, etc.. If you click on the links in the email, you are taken to a website that again looks perfectly legitimate. While most users realize that banks and businesses never send out emails soliciting personal information, the identify fraud people behind the phishing expedition often catch a few poor souls in their net! Tip: look for mistakes in grammar and misspelled words. Most businesses welcome notification from you when you receive a fraudulent eMail.
Photographer – A person or firm that provides professional photographic services for commercial purposes. Charges for these services will vary considerably, depending on the subject/s being photographed (people or things), location, etc. Most commercial photographers like to retain the negatives and charge for "usage" on a royalty basis. This is negotiable, but contractual issues must be addressed up front to prevent misunderstandings.
PHP – Acronym for a programming language often used in building and operating websites. PHP is also a favorite language for hackers!
Physical Product – A product or version of a product that cannot be delivered digitally.
Pinterest – A website where people "pin" images of events, fashion, hobbies, everything!, building their own collections and sharing parts or all of them with others.
PLR (Private Label Rights) – Whereas most material on the internet belongs to its author, and copyrights are jealously guarded, some documents are sold with Private Label Rights, meaning that the buyer gets the right to modify the content (or not) and then sell it as though it were his. Caution. The definition of Private Label Rights versus Resale Rights versus Master Resale Rights does not seem to be widely understood or accepted. If you download material from the Internet (free or paid), be sure you understand what the author allows you to do with it.
PLR material can be a good source of content . . . if it is well researched and coherently written. Unfortunately the great majority seems to be simplistic and poorly executed. While all PLR should be customized to some extent by the user (this means you, as the buyer), if you have to re-write more than 20% to make it even usable, you would be better off creating the material from scratch.
Plugin – A plugin (or plug-in) is a software program that can extends or enhances the features of a website (ala WordPress.org)) or capabilities of your Internet browser. Some plugins are offered cost free and others can be purchased. Once you download a plugin, the small program will be on your computer and can be used by other websites.
PM – This commonly used acronym for afternoon and evening times is also used to stand for "private message" as opposed to publicly visible messages. PMs can be received in online chat, IM programs, eMails, blogs and forums.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) — PNG is yet another format for saving images for use on the internet. Like GIF files, Portable Network Graphics PNG files can be compressed without losing any sharpness. One advantage of PNG files is that the transparency of a color may be adjusted, making it easy to put the image over another background.
Podcast – This made-up word can be used in several different ways, but it usually stands for a "broadcast" of audio or video files by way of the internet. The (often recorded) files are referred to as "podcasts" or "shows" that are similar to talk radio programs or public access television shows. People who create podcasts are called "podcasters."
Podcasters usually structure their show on a specific topic, and generally post new shows regularly, on a daily or weekly schedule. The term is a combination of "iPod" and "broadcasting," although it is not necessary to own an iPod in order to listen to podcasts. There are many podcast networks featuring a wide variety of topics.
Pop In – A "window" that pops into a page while the visitor is looking at it. Pop-ins often employ scripting which makes them virtually impossible to block by pop-up blockers, since they are technically a part of the page being viewed. Pop-ins are often used to collect information via an opt-in form, or to display ads, coupons, or special offers. Like its two cousins that follow, pop-ins are not viewed kindly by most viewers as they are seen as a rude interruption.
Pop Up – Annoying and obtrusive, this window pops up while browsing the internet. Since these windows are considered a rude interruption by most an entire cottage industry of pop-up blocking software has popped up (sorry, but this was just too good to pass up). Pop-ups are generally used to display ads of one kind or another. Website owners may create their own pop-ups, or they may use a pop-up network to generate additional revenue for their site.
Pop Under – Almost the same thing as a pop-up, but even sneakier. Instead of popping into view, it opens a window under the current window. So, instead of interrupting the viewer's experience, the ad will become visible after the viewer closes the page being viewed.
Post – This is a noun used to describe a message entered onto a message board, shared email list or newsgroup. The message is called a "post" and the act of sharing the message is called "posting."
PPC Advertising – Pay Per Click Advertising, or PPC, is an online advertising payment model in which the payment is based on the number of "clicks" that are generated. PPC can also be called "cost per click."
