Glossary

Posted by jverupt in Glossary

Internet Marketing Glossary Of Terms

A

ABOVE THE FOLD: The part of a web page that is visible without having to scroll down.
In a sentence, “Make sure my ad appears above the fold.”

AD BLOCKER: A browser plug-in that prevents advertisements or pop-ups from being displayed. Ad networks promote the available advertising inventory for the sites in their network.

AD NETWORK: A company with significant advertising space inventory for many sites.

AD SENSE: Contextual advertising powered by Google, which places ads on websites based on the relevancy of the ad with respect to the content of the website. The publisher of the site is paid per click.

AD WORDS: A form of pay-per-click advertising in which ads and links appear on the margins of a Google search results page.  Advertisers bid on certain keywords.  When a user performs a search using these keywords the advertisers’ ads appear.  The amount bid on the keywords affects the order in which advertisers’ ads appear.

ADWARE: Also known as “parasiteware” or “spyware”, “adware” is a program that shows advertising within a browser window. The program is typically installed on the sly by an advertising network during an innocent-looking download.

AFFILIATE: Someone who earns a commission for sending clicks, leads, or sales to a merchant.

AFFILIATE AGREEMENT: A contractual document, usually executed electronically, between an affiliate and a merchant. Includes terms and conditions of the relationship. Legally binding.

AFFILIATE FORUM: An online community where visitors may read and post topics related to affiliate marketing.

AFFILIATE, JV, OR PARTNER OFFER: An offer where you are paid a commission for promoting someone else’s product to your customers.

AFFILIATE LINK: Code that sends your customer to a merchant’s sales page. The code can either be an HTML link or be part of a graphic (such as a banner). The code identifies you as the affiliate who should be credited for the click or the sale.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM: A business model that pays a commission to someone who sends leads, clicks, or sales to a merchants via a link (text or graphic) on a web site.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM DIRECTORY: A web site that describes and sorts various affiliate programs.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM MANAGER: The person who is in charge of managing a merchant’s affiliate program.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM (OR SOLUTION) PROVIDER: Third party firm that that provides software, database support, affiliate ID and link-tracking, and payment services for affiliate programs.

AFFILIATE SOLUTION PROVIDER: The company or network providing the software and support required to run an affiliate program.

AFFILIATE URL OR LINK: The html code in a  on an affiliate’s web page. When a visitor clicks on one of these links they are tagged with the affiliate’s id so the affiliate will get credit for any sales.

AFFINITY MARKETING: promoting products based on information about a customer’s past purchases.

ALT TEXT: The part of the HTML code used for images that allows for a text description. This text is used by search engines, but only appears to visitors if they have their images turned off.

ALEXA: A web information company that ranks websites based on the amount of traffic a site gets.  In order to be ranked, however, a webmaster must download the Alexa toolbar, and Alexa can only track traffic from browsers that have the Alexa toolbar installed

APPLET: A script written in the programming language Java that is embedded in the code of a web page.

ARTICLE (Keyword Article): An article that emphasizes a set of keywords in order to boost search engine
rankings for a website.

ASSOCIATE: Another word for Affiliate.

ASSOCIATE PROGRAM: See Affiliate Program.

ATTRITION: The portion of a customer database that becomes inactive. Referred to as “attrition rate” – the rate at which customers become inactive.

AUTHORING TOOL: A program used to build web pages.

AUTO-RESPONDER: Software that will automatically send email messages on a pre-set schedule. Subscribers can send the auto-responder an email, or submit their mailing information via a web form.

B

B2B (Business to Business): A company that sells products or services to businesses. Compare to B2C.

B2C (Business to Consumer): A company that sells products or services to consumers. Compare to B2B.BACKEND: A general term referring to the administrative part of a website that is not seen by visitors such as the programming behind the site.

BACKEND OFFER: A general term for any product you offer to your current customers after they have purchased from you. This can be a one-off product, or a recurring product.

BANDWIDTH: The amount of information in bits-per-seconds that can be sent through an Internet
connection.

BANNER AD: A graphical ad, similar to a billboard, displayed on web pages.

BETA: a test version of a product, released before the official launch.

BID: Refers to the price an advertiser is willing to pay for a pay per click ad.

BLOG: A blend of the words ‘web log’, a blog is an online journal. People are “blogging” when they are writing their blogs, and if they write well enough, they can become professional “bloggers.”

BONUS: An extra added at no additional charge to a product. Free bonuses are designed to make a product more appealing and add substantial value.

BOUNCE: When an email cannot be delivered, it has “bounced.” There are two kinds of bounces: Hard and soft. A hard bounce occurs when an email address does not exist; a soft bounce occurs when the email cannot be delivered because an existing email box is either full, or no longer exists.

BOT: Slang for robot.

