A Glossary Of Internet Marketing Terminology
It’s a work in progress…
I’ll try to add to this glossary daily. Please comment if you have a definition you’d like to see included and, if you can, include the definition! I appreciate your help.
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AdSense
Developed by Google, AdSense allows a webpage owner to place code on his or her pages, which will display Google ads relevant (hopefully) to the content of the page the ads are displayed on. If a visitor to an AdSense enabled page clicks on an ad, the owner of the AdSense account, who is typically also the page owner, is paid for the click.
AdSense works best with very content rich sites. As a result, many have attempted to build automatic AdSense sites which, through RSS or other automated feed mechanisms, attempt to automatically create content in an attempt to attract clicks for AdSense ads. These sites typically offer very little useful content and, as a result, don’t normally rank well in Google search results, meaning that few will actually see the site (defeating the purpose of creating the site in the first place).
If you are going to use AdSense, it is best to concentrate on creating content and site structure that fulfills the needs of the people you want to attract to the site. This is what Google is looking for to satisfy relevance and quality criteria and, all things being equal, should result in your site gaining good exposure. Then, if you wish to include AdSense ads, to generate some potential cash flow, you stand a much better chance of having those ads seen and clicked.
AdWords
Created by Google, AdWords is a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising service. As with other PPC services, such as Yahoo and Microsoft Searches, Google AdWords allow advertisers to build “campaigns”, which display ads on Google’s Search network, on it’s Content network, or on both.
A campaign is built around “Ad Groups”, which are categories that focus on one or more very tightly associated keywords that define the subject of the ad that is created for that ad group. For example, if a person is advertising tennis equipment, one ad group might focus on tennis shoes, where as another will focus on tennis rackets, a third on tennis balls, and so on.  The overall campaign may be about tennis equipment, but the goal of the ad groups are to match as exactly as possible the type of search that a potential buyer will enter , or, if the ad is to be placed on the Google content network, that the ad will be extremely relevant on an AdSense user’s page concerning that content (i.e. a site about tennis shoes).
The attractive aspect of AdWords, and PPC advertising in general, is that the advertiser pays only for clicks on his or her ads, not for the impressions that those ads receive. This can result in the ad being seen by, literaly millions of potential customers and, in a very short span of time.
The trick in using AdWords is in creating campaigns that 1) satisfy Google’s criteria for ad placement (relevance, quality, etc.), 2) attract the attention of potential buyers, and 3) that work cost effectively for the advertiser.
AdWords can be the quickest and easiest way to get the word out about your business, BUT, unless done properly can result in extremely high costs for little or no profit. Therefore, AdWords campaigns are not to be entered into haphazardly. Seek training and the advice of professionals.
Affiliate
One who markets a product, or products, typically not their own, on a commission basis.
Affiliate Marketing
The online business strategy of marketing the product or products of others on a commission basis.
Affiliate Network
An organization that catalogs and (typically) manages affiliate campaigns for companies that wish to market their products or service through affiliate marketers.
Benefit
A benefit answers the question “What’s In It For ME?”, and should, in most cases, be the focus of your advertising. By telling people what your product will do for them, instead of simply listing features, you are not leaving it to them to work out, for themselves, what the benefits are. If a product has benefit, tell them what it is. If it doesn’t, why would you want to sell it and, more importantly, why would you or anyone else want to buy it?
Call To Action
The part of your advertising and marketing efforts where you ask the prospect to take some action.
This might be asking them to purchase your product or service or it could be asking them to leave you their contact information (usually, in exchange for something of value).
This action is the intended result of one or more phases of your marketing plan, and all of your marketing, up to this point, should have been focused on having them perform this particular action. The call to action is an explicit, unambiguous instruction to the prospect that indicates 1) exactly what you want them to do, 2) exactly how they are to go about doing it and, 3) exactly what they’ll get when they do.
Campaign
Also known as an advertising campaign, it is the full and synergistic effort of marketing that leads from first point of contact with a prospect (usually through an ad of some kind), through to the Call to Action and, potentially, beyond (as in a multi-phase marketing plan).
Capture Page
A web page that, as the name implies, is designed to capture some information from a visitor. This is most often the visitor’s contact information (name, email address, phone number, etc). The capture page is typically the target of a phase of your advertising campaign, and you will likely create (or have created for you), over time, many different capture pages in your marketing efforts.