As an advertiser, here's how it works. You bid for certain keywords that are related to the content of your site (the information or products that you offer). When users search with these keywords in a search engine, they are shown your ad listing, as well as the ads of others that are bidding on the same keywords. If the user clicks on your listing, you pay the amount that you have bid. The highest bidding advertisers will appear first in the search results, and the subsequent listings are ranked by the amount of their bid.
Bids for keywords can be anything from a few cents to a few dollars per click. Part of managing a PPC advertising campaign well is determining how much needs to be spent per click in order to get a good balance between visibility (your listing showing on the first page of the search results) and the advertising budget.
PPC is advocated as an ideal short-term solution for driving traffic to a website, since the results can be seen within hours of launching the campaign.
PPL – Pay per lead is a commission structure frequently used in CPA marketing.
PPP – Pay per post is a system in which bloggers get paid to write blog posts about a certain company or product.
Presell – An advertising strategy that often takes the form of a teaser for an upcoming offering. This "stay-tuned-for" message is often delivered in the form of a trailer (video) or a mailing (think Publisher's Clearing House) or eMail message.
PR – Here's another case of dual identity. PR stands for "Public Relations" in the advertising world. (See the definition further down the page.) It also stands for "Page Rank" in the complex world of "Google Speak" which "ranks" the relative importance of a web page. There are many factors which go into this ranking, many of which are a part of Google's secret algorithm (which many believe is kept in the same vault as Coca Cola's formula!). Some marketers (especially those who worship at the altar of SEO) pay close attention to PR, since a higher PR generally means the site will rank higher in Google's search results. The flip side of PR is that it is not a true measure of profitability and many marketers just ignore PR altogether.
Private Label Rights (PLR) – Whereas most material on the internet belongs to its author, and copyrights are jealously guarded, some documents are sold with Private Label Rights, meaning that the buyer gets the right to modify the content (or not) and then sell it as though it were his. Caution. The definition of Private Label Rights versus Resale Rights versus Master Resale Rights does not seem to be widely understood or accepted. If you download material from the Internet (free or paid), be sure you understand what the author allows you to do with it.
PLR material can be a good source of content . . . if it is well researched and coherently written. Unfortunately the great majority seems to be simplistic and poorly executed. While all PLR should be customized to some extent by the user (this means you, as the buyer), if you have to re-write more than 20% to make it even usable, you would be better off creating the material from scratch.
Product Launch – A concentrated effort to launch a product at a certain time. Often a pre-launch buzz building phase is implemented, which leads into the actual launch.
Programmatic Ad Sales – Increasingly, ad inventory can be sold via a computerized "exchange," without any personal communication. The exchanges are highly sophisticated and increasingly automated, allowing prices for volume purchases to come down. The exchanges also make it possible for an ad futures market to develop.
Psychographics – A descriptive term used by direct marketers for categorizing people by their lifestyle choices, such as products purchased, magazines subscribed to, donations made to certain causes, etc. In combination with demographics, and ergraphics, psychographics are powerful tools for identifying your audience and targeting your advertising messages.
Defining a target market by profiling customers is a basic maxim of Direct Marketing and Direct Response Advertising that you ignore at your own peril.
Public Domain – Previously published material which is no longer covered by copyright and may be used by anyone for any use. Because the copyright laws vary from one continent to another and change periodically, we recommend you visit http://www.publicdomainblog.com.
Public Relations – A branch of marketing that covers a broad area . . . in fact, virtually every point of contact (or "touchpoint " ) where a business comes in interacts with the public at large or its constituents. This includes your receptionist and the courtroom, if you are unfortunate enough to end up there. It includes what you say to your publics and what others say about you in social media. A common misunderstanding is that PR is the same as "publicity." Publicity and news stories, press releases, etc. are only one small part of Public Relations
Publisher – A producer of books or other written or visual material, including a website owner who publishes content on a website. When it comes to advertising and affiliate networks, there are often two groups of people: advertisers and publishers. The advertisers are the ones paying to have their products promoted. The publishers are the ones promoting them and getting paid for it.
