Internet Marketing Glossary Of Terms Part 5

S – Z

This is Part 5 – the last part of the Internet Marketing Glossary. Internet Marketing Terminology explained in plain English. Bookmark this page and return to it as necessary. Enjoy.

S

Search Engines- A search engine is a website that acts similar to a card catalog for the Internet. Search engines use spider programs to index and locate desired information. The search engine program will find information on the Internet based on the keywords that are entered by the user.

For example, if you type “apple pie recipe” into a search engine it will look to its index of information available on the Internet that most closely relates to “apple pie recipe.” Any site that uses apple pie as one of the keywords will be in the search engine’s index.

Some popular search engines include: www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.ask.com, www.msn.com, www.altavista.com and www.lycos.com.

SEO- An anagram for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of using targeted keywords in the content, tags and meta-tags of a website in order to gain traffic through search engines. SEO techniques also include testing the search engine results to make sure that the site is well placed in the keyword results.

For example, if you run a website that sells dog bones, you can use SEO to increase your chances of appearing under the keywords “dog bones.” You can add the word dog bones to your website content, and in the tags and meta tags of each page of your website. The better the SEO, the higher your web page will appear in the search engine results for that keyword.

SEO is a constantly evolving portion of the Internet. The process is a combination of art and science, and there are firms that are now dedicated to providing specialized SEO services.

Signature file- Sometimes referred to as a “sig file,” a signature is a short statement at the end of an e-mail message. It can be used to identify the sender and provide additional information. Often times, sig files include a link to a website or lists an address and phone number. Sig files can also be used creatively to display a small picture file or include a personal quote. Signature files are one way of establishing a unique identity on the Internet.

Site/Website- A place on the Internet or the World Wide Web. The term site refers to the body of information as a whole for a domain name. A web site is a collection of Web pages. The pages can contain text, graphics, audio or video content.

Site can also refer to an FTP site or archive site. These types of sites are directories that store files for downloading and uploading.

Spam- E-mail messages that are sent to a number of people without their consent. Spam is also known as “Unsolicited Commercial E-mail” or junk e-mail. It is normally sent to promote a product or service. Spam can also be found in newsgroups and forums when users post information that is not relevant to the pertinent topic.

Spam is characterized by its large volume. Spammers (who are people who spam) follow the direct-marketing technique of saturating the intended audience. They hope for a tiny return from their efforts (normally less that 5 percent).  Spammers don’t really care if they offend large number of people, because there always seems to be those few people that respond to the unsolicited advertisement.

The most common forms of spam that reach inboxes everyday are:

• Chain letters
• Pyramid schemes (fake job opportunities)
• “Get Rich Quick” and “Make Money Fast” schemes
• Offers for adult websites and services
• Offers of software that collect e-mail addresses and send spam
• Offers for bulk e-mailing services
• Stock offerings in unknown start-up corporations
• Fake health products and remedies

Spam is not protected by the national Free Speech laws, which is contrary to popular belief. Therefore, anti-spam techniques are not a form of censorship.

Spam blockers- Also referred to a spam filter. A spam blocker program is used to detect any unsolicited or unwanted e-mail in your mail program’s inbox. This prevents spam messages from getting into your inbox. A spam blocker will filter through messages based on a certain criteria.

Spam blocker programs are normally available through an Internet Service Provider or through a third party program that is downloadable from the Internet.

Spiders- Another term for Crawler. Spider software is used by search engines to search the Internet for new content to display in the search results.

Spyware-This type of software is similar to viruses, in that it is “contracted” from using the Internet. Spyware, however, gathers information about the web sites that you visit in order to build a “profile” of your preferences for the purpose of marketing. Spyware is often included in free downloads that you get from websites. The license agreement for these free programs may mention the use of spyware, but very few people actually read the details of these agreements. As a result spyware often gets onto a computer without the user’s knowledge.

The result of having spyware on your computer can vary. Sometimes the presence of the programs can result in slower Internet speed and hard drive processing. The more aggressive programs will cause unwanted pop up ads and other marketing devices. More malicious spyware will steal personal information (such as credit cards).

