Internet Marketing Glossary

Ad Position: Location of the advertising copy, graphic, or banner within a given webpage or email.

Ad Swapping: The exchange of marketing efforts between two list owners to their respective lists. “I’ll run an ad to your list, and you run one to mine.” The swap is more typically done in regards to free offers, like a free email newsletter subscription.

Ad, Banner: A graphical web advertising unit on a webpage or email newsletter, typically measuring 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall (i.e. 468×60).

Ad, Button: A graphic similar to a banner but smaller and square.

Ad Network:  Companies that sell banner advertising opportunities cross multiple websites and cross channels are considered “ad networks.”  For instance, you can impressions at a CPM rate, but appear on several websites in their network instead of just one.  This form of media buying can be very cost effective if you know the traffic potential of the sites in the network (top tier sites).  Because the network buys these ad impressions in bulk quantities, they can pass the savings down to the advertiser.  Be sure to ask when you buy this type of media what is the traffic ranking (Nielsen Net Ranking, ComScore or Alexa) of the sites and sample listing of the sites in the “channel” you’re considering.  You want to make sure you are appearing on top tier sites, not micro sites – it’s quality over quantity. You can also target your ads to run on different verticals, or channels, based on your offer.  Popular channels include finance/investing, news, sports, and politics.  Lists of sample ad networks can be located at http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/7911.asp and http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=resources/adres/ad_networks.

Ad, Pop-Up: A mini-website that opens of its own accord, in a new web browser window and displays advertisements.

Ad, Skyscraper: A graphic ad on a website or email newsletter that’s significantly taller than the 120×240 vertical banner.

Advertorial: An advertisement that looks like an ordinary article.

AdWords (Google): Offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. Allows you to bid on certain keywords that are reference in Google searches and on partner’s websites. Google’s text advertisements are short, consisting of one title line and two content text lines.

Affiliate Program/Affiliate Marketing: Is a collection of products that keep track of the sales generated by each participant in the program, the affiliate, and offers a payment or revenue share for the sales created by each affiliate. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate.

Alexa Ranking: A system provided by a subsidiary of Amazon that ranks other sites traffic and page views based on visits from users of the Alexa toolbar.

Announcement List: Is a group which receives updates or announcements from a given source.

Attrition rate: The rate at which customers voluntarily leave, cancel, or unsubscribe service from a company.

Autoresponder: Is a computer program that automatically answers e-mail sent to it. The email answer can also be a series of emails instead of just one.

Backlink: Also known as ‘inbound links’ they are links received from another webpage or other internet sources. It’s a link on another website that refers to directly to your website. The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page.

Bandwidth: In website hosting, bandwidth is the amount of information downloadable from the webserver over a prescribed period of time. In essence, it is the rate [data/time], but the time in this case is not seconds but rather a month or a week. So this rate is not like 56K or broadband, etc., which are also bandwidth but are measured per second. Web hosting companies often quote a monthly bandwidth limit for a website, for example 100 GB/month. If visitors to the website download a total greater than 100 GB in one month, the bandwidth limit will have been exceeded.

Banners, general:  Banner ads are online ads that come in various sizes.  Some popular sizes include 300×250 (medium rectangle), 468×60 (full banner), 728×90 (leader boards), 120×600 (skyscraper), 125×125 (squares), 120×60 (button), and 120×240 (vertical).  Ads can be flat (no animation), animated (various frames), and flash.

Benefit (in ad copy): It’s ‘what’s in it for the reader’, something that satisfies a perceived need, fear, or desire.

Bid: An amount of money offered for a product or service, commonly referred to in pay-per-click advertising, the amount of money you’d pay for someone to look at, and/or click on your ad.

Big Idea: A proposition, a bold statement, or prediction that captures a pre-existing feeling or inspires an emotional response within the reader. The ‘big idea’ must inspire an action from a significant portion of the readership.

Blog: An online journal.

Bot: A type of computer program to do automated tasks.