BROWSER: Software that allows the user to surf web sites while connected to the Internet. The most popular browsers today are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla, and Netscape.

BUMP: An additional product offered right at the point of checkout, on the order page BEFORE the credit card is entered. Often this is a recurring type of product, like a monthly membership or newsletter.

C

CALL TO ACTION: Persuading and converting traffic into leads and customer sales based on conversion rates and optimization techniques.CHAT ROOM: Also called a forum. A kind of website where many users can communicate with each other via a digital “chat” interface.

CHARGE BACK: A product return that results in loss of affiliate commission.

CHURN: As in “customer churn.” See Attrition.

CLICK STREAM: A traffic term that refers to the path users take through a website, or through the Internet in general.

CLICK-THROUGH: Another term for a click on your affiliate link.

CLICK-THROUGH RATE OR CLICK-THROUGH RATIO (CTR): The number of actual clicks that you receive when you display an affiliate ad or link. Usually described in terms of a percentage.

CLIENT: A software program that displays information. For example, email program Outlook is an email ‘client’.

CLIFFHANGER EFFECT: A marketing technique aimed to hint to what’s coming up the next.

CLOAKING: When the content or html code of a page is blocked from a user.

CO-BRANDING: Permission to place your logo, company name, and other distinctive brand features on a product or site.

COMMISSION: Income made from affiliate sales.

CONFIRMATION PAGE: The page where customers go to confirm that they completed their information correctly.

CONTENT ASSETS: Information you have and information you possess the ability to create in the future.

CONTENT INVENTORY: A way to list, organize and keep track of your content.

CONTINUITY: The act and ability to encourage a visitor to be a long-time customer.

CONTINUOUS RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: See Customer Relationship Management or CRM.

COOKIES: Code written to your prospect’s computer after clicking on an affiliate link. Cookies are a way of identifying which affiliate should be paid a commission.

CONTEXTUAL LINK: An affiliate link that looks more like content than an advertisement. Contextual links are usually part of an article or other informative web copy.

CONTEXTUAL MERCHANDISING: Matching relevant products to your content.

CONVERSION: A sale, or when a visitor completes an action.

CONVERSION RATE: Percentage of clicks that results in sales or leads.

COOKIE: A snippet of information sent from a webpage and stored on a visitor’s computer. Cookies can “persist” indefinitely, but in terms of affiliate marketing, as long as a merchant cookies are active, the affiliate can still make a sale if the visitor comes back and orders from the site, even if it is three months after they left the affiliate’s site. Cookies can also be used to remember a visitor’s personal information.

COPY: Text or words.

COST PER ACQUISITION (CPA): The amount paid to acquire a customer.

COST PER LEAD (CPL): The commission structure where an affiliate is paid based on how many leads they can generate for a merchant.

CPC (COST PER CLICK): The cost of each click on a PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising link.

CPM (COST PER THOUSAND): The amount you pay for one thousand banner ad impressions on someone else’s site.

CPS (Cost per Sale): How much it costs to generate each sale. Sometimes referred to as Cost per Order.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management): A marriage of marketing and customer service that tracks customers from acquisition to retention, employing data analysis and marketing promotions to try to raise the Life Time Value of each customer.

CUSTOMER RETENTION: Marketing techniques used to keep customers active and fend off customer attrition.

CTR (CLICK THROUGH RATE): A percentage of clicks to ad impressions. For example a 5% click-through rate means there were five clicks resulting from one hundred ad impressions.

CREATIVE: The promotional tools advertisers use to draw in users, both copy and graphic designs. Advertisements and sales copy are “creative(s)” and sometimes the people who produce them are referred to as “creatives.”

CROSS SELL: A marketing term for the practice of suggesting related products or services to a customer who is considering buying something.  For example – if you’re buying a book on Amazon.com, you may be shown a list of books similar to the one you’ve chosen.

CUSTOMER ACQUISITION: Acquiring new customers. A common marketing goal.

CUSTOMER CENTRIC MINDSET: Selling with the customer’s needs and wants in mind while maintaining optimal sales for yourself.  For example; balancing accountability with engagement, working with integrity, customer value.

D-E

DATA FEED: A largely automated process, commonly facilitated by a database,  RSS and XML in which information is uploaded onto a website, usually from another website. DATA WAREHOUSE: 1) An information infrastructure that enables businesses to access and analyze detailed data and trends.            2) A separate store of transactional data that provides a single integrated view of the customer. (Also known as Customer Information Repository).