Pyramid – A Pyramid Test refers to a second, expanded mailing to verify results obtained in a Preliminary Test. An example would be a 25,000 (25k) mailing following a Preliminary Test Segment of 2k – 5k.
QR Code –A two-dimensional ID code that can be scanned and read by a special app on a smart phone. When read, the code links the viewer to a pre-determined webpage that typically offers a survey, discount or other special deal.
Quarantine – When anti-virus software finds a virus on your computer, it will quarantine (or isolate) the virus files. Quarantining will prevent the virus from spreading but you will still need to delete the file.
Query – A question or structured request to find a particular file, data entry, Web Site or record. Queries are typed into search engines or search boxes of databases.
Rebate –The "rebate debate" swirls around ad agencies that get a volume discount for placing ads with a media agency, but then don't pass that discount along to the client, or re-use it some way or label it so that it is hidden, ending up in the agency's pocket.
Reciprocal Link – "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" concept . . . a mutual link exchange. You put someone's link on your site, and they put your link on theirs. As the old saying goes, "be careful who (or what) you get in bed with!"
Recency/Frequency – A marketing term that refers to how recent names on a list have taken action to get there and how frequently customers make purchases.
Redirect – A domain name (URL) or a web page with a small piece of code on it which redirects a visitor to different URL. This is frequently used for cloaking an affiliate link.
Reprint Rights – Permission to print a work that someone else has previously published. In the internet world, buying eBooks with reprint rights that you can use for your own purposes is one way to profit from information products.
Reputation Management – As more and more services and products are purchased online, people are publishing their opinions about what they experienced when they bought. Negative reviews can be disastrous. The reputation of individuals is also shared on the Internet; one in four employers reports "checking" on a potential employee by visiting his or her Facebook or other social networking site. Some companies have emerged, like public relations firms, to manage reputations online.
Resale Rights – The right to resell a product. The advantage of obtaining Resale Rights to products and selling them is avoiding the effort and time-consuming need to create your own product. The downside is that the product may not be unique, and you may not have any control over its quality. (See PLR.)
Resource Box – A section, box or paragraph at the end of an article, which contains some information about the author, and a link to the author's website. Article marketing authors use a resource box to gain traffic to their sites.
Responsive Design – As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, websites have to be designed to be viewable on any device. Responsive design "adjusts" website content automatically to the size and capability of the device seeking it.
ReTargeting — ReMarketing – When people visit your site but don't buy, retargeting technology allows your ads to "follow" them as they move about the internet.
Right Click – Surely you know that when you click the right side button on the right side of your mouse, this opens a drop-down menu that gives you access to shortcut options on your PC. On Mac computers, this same drop-down menu can be accessed by clicking and holding down the mouse.
Rollout – Refers to the mailing (eMail or Direct Mail) to a full list after verifying results in Preliminary and Pyramid Tests.
RSS – Really Simple Syndications (or Rich Site Summary) is the format that carries web content that is syndicated. The RSS technology allows websites to distribute newly published content to Internet users, without the user having the revisit the website. It is often compared to having home delivery of a daily or weekly newspaper.
RSS Feeds – RSS Feeds send information from websites to Internet users. Users can subscribe to feeds from a variety of websites, and then new information from those websites is sent directly to them through an RSS reader. It is similar to receiving email. An RSS reader acts like an "inbox" for RSS feeds. Instead of having to check multiple websites for updates, the new information is located in one convenient place.
Sales Copy – Do you really need a definition of this? It's a general copywriting term that describes the text written to persuade you to do something, like buy a product
Sales Funnel – A term derived from "the Sales Process" that describes a step-by-step sequence of dialog designed to turn Prospects into Customers. The term builds on the image of a funnel, with many Prospects entering at the top, and some proportion of Customers coming out at the bottom, having left some of their money in your account in exchange for the products or services you sold them.
Sales Letter – Sales copy which is written in the format of a letter, with the objective of selling a product or service. Sales letters often use various psychological triggers to induce the visitor to buy. A "long copy" sales letter is simply a long sales letter, which requires the visitor to scroll down the page as it is read. In general, longer letters produce greater response with consumer audiences, but shorter letters are used in a B2B effort.