Capture pages are also often referred to as squeeze pages, the name being derived from the analogy of squeezing the prospect’s information from them, much like squeezing water from a sponge.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
The number of people who have clicked on your ad versus the number of impressions, expressed as a percentage. For example, if your ad receives 100 impressions and 2 people click on the ad, the ad would have a CTR of 2%.
A high CTR is important in terms of ranking, especially where Google is concerned, but does not guarantee a high conversion rate. It is, therefore, important that the page that an ad leads to is highly relevant to the expectation that the ad is building. If you offer something free, for example, you might find that you get a high CTR (people looking for the free thing), but if you make it difficult to claim the free item, once the person arrives at your landing page, you will find that your conversion rates are not in-line with your CTR.
Continuity Program
A program or product, such as a monthly membership, with a continual, recurring charge to your customer.
Conversion
The desired result of your marketing campaign, a conversion is accomplished when your prospect takes the action that your campaign has been leading to. This action might be the purchase of a product or simply the fill-in of the prospects contact information. Regardless of the action taken, the prospect has “converted” from being just a prospect to being a customer or member of your list.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of prospects or visitor that convert. For example, if you have 1000 visitors to a capture page, and 10 of them take action and fill in their contact information, the capture page has a conversion rate of 10/1000, or, 1%.
Copy
The content that is designed to deliver your marketing message. Copy is often described as “Selling with Words”. It is the function of your copy to persuade the prospect, through a compelling dialog, to convert by taking the action you are promoting.
Copy Writing
The process of creating copy. The skills involved in copy writing are much sought after and valuable. Copy writing has been referred to by some as the “Million Dollar Skill”, due to the fact that great copy can result in extremely successful sales campaigns, and is considered to be a “must develop” skill for all marketers.
Copy Writer
One who creates copy.
Direct Sales
A distribution process where by an organization does not employ an in-house sales force, but which has, instead, opted to use independent distributors as their sales vehicle. The distributor is an independent commercial entity who takes on the burden of marketing and promoting the product or service for the parent organization. For this they are paid a commission.
Direct Sales shares similarities with Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), in that a distributor may choose to recruit other distributors, building a downline of sub-distributors, and earning commission from their sales as well. However, unlike MLM, where the emphasis is typically on the creation of the downline, and where the downline may be unlimited in depth, a Direct Sales organization normally emphasizes success in terms of product sold by a distributor directly, or through a much shallower downline (typically no more than one or two levels deep). As a result of this emphasis, commissions earned for a direct sale are typically much higher than commission earned off of a sale made by a sub-distributor. In addition, because direct sales commissions are high, and downline levels are shallow, there is less chance of a distributor’s business being irreparably damaged should his or her downline quit or move to another opportunity. The distributors “residual” income will suffer, but their direct income will not be effected.
One other important difference between Direct Sales and MLM is the perceived legitimacy of the two business models. While MLM has, in some cases, earned a somewhat sullied reputation, Direct Sales is, for the most part, considered to be a more legitimate business opportunity. This is largely due to the fact that many MLM systems seem to have either no actual product, or a very intangible product, outside of the business opportunity itself. Most Direct Sales organizations, on the other hand, while promoting the business opportunity, also have very legitimate products that a distributor may successfully build a business around, without the need for a large downline.
Drip or Drip On
The process of continuing contact with a prospective or existing customer, usually of an automated nature, most often through the use of an email autoresponder system. This practice is intended to keep you and/or your company fresh in your prospect or customer’s mind, and to help you build a relationship with them over time. The idea is that you will “drip” information out to them, on a regular or semi-regular basis, that will provide them with value and, which will help to build a reputation helpful assistance and trust for you and your business. For this practice to be successful, the information you are dripping must be of actual value and, while promotional messages may be used occassionally, the majority of your drips must be for the benefit of the recipient, and completely free of obligation.
Drop Ship
To have a product shipped, by the manufacturer or distributor, directly to your customer once they have purchased from you.
This form of delivery allows a business to concentrate on the promotion and sale of products without the need to handle, store or ship product. A retailer, who is taking advantage of drop shipping, which is offered by the distributor, is often charged a small fee for the drop shipment. There are two forms of drop shipping that are typically offered. Regular drop shipping, where the manufacturer or distributor is known (through packing documentation or package labeling) to the end customer, or “Blind” drop shipping, where the retailer’s identity is known to the customer, but the shipper’s identity is hidden. Blind drop shipping is often preferred by online retailers as it makes their company appear larger and more legitimate, due to the implied product handling.
eCommerce
Short for Electronic Commerce, eCommerce describes any business which is run, primarily, by electronic means. This typically refers to online or Internet based businesses, but may also apply to traditional “brick and mortar” businesses who incorporate electronic business processes, such as online promotion and/or sales.
