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An unrestricted, generic top-level domain (gTLD) for commercial purposes.
Initially intended for network infrastructures, it is now an unrestricted, generic top-level domain (gTLD).
A method of testing the effectiveness of an advertisement. A comparative assessment, it involves comparing two versions of keywords, advertisements, landing pages and other variables. The best performing version is determined and implemented.
A component of a Web page. It consists of the top part of the screen that is visible prior to scrolling. In an advertising context, Above the Fold spaces are more highly priced than Below the Fold due to their obvious visibility.
Gaining authorisation to use a special part or area of a service. Website access is restricted to a set of users who have a valid subscription and require an access name (login ID) and password to use some products / services.
A scripting language based on ECMAScript. Originally designed by Macromedia, ActionScript is now owned by Adobe Systems and is used for developing rich internet applications and websites / software that use the Adobe Flash platform.
The total number of times a text or banner advertisement is clicked by the user.
Combined under one heading, these advertisements encompass different ads for a single product or service.
The total number of advertisement impressions available on a website in a given period. This calculation is based on the unique page views that a website receives and the ad. space / types on the page.
This task involves scheduling online advertisements in order to appear at different times of the day. It is based on factors such as the targeting of users and budget.
Microsoft adCenter is the search advertising division of Microsoft, providing a pay-per-click advertising service to advertisers.
A set of software components primarily used for accessing and modifying data stored in relational database systems.
Adobe Systems, Inc. is a U.S. based software company. Founded in 1982, its product range includes the likes of Acrobat, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.
An Adobe Systems, Inc. Web development application. Originally created by Macromedia and later acquired by Adobe, Dreamweaver uses built-in code base and WYSIWYG HTML editor for easy and quick Web page development. It also includes support for technologies like CSS, JavaScript, SWF and frameworks such as ASP, ColdFusion and PHP.
An image and graphics editing program from Adobe Systems, Inc.
A revenue sharing service for website publishers. Part of the Google content network, AdSense displays advertisements created using Google AdWords.
A complex method of searching online that involves the use of multiple keywords and parameters.
A theme-based series of advertising messages appearing across different media channels. In an Internet marketing context, a campaign consists of a set of parameters that directs the advertising (such as budget, location, geo-targeting, language and format).
Consisting of a network of websites with ad. inventory and advertisers that act as intermediaries between the two parties (i.e. the advertiser and the owner of the website on which the advertisement is to be placed). Advertising networks provide tools and infrastructure for ad. distribution, tracking, billing and payment processing.
A type of software supported by advertisements. Adware generally collects and uses identifiable information stored on personal computers to display targeted advertisements. Adware is not considered safe because of its self-executable nature and potential to collect and transfer personal information that can be misused.
A pay-per click advertising service owned and operated by Google, the advertiser selects keywords and the maximum price to be paid for each ad. click. This price is based on a given keyword and other variables (such as the geographical area in which ads need to be displayed). The AdWords system compares all bids for a keyword and then displays ads ranked according to the bid and other factors (such as ad. relevance).
Typically working on a pay-for-performance model, an affiliate is a sales and marketing partner that promotes and sells products or services offered by affiliate merchants.
A person who manages affiliate programs and affiliates. Tasks might include setting up of affiliate programs ; tracking sales ; processing commissions ; and , communication with affiliates.
A form of Internet marketing where sales of the merchant's products are assisted by the affiliate (i.e. partner site). This involves carrying ads on the affiliate's site and linking, thereby directing traffic – potential customers – straight to the merchant's site. Affiliates typically receive payment by the merchant on a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) or a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.
Involving a network of intermediaries that provide the merchant with the tools needed to conduct an affiliate marketing campaign. They connect the affiliate and merchant, typically providing additional services to ensure a successful campaign.
AJAX – asynchronous JavaScript and XML – is a client-side Web development technology used to create rich and interactive Web applications.
A subsidiary of Amazon.com that tracks and reports traffic metrics for websites. Alexa collects Web traffic data through its toolbar that is available for use with browsers (such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox).
Used by search engines to assess and rank a website, algorithms determine where a listing will be placed in natural or organic search results and pay-per-click advertising results. Involving a range of variables, the algorithm is a complex formula.
A HTML tag designed to accompany non-text elements on Web pages. Typically rendered on a mouse-over or when non-text elements cannot be displayed. An important SEO tool, the Alt Tag describes non-text content with keywords. In effect, this ensures the content is able to be indexed and searched, thereby enhancing search engine optimisation.
An e-commerce company that was launched in 1995. Originally an online bookstore, Amazon.com has now diversified into a range of products.
Involving the study of data surrounding website traffic and trends, the goal is to improve lead generation and conversion. Analysis is performed with a variety of analytical tools (such as Google Analytics).
Also referred to as Web Analytics or Web Metrics, this consists of data relating to website performance. Used by website owners and webmasters, the data provides information on where modification, improvement and increased return on investment can occur. It can include such data as the amount of traffic that has visited the site, the number of pages viewed, at what time it was viewed and the search path of visitors. The data is provided by search engine service providers or obtained via commercial analytics tools.
A HTML element denoted by <a> ... </a>. When used with the "href" attribute, it becomes a hyperlink pointing to another site or a document within the same site.
Text that has an embedded link to a page on the website or another website. It is the clickable, visible text in a hyperlink and is positioned between <a > and </a>. The anchor text signals to users and search engines what the page being linked to is about.
An open source mobile operating system and application platform. Initially developed by Google and later by a group of telecom, hardware and software companies called the Open Handset Alliance.
API – Application Programming Interface – is a software interface that consists of formalised software calls and routines for accessing system services or software libraries.
Another name for an advertisement impression or one advertisement served to a single user.
Usually written in Java, this small program runs on a larger application such as a Web browser.
With the goal of directing traffic to a website and providing search engine optimisation, Article Marketing involves distributing articles to various directories. Providing information on a certain topic, articles contain a link to the author's website and are a source of SEO-friendly incoming links.
The practice of submitting articles to directories. This can occur manually or can be automated via software. Manual submission is preferable, as automated submissions are often viewed as spam.
ASP – Active Server Pages – is the predecessor to the ASP.NET framework from Microsoft. ASP was a server-side scripting engine used to create dynamic Web pages.
Online, this refers to the enclosure of another entity that is attached to a message (such as a file, image or video).
In computing, audio refers to a set of digital code that is converted into analogue sound.
A blog of audio files (such as MP3 files featuring conversations, music and speeches).
From an Internet marketing perspective, an auditor is either a person or software program that audits Web pages and content for search engine performance. The main role of the auditor includes checking and reporting on website navigation, broken links, missing meta tags, HTML errors, etc.
A method for establishing the identity of a user. Typically related to accessing, restricting or providing privileges to the user in relation to computer programs and Web applications.
Using software to submit websites to directories. Not a preferable method of submission as many directories treat automated submissions as spam.
A program that automatically sends email messages without manual intervention including sending newsletters, promotional messages, tutorial series, etc.
This refers to the average number of pages viewed by a user during a single session on a site.
The ARV – Average Response Value – is the average value of each click in terms of revenue generation and is calculated by dividing total revenue by total clicks.
B2B – Business-to-business – is a term used to denote commercial transactions and information exchanges between businesses.
B2C – Business-to-consumer – involves commercial transactions and communication exchange between businesses and the end users of their products / services (i.e. the customer or consumer).
B2G – Business-to-government – is a business to government exchange. Typically involving marketing activities that focus on selling goods and services to government agencies.
A website background referring to a colour or image that acts as a canvas for placing blocks of content or multimedia. White backgrounds are preferred in Web 2.0. From a technical perspective, the background includes the processes that act as enablers in delivering end output and cannot be seen by the user.
This is an incoming link to a Web page from another website. Extremely valuable in search engine optimisation, backlinks improve site ranking. The search engine associates the number of quality backlinks it has / popularity of the site with it being a "good" website.
The rate of data transmission in a given period over a communication channel. Bandwidth is often expressed in bits per second (bps) or kilobits per second (kbps).
A banner advertisement or Web banner is a type of online advertisement. Typically embedded into commercial websites, banner ads are linked to the advertiser's site. Often employing animation, sound or video, the standard size of a full banner (also known as an impact banner) is 468 x 60 pixels, while the size of a half banner is typically 234 x 60 pixels.
This is the use of unethical or illegal methods to achieve or improve website search engine optimisation. If caught, which eventually occurs because of improved search engine algorithms and detection tools, the website risks temporary or permanent banning from search engines. Black Hat is the opposite of White Hat SEO. See also Keyword Density.
Black Hat Tactics are used to achieve higher rankings in search results. Regarded as unethical by search engines and penalised, examples of such activities include keyword stuffing, doorway pages and cloaking.
To ban or remove a site or Web page from a search index due to the undertaking of unethical practice in order to attain higher search engine rankings.
Short for Web Log, a blog is a website maintained as an online journal or log on any particular subject. Typically presented in reverse chronological order, they are popular forums for the expression of personal viewpoints and business / corporate marketing. Positive comments on blogs by members can greatly help business (and vice versa).
This refers to a person who writes and publishes content using a blogging service. Since a blog is assumed to represent the personal views of a writer, the blogger often plays a critical role in the success of the blog. Blogger is also the brand name for Google's online blog publishing platform which provides an interface for people to easily create and publish blogs for free.
The act of writing and publishing content on a blogging platform.
Referring to a group of bloggers who also physically reside in a similar geographical location. Due to parallel interests, they also interact in the physical world.
The element that defines a Web document's body and contains all of the contents in a document.
A tag that defines the body of the HTML document (such as the text, images, lists, tables, etc.).
Also known as favourites, a bookmark is a saved Web page location (URL). Used to easily access / locate a site in the future, bookmarks are created and retrieved using a Web browser. Similar to a physical bookmark to help the reader / Internet user find their way back to the page they were on.
Is short for Robot and often refers to search engine spiders, spiderbots or Web crawlers. Bots are software programs that browse the Web and collect information. Mostly used to index Web pages for search engines, Web robots are employed by spammers to collect email addresses (sometimes illegally).
An undelivered email message with an error notification from the receiving server to the sender.
A hierarchy of navigational links displayed on a Web page. Breadcrumbs facilitate easy website navigation for users and search engines.
A link that points to a permanently unavailable resource such as a Web page or a Web server.
Software used to retrieve and render pages and files from the World Wide Web (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome).
Using a Web browser, this refers to the act of exploring specific areas or subjects on the World Wide Web.