DEEP LINKING: An incoming link to a website that directs visitors to anywhere but the site’s homepage (or index page); i.e., to subpages within the site.DEMOGRAPHICS: The age, sex, marital status, family size, education, geographic location, and occupation of an audience. Also referred to as a “demographic.”DIGITAL GOODS (DIGITAL PAYLOAD): Any product that can be delivered via a download over the Internet (ex: e-books, software programs, mp3 files, web hosting).DISCLAIMER: A statement of the terms under which a website or publication may be used, including copyright information or guidelines.

DISPLAY AD: Usually a graphic ad or banner.

DOMAIN NAME: A website address, also known as a URL. For example, AffiliateClassroom.com.

DOORWAY PAGE: A page that serves as an entry point through which visitors pass to the main content of a site. Sometimes called a “landing page”, and sometimes used as a search engine optimization tactic.

DOWNLOAD: Transferring a file from a website or server to your computer.

DOWNSELL: Always a less expensive version of a more expensive product that the customer said “no” to. The number of downsells is controlled by how many upsells you have. A downsell can also be a payment plan.

EMAIL LINK: An affiliate link within an email.

EMAIL MARKETING: Promoting products or services through email.

EMAIL SIGNATURE: A brief message that closes every email sent by an individual. Your email signature file can contain affiliate links, relevant site links, free offers, and advertising messages. See also Signature File.

ENCRYPTION: A way to scramble or encode sensitive information so that it can not be accessed by third parties while being transferred from a computer to a server. All shopping carts require encryption.

EPC: Average earnings per 100 clicks. Calculated from commissions earned divided by the number of clicks times one hundred.

EXIT LOCK: Software that allows you to keep confidential work open if you have to leave your computer by locking it safely.

EXIT POP: A pop-up that entices a customer who is about to leave the page to remain.  For example:  the pop up might say “before you leave, please don’t let this opportunity slip away,” – then it will show the customer a choice between “okay” and “continue.”

EZINE: An electronic magazine or newsletter, usually delivered via email.

F-G

FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS): A web page that answers the most common questions about your products.

FAT AFFILIATE: An affiliate whose sites provide a satisfying user experience through high quality content. The opposite of “thin affiliate,” a phrase popularized by Google. (See also THIN AFFILIATE.) 50% RULE: Reduce the price by 50% for a downsell.  So whatever your initial offer was, simply divide that price in half, Of course, be sure to remove some value from the initial offer so the reduction in price makes sense.

FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP): The most popular way to transfer large files between computers, servers and websites.

FIRE WALL: A technological barrier between a computer network and the internet which is used to block unwanted visitors or programs. Firewalls can complicate web development projects, downloads, and other internet tasks.

FIRST TIER: In a multi-tier affiliate program this tier represents those individuals who receive commissions of the affiliates they recruit.

FLAME: A derogatory comment. Can be used as both a noun and a verb.

FLASH™: A free plugin that allows for animation and interactivity. Created by Macromedia.

FORUM: An online community of users who read and post comments about topics of common interest.

FRAMES: An archaic website design method which allows a browser to show multiple web pages – each within a different “frame” – within the same browser window.FREQUENCY MARKETING: A marketing program that rewards customers based on how much they buy. Also referred to as a Loyalty Program.

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format): file format used for images. These files appear with the .”gif” suffix.

GLURGE: A false or exaggerated news item circulated by email. Originated by Snopes.com, a site that debunks urban legends and online rumors.

GROSS SALES: Total revenue from all sales during a specified time period.

GUARANTEE: A statement, in writing, by the manufacturer promising to repair or replace a defective or unsatisfactory product.

GUERILLA MARKETING: A marketing style that aims to get maximum ROI from the smallest possible investment, often through unconventional, free, or low-cost promotion.

H

HARD GOODS: Tangible goods such as furniture, clothes, and toys that can’t be delivered through an Internet download.HEURISTIC: 1) a method of identifying site visitors; 2) an analysis of the usability of a website.

HIT: A term used in website traffic measurement. A hit is a single request for a single file on a web server. Each image on a page, then, would count as one hit when requested. As a result, hits are not a good way to measure traffic. Instead, look for how many unique visitors came to your site.

HOME PAGE: The index page of your website. Also the first page you see after typing in the domain name.

HOST: The server that has a website’s pages on it, and manages requests for those pages from elsewhere on the internet. Websites are frequently hosted by ISPs.

HYBRID MODEL: A commission model that combines different payment methods, or any marketing or business model that borrows from two or more standard methods or practices.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language): HTML is a set of codes that tells your browser to display web pages. When you sign up for an affiliate program, your merchant or affiliate program provider will send you HTML code to use for your links.

HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol): the file transfer protocol used by servers across the internet.

HYPERLINK: A section of text or a graphic that will take a user to a new page if it is clicked. If text, this may also be called “anchor text.”

HYPERTEXT: A clickable link on any webpage. Also known as “anchor text.”