Screen Shot – A picture of what you see on the screen of your computer.
Script – 1. Written monologue or dialog for an audio or video presentation. 2. A programming code that performs a desired function. It could be a small piece of code placed on a web page, or it may be an entire program with many pages of code that work together to form a web-based application.
Search Engine – A search engine is a website that acts similar to a card catalog for the Internet. Search engines use spider programs to index and locate desired information. The search engine program will find information on the Internet based on the keywords that are entered by the user. Popular search engines include Google, Yahoo!, Baidu and Bing.
Seed or Seeded Names – Names that have been added to a mailing list to verify that the mailing conforms to the original agreement. (The owner or manager of the list adds his or her own selected names to the list and thus receives copies of the mailing, allowing for quality control, measuring statistics on delivery times, etc.)
Selects – Options offered to renters of mailing lists that allow them to add to or subtract from a list rental to refine the audience. Typically, these are items like gender, personalization, marital status, homeowner, product group, etc. The more selects made to a Mailing List, the greater the rental cost.
SERP – Short for "Search Engine Results Page," SERP is the Web page that a search engine returns to the user with the results of its search.
SEM – Search Engine Marketing is a general term that encompasses various search engine related marketing strategies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
SEO – Search Engine Optimization is the process of using targeted keywords in a document, website content, in tags and meta-tags of website pages in order to match the words people use when searching for information. SEO is as much art as it isscience, and there are firms that providing specialized SEO services.
Server – An electronic device (dedicated computer) that "serves up" web pages for viewing on the web. Websites are hosted on web servers.
Shared Hosting – Web hosting which "hosts" multiple websites (from multiple customers) on the same server. This is generally acceptable for most websites. The downside is that if a user does something abusive on their website which negatively impacts the server, all the sites on that server will be impacted. Good web hosts have rules and safeguards which reduce the possibility of abuse. Nevertheless, smart webmasters (that's you if you have a website) will regularly back up their site . . . just in case.
Signature File – Sometimes referred to as a "sig file," a signature is a short statement at the end of an email message that is used to identify the sender and provide additional information. the sig files often include a link to a website, information or even a small picture about the author. Signature files are frequently used to establish a unique identity on the Internet.
Silk Screen Printing – The process of imprinting words or images on materials with "paint" that is applied by compression through screens with fine variations to permit the pass-through of the paint.
Site/Website – A place on the Internet or the World Wide Web designated by a domain name or URL. The term site contains the body of information as a whole for that domain name. A web site is typically a group of individual web pages that contain text, graphics, audio or video content, etc.
Site can also refer to an FTP site or archive site. These types of sites are directories that store files for downloading and uploading.
Site Builder – Software designed to help build a website. A good example is the software used by the Ken Evoy, Site Build It program.
SMS – Short Message Service (SMS), a text messaging service, is the most widely used data application in the world! Text messages may be transmitted between mobile phones and also between computers and mobile phones. The messages are limited to 160 characters. Unlike email messages, SMS messages are instantaneous and over 90% of them are read within 3 minutes.
Social Ad – A "Social ad" contains a like button or other tie-in to Facebook such as the phrases, "Endorsed by your Facebook friend Bill…".
Social Media – Online programs for sharing information and making "connections" with other people on the internet.
Social Networking — The process of using social media to meet, share mutual interests and network with people. In these online "communities," users form their own personal networks and encourage (attract) others with common interests to join the site. There, friends discuss news, review and recommend products, or just "hang out." The process repeats, and the total number of members grows.
Among the more popular social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and GooglePlus, as well as video sharing sites like YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Each site is different, with different rules and characteristics, and most have subgroups attracting people with particular and similar interests. Because members group themselves "psychographically" the social networking sites offer exceptional opportunities for marketers to "zero in" on likely buyers or users.
Caution. There is, of course, no free lunch. When you create your free social media sites and collect hundreds or even thousands of followers, the names and profiles of your "friends" become the property of the website host. The more information people give about themselves, the more information the host has. Privacy issues are definitely something to think about.
Software – A set of instructions that tells a computer's hardware how to execute functions and tasks. Software code is written in a programming language that makes computer systems and hardware work. Some programs contain millions of lines of code.