A Bulletin Board System (BBS) is an electronic discussion and announcement system that allows users to post messages, start and participate in discussions, upload and share files.
Keywords that are specific to a business and are used to promote products or services offered by that business online (e.g. consulting, hospital, restaurant, etc.).
Refers to a virtual control button displayed on a computer screen. A user interface element, the button provides a simple way to initiate an event; search for a query; interact with a dialogue box; and, confirm an action.
One of the most popular programing languages. Developed in 1972 at Bell Laboratories by Dennis Ritchie, C was originally designed to implement system software, allowing different components of a computer to operate together. It has also been used in software application development.
C#, pronounced as C Sharp, is a programing language developed by Microsoft within the .NET framework. C# is a multi-paradigm and covers imperative, functional, generic, object and component-oriented programing.
A mid-level programing language drawing features from both low and high level programing languages. C++ is an extension of the C language and was developed in 1979 by BjarneStroustrup at Bell Laboratories.
Involves commercial transactions and communication exchange between customers and is facilitated by a third party (i.e. customer to customer). Examples include eBay and Craig's List.
A line of transmission that acts as a path for data to travel from one location to another. Cables used in Internet and computers are made of optical fibre.
The saved version of a Web page in a search engine's database. A storage area for frequently accessed information, search engines use caches to store data previously retrieved against search queries. This cached data is much faster to serve up against fresh queries than retrieving data afresh from the Net. Google, for instance, can retrieve older cached versions of Web pages which may have since changed.
A statement or set of words presented in a Web page or email that encourages the user to take action such as visiting a Web page or making a purchase.
Related to sales or advertising, a campaign consists of a series of planned and coordinated marketing activities. Campaign guidelines include such characteristics as the daily budget, geographic targeting, locations where the advertising will be displayed, content creation and performance tracking.
A tag that describes the canonical relationship between redundant URLs. For example, a website may use URLs such as http://example.com, http://www.example.com and http://examples.com/index.html that all lead to the same page. Typically, search engines consider these as three different pages with duplicate content. However, because duplicate content can harm search engine rankings, it is important to tell the search engines not to index redundant versions of a page. Canonical tags inform search engines that a particular URL is a duplicate of a page that can be reached using another URL, thereby preventing the duplicate pages from being indexed.
These consist of websites that seek to balance the greenhouse gas emissions caused because of their operation. All servers, on which websites are hosted and run, emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon offset websites take steps to counteract their carbon emission (such as using energy efficient servers and funding green energy initiatives).
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) is a language that determines how elements are presented on a page and are written in markup languages such as HTML.
A website enabling real-time communication between users. A chat room is often identified by a certain theme and / or group of users with similar preferences.
The process of completing a transaction and making a payment on an e-commerce website.
Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, builds and sells communications and networking technology. Cisco is a multinational company, with its headquarters in California.
Citrix Systems provides virtualisation and remote access services for software applications delivered on the Internet or local networks. A Florida based company, Citrix commenced operations in 1989.
The act of clicking on a link in response to an advertisement.
Consisting of a service that enables the visitor to initiate a telephonic conversation with the seller to obtain additional information or to place an order.
The path a user navigates as they progress throughout the website. By recording the path taken, an evaluation of how a site is used can be undertaken.
The CTR – Click-through Rate – measures the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. It is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of users that clicked on the advertisement by the total number of ad. impressions. For example, if a banner, PPC ad. or link was clicked on five times after it was shown 100 times, the CTR is 5%.
A computer script or program that is executed on the user's end by a Web browser. It is an important element in delivering dynamic content on Web pages based on user inputs.
The technique of displaying different versions of content to search engines and human visitors. Cloaking is used for manipulating search results by displaying keyword stuffed content to search engine spiders. Regarded as spamming by most search engines, cloaking can lead to a site being banned.
Consisting of the systematic arrangement of instructions in a computer program to achieve a certain objective. For example, specific code developed to deliver an error message when the user enters an incorrect password.
Annotations for programmers that assist understanding of the purpose of the code or code segments.
The act of writing code during the software development process.
Used to develop dynamic Web pages and Web applications that connect to databases, it is a rapid application development platform. Originally created by Joseph JJ and Jeremy Allaire, it was later acquired by Adobe through its acquisition of Macromedia in 2005. The platform comes with an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and its own scripting language called ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML).
Involves the placement of a company's communication equipment, such as servers, at a third party's site. Both space and services can be rented. Beneficial for companies as they are able to use equipment of choice and reliable setup is provided by the data centres (e.g. in regards to power, bandwidth and security).
Involving a setting or combination of colours to display different elements on a Web page (such as body text, links, headings or background).
A part of a database or data table which has one value attached to it within each row. Typically, each column in a database carries a label that is also called its column name. For example, in a company's payroll database, column names might be Employee ID, Name, Department and Gross Salary.
The CGI – Common Gateway Interface – is a protocol for interfacing a Web server with external applications. CGI defines the standard method for identifying, running commands and returning the output. For example, a Web form is filled out, submitted by the user and the result is processed through a CGI script.
The act of comparing different elements of a product or service before making a purchasing decision. A website tool that assists users when comparing features of a product or service (such as pricing and characteristics). For example, a comparison of similar mobile phones from the one manufacturer or price comparisons of similar mobile phones available for sale on different websites.
The Computin Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) was created in 1982 as a non-profit trade association. Providing professional certifications for the IT industry, some of which are accredited by the American National Standards Institute.
This refers to an opt-in that is confirmed by the subscriber. Typically, this is performed by clicking on a link in the confirmation email that is sent after completing a subscription request.
This is a website form that allows users to establish contact with the website publisher or customer service.
Information on a Web page that consists of text, images, multimedia, etc.
A computer application designed to make content creation, management and publishing easier. Popular content management systems include Drupal, Joomla and Typo3. Free and fee-based Content Management Systems are available.
A term that includes a wide array of activities that relate to the creation and sharing of online content. Used to communicate with existing and prospective customers, content marketing involves engaging with the customer base using highly relevant and valuable information. It is more effective than traditional marketing as it can be hypertargeted.
A network of websites that display advertisements on a revenue sharing basis.
A type of targeted advertising in which the advertisements displayed on the website are based on the content of the Web page (such as the keywords being targeted).
A percentage of users that undertake the intended action out of the total number of click-throughs. This could include making a purchase, requesting additional information or subscribing. For example, if five sales were generated from 500 clicks on an advertisement, the conversion rate would be 1%.
These are small text files stored on a computer for the purpose of managing sessions, visits and navigation (such as login details, preferences, shopping cart information, etc.).
The text output produced by copywriters, designed to induce purchase decision-making and encourage users to take action.
Where the original creator of the content has exclusive rights to republish, edit, repurpose and sell. It can refer to such content as video, music, graphics or text.
The art of writing promotional textual content and Web copy in order to advertise a product, service, business or individual.
A type of advertising in which the publisher of an advertisement is only paid when an intended action occurs (such as filling in a contact form, downloading an eBook or making a purchase).
CPC or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a very popular mode of affiliate marketing. Similar to cost-per-action, cost-per-click advertising, however, involves payment being made to the host site each time a visitor clicks on the advertisement.
A certificate or ticket that can be used online in order to obtain a financial discount while making a purchase.
A form of advertising in which the advertiser pays only for the leads generated.
The cost for showing 1000 advertisement impressions to website visitors. Payment is made regardless of the actions undertaken by the visitor.
A software program that browses the Web; reads the content on Web pages; and, stores it for indexing. See "Bot".
The act of linking pages within the same site or related content on two different sites.
A developed website that is based on unique specifications provided by the customer. It is in contrast to the websites that use standardised templates for text and image usage.
These refer to the transactions undertaken by a customer when buying or making payment for an item. Customer transactions are stored in databases and analysed to understand buying behaviours and sales trends. For example, a company can predict the seasonal effect on sales by recording customer transactions.
This activity typically involves the purchasing of domain names for the sole purpose of reselling at a later date or squatting with future malicious intention. It is the online equivalent to squatting in the physical world.
An important element in a Database Management System (DBMS), a data dictionary encompasses all details pertaining to data stored in the DBMS (such as the names of the databases, fields, files, number of records, etc.).
A method of transmitting data in a structured format from a source to other points of use. For example, in e-commerce, a data feed, in the form of a product feed, is used to transmit product details from inventory records to the website.
The process of retrieving potentially useful information stored in databases. Using statistical methods and structured search patterns, raw data is retrieved and converted into information that can be understood and used by humans.
A method used to define and analyse data requirements and the relationship between various elements of data and data structures.
The physical transfer of data using such methods as optical fibre, wireless communications systems, copper wires, storage media, etc. Measured in Kbps (kilobits per second), data transferred on the Internet refers to the quantity of data uploaded and downloaded from a website.
Consisting of a structured collection of interrelated records of information. For example, an employee information database contains names, addresses, identification numbers and dates of birth.
This involves the linking of internal pages of one site to related internal pages on another site.
Statistical information describing the characteristic features of users such as age, location, gender, education, household income, etc. Demographic data is one of the factors in deciding which advertisements should be targeted towards a specific user.
The process of Web page creation by selecting the components and their positioning on the page. This can involve the structured placement of text, links, menu, navigation and multimedia on different parts of a page.
A person or entity involved in designing the visuals and navigation of websites. The final output is generally delivered as a mock-up of pages in graphical format (PSD or Adobe Photoshop files) or HTML.
A project-centred process for developing a website or software. Typical steps in the Web development process include the analysis of customer requirements, creating specifications, design, development and testing.
A list of websites categorised according to business type or content theme. Directories are not search engines and do not categorise websites on the basis of keywords. The website's URL and contents are submitted to the Web directory and human editors review and include the website in the appropriate category. Pivotal to search engine optimisation, they provide valuable incoming links to websites. Examples of Web directories are Dmoz.org and Yahoo Directory.
A statement specifying the claims and rights of a person / entity, risks, waivers and uncertainty arising from different situations. Disclaimers are frequently used to delimit the rights and obligations of website content, information and services.
A Web application that allows users with similar interests to seek and provide help and ideas; post questions; and, initiate and contribute to discussions on topics of mutual interest. A discussion forum on the Web is an evolved form of the bulletin board traditionally used in universities and offices for posting announcements, notices and providing information.
DMOZ – also known as the Open Directory Project (ODP) – is a human reviewed, multilingual directory of websites. A listing on DMOZ is important for search engine optimisation as it has the potential to boost a website's ranking in search engines.
