Internet Glossary

Listed below are some common terms used in the online world:

Squeeze page: This is a web page that gathers a prospects information. In most cases in Internet Marketing, a squeeze page collects first name and email. Generally speaking, this is so prospects can be emailed and see their first name appear in the email subject line or body. Adding customization generally increased open rates or click-throughs with email marketing. A squeeze page can also be referred to as: lead capture page, name squeeze page, opt-in form, among others.

Copy: The term “copy” is used to refer to any marketing message in direct response or other marketing. Any type of marketing message (through various mediums such as text, audio, video, etc.) that is designed to get a prospect to make a buying decision or take a certain desired action can generally be referred to as “copy.”

A copywriter is someone who designs a marketing message effectively enough to get a certain percentage of prospects to take a given action.

Above the fold: Above the fold is a term used to describe copywriting that presents itself such that the reader does not need to scroll down on his or her screen to see the entire message. This term originated from newspaper ads to reference the ads that were readable on the first fold of the newspaper.

Auto-responder: An auto-responder is an email mechanism that both collects name and email address (and other fields if desired) and then sends automated responses or marketing messages to a prospect who has requested such information at varying, given time intervals. The auto-responder allows for permission based marketing as it requires a prospect to enter their name and email address to receive such messages. Names and emails of the prospects are stored in a “list” with the autoresponder database.

Email Broadcast message: This is when a message is sent basically simultaneously to multiple subscribers on an auto-responder database list. Used for notifications or promotions, the marketer can reach the entire subscriber base with the same message.

Marketing Funnel: This is a series of offers the prospect is taken through usually starting with a very low priced or free offer, and ending possibly with an offer costing up to 10’s of thousands of dollars or more.

Front-end offer: This is the first offer that get a prospect into a marketing funnel. It may either be a free or paid offer.

Back-end offer: This is where the marketer follows up with the prospect with what is usually a higher priced offer. There can be multiple back-end offers built into a marketing funnel. If a marketer truly knows his “numbers” or “metrics”, he may be willing to even take a loss on a front end offer just to get that prospect into his marketing funnel. Often times, the marketer will pay out 100% or more to another individual (or affiliate) who refers others to the marketer’s front end paid offer, just because the back end is lucrative enough.

SEO: Search terms to show up in the top results of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This often allows for massive free traffic to the website owner. For instance, if a prospect types in “used Honda Accord” into Google, and your site were to show up in the top results for organic listings (or natural non-sponsored listings) this would be an instance of utilizing proper search engine optimization tactics in most cases.

PPC: Pay-Per-Click advertising is when a marketer pays a program such as Google Adwords to display his ad in the paid results of a search on Google when a prospect searches for a specific search term. The marketer is charged a fee every time someone clicks on the ad that is displayed. Marketers can also elect to have their ads displayed on other web sites that allow Adwords to be shown (known as site targeting).

CPA: CPA stands for Cost Per Action. This is when a marketer pays an advertiser only when a given action is taken; such as when a lead is generated for the marketer. The benefit to the marketer is that they do not pay unless a result is rendered for their business. Unlike Pay-Per-Click, where the advertiser pays every time their ad is clicked, with CPA, the marketer only pays when a lead or sale is generated, regardless of clicks. As an internet marketer yourself, you can get paid to generate leads for other marketers using CPAs. For instance, if a travel company needs people to request a free travel info guide, you can direct people toward that offer and get paid per every lead, regardless of whether or not the prospect actually buys something.

CTR: Your Click-Through-Rate is the ratio of times your PPC ad is displayed and to the number of times it is actually clicked on by a prospect. Many things can impact CTR such as ad quality, keyword targeting, etc.

Web 2.0: According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as socialnetworking sites, wikis, and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. The term gained currency following the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use webs.

Social Networking: Emphasis on the creation and building of online social networks for people interested in sharing experiences and meeting similar people. Such sites include MySpace and FaceBook. These sites can be used for marketing purposes in ways that do not require to marketer to spam or do otherwise undesirable marketing practices that annoy the community.

Social Bookmarking: According to Wikipedia, Social bookmarking is a way for Internet users to store, organize, share and search bookmarks of web pages. In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, but depending on the service’s features, may be saved privately, shared only with specific people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, via a search engine, or even randomly.