Solo Ad – A stand-alone ad placed on a website advertising your product or service. What you pay the publisher is negotiable.
Solo eMail – An email containing a single promotion, which is sent out to a list. Some marketers sell solo emails, where you can pay to have a solo email sent to their list containing a promotion for your product. Responses then belong to you.
Source Code – The designation or format in which a computer program or Web site is written. Online, the source code for a web page is normally in HTML, but can also be written in another computer "language." To find the source code of a web page, select "View" from the top of the Internet Browser. In the "View" menu, there should be an option that says "View Source" or similar language. The source code will appear in a pop-up window.
Spam – Unwanted and unsolicited eMail messages that are sent to people without their consent. Spam is also defined as "Unsolicited Commercial eMail" or Junk eMail that is most frequently sent to promote a product or service. Spam can also be found in forums and newsgroups as posted information that is not relevant to the subject matter of the site or information that is not a pertinent topic.
Spam is characterized by its large volume. Spammers (who are people who spam) follow the direct-marketing technique of saturating the intended audience. They hope for a tiny return from their efforts (normally less that 5 percent). Spammers don't really care if they offend large number of people, because there always seems to be those few people that respond to the unsolicited advertisement.
Spam typically takes the form of:
- Unwanted commercial messages
- Pyramid schemes (fake offers or job opportunities)
- "Get Rich Quick" and "Make Money Fast" schemes
- Links to adult websites and services
- Offers of software that scoops up eMail addresses for sending spam
- Fake health products and remedies
- Phony stock offerings in unknown start-up corporations
The CAN-SPAM law (which carries stiff penalties) and various anti-spam techniques help reduce the incidence of spam and are not a form of censorship.
Spam Blockers – Also known as spam filters, they prevent spam messages from getting into your inbox. A spam blocker will sort through messages based on algorithms and other criteria. Some ISPs include some form of spam blocker programs. Some are also available through third party programs that are downloadable from the Internet.
Spiders – Also known as "Crawlers," spider software is used by search engines to search the Internet for original, unique and updated content to display in the search results.
Splog – A "spam blog".is term that describes auto-generated blogs or those that don't contain unique content. They are set up solely for getting indexed by the search engines and are most often monetized through contextual advertising such as AdSense.
Spyware – This type of software is insidious and operates a lot like viruses, in that it is "contracted" by using the Internet. Spyware, however, gathers information about you and the web sites that you visit in order to build a "profile" of your preferences for the purpose of marketing. Spyware is often included in free downloads that you get from websites. The license agreement for these free programs may mention the use of spyware, but very few people actually read the details of these agreements. As a result spyware often gets onto a computer legally, but without the user's knowledge.
Having spyware on your computer can have varying impact. Sometimes spyware can result in slower processing. More aggressive programs will include unwanted pop up ads and other messaging devices. And more malicious spyware will steal personal information (such as Social Security information, bank and credit card account numbers, etc.).
The use of spyware is one of the hottest topics today impacting your privacy on the Internet. A spyware search is likely to find a number of spyware programs on your computer which can be deleted using downloadable anti-spyware programs.
Social Bookmarking – A process for users of the internet to organize and manage bookmarks (links) to their favorite pages, using special tags.
Software – A set of instructions that direct a computer (hardware) in executing tasks.
Source Code – The language format in which a computer program or Web site instructions are written. Typically,, the source code for a web page is written in HTML. However, other computer languages can also be used, especially in enterprise applications for large organizations..
Squeeze Page – A dedicated page created for the sole purpose of collecting information from a visitor (usually only a name and email address). This is one of the primary methods used for building opt-in lists. Most often, visitors are persuaded to enter their name and email to gain more information (such as a free report or product).
SSL –"Secure Socket Layer" designates that a website is secure for processing payments. With SSL, the payment page will have an "https://" in the address.
Sub-Domain Name – A domain name extension that is part of a larger domain. Sub-domains are like secondary sites within the larger domain. If you think of the larger domain as a file drawer, the sub domain would be the folders. Some examples of sub-domains are "news.google.com" or "mail.yahoo.com."