The use of spyware is one of the most important issues today regarding privacy on the Internet. There are many programs available that will find and remove spyware programs from your computer. Some of the more popular are Ad-Aware and Spybot. An Internet search for these terms will lead you to sites where you can download these helpful programs. After doing a spyware search on your computer, you will be surprised by the number of spyware programs that exist on your system. The anti-spyware programs will allow you to delete the spyware from your computer. Generally, this will increase the storage space and speed of your hard drive.

Social networking- The process of meeting and networking with people through the use of specific Internet technology. There are numerous social networking sites on the Internet today such as Twitter , Facebook, Myspace to name just a few. In these communities, initial sets of founders send out messages inviting people in their own personal networks to join the site. The process repeats, and the total number of members grows. The process is also called “viral marketing.”

Social networking sites offer several things to their members, including the opportunity to meet members that share similar interests.

Software-A set of instructions that tell a computer how to execute functions and tasks. Software code is written in a programming language that makes computer systems and hardware work. Some programs contain millions of lines of code.

The two basic software categories are system software (which makes the computer run properly) and application software (which includes programs). Generally, software programs are purchased as CDs that are installed into the computer. However, there is also software that is available for download from the Internet.

Source code – The format in which a computer program or Web site is written. Online, the source code for a web page is normally in HTML, but can also be written in another computer “language.” To find the source code of a web page, select “View” from the top of the Internet Browser. In the “View” menu, there should be an option that says “View Source” or similar language. The source code will appear in a pop-up window.

Sub-domain name- A domain name that is part of a larger domain. If you’ve ever seen a web address that doesn’t start with the letters “www” then you’ve encountered a sub-domain.

Sub-domains are like secondary sites within the larger domain. If you think of the larger domain as a file cabinet, the sub domain would be the folders. Some examples of sub-domains are “news.google.com” or “mail.yahoo.com.”

T

Tags- A Tag is a keyword or descriptive term that is associated with a piece of information, sound clip or video on the World Wide Web. Tags have become one of the most prevalent forms of classifying information on the Internet. What makes the use of tags interesting is that the tags are selected by the author/creator of the website, blog entry or other form of media.

Tags are used in two specific ways. The first use of tags is hidden to the viewer, but “visible” to Internet search engines. When a web master creates a web page, they add tags to the web page to indicate what type of content is on that page. Once the website and its pages (with tags) is submitted to a search engine for review, the search engine will associate the web page with the tags that have been submitted. This is what allows the search engine to give you results based on keywords that you enter into the search engine. For example, when you type “dog leashes” into a search engine, it will produce all of the web pages that have used “dog leashes” as one of the tags for the page.

Tags also provide users with a quick and easy way to navigate the information on the website. Many websites now have tag lists as part of the navigation of the site. Instead of navigating pages in a top down fashion (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, etc) users can click directly on the tag words that interest them the most. Tags are often used in blogs and wiki sites for organic navigation of the site. Some of the most popular sites that use Tags for navigation are Wetpaint (www.wetpaint.com), Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us), Flickr (www.flickr.com) and Technorati (www.technorati.com).

When you use tags to navigate a site, you click on the term that is most related to what you are interested in. The website will then show you all of the documents or other media files on the website that relate to that tag.

Although the use of tags is growing in popularity, there are some drawbacks to the method. First of all, since tags are inputting by the author/creator, the use of tags may be misleading. This is especially true in sites that are contributed to by a community of people.

Let’s say that you are selling a specific product (Product A) and want to attract people looking for a competing product (Product B). Even though your website has nothing to do with Product B, you can use Product B’s name in your tags. When anyone searches from Product B, your website will come up in the results.

Also, tags are highly subjective. While one user may label an article with the tags “babies,” “childcare” and “working mom” another may label the same with “nanny” and “children.”

Target Market- This refers to the market segment to which a particular product is marketed. Members of a target market have similar interests that can be based on age, gender, life style or socio-economic grouping. By using target marketing, an Internet marketer can develop a product that speaks to a certain group of people. A key step in developing a product is deciding what the target market is and how to meet the target market’s needs.

Tech support- A service that you call when you have questions regarding your computer hardware or software. The tech support personnel will guide you through fixing your problem over the phone. There are tech support services for your computer model, websites you may be using, your ISP provider and software applications on your computer. Make sure you call the tech support service that most closely deals with the problem you are experiencing.