Typically referring to the last three letters in an Internet address after the final dot. For example, .com, .net, .org, .edu and .gov are all top level domains. A major method for categorising an Internet address, the domain indicates the type of organisation the entity belongs to. Other subsequent two letter domains, if used, indicate the country (such as .uk for the United Kingdom and .au for Australia).
The unique name that identifies a website. A domain name consists of the name of a website, a full stop, and then a top level domain such as .com. A domain name can consist of alphanumeric characters and hyphens. A single Web server can serve websites for multiple domain names; however, a single domain name can designate only a single machine.
The process of acquiring ownership of a domain name. Registered with local naming authorities, the service is provided by various ICANN approved providers (ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
The Domain Name System is a distributed database system that resolves an IP address in a domain name or vice versa. They make the process of accessing websites easier because numerical IP addresses are replaced with domain names. For example, the 202.126.234.2 IP address may resolve into abcd.com. By typing abcd.com into the browser, the DNS informs the host server that a user is requesting the content hosted at 202.126.234.2.
The DNS Server – Domain Name System (DNS) server – is a type of name server that stores DNS records such as addresses, name servers and mail exchanger records for a domain name. The primary function of a DNS server is to translate IP addresses into domain names using the stored database DNS records.
Services related to domain names and typically offered during and after the domain purchase process. These could include such services as Web hosting, email hosting and domain privacy protection.
A content management system and Web application development platform for building websites on Microsoft .NET technology. Written in VB.NET, DotNetNuke's community edition is distributed by the DotNetNuke Corporation as free and open-source software under BSD License. DotNetNuke also has a professional version with advanced features and support that requires a payment.
Data transfer from a remote computer or server to a local system such as a computer, CD or USB drive.
DSL or Digital Subscriber Line is a technology that transmits data over copper wires provided by a telephone network. DSL divides the frequencies in a telephone line into two types using a splitting system –one for the voice call and the other for data. This enables use of a single telephone line for both voice and data transmission.
ADSL or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is the most widely used form of DSL in consumer markets, providing faster data transmission. Able to offer faster transmission rates because of its ability to provide more bandwidth for data transfer in one direction. It is based on the assumption that the user does not require equal bandwidth in both directions at the same time.
Website content that changes based on a user's requests, actions and inputs. It also changes based on time and other conditions.
DHTML – Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language – is a set of technologies used to build dynamic, interactive and animated Web pages. Some of the technologies used as part of DHTML are HTML, JavaScript, CSS and Document Object Model (DOM).
A metric used by publishers that measures the average revenue generated by each user's click on an advertisement. Earnings per click is calculated by dividing the total earnings generated by the total number of clicks.
An auction site managed by eBay Inc. Based in San Jose, California, eBay allows users to buy and sell products online in an auction type marketplace. Sellers place their products on eBay for sale, while those interested in buying can place bids on listed products. Upon winning the auction, the buyer can make a payment to complete the purchase. The "Buy It Now" option bypasses the auction and a set price is paid.
A digital version of a book. These can include a digitised version of a traditional print formatted book or an original work. eBooks can be downloaded and read on computers or handheld devices such as mobile phones and PDAs.
Business that uses digital technologies for information sharing, communication and commerce. E-business encompasses all activities and processes of a business that can be automated or digitised.
Eclipse Trust Framework or ETF was the original name of the now popular Higgins Project. An open source framework for user identity management across different systems, it allows users to create a single digital identity (the i-Card). All existing profiles and identities are integrated and shared in a controlled and secure manner.
Commercial activities, such as buying and selling products and services, which engage the use of electronic media. It requires a website and online order processing and payment systems.
eCRM encompasses a range of activities that involves the use of different electronic mediums in order to manage relationships with customers. It uses the Internet and local networks, and includes such activities as sales force automation, reporting, client communication and marketing.
Elance.com is an online marketplace that connects freelance service providers with buyers. Typical services available for purchase on Elance include Web development, Web design, content writing, administrative assistance and Internet marketing.
Refers to electronic mail in the form of text files and graphic attachments. A type of messaging between Internet users that utilises unique email addresses for sending and receiving messages.
A type of signature that appears at the bottom of the message. It can include the sender's details, logo, images and any other accompanying text that the sender wants the receiver to read after delivery.
The section of an email containing information necessary for the identification and delivery of a message. The typical information fields in an email header include: the recipient's email address (To); the sender's email address (From); the message ID (an auto-generated ID); the subject; and, the date and time.
A direct marketing method that uses messaging to distribute information to both prospective and existing customers. Involving the collection of email addresses, users must be willing / provide permission in order to be sent promotional emails. In other words, recipients must be on an Opt-in List in order to avoid charges of spamming. Each email must also provide an option, link or instruction so that the recipient is able to unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time. An effective online marketing tool, as the business can continue to send out material without having to rely on the prospect returning.
Software that facilitates the sending out of email messages to a list of targeted recipients for the purpose of marketing.
A newsletter distributed using email to a list of subscribers. Newsletters differ from email marketing in a fundamental way – they provide informative content rather than just promotional messaging.
Promoting a product or service by sending direct email messages to a targeted list of customers.
Message templates used for specific purposes such as sending birthday wishes to a customer. Email templates used for newsletters and marketing messages include preset sections for areas relating to content, graphics, footers, background and font styles.
Data encryption can be defined as encoding or scrambling sensitive, confidential data in order to avoid unauthorised use. Encrypted data cannot be read and understood without decoding using an authorised decryption key.
The person who ultimately uses the product or service. This may not necessarily be the person who purchases and pays for the end product or service.
Websites that provide content related to topical themes surrounding the environment such as: environmental issues; alternative and renewable energy sources; energy conservation; and, green business and lifestyle.
A private network of computers that share information over the Internet with users external to the organisation. Typically used by businesses or universities, external stakeholders with whom the information is shared might include vendors, suppliers and customers.
A magazine in electronic format. Usually published on the Web or a local network.
An article directory that allows users to submit articles with a link back to their site. An important article marketing site due to its positive standing with the search engines.
A social networking site that allows users to connect with friends online and exchange information and media.
A website page dedicated to the anticipation of visitors' queries and the listing of answers. A valuable customer support tool and for building credibility and trust. The FAQ page also contributes to search engine optimisation.
The term used by Internet Explorer to describe a bookmark. Used to gain quick access to websites visited in the past. See Bookmark.
Making reference to areas that carry special content. Access to feature areas is sometimes limited to subscribers only and is not permissible for the normal website visitor.
A set of rules for systematically naming files saved on computers. A computer file typically has a name, then a full stop and then a file extension. Some applications and software, however, create automated names for files. For example, Web cameras attached to computers save the recorded version of a video session with the start or end date and time of session. By following these file naming conventions, searching and future retrieval is easier.
FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a standard protocol for transferring and sharing files over the Internet. It is based on client-server architecture and defines file / folder placement and navigation.
There are two types of users in the FTP environment – public and non-public. In a public setup, anyone is allowed to access files, the user name is set to anonymous, and the password is usually the email address. In a non-public setup, the users are assigned a unique ID and password.
An open source Web browser. Distributed free of cost by the Mozilla Corporation, it has the second largest share in the browser market after Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Developed by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as part of the Mozilla Project, the first version of Firefox was released in 2004.
A dedicated system that inspects incoming and outgoing network traffic. Usually an appliance or computer, the physical firewall denies or permits access based on a set of rules.
A software program designed to restrict unauthorised access to, and communication between, computers connected to the same or different networks. Firewalls are used by business to prevent Internet users from accessing internal networks. For example, firewalls are used for an intranet that is connected to the Internet.
An online message, post or response, such as those posted on social networking sites or discussion forums, which are hostile in nature and may trigger an offensive response.
An online interaction between users, such as in a forum or social networking site, that is hostile, abusive or insulting in nature.
An animated film clip that is created using Adobe Flash animation software. Used to deliver attractive content, flash animation is very popular. From the perspective of search engine optimisation, search engines once had difficulty indexing flash content. This problem, however, has been largely overcome in recent times by some search engines (e.g. Google).
An animated film distributed in Flash format. Files in this format carry a .swf extension and are often created with Adobe Flash animation software or any other software capable of creating such files.
A website menu created in Flash format.
This refers to the optimisation of websites built in Flash format. Typically quite difficult to optimise as the entire site is rendered as one Flash movie and each page does not possess a separate URL. With new technologies and advances in search engines, it is now becoming possible to index Flash websites.
An open source framework for creating cross-platform, rich Internet applications that are based on Flash. Developed by Adobe Systems, the Flex 3 SDK (Software Development Kit) is offered as an open source product under Mozilla Public License.
A place for text and images at the bottom of a Web page. The information provided in a footer generally includes such features as copyright information and navigational links.
A website feature that enables the user to retrieve a username where it has been forgotten.
A method of validating HTML forms for errors and empty fields prior to submitting to a server for processing.
Forms or Web forms allow users to fill in data in the provided fields. This is then sent to a server for processing upon submission. Some common forms used on websites include the Contact Us form; Sign-up form; and, Product order form.
A website that allows people with similar interests to initiate and participate in online discussions.
Frames refer to the parts of a Web page reserved for a particular purpose such as a navigational frame or content frame. There may be multiple frames within a Web page. From a search engine optimisation perspective, although frames do have specific website design advantages, most search engines cannot follow and index framed content. As per many experts, it is best to leave frames alone.
A larger section of software / Web application code that performs a specific task and is often independent of the remaining code. A function may also be called a routine, method or procedure.
An Internet term often used in chat. Stands for Got to Go.
Broad keywords or phrases used to define, search and identify information on a given topic. For example, dogs, clubs, hotels and air tickets are all general keywords.
Keywords or phrases that are used when searching for information in a limited geographical area. For example, "cheap hotels in New York" or "veterinary doctors in London" are geographic search phrases.
Refers to the act of searching for information that is linked / limited to a specific geographical area.
Targeting advertisement distribution and delivery on the basis of the geographical location of users and the use of geographic keywords. Geo targeting is used by advertisers to offer products or services within a particular location or region.
The practice of having your website indexed by search engines.
A computer storage unit that equals 1024 Megabytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes of data.
A search engine operated by Google. Based in Mountain View, California, Google is the leading search engine with an approximate 70% share of Internet searches performed worldwide.
The name of Google's pay-per-click (PPC) advertising service. The largest and most popular of all PPC programs on the Internet.
Google's Web analytics service, providing website usage data and information to website owners in an easy to interpret and understand format.