Super Affiliate – An affiliate who makes a large volume of sales. Super affiliates usually most (if not all) of their income through affiliate marketing. They are big heroes to manufacturers and owners of affiliate marketing programs. If you see someone at an internet marketing convention with a big "A" on their chest and wearing a cape, be sure to take their picture! J
SWOT Analysis – A key part of the Business (or Marketing) Planning process.
S = Strengths of the business, team or organization
W = Weaknesses. Example: understaffed, poor location, undependable supply line, etc.
O = Opportunities. New markets opening up, joint venture partners, etc.
T = Threats. New competitors in the market place, changing technology, etc.
Tags – A descriptive term (keyword) that is associated with a piece of information, article, photo, sound clip or video on the World Wide Web. Tags are now among the most ubiquitous forms of categorizing information on the Internet. What makes the use of tags interesting is that the tags are selected by the person authoring (or creating) the website, blog entry or other form of content.
Tags are used in two specific ways. The first use of tags is hidden to the viewer, but "visible" to Internet search engines. Tags also provide users with a quick and easy way to navigate the information on the website. Many websites now have tag lists as part of the navigation of the site. Instead of navigating pages in a top down fashion users can click directly on the tag words that interest them the most.
Although the use of tags is growing in popularity, tags are subjective and may be misleading in sites that are contributed to by a community of people.
Target Market – A key step in developing a product is deciding what the target market is and how to meet the target market's needs. Members of a target market have similar interests that can be based on age, gender, life style or socio-economic grouping.
Tech Support – Technical Services. The department or contract service to call when you have questions regarding a program, your computer hardware or software, etc.. Tech support personnel attempt to solve your problem, typically by eMail or over the phone. Some support is usually provided as part of the purchase or rental while other services carry a charge or require a subscription.
Technographics – Another three-dollar, made-up descriptive term for the process of categorizing people and companies by their level of technical sophistication, such as computer (broad-band) usage, smart phone usage, etc.
Telecommute – A flexible work arrangement where an employee or contractor can be working from remote locations and irregular hours. Telecommuters often work from their home, as well as other off-site locations.
Teleseminar – A seminar that is conducted over the telephone. Internet marketers may use teleseminars, and may also incorporate the use of a webinar( an online web presentation) where the phone carries the voice.
Template – A template is a pre-made document format that is used as a "starter." Templates exist for almost any imaginative purpose, from reports to website designs
Test Segment – One "cell" within a Test Matrix designed to test one facet of a mail program. An example would be a test cell that pitted two different versions of a headline against equal list segments (see A-B Split).
Thread – A thread or "topic thread" in an email, blog, group or forum is a string of running (sequential) comments on a particular subject.
TLD – (Top Level Domain) This is the highest level of the domain name. The extensions : .org, .edu, .gov, .net, .com are examples that command more attention than, say .info or .us. And now, there are a plethora of new extensions to choose from. .COM remains the most popular.
TOFU, MOFU, BOFU – Internet marketing language that refers to aligning your message to where your prospect is in the "sales funnel" – at the top of the funnel (TOFU), having just begun to read your sales copy, midway through the funnel (MOFU) or at the bottom of the funnel (BOFU) and thus ready to take action to buy.
TOS – An acronym for "Terms of Service." They are the rules documented by the provider by which a subscriber or customer must agree to abide in order to use a service. In order to use an online service, you are supposed to read and agree to the posted terms of service.
Traffic – Visitor to a website is a form of electronic traffic. Traffic to a retail location would be "foot traffic." A "hit" on a website is a request for information from the server and is recorded in a log file.. In other words, the log file records the number of hits or times that a piece of information has been requested from the server.
Tracking – The process of recording and categorizing responses to advertising, public relations efforts, email campaigns, etc.
Tracking Code – Letter &/or numeric code that is appended to a List Segment for tracking and measurement of relative response.
Trojan – A "Trojan Horse" computer virus gets its name from the legend of the Trojan battle with the Greeks where the Trojans "snuck" soldiers into the Greek compound and won the battle. Just like the Trojans were fooled into letting opposing forces in their gates, a Trojan Horse virus is a surreptitious entry into your operating system. This type of virus disguises itself within a helpful program. Normally, a Trojan virus is distributed via a download from the internet. The virus may start slowly to duplicate, overwrite or otherwise destroy files.