Social News: Social news sites allow for the submission of your own news stories (from a blog, etc.) or those of others. In many cases there can be more of a direct traffic SEO benefit from the new content itself when submitting to social news sites vs. just bookmarking a site or link.

Web 2.0 Marketing: Using the above stated kinds of Web 2.0 platforms to market your message and also to build SEO friendly links to your web sites. Examples would include bookmarking your URL’s with services stated above or submitting your blog stories to social news sites.

Niche Marketing: Niche marketing is the process by which a marketer seeks out and markets to a particular segment of buyers to sell products and services. For instance, Dog Training is a common example. A niche marketer would pick a specific niche such as Dog Training to which to market his products and services. Many niche marketers are in several niches ranging in market size. Often times, niche marketers will also “niche down” to market to more specific interests such as German Shepherd Training, etc. A niche marketer will usually market different forms of products ranging from digital download, to physical delivery, to services, or even creating and selling leads to various vendors within the given niche.

Article Marketing: The method of marketing where a marketer writes or has written articles surrounding a particular subject matter. The articles are then submitted to various article directories online such as www.ezinearticles.com, www.goarticles.com, www.articlecity.com, etc. The point is to gain website traffic from readers of the articles in the directories themselves and to help with Search Engine ranking for SEO campaigns. Viral Marketing- Viral marketing is essentially a form of word of mouth marketing. This is where your product or message is relayed in such a way that it gets people talking for you. On the internet, the value of viral marketing can become immense because of the ease of communication. A basic example of viral marketing may include an email that gets forwarded around to millions of people with some unique or funny cartoon or message in it. Viral marketing can also be used with other mediums such as video. By implementing certain tools within a website or message, a marketer can more easily initiate the start of a viral campaign. This could be something as simple as including a “please tell a friend” signature to an email or implementing “tell-afriend” software scripts which create makes it even easier for the user to virally share your message.

Integration Marketing: This is the mixing of one or more marketing campaigns into one another. For example, let’s say we both have websites that sell products. If, at my “thank you page” after ordering I have a message for my customer to check out your products and include a link for them to click on, that would be an example of integration marketing. In most cases, you would do that same for me at the end of your ordering process or at some other place within your sales process.

Forced Continuity: This is when you get a prospect into your sales funnel with a free or low cost front-end product (such as a CD of DVD, etc.). Often the prospect will pay a small shipping and handling fee up front and be given a trial period for a subscription or membership. After the given trial period has passed, the prospect then starts to get billed usually monthly to continue the subscription or membership.

Merchant Account: According to Wikipedia, a merchant account is a specialized bank account issued by a merchant processing bank that allows a business to accept credit cards (primarily Visa and MasterCard), debit cards, gift cards and other forms of payment cards. Further, for internet marketers, especially those just starting out, a great alternative to a conventional merchant account is a merchant account through PayPal. There are many pros involved with getting a merchant account through PayPal. One of which is the speed and lack of hassle that it takes to set one up. However, having a more conventional merchant account, such as one available through authorize.net, allows for advantages over PayPal, especially as your business starts to grow.

cPanel: The Web Host Control Panel is a graphical web hosting panel that makes administration of websites easy and eliminates much of the confusing technical mumbo-jumbo. cPanel is actually a software program by cPanel, Inc.

DNS: Domain Name Servers. Think of it as the “pointer” from the domain name registrar (such as GoDaddy, etc.) to the web host.

Script: A term for software used on the internet written in a specific language such as php, perl, JavaScript, etc. Examples would be membership site software scripts, WordPress, Joomla, or stuff like tell-a-friend scripts.

Hosting: Web hosting is a service that allows web pages to be displayed on the web. Web host services allow you space and internet connectivity to display your pages or websites online.

Re-seller Hosting Account: A re-seller hosting account allows you to host many domains usually up to the bandwidth and disk space limitations allowed. With a re-seller account, you are leasing the master hosting account and you can also sell web hosting under your own brand to others and charge them a monthly fee to host their sites.

Dedicated Server: This is an entire server at a web host company. Instead of just shared space with your account and those of others, you have the entire server dedicated to you. It allows for greater flexibility, options, and control. However, it is more costly and usually not necessary for those just starting out with internet marketing.