A web-based payment processing service run by Google. Used for making online purchase payments, Google Checkout is currently available for merchants in the U.S. and U.K. only.
A free Web browser that Google developed and distributes. Chrome was launched in 2008.
Refers to a change in website rankings due to an update in the Google index or change in algorithms.
A virtual globe and map application that provides satellite imagery of the earth's surface and oceans. Depending on the availability of images, it also shows 3D images of buildings and other structures.
Google's mapping service that uses satellite images to provide a 2D map view of several locations across the world. It also provides an API for creating map-based services such as route finders, GPS-type location services, and local business listing displays.
A free suite of Google tools offered to webmasters in order to optimise their website's presence and visibility on the Internet. It enables webmasters to undertake a range of activities including: submitting and checking sitemaps; checking / setting crawl rates; viewing the site's ranking; identifying keyword searches by visitors; and, examining click-through rates.
The name for Google's Web crawler or spider that browses the Web and collects site information for inclusion in Google's index. Google has several types of Web crawlers. Each one includes the term "Googlebot" or a variation. For example, GoogleBot-Image; 'Googlebot-Mobile/2.1; and, AdsBot-Google are Google Web crawlers. Googlebots are able to be directed by means of robots.txt files and Googlebot statistics can be examined through Google webmaster Tools (or other Web analytics tools).
Computer generated images displayed on the screen for conveying messages and information.
Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a format for bitmap images. Supporting up to 256 different colours from a 24-bit RGB colour space, GIF is widely used for Internet images. Especially suited to logos or images that have solid areas of colour.
Supplementary text placed at the beginning of a document before the body of the document.
Tags used to define headings on a Web page. From <h1> to <h6>, these six tags define headings in their respective order. H1 is the first and main heading.
Areas within an HTML page that are enclosed within the heading tags.
A request to the Web server by a user-agent. That is, a request by a Web browser, indexing program or search engine spider for a file (e.g. HTML page, image or a sound or video clip). Unless properly filtered, the number of hits received is not a reliable measure of website popularity. This is because a single HTML page may receive several requests / hits from the same user for different content on the page (e.g. text or each image).
The designated main page of a website. It typically introduces the visitor to the owner / sponsor; the website's contents and purpose; and, provides links to the next level of pages on the site. The homepage is the entry page for the majority of natural search results; however, landing pages are also often designated as the main page when arriving from another site's link.
This refers to the physical environment in which hosting services are being supplied. For example, a networked data centre houses equipment for hosting a service.
Underlined or highlighted clickable keywords indicating a link or way to navigate between website pages, other websites or documents.
Using techniques and technologies to identify precisely who the market is and then directly targeting with a range of marketing efforts. Hypertargeting involves pinpointing the target audience, thereby potentially leading to an increased return on marketing investment and the achievement of a highly effective marketing campaign.
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is the language of the World Wide Web and is used to create Web pages. A set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file, the language informs the Web browser on how to display the file. Each individual markup code is called an element or tag.
A HTML Frame divides a page so that multiple HTML documents can be displayed within the same browser window. That is, a Frame places multiple HTML documents within one HTML document. The Frameset Tag is used to set the number of frames, number of rows and columns, and the window space allocated for each frame. The Frame Tag defines which HTML document is to be placed in each frame.
The HTML Tag informs the browser of a HTML document. This tag is placed at the outermost section of a document and is also called the root element.
HTTP – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol – is the communications protocol used by the World Wide Web. When a browser sees HTTP at the beginning of an address, it knows that it is viewing a WWW page. HTTP defines how messages / requests are formatted and transmitted. It also determines the actions that are required of servers and browsers in response to those commands.
A range of laptop computers that have been discontinued. Sold by Apple, iBooks were targeted at the consumer and education market segments.
ICANN – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California. Managing the assignment of IP addresses and domain names, the organisation is also responsible for the generic and country code top-level domain name systems called gTLDs and ccTLDs.
IIS – Internet Information Services – is a set of Web services for servers running Microsoft Windows. Developed by Microsoft, IIS is the second most popular Web server after Apache HTTP Server.
IMAP – Internet Message Access Protocol – is an email retrieval protocol. Different to the POP protocol, IMAP email messages and folders are saved on a remote server instead of a local machine.
A general term used to describe the execution of a plan, idea or design in conformance to specifications. In an Internet Marketing context, implementation can be referred to as the execution of a marketing plan in accordance with business requirements (e.g. attracting more traffic from the teenage segment).
A single appearance of an advertisement in front of one user.
The number of times an advertisement is served.
An incoming hyperlink that brings traffic to a website from another website. The quality and number of inbound links – a measure of site popularity for many search engines – assists in improving search engine rankings.
The database of a search engine or a directory. Sometimes referred to as a search engine database, Web pages are included in the index after a search engine spider crawls the site and stores data (i.e. site content). A page cannot rank if it is not included in the search engine index.
The categorisation and development of an index that facilitates rapid and easy retrieval of Web documents (such as pages and files).
A description and specification of how data will be captured, organised, structured, stored, analysed and used.
A type of personal Internet chat room, whereby two or more users are able to communicate with each other in real time. Some popular instant messaging clients are Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and Gtalk by Google.
A worldwide network of a vast number of independent computer networks that are interconnected using TCP/IP protocols. The Internet provides reliable connectivity between disparate computers and systems by using common transport and data networks.
A connection between a local machine and the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP). An Internet connection can be set up using wired systems as well as wireless technologies.
See » Domain Name.
A free Web browser provided by Microsoft. Internet Explorer has the largest share in the Web browser market.
The art, science and practice of marketing a product or service online. Various online marketing methods include: search engine optimisation (SEO); pay-per-click (PPC) marketing; affiliate marketing; email marketing; display advertising; content marketing; etc.
IP – Internet Protocol – is the method or protocol (i.e. set of rules) by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet. Each computer, known as a host, has at least one IP address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.
ISP – Internet Service Provider – is an organisation that owns infrastructure and technology and uses this to provide Internet connectivity to its customers.
Literally meaning a Web page between two pages, the interstitial is the page that appears before the content page. Mainly used to display ads, it also refers to an advertisement format used by various advertising networks. It can appear in the form of a banner, video clip or audio clip. Particularly popular in video advertising where the advertisement plays before the beginning of the video.
An organisation's privately owned computer network. The intranet is used to securely store and share information using the Internet.
An abbreviation of Internet Protocol Address, the IP Address is a unique identification number for each and every system connected to the Internet. An IP Address is made up of four sections of numbers ranging between 0 and 255 (e.g. 10.0.0.1 or 165.114.254.2). In the case of Web servers, the IP Address is resolved into a domain name by a domain name server in case a browser requests access to a website.
A mobile phone created by Apple, the iPhone possesses a large touch screen interface for operation. Most popular for its design, touch capabilities and multimedia support.
A desktop-based digital music management software, iTunes also offers a media player that operates digital audio / video files. iTunes also provides a marketplace where providers can sell music albums, videos, iPhone applications, podcasts, etc.
J2EE – Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition – is an open standards based platform for developing hardware and OS independent, multi-tiered, enterprise applications. The principle behind J2EE is that applications should work seamlessly on any operating system or computer – without the need for changes. J2EE has been renamed the Java Platform Enterprise Edition or Java EE.
Java is both a programing language and a software development platform. As a software development platform, Java is a collection of software used to build applications that are deployed across various platforms (e.g. from mobile phones to supercomputers). Java, as a programing language, was released in 1995 and developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems. It is a platform-independent language for object-oriented programing.
A client-side scripting language developed by Sun and Netscape. JavaScript is embedded into HTML documents and is used to increase the interactivity and animation of Web pages (e.g. opening or popping-up of a new window, changing images on mouse-over, etc.). All browsers, however, cannot execute JavaScript and special coding may be required to overcome this incompatibility.
A content management system (CMS) used to manage content rich sites. Free and open source software, Joomla is distributed under the GNU General Public License and is written in the PHP programing language.
Jsharp or Microsoft Visual J# is a programing language from Microsoft. A retired language, it is no longer supported. In its original form, this language was used to transition programmers of Java and Visual J++ languages to Visual Studio IDE for developing applications on the .NET platform. Since the language derived most of its syntax from Java and Visual J++, it was easy for programmers to leverage their knowledge for building applications in JSharp.
JavaServer Pages – is a server-side technology that extends the Java Servlet technology. JSP allows for rapid development of dynamic and content-rich websites. In JSP, the Java code is embedded in static pages and executed at runtime on the server.
A word or phrase typed into a search engine to locate content on a particular topic. A keyword is essentially a database index entry that identifies / locates a specific record or document. Search engines use keywords for text query and retrieval. Matches can occur in the following ways: broad match; phrase match; exact match; and, negative match. Broad match keywords generate higher levels of traffic than phrase and exact match results; however, the traffic is less targeted. It is very important that Internet marketers understand and anticipate the keywords their potential customers will use when searching for products and services.
Involves the strategic analysis of keyword usage online. Some keywords are much more popular than others, while others might surprisingly be unpopular. Analysing actual keyword usage involved in Web searches is central to understanding how keywords might perform in delivering quality traffic and potential sales.
The process of setting up a maximum price in order to pay an advertiser when a user clicks on an advertisement. In this instance, the advertisement is a result of a search query containing a specific keyword. Many search engines require advertisers to bid online for the keywords they want to use in their pay-per-click advertisements. Popular keywords command higher minimum bid prices. Higher bid prices quoted by an advertiser ensure a higher position for the advertisement and higher levels of traffic (although not necessarily higher conversions). Advertisers need to implement a tactical keywords bidding strategy in order to achieve cost-effectiveness of the keywords and a positive ROI.
Is the percentage of keywords on a page compared to the total number of indexable text words on the same page. Once an important measure of the relevancy of a page to a search term, it is no longer a determining factor due to improved search engine algorithms. For example, if a keyword appears five times in a page of 100 indexable text words, the keyword density is 5%. Excessive use of keywords in an attempt to raise search engine rankings is termed keyword stuffing and is often considered a Black Hat SEO tactic.
The process of researching and identifying related keywords that have low competition, low price and a high number of searches for search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing purposes.
Research methods can include: reviewing Web analytics and server logs; reviewing customer feedback; examining competitors' page copy; using keywords research tools; etc.
A software program that mines sample sources of millions of actual online user searches across one or several search engines over a given period. The tool provides vast numbers of keywords, and related variations, of the entered search term. Keywords obtained from such research tools should always be verified by testing.