Branding: Branding is the opposite of direct response marketing — it doesn’t require an immediate action from the consumer — its goal rather is to build awareness and name recognition of a product over time and help it stay in the minds of prospects.  In the offline world, think the battle of the cola giants.  In the online world, it’s typically video ads like the ones you see for a new luxury car or truck.  Because results are harder measure with branding, many online marketers lean towards the direct response model.

Break Even Point (BEP): It’s the amount of units needed to be sold in order for the seller to make up their initial or investments.  The formula is total cost divided by unit price.

Click Fraud: Occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per click.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, views on the ad, expressed as a percentage.

Cloaking: A search engine optimization technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different from that presented to the users’ browser; this is done by delivering content based on the IP addresses or the User-Agent HTTP header of whatever is requesting the page.

Cookie: A bit of information placed on a user’s computer to record the user’s settings and preferences on the website that placed the ‘cookie’.

Copy: Typically refers to sales letter writing, but also can refer to editorial writing.

Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA): The cost for each prospected you converted into a paying customer.  The formula for this is total cost divided by the total number (#) of sales.

Cost-per-Click (CPC): Same as Pay-per-Click (PPC).  The average cost to you each time a prospect clicks on your ad. This is typically the payment model for Google Ad Words, Overture, Yahoo, and other paid search companies.  Average CPC start at about $0.05 and can go excess of $1.00.  Keyword popularity, bid amount, and position will all influence the cost an advertiser will pay.

Cost-per-Lead (CPL): The cost for each lead, or name, that you bring in.  These people still haven’t “converted” yet and you just collected their names (email address).  The formula for CPL is total cost of the marketing campaign divided by the total email names brought in.

CPM (Cost per thousand): Is an online cost an advertiser pays per thousand impressions.  If the CPM for a banner ad is $25 and you buy 1,000,000 impressions, your final CPM cost will be $25,000.  Factors that influence a CPM rate include banner ad size, placement, list size, and site traffic.  The higher the traffic to the site you’re considering to advertise on, the higher the CPM will likely be.

Co-Registration (Co-Reg): Is the process of one company (publisher) offering another company (advertiser) ad placement on their subscription or membership forms page after a prospect signs up for their publication.  The “advertiser” or “sponsor” typically pays an agreed upon amount per name/lead acquired.  The placement for co-registration ads usually appears after the primary transaction of the host publisher and will likely be surrounded by several other co-registration sponsors’ offers.  The ad format is typically be a brief text ad and includes a small logo graphic of the advertiser’s publication.  In addition to ad placement on a subscription or membership form page, co-registration can all be a method of acquiring subscribers from other people’s websites and eNewsletters by paying per lead for each  person that signs-up. 

The pricing model is typically CPA (cost per acquisition) and is net duplicates and bad email address.  Average CPA is between $1.50 - $5.00.  Since co-registration leads are virtually “cold” prospects and may not know much about your company or publication, the best conversion rates occur when these leads receive a unique follow up email from the advertiser soon after sign up to start bonding.

Data mining: The process of leveraging your own in-house names (albeit actives or prospects) and getting the most from them.  Understanding their behavior patterns, demographic and psychographic trends to increase response and conversion rates.

Dedicated Email Promotion (also Stand Alone Email Promotion): An email dedicated to a single sales letter. Also referred to as a solo blast.

Direct response: A marketing tactic where marketer is soliciting for a “direct response” from the prospect typically to buy a product or sign up for something. The goal is to get the prospect to take action immediately.  Response mechanisms for this effort would be a BRE (business reply envelope), BRC (business reply card), 800#, fax, or email.

Discussion List: An electronic mailing list in which any member may send a message which will then be distributed to all the members in the list.  Any member may then reply in the same manner, allowing full exchange of information, a discussion, to occur.

Domain: A specific entity on the Internet. It is identified by a domain name which is a memorable term associated with a particular website’s IP address.

Dynamic Pages: A web page that creates an interactive experience through the use of text, images, etc.

E-book: A book that is available to be read on the Internet (electronic book).

Ecommerce: The applications of business over electronic media resulting in commercial transactions (i.e. buying, selling, and advertising over the Internet).

