e-Marketing - Key Terms

Above the fold - the section of a Web page that is visible without scrolling.

Ad blocking - Using software to filter out advertisements from websites as they are viewed.

Ad space - The portion of a website available to advertisers.

Advertising network - A group of sites who sell advertising together or whose advertising is sold together. This allows advertisers to buy ads on all network sites or on all sites of a particular type on the network.

Add URL - The act of supplying a URL to a search engine in an attempt to make a search engine aware of a site or page.

Affiliate - In an affiliate marketing arrangement the affiliate is the reseller or publisher of the information.

Affiliate directory - a directory listing of affiliate programs.

Affiliate forum - an online community where visitors may read and post topics related to affiliate marketing.

Affiliate fraud - When an affiliate attempts to fraudulently increase the apparent amount of sales or traffic they are generating in an effort to earn money.

Affiliate marketing - Revenue sharing model whereby an affiliate gets paid by a content provider or retailer for clicks, sales etc. Some of the most successful include amazon.com and match.com

Affiliate merchant - Advertiser in an affiliate marketing relationship that is seeking affiliates.

Affiliate network - An intermediary between affiliate merchants and affiliates that also often provides services for both groups.

Affiliate software - Software that, at a minimum, provides tracking and reporting of commission-triggering actions (sales, registrations, or clicks) from affiliate links.

ALT tag - Is an HTML tag that provides information about an image or non-text item on a page when the item has not displayed.

Animated GIF - A gif image that gives the illusion of motion by rotating through static images.

B2B - Businesses that sell products or services to other businesses or commerce between businesses.

B2C - Businesses that sell products or services to consumers or commerce between businesses and consumers.

Banner ad - A graphic paid for placement link measuring 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall.

Banner blindness - The habitual ignoring of banner ads by surfers even if the banner has the information they are looking for.

Banner exchange - A network of sites wherein members display banner links to other sites in exchange for other sites displaying banner links to them.

Barter - To trade goods or services without the exchange of money.

Blog - An online journal including links short for web log.

Bookmark - A browser stored reference to a favorite page.

Browser - An application that allows users to surf the web.

Button ad - A paid for placement image link. Smaller than a banner.

Button exchange - A network of sites wherein members display button links to other sites in exchange for other sites displaying button links to them.

Buzzword - a trendy word or phrase that is used more to impress than explain.

Caching - The storage of files or pages for later use to speed the loading of those pages.

Cascading style sheets (CSS) - A tool used to specify page style.

Click-through - The process of following an online ad link.

Click-through rate (CTR) - The proportion of visitors who click on an ad.

Clustering - restricting the number of listings from each Web site in search results, often to only one or two listings per Web site.

Conversion rate - The portion of site visitors who perform an action.

Cookie - information stored on a user's computer by a Web site so preferences are remembered on future visits or page requests.

Cost-per-action (CPA) - online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as sales or registrations.

Cost per click (CPC) - the cost or cost-equivalent paid per click-through.

CPM - Cost per thousand views.

Customer acquisition cost - The cost of acquiring a new customer.

Deep linking - Linking to a web page other than a site's home page.

Description tag - HTML tag that provides a description of the page.

Disintermediation - The elimination of stages in the supply chain.

Domain name – Name of a sites location (whatever.com).

Doorway domain - A domain used only to increase the ranking of a site in certain search results. These domains forward visitors to the sites primary domain.

Doorway page - A page designed to improve ratings in search engines for particular keywords, serving as an entry point through which visitors pass to the main content.

Email - Electronic messaging tools or electronic mail.

Email marketing - marketing via email.

Email Spam - unwanted, unsolicited email.

Exclusivity - When one entity grants another entity exclusive rights to a business function.

Ezine - An electronic magazine either via email or online.

Ezine directory - directory of ezines.

Favicon - A small icon that is used by IE to identify a bookmarked Web site.

Favorite - A browser stored reference to a favorite page.

First-mover advantage - a sometimes-insurmountable advantage gained by the first significant company to move into a new market.

Flash - Media type invented by Macromedia that allows small files to do lots of things.

Forum - An online community message board.

Guerilla marketing - Unconventional marketing tactics that are designed to get the most results for the least amount of money.

Hit - When a file is requested from a server.

Home page - A websites main page.

HTML banner - a banner ad that includes HTML items (like forms) instead of just an image.

HTML email - HTML formatted electronic mail that is more visually appealing than a text formatted email.

Impression - An instant of an ad being displayed.

Inbound link - a link to your site from another.

Incentivized traffic - traffic generated by some sort of compensation to visitors.

Interactive agency - An agency that combines Internet technology, online advertising/marketing, and eBusiness consulting.

Interactive marketing unit - The recognized standard units for which internet advertising can be bought. http://www.iab.net/iab_banner_standards/bannersource.html

Interstitials - Advertisements such as pop-ups that load between page loads.

Invisible Web - The part of a website that is invisible to or un-indexable by searchengines.

JavaScript - A scripting language invented by Netscape that is used to create interactive websites.