An unethical, and now out-dated, search engine optimisation (SEO) technique in which the content on a Web page and meta tags are overloaded with keywords.
See » Keyword Bidding
A meta tag used to help define the primary keywords of a Web page.
A storage capacity unit that equals 1024 bytes.
The page – homepage or any other page – that a visitor first reaches when arriving at a website from clicking on an advertisement or a link on another website. Specifically designed landing pages that supply tailored information for targeted search terms, such as keywords and phrases, are able to increase conversion rates. Landing pages are also referred to as Lead Capture Pages.
A structured arrangement of different elements on a Web page or website. It defines where and how such elements as text, images, videos and navigation links will be placed on a Web page.
Occurs when an individual or business generates client interest or enquiries that potentially lead to a sale.
The sources through which a potential customer can reach the website or a Web page selling a product or service. In marketing, it is beneficial to track lead sources so that marketing efforts and budgets can be allocated to those that provide the highest number of leads.
A website that generates revenue by providing leads for different products and services offered by companies.
Refers to the issues, problems and / or barriers that occur during the implementation and execution of an Internet marketing campaign. One example of limitations in Internet marketing is the use of browser plugins that prevent advertisements from showing up. If the user has installed such plugin on their browser, the advertisements are served but will not be seen by the user – thus defying the sole purpose of advertising.
An electronic connection on the Internet between two websites or parts of a website.
A featured, and often controversial, entertaining or sensational piece of content that attracts links from other sites. Link baiting is a useful and ethical technique for building incoming links to a site.
The process of building incoming links to a website. Some techniques used for link building include article distribution, directory submissions and link baiting.
A strategic plan for building links to a website. The goal is to attract quality website links to the website in question, thereby increasing its popularity, traffic and search engine rankings. It can involve reciprocal linking, entering bartering arrangements or even buying links. It is important that relevant keywords are included in the anchor text of links, informing webmasters of the topic of the site. Effective "link to us" instructions on Web pages should also be included in a campaign.
An online directory that provides links to other websites and categorises links according to their business domain.
Websites or pages that offer little to no content and numerous links to other websites. Link farms are designed to boost search rankings by increasing link popularity. Search engines have started blacklisting link farms and sites that link to them.
The popularity or importance value of a Web page that is passed on to other pages linking to it.
A measure of the number and quality of inbound links to a website. Many search engines – notably Google with its PageRank – include link popularity as an algorithm factor for website ranking. See also Backlink
A technique to boost a website's search engine rankings by creating a high number of incoming links from link farms, spam blogs, spam comments on blogs, wiki spam, etc.
A section on a website that other sites can link to. In order to do this, it provides information and HTML codes.
A social networking site for professional and business owners to connect with each other and share information. LinkedIn is typically used for generating business leads, employment offers and for finding businesses and individuals to perform a certain task.
A program that automatically sends emails to a list of subscribers on an online mailing list. An important concept in Internet marketing as promotional email messaging is a common practice. Potential recipients of these messages must be provided with the option of subscribing or unsubscribing from the list to avoid charges of spamming. This is referred to as opting-in or opting-out, while the list is called an opt-in list. Many professional business-specific online mailing lists are available commercially.
A form of customer support system that is used to respond to customer queries and concerns in real-time using a web-based chat application.
Data distribution and processing across a network of servers to ensure no single server is overloaded.
An electronic map online that displays the location of an organisation, business or person. Maps can be generated using a program such as Google Maps and specific locations can be displayed using a marker – that is, an image or symbol on the map that highlights a location.
Files that record site statistics according to Web server activities and website usage.
A range of related products or services that individually experience low demand and low sales volume; however, when collectively measured, they have the potential to exceed market leaders. In Internet Marketing, Long Tail is used to denote related keywords or phrases that are made up of more than a couple of words. Although these keywords attract very low traffic, they have the potential for very high conversion due to searchers typically reaching a page that has exactly what they are looking for. When related keywords of this nature are used collectively, they can generate significant levels of traffic to a website at a considerably lower cost than high traffic, generic keywords.
Keywords that consist of a combination of three or four shorter keyword phrases.
Promotional programs that reward a customer's loyalty with the company. Loyalty programs are intended to promote long-term relationships and repeat business from existing customers. They generally include reward points that can be accumulated and redeemed when making a purchase, acquiring free products and services and / or discounts.
Mac or Macintosh is a range of personal computers, both desktops and laptops, developed and sold by Apple. Firstly released in 1984, Mac systems are generally known for their excellent graphical user interface and multimedia capabilities.
The hardware and software that manages email routing and transmission. In software, a mail server is an application that stores and forwards email using a protocol such as SMTP, POP or IMAP. In its hardware form, a mail server is a computer connected to the Internet that receives and sends emails to and from local users.
A collection of email addresses to which marketing messages are sent. See also Listserver.
The process of manually submitting website URLs to search engines. The term can also be used to describe the manual distribution of articles to article directories and website URLs to directories. See also Submission.
The languages that annotate a page's content and presentation in order to describe and define it. Some examples of markup languages are HTML, XHTML and XML.
A unit of computer memory that equals 1024 kilobytes or 1,048,576 bytes.
Sections of a website or a service that is only accessible to subscribed members.
A system for registering users on a website and permitting access to member-only areas.
A collection of links used for website navigation and / or selection of a particular feature.
Levels within a menu, also called a sub-menu, which allow users to navigate through sub-sections of a website feature, topic or area.
The data used to describe a piece of content in any media. For example, an image and its description, detailing the image's characteristics, meaning and creation date. In a Web page, meta data is used to describe the page's content. A HTML page can possess a variety of meta data such as a description, title, keywords, creation date, etc. The meta data on Web pages is used by search engines for indexing and page categorisation.
A specialised search engine that gathers the results of other search engines to provide a wider range of results. In other words, it incorporates multiple search engines. Based upon keywords used during searches, it captures increased results as different search engines may have indexed different sites. An example of a meta search engine is Dogpilewww.dogpile.com
Tags used to describe various aspects – that is, meta data – of a Web page to the various search engines. Although there are many different types of meta tags, the most important / most popular are the keywords tag, description tag and the robots tag.
A type of blogging. Posts are very short, succinct and designed to provide updates or information on a single topic.
A subsite of the main site that provides additional information. Often microsites have their own domain name, different to that of the main website. It can refer to one page or a number of Web pages.
A WYSIWYG HTML editor and Web page creation tool from Microsoft. Discontinued by Microsoft in late 2006 to create way for its new Expression Web and SharePoint Designer products.
A form of advertising through mobile phones or mobile devices. Advertisements are served on users' mobile devices in the form of text messages, banners and links.
Access to the Internet using mobile phones and mobile devices such as PDAs and iPods.
A type of Internet marketing method that uses mobile devices (such as the smartphone and tablet). See also Mobile Advertising.
A digital audio file in compressed format. It delivers fast transfer over the Internet and high quality playback on applications with MP3 playback capabilities.
MSN – the Microsoft Network – is a collection of Internet based tools and services offered by Microsoft. It includes the likes of MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger.
A form of marketing that uses multiple media channels and activites to reach a targeted customer group. In essence, it assists the customer by providing them with several options for using the service. Akin to a bank providing various options to its customers for making transactions such as the branch, ATM machine, online banking or phone banking.
A website test conducted in a live environment. Several variations and combinations of each website component and content are tested. Multivariate Testing is conducted in order to discover key factors such as what is leading to higher conversions and what features are making visitors stay longer stay on the website.
Computer files that store music in a digital audio format and can be played using a digital music player.
A social networking site initially created for independent music bands to promote their work. Extremely popular amongst teenagers from several countries, the U.S. is Myspace's largest user base.
MySQL – My Structured Query Language – is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Distributed under the GNU General Public License by the Swedish firm MySQL AB, it was then acquired by Sun Microsystems.
Also known as Organic SEO, the Natural Listing of a website or Web page in a search engine occurs via the normal indexing and ranking procedures applied by search engines. These are different to the paid listings in which the website pays a fee to the search engine company to be included in the search results. It must be noted that there are some search engines that charge a nominal fee for natural listing at the time of site submission.
The feature that facilitates movement within a website or between websites. That is, navigation is both an internal and external feature. Following good navigation principles in website design has a positive effect on ranking.
See "Email Newsletter"
A relatively smaller market segment or subset of a larger market. The customers in a niche market have very specific needs in terms of product features, such as geographical availability and pricing.
A HTML attribute that informs the search engine not to pass on the page's rank value to the page that it is linking to. Used to prevent comment spam that can influence search engine rankings, the nofollow method prevents the building of incoming links via comments on high ranking pages.
Online marketing activities that occur externally to the website. This could include press release distribution, directory submissions and banner advertising.
Marketing activities that are conducted on the website being marketed. It can include site optimisation; the provision of newsletters and magazines; and, any other activity that attracts users to the website and tempts them to stay longer on the website.
A software product, also called a Web application, which is delivered over the Internet.
An auction style buying and purchasing system available online.
A virtual community or group of people that connect and communicate with each other online. It could involve using social networks, discussion forums or emails.
Online IP – Online Intellectual Property – relates to the protection, ownership and security of your entity's created / developed tangible assets in the online space. Online IP protection particularly relates to domain name security. Protecting intellectual property is a core activity and businesses must do as much as they can to protect their online IP from competitors and other entities that will take advantage of a lack of protection.
The marketing of products and services on the Internet using various tools and methodologies. Some methods include banner advertising, email marketing and PPC marketing.
Online PR – Public Relations – involves delivering highly effective, engaging and targeted communication. Messages and information must be skilfully presented in the right place; in the right platform; at the right time; and, with a voice that engages, captivates and compels the audience. Online PR involves the promotion of positive online mentions and consists of strategic planning; content development; organisational policy development; search engine optimisation and marketing; and, online reputation management.
Online Profile Management or Online Reputation Management ensures positive online mentions surrounding a business or individual are highly visible and highly ranking in the online space. This involves either removing or dislodging negative and irrelevant listings from the top ranking positions on search engines.
As above.
A measure of email effectiveness. The open rate indicates how many emails have been viewed.
The process of purchasing products and services over the Internet.
Software is deemed to be open source if the source code is available for accessing and modification.
Search engine optimisation activities that can be undertaken off site to promote a website and improve rankings (e.g. link building and paid advertising).