Telecommute- A work arrangement in which employees have flexibility in working locations and hours. Telecommuters can work from the home, or from another off-site location.

Telecommuting is normally seen in industries that rely heavily on technology or jobs that can be performed over the Internet.

Thread- A topic thread is a string of consecutive message posting to newsgroups, mailing lists or forums. Threads can be organized in ascending or descending order based on the date posted. Open threads are blog posts that allow readers to comment and discuss topics relevant to the blog.

TLD (Top Level Domain)- This is the highest level of the domain name, and appears at the end of the domain name. While “.com” is the most popular TLD, here are a few others:

.edu

.gov

.net

.org

TLDs are also available in the form of country codes (”.us.”, “.de”, etc).

TOS- An anagram for Terms of Service. They are the rules by which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. In order to use an online service, you are required to read and agree to the terms of service.

Traffic- Internet traffic is the term used to refer to user activity on a web site. Each time someone visits a web page, an entry is automatically registered on the web page server’s log file. The log file records the number of times that a piece of information has been requested from the server. This request is commonly referred to as a “hit.”

The web hosting service will provide summaries of activities on the site. Keeping track of the traffic that a website receives is an important part of measuring whether the website marketing and content is working.

Tracking- Online businesses use tracking to tell whether or not their advertising, copywriting and web site design are converting to sales. The key to success for any online business is driving targeted traffic to the website through pay per click advertising, exchanging links, exchanging banners and using SEO techniques.

However, these techniques are useless if a business owner does not know if they are working. Tracking is one of the most powerful strategies for increasing sales and opt-in subscriptions. Tracking is measuring the effectiveness of each source of advertising.

Using advertising link tracker software is one of the quickest methods to track where customers are coming from. The software measures the number of clicks that are received on individual advertisements and then the sales or subscriptions garnered from those clicks.

Trojan- A Trojan Horse computer virus gets it name from the infamous legend of the same name. Just like the Trojans were fooled into letting opposing forces in their gates, a Trojan Horse virus is sneaky. This type of virus disguises itself as a helpful program. Normally, a Trojan virus is distributed in this way:

-A user downloads a program from the Internet because they think it may be useful.

-Once the program is opened (run) on the user’s computer, the virus is released. Commonly the virus will erase the hard drive or destroy parts of the computer.

-Sometimes a Trojan will hide on the computer undetected, and slowly start transforming files and documents. This way the user does not know how or where they downloaded the virus.

U

URL-The term URL refers to “Uniform Resource Locater.” This is the technical term for any web address that you’d type into the address bar of your web browser. Using a URL will take you directly to the website you are looking for. When someone asks for the URL of a website, they want the full address. The basic format of a URL is www.websitename.com, although suffixes like “.net,” “.org,” and “.biz” are growing in popularity and use. The term URL is either pronounced with each letter said (Yoo Are Ell) or as an acronym (”Ural”).

Username/ User ID- A synonym for “login name” or “handle.”

V

Vertical Banner -A banner ad that runs on a website vertically instead ofhorizontally, usually on the side of the page to the right.

Viral- Form of marketing that infiltrates as many different avenues

aspossible. This term was originally coined to describe viral marketing, but the adjective has expanded to refer to any practice that moves a product from person to person. The ease of passing information on to others with e-mail addresses has made it possible for information, videos and graphics to spread like wildfire through the Internet community. There are viral ebooks, videos, viral jokes, viral hoaxes, etc.

Virtual Hosting -A form of web hosting that is not done on one single server but instead is running websites from several different computers.

Virus- This is one of the terms that is normally familiar to everyone, but very few understands what exactly it means. Most know that viruses are bad and can be damaging to their computer, but that is the extent of the knowledge.

A computer virus is program that multiplies itself on computer systems and incorporates itself into shared programs. Some viruses are harmless pranks, and others can destroy computer files or disable a computer entirely. A key quality of viruses is that they spread quickly, from user to user.

Viruses are most commonly spread through e-mail. Certain viruses use personal e-mail address books to send the damaging programs from computer to computer. To prevent against receiving an unwelcome virus, do not open any e-mail attachments from people that you do not know.

Most, if not all, Internet Service Providers offer some kind of protection from Viruses within the structure of the Internet connection. If you use the Internet frequently, you might also want to invest in an additional Virus scanning program, such as McAffee VirusScan or Norton Anti-Virus.