Funnel (See Sales Funnel)
Feature
A characteristic of a product or service. For example, a feature of a laptop computer is the size of it’s screen. Another feature is it’s battery life. A feature of a magazine subscription is the number of issues delivered in a given period.
When writing sales copy, it’s important to distinguish between features and benefits. Features are useful when directly comparing one or more items, however, it is the benefit derived from a feature or set of features that are more likely to convince a prospective customer to buy.
Headline
The relatively short, first, attention grabbing text of an ad, sales letter or other promotional material.
The purpose of the headline is to grab the reader’s attention and convince them to continue reading.
The headline is one of the most important parts of any ad or promotional piece and is said to “sell” the reader on the rest of the content. If the headline does it’s job, the reader will continue to read. If not, they may well give up and move on.
Keyword
A descriptive word or short phrase, a keyword is used to index for categorization and retrieval. In Internet marketing, keywords are most often associated with search advertising, such as with Google AdWords.
Landing Page
The page of your website that a viewer will first arrive at when they follow a link from your advertising. For example, if you create an ad that asks the reader to click a link, such as www.mysite.com/pageone.html, that page will be the landing page arrived at from that ad.
The purpose of the landing page is to continue your marketing. Most often the landing page will ask the reader to leave their contact information or to take some additional action that leads them further along your marketing path.
Lead
A potential customer for your business. A lead is considered to be the lifeblood of many online businesses because without leads, you have no one to market to.
Leads may be purchased or self-generated.
Self-generated leads are typically created by placing ads, which entice a reader to visit your landing or squeeze page and fill in their contact information. At this point, they become a lead for your business.
Purchased leads are generated in the same way, except that you do not place the ad or create the capture page. The lead generation company does this and you simply purchase the leads from them.
Of the two, self-generated leads are the preferred kind for numerous reasons. Perhaps the most compelling reason is the fact that the majority of purchased leads will not be exclusive to you. They may be sold to many individuals and, as a result, are more diluted and likely to be of less quality than leads you generate yourself.
Multi-Level Marketing
A form of marketing that makes use of distributors who are responsible for the promotion and sale a particular products or services. Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) emphasizes the creation of multiple levels of distributors, each of which pays a commission to the distributor or distributors above them in various payout schemes and scenarios.
In MLM, it is the creation of your downline that is often the most emphasized part of the business. Your downline is the number of people you bring into the business and, in turn, the number of people they bring in.
With most MLM payment schemes, the depth (and sometimes the breadth) or your downline determines how much you will make, and the actual products or services that the parent company offers for sale often become of secondary concern.
Network Marketing
A form of marketing that involves marketing products or services through networks of distributors. Two forms of network marketing are Direct Sales and Multi-Level Marketing.
Of the two, Multi-Level Marketing is often associated with pyramid schemes and other less reputable forms of marketing, where as Direct Sales is often thought of as a more legitimate form of network marketing. This is due to the areas of emphasis placed in the two business models.
In MLM, the emphasis is typically placed on the creation of vast downlines of distributors, each of whom contribute to the success of the people above them (their upline). Often, the emphasis on this part of the business is so great that the business opportunity itself becomes the main product. As such, there is little percieved value in any products or services that the company supplies and they are regarded as simple excuses for the continued promotion of the business opportunity. Depending on the company, this perception may or may not be valid.
In the Direct Sales model, on the other hand, while the building of a downline is important (and the top producers do build large downlines), it is usually not the main focus of the organization. The products or services themselves are the companies focus and the building of a downline is of secondary importance. Due to this emphasis on product rather than downline, Direct Sales downlines tend to be smaller, with fewer levels of payout available. Direct product or service sales, therefore, are able to provide aviable income stream for an individual distributor, placing less empahsis or dependance on the creation of a large downline.
One-Time-Offer (OTO)
A form of persuasion in marketing, the one-time-offer is designed to entice a prospective purchaser of a product or service by playing to that prospects fear of losing the benefit that the product or service being offered may have. The one-time-offer is often in the form of bonuses, reduced pricing or some other offer that, if passed by, will never be offered again.