The combination of tasks, simultaneous or phased, that are undertaken in order to increase the effectiveness of a website and achieve higher rankings for targeted search terms (i.e. a keyword or set of keywords and phrases). On site optimisation activities can include: researching relevant keywords; using keywords in title tags / meta tags; improving page content and navigation; using ALT tags for images; and, maintaining links.
See "Listserver"
The Oracle Corporation is a company with its headquarters in Redwood City, California. Oracle develops and markets enterprise software applications such as ERP software and CRM software. The most popular product offered by Oracle is the Oracle Database – a relational database management system.
See "Natural Listing SEO".
Unpaid search results displayed in the search engines.
An online store creation, management and e-commerce software product. osCommerce is free and open source software available under the GNU General Public License.
A link to another Web page – either within the same website or another website.
Documents that are linked from a blog.
A business practice that involves contracting out a portion of work to a third party organisation. Typically non-core business functions and capabilities are outsourced. Used as a tool to reduce costs, outsourcing frees up in-house resources and leverages the skills and capabilities of the third party organisation.
Overture Services, Inc. was the first company to offer a sponsored search engine listing service to advertisers. Acquired by Yahoo in 2003, it was later renamed Yahoo! Search Marketing.
A page, or Web page, is a HTML-created document that shows up when a page address / domain name is typed into the Web or a link is clicked on. Pages can contain text, images or audio / video files. Able to be static or dynamic, frames on a page are counted as separate pages.
See "Page View"
Often abbreviated to PR, it is the value assigned to Web pages by Google. Based upon the number and quality of incoming links to, and outgoing links from, a website, the PR is a numeric value between 1 and 10 (10 being the top Page Rank). The Page Rank is one determining factor of a search engine ranking position on Google.
Involves a user typing in an URL or clicking on a hyperlink to retrieve information on a specific Web page from a site. It results in a file or combination of files being sent to the user by the server. When a request is made for a page with frames, several pages will be displayed as panes. A single request for a page with several panes may be reported as multiple requests. See also "Frames".
A Page View (PV), or Page Impression, is a request to load a single page on a website. It can be in HTML; script-generated; plain text; audio; video; or, any other non-document file format.
A measurement of the number of times a user requests a single Web page or particular advertisement.
Inclusion of a website's link in a directory for a specified fee. Yahoo Directory is one of the major directories offering a paid inclusion service.
Any form of paid marketing activity that brings traffic to a website. Examples include pay-per-click marketing, banner advertising and print and TV advertisements. Paid marketing is especially beneficial for websites that need immediate results.
Paying for advertisements that link back to a website. These are listed on the organic search engine results page (SERP) for specific keywords or phrases. Ranging from banner advertising to pay-per-click adverts, they can be purchased from a search network or portal. Paid Search may also refer to paid listings, paid placement, pay-per-click advertising and, at times, search engine marketing.
A term used in paid advertising where affiliate websites carry a merchant's advertisement and receive payment for any traffic that is generated as a result. A revenue-sharing formula is agreed and paid upon.
A form of advertising in which the advertiser pays for each ad. impression generated. Payment is made irrespective of the user taking a desired action or clicking on it.
A form of advertising in which audio advertisements are served to users and the advertiser pays each time the advertisement is played.
An e-commerce payment processing service popular with online marketers. It allows payments and money transfers to be made over the Internet. Acquired by eBay in 2002, it is now a wholly owned subsidiary.
An advertising model in which the advertiser pays only when the advertisement is clicked on by the user, irrespective of the number of times the advertisement is served. PPC advertising is usually shown on search engines and content sites. See "Affiliate Marketing" and "Cost-Per-Click".
An online advertising model in which the advertiser pays only when a qualified sale is completed.
A PC – Personal Computer – consists of a single microprocessor and is intended to be used by one person at a time.
A PDF – Portable Document Format – is a file format that is designed to display a document in a consistent manner across different platforms, operating systems and browsers. PDF was created by Adobe Systems in 1993.
A high-level, server-side programing language developed by Larry Wall in 1987 while working for NASA. Especially useful in manipulating text files, Perl is also used in CGI programing and database-oriented applications.
A URL that specifically relates to a blog entry once it is archived.
A method of marketing in which the targeted customer provides explicit consent to receive marketing communication and material.
PHP – Hypertext Pre-Processor – is a widely used general purpose scripting language used for developing Web applications. Especially suited to Web development, PHP code can also be embedded in HTML so that it will run on a Web server. PHP is a free and open source product that is distributed under the PHP License. PHP files usually have extensions like .php or .php3.
A Pingback is a linkback. It notifies content creators when another user has linked to their content, helping business discover what is popular and who the audience is that is interested in their content.
Refers to the process of formulating an Internet marketing program. Planning might involve a number of steps such as: identifying target users; keyword research; landing page creation; and, advertisement copy creation.
An ongoing series or episodic content delivered as digital media files to be stored and played back on computers and other devices. A distinguishing characteristic of podcasts is the delivery method. Podcasts use Web syndication to deliver files (typically a RSS feed). Special software, such as iTunes, is automatically notified of a new release in the series via a Web feed. Once informed, the file is then downloaded and stored on the local machine.
A local mailbox on a client system that can retrieve emails from a remote server using Post Office Protocol (POP).
An advertisement that opens in a new window behind the existing window when a visitor undertakes a particular action (e.g. clicking a link or mouse-over a banner advertisement). Pop-under advertisements are deemed to be less annoying than Pop-Up ads. They can prove very useful if designed to open when a visitor clicks to leave a site – providing a last-ditch enticement such as a discount.
An online advertisement format, pop-up ads are triggered whenever a user accesses a Web page. Displayed in a new and usually smaller-sized browser window, pop ups are considered to be an intrusive and annoying form of advertising by the majority of Internet users. Many search engines discourage this overused and abused advertising mode.
A gateway to diverse types of information from a variety of sources. Web portals, such as Yahoo.com, AOL.com and iGoogle, unify different types of information resources under one entity (e.g. news, email applications, discussion forums and online shopping services).
An open source, cross platform, object-relational database management system (ORDBMS), PostgreSQL is free software distributed under a BSD-style license.
Restricting search engine spiders from accessing certain type of content, files and directories on the website. A commonly used method for preventing crawling is a Robot.txt file which tells the spiders what areas to crawl and not crawl.
A legal document that describes how one party, usually a company or a website, deals with a user's / customer's personal data. It provides information about the collection, storage, usage and sharing of personal information by the company.
An individual that writes software programs using a computer programming language.
Exclusive and private ownership of any item or content.
See "Internet Protocol".
A general-purpose, multi-paradigm (object oriented, imperative and functional), high-level computer programing language.
A measure of the relevancy of keywords to the text used in advertisements and online search queries being conducted. Introduced by Google for their AdWords PPC advertising program, the QS is based on a variety of undisclosed factors. Dynamic and frequently changing, keywords can be upgraded and downgraded. Typically, a higher QS ensures a higher ranking position in the results page and a lower cost-per-click. All major search engines now use some form of quality score in their search advertising algorithms.
A request for information to a database. Usually based on a keyword or key phrase typed into a search engine to find documents related to the user's search term.
A two dimensional barcode used in Internet marketing. QR codes are able to hold significantly more information than a traditional barcode. Once a mobile user scans the barcode, they can then be sent to an array of online information. This might include being directed to a landing page, social media page or any other potential marketing channel.
The Rank of an advertisement, also known as the Advertisement Rank, is its comparative position on the search engine results page in relation to other ads based on the same keywords. The advertisement with the highest rank appears in first position and ranking then descends down the page. Although the advertisement rank is influenced by a number of undisclosed factors, its relevancy and effectiveness contributes to its position. In PPC advertising, it is sometimes wise not to reach the first position since the bid price of the underlying keyword may be very high.
A measure of unique website visitors during a certain period from within a demographic category. Reach is expressed as a percentage of the entire population within that demographic category.
Mutual links between two websites, often as a result of a link exchange arrangement, to improve mutual traffic and rankings. Reciprocal linking is an important SEO tactic since many search engines, notably Google, give due consideration to the number and quality of links while ranking the site.
A technique of sending a user to another page, different to the one originally requested. Not usually considered beneficial for search engine rankings as spiders may ignore the redirected link and not follow it.
A recommendation or endorsement of a product, service or company by a customer to other customers.
A process by which visitors enter information about themselves. Registration is mostly free; however, sometimes a fee is required. Often allowing the visitor to access special sections of a website, registration separates the potential buyer, who is interested in registering, from persons casually browsing the site. Registration also allows an opt-in email list to be built up and facilitates tracking of the buyer through their buying cycle. Registration is usually performed by filling out an online form. Fee-based sites register visitors through a transaction (such as an online credit card transaction).
This term describes the relevancy of keywords and search results to the actual product, service or business that the user is searching for online. Highly relevant keywords and search results deliver qualified leads and increased lead conversion.
See "ROI".
A business model in which one company agrees to pay a specific share of revenue to another company or individual for some activity (such as displaying advertisements or selling products).
Refers to a duplicate hit. A hit is a browser request for any file stored on the Web server such as an image or a banner. Thus, a revisiting hit is a repeat request for a file within one user visit.
Also called Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), it is a term used to denote Web applications that have features and interactivity similar to those of desktop applications.
Software that spiders the content on websites. It analyses and includes the content in the search engine index (also see Bot). Robot can also refer to a meta tag (robots tag) which gives instructions to robots (spiders) about what content to access or not to access. See also Meta Tags.
A text file written using the Robot Exclusion Standard. The robots.txt file is used to instruct robots and Web spiders not to access certain files and directories stored on the server.
ROI – Return on Investment – is used in Internet marketing circles to describe the measure of success of a marketing campaign. It is the financial return on an Internet marketing or advertising program and is calculated by dividing the benefits generated from the marketing campaign by the total cost of investment [(Revenue – Cost)/Cost x 100]. While the calculation of ROI far an e-commerce undertaking is fairly straightforward, indirect methods of determining cash flow equivalents may need to be adopted for advertising or other online programs. Periodic ROI calculation should be undertaken to ensure that online venture is on track.
RSS – Really Simple Syndication – is a Web feed format used to syndicate content from sources that are frequently updated (e.g. news sites). The content source can choose to publish a partial or full text feed along with the content meta data such as the publishing date and author details. A desktop, mobile or Web-based feed reader is required to read the content from RSS feeds.
An Internet browser developed by Apple. With the first version released in 2003, Safari is the default browser on all Mac OS X machines and is available for Windows PCs.