Although both Macintosh and Windows run computers are subject to viruses, there are a greater number of Windows viruses.

Visitor Quality -A way to determine the actual interest of visitors visiting aparticular site. This can help to gauge the success of the ad or website, and the potential for profit.

W

WAHM- An acronym term for Work at Home Mom. A variation is WAHD (Work at Home Dad). The actual origin of the term is unknown, but it is used on a large scale due to the growing interest of women to stay at home and bring in income at the same time.  Many women wish to have a career and raise their children, instead of working outside the home and placing their children in daycare. WAHMs run their home-based businesses in a variety of fields. Some women focus on telecommuting and freelancing opportunities. Others participate in Multi-Level Marketing programs, e-commerce or auctions.

Web 2.0- This term refers to the “second generation” of services that are available on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 applications include blogs, podcasts, ppc marketing, wikis, tagging and RSS syndication. Web 2.0 is a rather large category of services that share some basic themes:

• Web pages are “user friendly” and collaborative – rather than being only accessible by the webmaster

• Users can own the data on the site and modify it at their convenience

• The use of “social networking”

Web Designer- The person who is responsible for how the site looks and “feels.” The Web Designer handles the entire aesthetic and navigational creation of a Web site. A web designer is also responsible for ensuring that the graphics are clear, the links are working and the navigation on the site is intuitive. Normally, a web designer is responsible for the creative aspects of a website, rather than the programming, however a knowledge of web programming is necessary.

Web marketer- This is an alternate term for Internet marketer. A web marketer is an individual or company whose primary income comes from marketing products or services on the web. Marketing as business is very possible and popular online. Web marketers can make money by promoting other people’s products or their own.

There are a wide variety of techniques that a Web marketer can use to promote websites and products. Please see the entry for Internet marketing for more details.

Webmaster- This term can be used for a variety of individuals who are involved with creating and/or managing a Web site. A Webmaster is the person who maintains the content and functioning of a website. This can include receiving all of the feedback from Website users, maintaining graphics, supplying content updates and handling all programming matters. A Webmaster may, or may not, have designed the initial layout of the website. Some larger websites have a Webmaster that handles the content of the site, and one that handles the more technical aspects.

WIKI- A type of website that allows users to add, remove or edit most of the content very quickly and easily. The ease of interaction and operation makes wiki a tool for collaborative sites and communities. The term wiki can also refer to the software that enables users to participate in a website. The name comes from the Hawaiian term “wiki-wiki” which means fast.

Essentially, a wiki is an editable website that doesn’t require users to know HTML or any other programming language. Most systems have a record of changes, so that a page can be reverted to any of its previous states. Many wikis allow completely unrestricted access so that people are able to contribute the site without registering. There is no moderation before posting, but the content is often moderated afterward.

www- These three W’s are short for World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is a global information space, and is also called the The Web. Text documents, images, multimedia and other types of resources are identified with URLs so that each can be found in a simple way.

The World Wide Web is actually the system by which information on the Internet is categorized and not the Internet itself. The World Wide Web is like the Dewey Decimal system for the Internet.

X

XML- A programming language similar to HTML used to develop web pages. The main difference between XML (sometimes called XTML) and other programming languages is the ability to add customized tags to the web page design. XML provides a platform for developing websites that encompass the principles of Web 2.0. It is a lot more abstract and complex than previous programming languages, and its not quite certain whether XML will replace HTML entirely.

Y

Yoyo mode- Occurs when an internet connection rapidly alternates between being “online” and “offline.” In most cases, contacting the ISP technical support will fix the problem.

Z

ZIP file- A compressed file used on Windows. ZIP is the standard technology for data compression. On the Internet, larger graphics and programs are normally compressed as ZIP files before they are made available for download. This allows downloading to go much faster. After downloading a ZIP file, you need to use a decompression software (such as WinZIP, a free program) to “unzip” it and access the data. The technology is very useful when sending photos through e-mail.

The Internet Marketing Glossary Part 1

The Internet Marketing Glossary Part 2

The Internet Marketing Glossary Part 3

The Internet Marketing Glossary Part 4

The Internet Marketing Glossary Part 5