In marketing, “fear of loss” is a very strong purchasing motivation for most people. As a result, the one-time-offer is a very successful marketing tool as it plays to this fear quite effectively in most cases.
Opt In
The act of voluntarily or actively asking to be placed on a mailing list, or some other automated marketing system, in order to receive information or offers.
Most online marketers will attempt to build a list of people that they can send information and offers to. In order to avoid accusations of unauthorized solicitation (spamming) the marketer will ask a prospective customer to “opt-in” to a mailing list. By voluntarily giving his or her contact information, and being placed on the opt-in list, the prospect is permitting the marketer to make contact and is implying a willingness to receive materials from that marketer.
Opt Out
The act of requesting to be removed from a mailing list or other automated marketing system. A person may opt out of a system by informing the marketer that they no longer wish to receive materials from them. This is often accomplished by clicking an opt out link in emails sent by the marketer, or by sending an email requesting removal from the list.
Pre-Headline
A short line of text, preceding the headline of a marketing message, that is designed to pre-qualify the reader.
The pre-headline is often used to further qualify a reader and helps the reader decide whether the rest of the marketing message will be of interest to them. This, in turn, helps to ensure that those who continue to read the marketing material are more “qualified” because the have made it past the filtering provided by the pre-headline.
For example, a pre-headline that states “To all those who suffer insomnia”, will filter the message and should result in only those who suffer insomnia to continue reading. As a result, they should be more likely, and valuable, candidates for the rest of the marketing message.
Quality Score
Most typically associated with pages displayed via Google search, quality score determines, through a non-disclosed process, the ranking or placement on the search results pages. Typically, it is the ads with a high quality score that place near the top of the pages while ads with lower quality scores place further down in the results.
This is also true for paid advertising (via Google AdWords), where paid ads, with higher quality scores, rank higher in the search results pages than do those with lower quality scores.
While Google does not disclose the actual algorithm used to calculate quality scores, the following article describes quality scoring in some detail: http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10215
Relevance
In the context of Internet marketing, the term relevance relates most directly to how your site will place in Google search results. Google’s search and ranking algorithms are designed to provide a searcher with the most relevant experience possible. That is, that the results that the searcher sees first (those at the top of the results page) are the most relevant to what they are searching for.
In order for your site to rank well on Google search results, your site must provide relevant information for the keywords that led a searcher to your site.
Sales Funnel
A process that is designed to increase revenues, by guiding prospective buyers through purchase stages. The sales funnel typically starts by making an offer the will appeal to the widest possible audience, such as a free offer for valuable information, in exchange for their contact information. This represents the wide, top of the funnel.
Once the prospect has entered the top of the funnel additional offers, of increasing cost and value, are sent to them over time. Some people, but not all, will accept these offers and make purchases. As the process continues, the funnel narrows, as fewer people (typically) will continue to purchase as the cost of the offers increase.
A good sales funnel process will continue indefinitely, making offers to prospective buyers at whatever stage of the funnel they currently occupy.
Sponsor
In the network marketing, direct sales and multi-level marketing business models, a sponsor is one who has recruited another into the business opportunity. A sponsor is typically responsible (to a greater or lesser degree, depending upon the business) for helping the new recruit become successful through some form of mentorship. The sponsor is typically motivated to do this because of the potential for commissions earned on sales made by each of his or her recruits.
Squeeze Page (See Capture Page)
Sub-Headline
Most often used on squeeze pages or product sales pages, the sub-headline typically follows immediately, or nearly immediately, after the main headline. The purpose of the sub-headline (also know as sub-heading or sub-head) is to further draw the reader into the page content by acting as a transition between the headline and the body of the page. The sub-heading helps to establish a smooth and compelling transition from the attention grabbing headline, to the more detailed body content, and prepares the reader for what the body content will provide.
Unique Selling Position (USP)
A unique selling position is what most clearly differentiates your offers from those of your competition, and makes your offer unique in the eyes of prospective buyers. A classic example of a successful USP has been used by the Dominoes Pizza chain. “Pizza delivered hot in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free” made Dominoes unique among the dozens of other pizza establishments in any given market.
By finding a unique selling position (sometimes also called a unique selling proposition) you can successfully compete in even very saturated markets.
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