Salesforce.com is a San Francisco, California-based company that provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions over the Internet using software as a service (SaaS) model. Founded in 1999, other products and services on offer include the Force.com Platform for developing applications and plugins for the main CRM software and AppExchange, a marketplace for Salesforce applications.
SAP AG is a software development and consulting firm that operates in multiple countries. With its headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, it was originally founded in 1972 as Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung ("System Analysis and Program Development"). SAP's product line includes enterprise applications such as ERP, CRM and Supply Chain Management software and solutions.
The writing of computer programs that control applications. Scripting languages are used to write programs and the final script is almost always embedded in the applications.
A method of placing online advertisements, usually text, on the natural search engine results pages. Relevant keywords and search terms are targeted. Most search advertising is sold by search engine service providers via the pay-per-click model. Some search engine advertising is also placed on Web pages with other published content. See also Pay-Per-Click; Affiliate Marketing; and, Cost-Per-Click.
A software tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Consisting of Web pages, images, other types of files or a combination of all, some search engines also mine data from databases available in online directories. Most search engines use algorithms to operate and locate data. They can also use human inputs.
The process of marketing a website – and the product or service it offers – on search engines. Some types of search engine marketing includes: search engine optimisation; submitting the site to search engines and directories for organic listings; pay-per-action or pay-per-click advertising; banner advertisements; or, any other promotional program offered by search engines.
See "Optimisation On site" and "Optimisation Off site".
The page that is displayed in response to a search query on a search engine. Typically including a list of Web pages with titles, a short description of the contents and a link to the site, SERPs also usually carry paid / pay-per-click advertisements on the right and at the top of the organic search results. Some search engines display cached, but periodically updated, SERPs of frequent searches to minimize delay and improve search performance.
A Web application that locates Web pages on the Internet for keywords typed into the search area by the user. A search engine can be limited to searching a particular site or a section of a site (e.g. the help section or the entire Internet). Search engines use special software called robots which spider specified Web pages, categorising and indexing them. These pages are retrieved and presented to the users based on their search query – generally called a SERP or Search Engine Result Page. SERP rankings are determined by algorithms, some of which are generic and some are proprietary to the search engine company.
Text – that is, keywords or phrases – that are typed into the search engine browser to obtain results related to the item or information being searched for. Also see Keyword.
The act of locating information in a search engine using a set of specific keywords.
A form of HTML markup that separates content from presentation and provides a meaning to the content for search engines. For example, the <b> tag can be used to present any statement in bold; however, if it needs to be specified as a heading of the document, then the <h1> tag should be used.
See "Optimisation On site" and "Optimisation Off site".
A computer or device on a network that manages network resources (e.g. a file server stores files; a print server manages one or more printers; and, a network server manages network traffic). Servers – computers that are linked by communication lines – are the backbone of the Internet and serve up information to the searcher's computer. A server is normally dedicated for specific tasks; however, in cases where a single computer performs multiple tasks, a server may refer to the program that is managing the resources, rather than the entire computer.
Space that is used to save Web pages or applications on a computer (i.e. server).
A scripting technique, executed on a Web server, and used to write scripts to generate dynamic Web pages. Server-side scripting is generally used for websites that connect to databases for generating dynamic content.
In general usage, a component is a smaller part within a larger entity and provides plug-and-play type architecture. In servers, components are of two types: hardware components and software components. Hardware components typically include physical parts such as a processor, motherboard, hard disk, data card and video cards. Software server components are small programs or modules that perform a specific function and are executed on the server itself (e.g. a component on a Web server that encodes files before delivering them onto a client's system).
A software application used in online stores to assist people in making purchases over the Internet. A shopping cart allows the user to choose items from the store's catalogue; keep track of all the selected items; review and make changes by adding or dropping items from the cart; and, complete the purchase by grouping all selected items in a single order. It calculates the total payment required, including shipping charges and taxes, and then forwards the items to the credit card processing section of the site.
Siebel CRM Systems, Inc. is a software company headquartered in Redwood Shores, California. Founded in 1993 by Thomas Siebel, the company designs, develops, markets and provides support for customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Siebel was acquired by Oracle Corporation on September 12, 2005.
Microsoft Silverlight is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) framework. Silverlight provides Adobe Flash like functionalities and a single runtime environment for integrating multimedia and interactivity in Web applications. For end users, Silverlight is available as a plugin for Web browsers commonly available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. For open source operating systems such as Linux, free software called Moonlight has been developed by Novell and Microsoft to provide functionalities similar to Silverlight.
Stealing of online traffic that is destined for another entity / website. For example, cybersquatting that involves registering a misspelled version of a popular website's domain name to divert incoming traffic to another website.
A website navigation aid that displays the list of all pages on a website and, in some cases, their hierarchy also. A sitemap is an important tool for search engine optimisation. Just as the sitemap assists users, it also helps search engines understand the site structure and easily navigate throughout the site.
A feature that enables users to search the content on a single site.
Refers to data regarding website usage. Site statistics are collected in log files; however, significant manual effort is required to correctly analyse and interpret site statistics from the log file. Various analytics tools that present site statistics in easy-to-analyse format are available to purchase.
SMO – Social Media Optimisation – refers to a set of techniques used to gain popularity through social media and online communities. SMO can include video and image sharing; social bookmarking; forum marketing; blogging; and, building and distributing applications on social networks.
SOAP – Simple Object Access Protocol – is a protocol for exchanging information in structured format during Web service implementation. SOAP messages are formatted in Extensible Markup Language (XML) and use Application Layer protocols such as Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and HTTP for transmitting messages. A common example of using SOAP is a site that fetches stock prices from a separate Web service enabled database by sending a query with parameters such as the company name. The database returns the results in a XML-formatted document which is integrated and displayed on the site.
A method for online users to save links to websites. Social bookmarking provides a way to remember websites for future reference and easy access. It is also used as a way of sharing the website with other users. Examples of social bookmarking sites include Digg, Delicious or Reddit. Offers business a way to further promote content.
Media or any form of content produced and shared by users under a social set up such as an online community using online tools and platforms. Social media has gained widespread use across business, personal and political arenas.
A phenomenon of connecting with people, known directly or indirectly, and forming networks online. Various social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, allow users to find and connect with different people. A network of people, who may know each other directly or through another person, is then formed.
Websites provided by social networking services that allow users to create online profiles, share information, pictures, blog posts, music and video clips – all aimed at building online communities of people who share interests and / or activities (e.g. Facebook, MySpace and YouTube). Social networking participants can be strong opinion makers and such forums, if used effectively, provide powerful promotional avenues for online marketers.
A software application deployment and licensing model in which the software supplier provides user access to the application on demand. Hosted on the provider's own Web servers, the application is accessible to users for the valid period of subscription. Traditionally, software is purchased by users / organisations and installed and hosted on their own systems; however, in the case of Software as a Service or the SaaS model, users subscribe and the provider is responsible for hosting, maintenance and supplying access to the application (e.g. Salesforce.com).
An undesired piece of content that is usually generated and distributed electronically. Spam involves the use of mailing lists to flood email boxes with indiscriminate and annoying advertising messages. Also referring to the practice of manipulation via unethical Black Hat methods, Spam is used to influence and improve search engine rankings such as hidden text or tags, useless meta tags, keyword stuffing and duplicate content. Search engines are very strict about spamming and websites detected to be spamming risk banning.
Keywords that are related to a niche and are not generic in nature such as a geographical location and / or particular user type. For example, a generic versus specific keyword is "Hotels" versus "Hotels in downtown Manhattan".
See "Crawler and Bot".
A page often used as a landing page for visitors coming to the site as a result of an advertisement click. A splash page is presented to the visitor before the site's main content page and describes the subject / topic of the advertisement.
SQL – Structured Query Language – is the language used to retrieve, add, modify and remove data and data structures stored in relational database management systems.
Theoretically, a client-server relationship based database management system in which the server responds to SQL format queries sent from client systems. SQL Server is also the brand name for Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS) by Microsoft and Sybase.
SSL – Secure Sockets Layer – is the protocol that offers data encryption capabilities for secure transmission of documents and messages over the Internet. SSL was developed by Netscape.
A data record. Assigned by a certificate authority, it is used for server or user authentication and data encryption.
Refers to Web page content that is not linked to a database and remains the same unless updated by the administrator.
Common words within a seach phrase that are ignored by search engines (e.g. a, an, the).
That is played on a device while being transmitted from the source file on the server over a telecommunications network such as the Internet.
As above, streaming audio also refers to streaming video.
Style sheet languages are used to define the presentation of a structured document and make it possible to present the various components in different ways. For example, Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to present HTML and XHTML documents.
The second level of a menu. A submenu is provided as a navigational tool to access a specific division of the main area of a site. For example, a dog-related site might have "Dog Health" as a main menu option and this is then further divided into sub-sections such as "Dog Diseases" and "Health Tips" with a submenu.
Also sometimes referred to as registration, submission is the process of submitting a website's URL to a search engine for inclusion in its index or to an online directory. Submitting a site does not automatically result in search engine indexing; however, proper indexing is facilitated by submission. The search engine spiders must crawl the site before indexing occurs. Site submission can be performed manually or through automated software. Most search engines recommend submission methodology and many discourage automated submission.
A person / online visitor who has requested to be included as a recipient for a specific online newsletter or email list and has responded to a double opt-in process.
A site that provides subscription to its products / services and charges the user for a specific time period. Once the subscription ends, the user's access is terminated.
Involves the leveraging of existing content in other places online. Consists of disseminating content material to as many online areas as possible.
Refers to a database that uses TAB as the delimiter for separating values in the database. A TAB database can also generate a tab delimited text file for exporting data.
One of the HTML elements used to present data in tabular – that is, rows and columns – format.
A slogan or phrase an advertiser uses to visually convey the most important attribute or benefit of a product. The Tag Line is, generally, also the theme of a marketing or advertising campaign.
The process of attaching a label to a Web page. Tags act as easy to remember labels for Web pages and also assist in understanding the meaning and content of the page.
Individual keywords or phrases used to describe a posting on a website and for organising Web page content.
A specified demographic group or audience for whom an advertising message is designed (e.g. teens, senior citizens or working mothers).
A group of individuals – that is, a specified demographic group; a geographically specified populace; etc. – who, collectively, are the intended recipients of an advertiser's message.
Advertising aimed at a target market (i.e. a specific sub-section of the overall market).
The methodology of classifying websites within certain categories and organised in a hierarchical structure. Most Web directories follow taxonomy for website listings.