Troll – A lowlife individual whose sole purpose in life is to cruise around on websites or forums making stupid or abusive comments. In the case of attorneys, there is a particularly fiendish version of this phenomena . . . Attorneys who uncover often obscure legal patents and cruise the internet to identify businesses to threaten with lawsuits. It's a form of extortion that has brought great harm to many businesses that couldn't afford to fight the "charges."
Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and Unique Value Proposition (UVP) – The differentiating feature or characteristic of the product, service or company that distinguishes it from the competition. This is one of the most important factors in a marketing and business plan. The USP comes at the issue from the point of view of the seller; the UVP, from the point of view of the customer.
Unique Visitors ("Uniques") – The number of different people who visit a website is usually the most important statistic for measuring web traffic for marketing purposes.
Upload — The act of transferring a file from (typically) a local laptop or desktop computer to a larger or central site.
Upsells – An offer to sell something more sophisticated or expensive than the leading product or service, after an initial sale has already been made. Usually the upsell occurs before a after the initial payment is made. It is typically an upsell for a "deluxe" version of the product, or for a companion or related product. Most upsells are presented as an OTO.
URL – The acronym URL refers to "Uniform Resource Locater." It is the technical term for any web address that enter into the address bar of your web browser. Using a URL will take you directly to the website you are looking for. When someone asks for the URL of a website, they want the full address. The basic format of a URL is www.yourwebsitename.com (or other suffix). The term URL is usually pronounced with each letter said (Yoo Are Ell).
Username (User ID) – A synonym for "login name" or "handle."
Viral – An offshoot of "word-of-mouth" or referral marketing that describes a message, product or video that is of such interest that people are moved to forward it on to friends or associates. It's typically an informal type of marketing through spontaneous social pass-along activity. In common usage today, the word is used describe any practice that moves a product, service or message from person to person.
Viral Marketing – The electronic version of Word-of-Mouth form of marketing where people in the marketplace independently share (pass along) information about your product or service. Hence, it "spreads like a virus," With the introduction of a number of social media platforms, the opportunities for viral marketing are now considerable.
Virtual Real Estate – Colloquial term used to describe websites and, in particular, content-rich sites in popular niches.
Virus – A computer virus is program that multiplies itself on computer systems and incorporates itself into shared programs. Some viruses are harmless pranks, and others can destroy computer files or disable a computer entirely. A key quality of viruses is that they spread quickly, from user to user.
Viruses are most commonly spread through email. Most, if not all, Internet Service Providers offer some kind of protection from Viruses within the structure of the Internet connection. If you use the Internet frequently, you might also want to invest in an additional Virus scanning program, such as Avast, McAffee, VirusScan or Norton Anti-Virus.
Both Macintosh and Windows computers are subject to viruses.
Vlog – A blog delivered with video. It could be just videos or videos accompanied by text.
WAHM – An acronym for "Work-at-Home Mom." A variation is WAHD (Work at Home Dad).
Web 2.0 – This term refers to the "second generation" of services that are available on the World Wide Web that typi8cally involve more active participation by the viewer. Web 2.0 applications include blogs, podcasts, PPC marketing, wikis, tagging and RSS syndication. Web 2.0 is a rather large category of services that share some basic themes:
- Web pages are "user friendly" and collaborative – rather than being only accessible by the webmaster
- Users can own the data on the site and modify it at their convenience
- Users make use of "social networking"
Web Designer – A skilled individual who designs the graphics and navigational aspect of how the site looks and "feels." The Web Designer handles the entire aesthetic and navigational creation of a Web site. A web designer is also responsible for ensuring that the graphics are clear, the links are working and the navigation on the site is intuitive. A web designer is not necessarily a marketing expert or copywriter.
Webinar – A conference call that takes place over the Internet. Depending on the service, participants may be able to hear the conversation, see material on the screen, make changes to the material, or see each other.