Email Newsletter: A newsletter that is distributed by electronic mail.

Email Subscriber List: A list of persons who subscribe to receive email advertisements.

E-Newsletter Sponsorship: Sometimes called “E-News Sponsorship”. This is an ad in a eNewsletter or eZine. These placements are usually in top, mid and bottom positions and can be text or HTML formats.  You can buy this space or approach the other publisher about considering a reciprocal ad swap – where your ad will go in their publication and their ad in yours for the same word count and same list size.

E-Zine: A magazine that is available to be read on the Internet (electronic magazine).

File (see also “List”):  The term used for a direct mail or email mailing list. This can be a company’s in-house names (or customers) or rented customers from a third-party provider.  A list can be segmented into many ways – actives, expires, cancels, hot (which is typically customers in their first 3 months of service), and more. 

Flash: A software program that allows great amounts of interactivity (graphics) to fit in a small file.

Flat Fee Search Engine: A website that allows the customer to search for information on the Internet unlimitedly for a single unchanging fee.

Floater ad (or Hover ad): Similar to a pop up, but a new window doesn’t open.  Special coding on your webpage allows for a ad to “float” over the webpage for special messages or lead generation efforts.  Typically boosts conversion rates by about 20%.

Forum: A webpage that allows visitors to post and read comments about a particular topic.

Frame: A structure that allows a webpage to be divided into independent parts.

GoogleBase: A massive database of very targeted information, content, and articles.

Guerilla Marketing: Using unconventional or alternative marketing tactics to get optimal results.  For instance, going into chat rooms or forums to post a message about your product or service to create a buzz.

Headline: A title printed in large text that gives a brief introduction to a written article (newspaper, magazine, newsletter, etc.).

Hierarchy: A ranking system used on the Internet to organize IP addresses.

Hits: The number of files on a webpage that are successfully served to a visitor.  This includes HTML, .jpgs, .gifs, and other image files.

HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is an interactive text often used in webpages.

Infomarketing: Marketing an information or editorial/advertorial-type product – typically an eBook or similar digital report.

In-House Email Subscriber List: A list of email subscribers that is not kept with an outside service.

Interactive Marketing Unit (IMU): The standard ad unit sizes as set forth by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net).  Popular ad unit sizes are:  large rectangle (LREC) 300×250 IMU, square 250×250 IMU, large rectangle 336×280 IMU, small button 125×125 IMU, full banner 468×60 IMU, leader board 728×90 IMU, skyscraper 120×600 IMU.

Internet Service Provider: An organization that sells Internet access and related services to consumers.

IP Address: A unique number assigned to each device connected to the Internet that allows communication between devices.

ISP (see Internet Service Provider)

JavaScript: A scripting programming language used to create interactive websites.

Joint Venture (JV): A project that is undertaken by two or more parties in which the parties agree to be involved in economic activity together (i.e. the merger to two companies).

Keyword: A word or phrase used to identify a topic while on a search engine.

Landing Page: The page to which a consumer is directed after clicking on an online advertisement.

Lead gen: Lead gen or lead generation is the concept of brining in names (albeit direct mail or email). This is typically accomplished by a free offer such as free report or white paper, where a prospect will fill out a form to receive the report then the prospect is either followed up with a phone call or email offer from the marketer.  Lead generation can also be accomplished by sweepstakes offers, raffles, online polls, surveys, sign ups at events/tradeshows, or co-registration.

Life Time Value (LTV): The metric that marketers look for in establishing how much product or service the customer will purchase during a lifetime, not just on the current transaction. This helps in knowing your customer and helping keep them loyal.

Link Library: A search engine.

List (see also “File”): The term used for a direct mail or email mailing list. This can be a company’s in-house names (or customers) or rented customers from a third-party provider.  A list can be segmented into many ways – actives, expires, cancels, hot (which is typically customers in their first 3 months of service), and more. 

List segmentation: Breaking down your mailing list into “buckets” – segmenting your names by a type such as demographics, purchasing behavior, geographic, etc.  Segmenting your list ultimately helps with conversion rate and response rate, since you’re targeting your message to suit the list thereby increasing your odds on response and purchase.