TCP – Transmission Control Protocol – works with IP to ensure that information packets travel safely on the Internet. TCP/IP is a software standard used by the Internet to understand all computer languages and most computers. It is the method by which most Internet activity takes place. Also see Internet Protocol (IP).
In conjunction with above, TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol – is a set of communications protocols developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1970s. Both are distinct protocol, but are used in conjunction with each other, as they contribute towards successful communications between computers on the Internet. While the IP handles transmission of data packets between the two computers, TCP works at a higher level overseeing the connection between the two systems, traffic congestions and ensuring that data transfer is reliably completed.
Refers to both technical skills required for Internet marketing and technical analysis. For example, Internet marketing requires an understanding of HTML, search engines, indexing and keyword research; while technical analysis involves the investigation of both the website and server for optimising performance.
A pre-designed document with standard text and graphics. In terms of Web design, designers often use existing Web page templates and customise them according to the requirements. This saves time and effort on the creation of standard items.
A document that defines the conditions for the user to access and use the website or Web application. It also defines the conditions under which access can be discontinued.
The process of sending several types of inputs to the website and / or Web application and examining the results. Testing is performed to ensure that the site or application functions correctly under all conditions. It can be performed manually or can be automated using software.
The words or the written content on Web pages forming the body of the page.
Advertisements that only use words to display the advertiser's message. Text advertisements are considered non-intrusive.
A small reduced image of a graphic or document embedded in a Web page that has a hyperlink to a much larger version of the graphic. Thumbnails are used to ensure fast loading of a Web page since it takes much less memory than the larger version.
A HTML tag used to define the text in the top line of a Web browser. The <Title> tag is used to define the title of the document and is a required element in HTML documents. It is also used by many search engines as the title in the SERP search listings. See also Optimisation Onsite.
A graphical block containing buttons, menus and icons. Toolbars provide easy and quick access / control to a software application.
The furthest right portion of a domain name, the TLD – Top Level Domain – can designate special types of organisations. For example, gov (government), .edu (educational), .com (commercial) and countries (.au, Australia) are TLDs. Also see "Domain".
The visitors to a website or Web page. It may also refer to the number of visitors, hits or accesses in a given period.
Refers to a person who disrupts the discussion by posting an abusive, controversial or off-topic message in a forum, newsgroup, chat room or community.
A microblogging service that allows users to send small updates in 140 characters or less to their network of friends and followers.
TXT refers to a text file (file.txt).
UBE – Unsolicited Bulk Email – is an email sent to a mass audience in which the recipient did not request the information. A UBE typically contains advertisements; however, it can also be an attempt to collect personal or financial information about the users.
UCE – Unsolicited Commercial Email – is an email that contains advertisements and is sent to the recipient without being requested.
A unique request sent to the Web server for downloading a file.
A measurement of individual visitors to a website during a specific period of time (typically 30 days). Data is collected via advanced statistical tracking through Web analytics or commercially available tools. It can also be gathered by user registration statistics.
A type of search in which results are pulled from several databases in various formats and are displayed on a single page. For example, a universal search on Google for a term may display related websites, videos, images and news items.
A multi-user and multi-tasking operating system, Unix was developed in 1969 at Bell Labs.
URL – Uniform Resource Locator – is the HTTP address of any resource available on the Internet. Used by the World Wide Web to specify a particular website, it contains all the information required to locate a resource, including its protocol (usually HTTP); server domain name (or IP address); file path (directory and name); and, format (usually HTML or CGI).
A method of transforming a dynamic URL into a static-like and search engine friendly URL.
A measure of ease with which a website or Web application can be understood, learnt and used.
An Internet bulletin board or message board application, Usenet is a distributed network of newsgroups that are categorised according to subject matter.
An individual with access to the World Wide Web.
A XHTML 1.0 document conforming to the standards and specifications recommended by W3C on January 26, 2000.
The process of evaluating websites / Web applications at the end of the development process to ensure compliance with standards such as W3C.
Visual Basic Scripting Edition – is a proprietary Active Scripting language by Microsoft. It is used as an alternative to JScript in Internet Explorer for Windows.
Also called a Vlog, the blogger publishes video posts that convey the central message.
Using video to market a business, individual, brand, product or service. A powerful lead generator, video is more likely to be watched than other marketing channels. For this reason, video marketing can be significantly more effective and deliver excellent ROI.
A form of marketing that uses existing social connections and networks of people to reproduce "word of mouth" publicity. This advertising technique delivers interesting content that is free of charge – promoting the onward transmission by viewers in a self-propagating way. This information travels rapidly from one person to another – both internally and externally to the network. Viral marketing methods can include emails, videos and animation.
A sequence of requests sent to a Web server by one site visitor before the session time-out. If a visitor does not request any new information for a period of time (typically 30 minutes), known as the "time-out" period, then the next request by the visitor is considered a new visit.
Visual Basic (VB) is a programing language and integrated development environment (IDE). A descendant of BASIC, it was superseded by VB.NET which is currently the available version.
A certificate carrying a set monetary value and is redeemed while making a purchase. On the Internet, e-Vouchers carry a code along with the monetary value attached to it. The customer enters the voucher code while making a purchase to redeem the voucher.
W3C – World Wide Web Consortium – is a not-for-profit organisation. Established in October 1994, W3C develops the standards, interoperable specifications and common protocols for the World Wide Web.
To meet the standards set by W3C. Typically refers to a Web application, document or a website complying with the standards and specifications set by W3C.
An audio file in Waveform audio format. A digital sound format developed by Microsoft, WAV stores audio in an uncompressed form.
Generally referred to as the second generation of the World Wide Web, the main characteristics of Web 2.0 are social networking, interactive and database driven websites, human collaboration and user generated content.
See "Browser".
A live video broadcast online.
The process of a Web crawler browsing the Web in a methodical and automated manner.
A company that provides the infrastructure, hardware, software and telecommunication lines for hosting a website. The Web host maintains all components necessary to host the website on a server, ensuring that the website is accessible round the clock.
Blog is derived from Web Log. See Blog.
A person who is in charge of, and maintains, a website. The webmaster could be the owner themselves or a designated employee in the case of corporations and organisations. The main tasks of a webmaster include: designing and maintaining the site; ensuring that the site is functional; adding, editing, removing and updating content; coding HTML pages; managing email traffic; monitoring and maintaining links; undertaking SEO activities; and, making changes to the code.
A single page – HTML document – that contains text, images, graphics and animation that is available on the Internet.
A software component, often described in Web Services Description Language (WSDL), which is accessible over the Internet. Web Services enable platform independent communication and data exchange between Web applications.
A collection of related Web pages generally created and owned by a single person or organisation and containing text and other digital content such as videos and images. Designated by a unique URL on the World Wide Web, a website represents a virtual location for an entity's presence on the World Wide Web.
A video camera that is attached to a computer and connected to the Internet.
Refers to the URL – Uniform Resource Locator – of a website and provides a method for website retrieval.
A comprehensive analysis of a website's performance in order to attain best practice. Audit activities include: website statistical analysis; link analysis; customer profiling; market evaluation; search engine rankings; keyword analysis; coding audit; content, design and website functionality; and, reporting.
A set of legitimate actions that can be undertaken to increase the rankings of a website. An ethical SEO practice, White Hat SEO adheres to the search engine's terms of service and is opposite to Black Hat SEO. See also Black Hat SEO.
Search engine optimisation techniques that are considered to be ethical and can be used to safely promote the website on search engines.
An informational document written in essay style. White papers are often used by businesses as a marketing tool, presenting their product or service as the solution for a customer's problems.
Refers to a reputable, authorised and approved list of email senders and domains that are permitted to send messages to filtered addresses without the need for content verification. There are other cases where a whitelist might be used (e.g. a company whitelisting certain applications that are allowed to run on the local network and restricting all other applications).
A visual element within a graphical user interface that provides certain functionality (such as providing quick access to information or features). Examples of desktop widgets include the clock, calendar and weather information widgets available in Windows Vista's sidebar. On the Internet, widgets are mini Web applications that can be standalone applets such as a game applet or an application connected to a database.
A website that allows multiple users to participate in creating, organising, editing and updating content in a collaborative manner.
A Web-based collaborative encyclopaedia project that offers free content to readers, Wikipedia is supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Founded by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales, it was launched in 2001.
Microsoft Windows is a series of computer operating systems with a graphical user interface developed and marketed by Microsoft. Its first successful commercial version was Microsoft Windows 3.0 that was released in 1990.
A compact version of a Microsoft Windows operating system designed specifically for mobile devices.
Wireless connectivity to the Internet on various devices such as personal computers, laptops, mobile phones, iPods and gaming consoles. Wi-Fi is one technology used for accessing wireless Internet on supported devices within the wireless area network range.
A blog publishing platform and a Content Management System. Released by its co-founders, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, in 2003, it is free and open source software distributed under the GNU General Public License.
The World Wide Web or simply the Web is a way of accessing information over the Internet, although people tend to use the two terms – World Wide Web and Internet – interchangeably. The Web is an information sharing system built on top of the Internet and uses HTTP, one language used on the Internet, to transmit data in the form of text, graphics and multimedia. The Web allows users to access information, across systems and around the world, using URLs that identify files and systems. The Web uses browsers to access Web pages that are linked to each other via hyperlinks. See also "Internet".
WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get – refers to programs that display results previews while content editing. A commonly used WYSIWYG application is the HTML Editor that displays the resultant Web page while being worked upon.
Proprietary shopping cart software built in PHP language. Various versions of X-Cart are offered by the Qualiteamebusiness solutions to suit specific business needs. X-Cart can be used for creating e-commerce websites with little or no programing knowledge.
XHTML – Extensible Hypertext Markup Language – is a reformulated version of HTML. It works an application of XML and allows for integration with other XML-based languages such as MathML and SMIL.
XML – Extensible Markup Language – is a set of rules for creating structured electronic documents. A simplified text format derived from SGML, Standard Graphics Markup Language, XML is a widely used general purpose specification for creating complex documents and data structures such as invoices, news feeds, glossaries and a variety of content including text, audio and visuals.
XSL – Extensible Stylesheet Language – refers to a family of languages that specifies how XML documents should be transformed and presented.
A Web portal developed and operated by Yahoo! Inc. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company developed several Web properties such as Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger. It has also acquired several popular websites including Delicious, a social bookmarking service, and Flickr, a popular image hosting and sharing service.
A video sharing and streaming site, YouTube allows users to upload, share and watch videos.
Free and open source shopping cart software, Zen Cart uses PHP language and MySQL database. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License.
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