Web Marketer – This is an alternate term for Internet marketer. A web marketer is an individual or company whose primary income comes from marketing products or services on the web. Web marketers can make money by promoting other people's products or their own.
Webmaster – This individual creates and/or manages a Web site. A Webmaster is the person who maintains the content and operational functioning of a website.
White Hat – Techniques to increase recognition by search engines that are above board and legitimate.
White Paper – A relatively short, non-promotional article designed to address a particular issue faced by a particular audience. White papers are used in marketing to establish the credentials of the author.
White Space – The area on a page that has no writing and no graphics, i.e., the "blank" part of a page. White space is essential to making a page easy to read.
Whois – Ownership information about the holder of a particular domain or URL If a domain does not have a private registration, anyone can do a "whois" to find out the name of the owner and their other registered information such as email address and mailing address.
Wiki – A type of website that allows users (instead of a webmaster) to add, remove or edit most of the web content very quickly and easily. The ease of interaction and operation makes wiki a dynamic tool for collaborative sites and communities. The term wiki can also refer to the software that enables users to participate in a website. The name comes from the Hawaiian term "wiki-wiki" which means fast.
WordPress – The single most popular website and blogging platform. WordPress.com is a free site for bloggers while WordPress.org (also free) is an open source software for building your own websites. WordPress.org is responsible for the majority of websites that are created around the world every day.
WWW – The acronym for "World Wide Web." The World Wide Web is a global information space, and is also referred to as "The Web." Text documents, images, multimedia and other types of resources are posted in URLs so that each can be found expediently.
The World Wide Web is actually the system by which information on the Internet is categorized and on the Internet itself. The World Wide Web is compared to the Dewey Decimal system (used by libraries) for the Internet.
WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get . . . the term is used for visually-based HTML editing programs, where the web page will look the same as what it looks like within the program.
XML – A programming language similar to HTML used to develop web pages. The main difference between XML (sometimes called XTML) and other programming languages is the ability to add customized tags to the web page design.
YouTube – When people search for something, they now turn FIRST to short videos for news, entertainment and instruction. The most popular of the video sites is YouTube which is owned by Google and actually operates like a search engine for videos. Marketers open their own "YouTube" channel and post their video, embedding key words in the title and tags, and then link to the video through websites and blog posts.
Yoyo Mode – A glitch that occurs when an internet connection rapidly alternates between being "online" and "offline." In most cases, contacting the ISP technical support will fix the problem.
ZIP file – A compressed file used on Windows. On the Internet, larger graphics and programs are normally compressed as ZIP files before they are made available for download, allowing downloading to go much faster. After downloading a ZIP file, you need to use a decompression software (such as WinZIP, a free program) to "unzip" it and access the data.
. . . Other Stuff – Let us know if you think there is anything really important that we've left out. And feel free to critique this glossary. Definitions are changing rapidly and we all want to stay up to date! Send suggestions directly to us.
Appendix – About the Authors
Joseph A. Krueger & Virginia Nicols
Are you wondering just how The Marketing Machine® can help you with your marketing?
Well, it's not clear yet, because we don't know enough about your business!
But having been consultants over the past 25 years to hundreds of different businesses — from small one-person start-ups to national and international companies in the Fortune 500 to 2000 categories — we've solved a lot of marketing challenges. Our direct marketing campaigns have produced sales in the billions . . . $4.5 billion at last count.
Focused Solidly on Helping Entrepreneurs
Now we've turned our energies to just one audience – small business owners who are motivated to take that next step to grow their business.
If you haven't been in business long, you may have unrealistic expectations about marketing in general, and internet marketing in particular.
If you're serious, though, you will have discovered that direct marketing works. For every business. And direct marketing is what we know.
Why Direct Marketing?
It all comes back to the basics.
Nothing happens in business until someone buys something.
And direct moves them along to that purchase in a controlled, measureable way.
Now, with online marketing tools, you can move people to become customers, or repeat customers, faster than ever.
Nearly all of our training materials are related to direct marketing, including this Glossary. So if you're looking to improve either your marketing skills or your marketing results, you're in the right place! And if you have a question or comment, we mean it – Get in touch! We are eager to get to know more about you and your business so we can share what we know.