List shrinkage: The monthly rate at which email newsletter (or eZine) lists lose subscribers.  Generally speaking, the average monthly list shrinkage rate is 2% of the total file size.  If a marketer anticipates that, then they know that they must bring in more than 2% of new names per month just to make up for the average monthly loss.

Market Niche: A small group of potential customers for whom there is currently no market.

Mini Website: Typically a promotional type landing page with little or no navigation. These webpages are targeted to a specific offer.

Opt-In Page: refers to an individual giving a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a particular reason, such as to market the company’s products and services. See permission marketing.

Opt-In Subscriber: A consumer who explicitly requests to be added to a mailing list.

Output Device: A piece of hardware a computer uses to present information to the user.

Overhead: Money a business uses just to function, amount spent on necessities.

PageRank: Google’s patented method of ranking the importance of webpages on the Internet based on the quality and quantity of links to those pages.

Page Views: The number of times a user requests a webpage.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): An online advertising payment method in which payment in based on clicks on certain links.

Premium: A bundled package of goods or services.

Reciprocal Link: A link between two websites, such that each webpage can be accessed from the other site.

Redirect: A webpage that comes up after you type in the specified URL in the Internet browser.  This can be used if a webpage is no longer valid but you don’t want to send your prospects into obscurity or if you want to redirect your prospects to a targeted message.   For example, if a prospect types www.fakesite.com they may not necessarily land on www.fakesite.com per say, but rather the page is redirected to www.fakesite.com/specialoffer — if your first goal is getting that user to sign up for something or buy something (whatever your special offer is).

Really Simple Syndication (RSS):  A delivery channel for news and information where the information is delivered in XML files to create a web feed or “RSS feed.”  This feed can be downloaded directly to users’ desktops via RSS readers (which can be downloaded for free on the Web).  Consumers can pick and chose which feeds they want and read them at their leisure.

Remnant inventory: An advertising unit that is not as popular as other ad units on a website or ad network and is unsold, or left over inventory.  To make these units more attractive, ad networks usually offer them at a lower rate than the published rates.

Retention rate: The rate that customers stay with you.  This involves customer satisfaction, loyalty, and consistent bonding efforts.

Return on Investment (ROI): This formula determines how much money you made or lost on your initial investment.  The formula is total revenues divided by total cost.

Screenshot: An image that shows exactly how a user would see a program or webpage on a computer.

Search Engine: A program that indexes information and matches relevant information to a users search request.

Search Engine Directory: A list of available search engines.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Marketing methods used to increase a websites visibility on search engine results pages.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving the content and structure of a website so that keywords match the page when used on a search engine.

Search Query: The request that is made on a search engine.

Search Results Page: The webpage that displays websites that match the keyword used in the search query.

Search-Engine Spiders: An automated program that browses the web to provide up-to-date data to search engine users.

Site Indexing: A method of organizing websites often used by search engines.

Sitemap: A webpage that lists all webpages on a website.

Spammer: Uses unsolicited commercial messages of low value.

Static Pages: Webpages that are not interactive.

Sub-Domain: A domain that is part of a larger domain.

Thank You Page: The page that comes up after a web transaction thanking the customer for their purchase or sign up.

Traffic: The amount of information sent and received by visitors to a website.

URL: The Uniform Resource Locator refers to the distinct location of a resource on the Internet.

Viral marketing: The effect when a marketing message gets spread from user to user.  For example, a “forward-to-a-friend” feature for a eNewsletter. 

Visitors: The total number of users who access a web site over a given period.

Visits: A series of web page requests by a visitor on a web site, generally within a 30-minute period.

Web Analytics: The process of measuring user activity on a web site to determine its performance.

Web Host: A business that provides storage, connectivity, and other services necessary for the upkeep of a website.

Webcrawler: An automated program that browses the web for different purposes such as documenting website changes.

Webmaster: A person responsible for designing, marketing, and maintaining a website.

Whitepaper: A free report that is filled with useful editorial but used for lead generation purposes (capturing email names).