Keyword - A term used when performing a search

Keyword density - The percentage of keywords to indexable words on a page.

Keyword marketing - Addressing your marketing efforts to people searching for certain keywords.

Keywords tag - META tag that identifies primary keywords for a site.

Link checker - Software tool that checks site for broken links.

Link popularity - A measure of how often your site is linked to.

Link text - Text contained in a hyperlink

Linkrot - When links become out of date due to page deletion or movement.

Log file - File that records the activity of a server.

Manual submission - Adding your URL to a search engine on your own by hand.

Marketing plan - The portion of a business plan that outlines marketing strategy.

Media kit - A brochure created by a publisher to help an advertiser choose what type of placement to purchase.

Meta search engine - A search engine that indexes other search engines to find results.

META tag generator - Software that will generate META tags based on input.

META tags - Tags that describe the content and other aspects of a web page; often used by search engines to rank pages.

Moderator - A person who monitors a forum to make sure that the discussion is productive and within guidelines.

Mousetrapping - The use of tricks to prevent customers from leaving a page such as repeated pop-ups and disabling the back button.

Netiquette - Code of conduct of what is acceptable behavior online.

Network effect - The phenomenon whereby a network becomes more valuable the more people use it.

Opt-in email - Email that is requested by the recipient. Also referred to as permission marketing.

Opt-out - To remove your address from an opt-in mailing list.

Outbound link - A link to an external website.

Page view - A requests for a particular web page.

Pagejacking - theft of a page from the original site and publication of a copy (or near-copy) at another site.

Pay per click (PPC) - Online advertising payment method where payment is based on the number of click throughs.

Pay per click search engine (PPCSE) - Search engine that ranks sites based on the amount advertisers have paid and only charges advertisers by click throughs.

Pay per lead (PPL) - Online advertising payment method where payment is based on the number of leads.

Pay per sale (PPS) - Online advertising payment method where payment is based on qualified sales.

Payment threshold - The minimum commission an affiliate must accumulate to receive payment.

Permission marketing - Marketing centered on getting customer's consent to receive information from a company (see opt in).

Pop-up ad - An advertisement that displays in a new browser window.

Pop-under ad - An ad that displays under the active window and becomes visible when other windows are closed.

Portal - A site that offers many commonly used services or a community that serves as a starting point for web browsing.

Rate card - Document that details ad rates.

Reciprocal links - Outbound links that are placed in exchange for a inbound link placement.

Rectangle ad - Any one of the standard large standard size square like ads on the web.

Return days - The number of days after providing the lead an affiliate still will receive a commission for generated sales.

Rich media - New media that offer an improved browsing experience.

Run of network (RON) - Advertising option that places ads on many pages on a network of sites.

Run of site (ROS) - Advertising option that places ads on pages of the selected or target site only.

Search engine - A program that indexes items and attempts to match those indexed items with search requests.

Search engine optimization (SEO) - The process of choosing keywords that a site should come up under in search engines and customizing the site so it shows high in results for these keywords.

Search engine spam - Excessive manipulation of page content or MetaTags to influence placement in results often when the content has little to do with the keywords.

Shopping cart - Software that allows a sites inventory to be purchasable so that consumers can choose edit and select products and then purchase them.

Site search - Site-specific search engine relative only to one site.

Skyscraper ad - An online add significantly taller than the average vertical ad.

Spam - Unsolicited, unwanted, or inappropriate commercial email message.

Splash page - A branding type gateway page before the opening of the main site.

Sponsorship - Advertising relationship that aims at establishing an association and integration between the advertiser and publisher.

Stickiness - The amount of time spent at a site over time. This is a measure of how often the site is visited or how popular it is with a given user.

Super affiliate - An affiliate capable of generating a significant percentage of an affiliate program's activity.

Surround session - Advertising tool that shows a user advertising from the same advertiser for an entire sequence.

Text ad - Advertisement that uses text hyperlinks.

Text link exchange - A network of sites wherein members display text links to other sites in exchange for other sites displaying banner links to them.

Title tag - HTML tag used to define the text in the top line of a Web browser, also used by many search engines as the title of search listings.

Top 10 - Term for the first ten results in a search engine for a particular term.

Trick banner - Banner ads that attempt to trick site visitors to click them.

Underdelivery - Delivery of less impressions, visitors, or conversions than contracted for a specified period of time.

Unique visitors - Individual site visitors over a specific time period.

URL - Location or address of an item or page on the Internet.

Vertical banner - A 120 pixels wide and 240 pixels tall banner ad.

Viral marketing - Marketing technique of encouraging and enabling people to pass on a marketing message.

Web browser - An application that allows users to surf the web.

Web directory - An organized list of links.

Web ring - A way of linking related sites so visitors can easily navigate between them.

Web site traffic - The amount of visitors and vests a Web site receives.

Web site usability - The user friendliness of a site or the ease with which users can interface with the site and it’s navigation.

Whois - A software tool that returns information about who owns second level domain names.