I

IMAGE MAP: An image on a web page that has multiple, separate s embedded in it. For example, an image map of the US would allow someone to click on fifty different states and go to fifty different pages.

IMPRESSION: An instance of your advertising link being displayed in a browser.

INCENTIVIZED TRAFFIC: Web surfers who have been compensated for visiting a site and/or taking certain actions, including signing up for PPL (pay per lead) programs.

INDEXING: Achieving a ranking somewhere within a major search engine which can drive traffic the website.

INBOUND LINK: A link on a website that points to your website. For example, a user clicking the inbound linkwould leave the site and arrive at your site via the inbound link.

IN-HOUSE: A task that is managed within the company, instead of being outsourced. In affiliate marketing, in-house means that the affiliate program is completely run by the company, instead of by an affiliate network.

INTEGRATION MARKETING: According to The American Marketing Association, integration marketing is the: “…planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.”

INTERNET: The network of servers that makes up the world wide web.

INTERSTITIAL ADS: ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as pop-ups, transition ads.

INTRANET: A private network of computers that talk to each other, usually within a company or an organization.

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP): The company that allows you to connect your computer to the internet.

INVISIBLE WEB: A collective term for all the websites that are not indexed by search engines.

IP ADDRESS: The digital version of your domain name. An IP address is a unique number consisting of four numbers separated by dots. For example 134.2.16.237. Every server on the internet has a unique IP address. For web hosting, many sites can share one ip address, though major sites will have their own.

J-K

JAVASCRIPT: A programming language that can run scripts without contacting the server, thus greatly
increasing the speed at which it can process information. Javascripts can be used for online calculators,
sending forms, customizing pages and more.
JOINT VENTURE: A business partnership that is usually project based, typically involving one marketer with a

product to promote and another marketer who has a list of people who might be interested in the product.
JV BROKER: An individual who sets up individuals and/or businesses together into a joint venture
partnership.
JV PARTNER: Refers to either the business or individual in a joint venture who either owns a product or is
promoting a product.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): A commonly used file format for images. JPEGs end with the
.”jpg” suffix.
KEYWORD: The search term that a user may enter at a search engine. For example, someone who wants to
find a site that sells printer paper might enter ‘printer paper’ at a search engine.
KEYWORD DENSITY: The ratio between the keyword being searched for and the total number of words
appearing on your web page. If your keyword only occurs, say, once, in a page that has twenty thousand
words, then it has a density of 0.005 percent.
KEYWORD RESEARCH: The work required to find the optimum keywords to attract traffic to a web site.

L

LAUNCH:  The initial portal to the website’s opening page.
“LAUNCH WITHIN A LAUNCH” OFFER: A special type of offer you present to customers shortly after a big
product launch. This offer is designed to ride the momentum from the launch. The offer is presented for sale
anywhere from 7-30 days after the launch closes.
LEAD: the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product or service, and
represents the first stage of a sales process.
LIFETIME COMMISSION: Affiliate programs that write long-term cookies (two years or more), or that use their
own internal customer data tracking, to guarantee that affiliates will earn repeat commissions. In general,
with a lifetime commission program, your affiliate ID will be permanently “attached” to your customers, so
you will make commissions on all your customers’ future purchases.
LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER (LTV): Projected dollar amount of sales that your customer is expected to
spend with you.
LIGHTBOX: A grayed-out page or area on a page.
LINK POPULARITY: The number of indexed web sites linking or “pointing toward” a web site.
LINUX HOSTING: Hosting solution powered by the Linux operating system noted for its ease of use and
reliability.

LINKROT: The slow process of links to other sites becoming less and less accurate over time as the sites go
out of existence or move. A particular problem with affiliate sites that promote short-term offers.
LIST BUILDING:  creating, sending, and tracking email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders.
LISTSERV: A mailing list of email addresses.
LOG FILE: The record a website server keeps of every request it receives. Used for traffic reports. See also
“server logs.”
LOYALTY PROGRAM: A marketing program (or CRM program) that rewards customers based on how much
they buy. Also called a Frequency or Rewards program.

M-N-O

MAIN OFFER: Also called the Primary Offer, Entry Level Offer or Front-end Offer. This is the first offer your
visitor sees. It’s always on your main sales page.
MANUAL APPROVAL: When a merchant requires a human being to review an prospective affiliate’s
application before they are approved for the affiliate program.
MEDIUM:  The technology—software and hardware—used to communicate with your customers.
MERCHANT: An internet business that sells goods or services.
META TAGS: HTML tags within the headers of page, used by search engines to get a page’s description and
keywords.
MICRO-SITE: A 1-3 page web site devoted exclusively to selling a product, soliciting subscribers, or otherwise
getting a prospect to take immediate action. (See also Mini-Site.)
MINI-SITE: A web site with a tightly focused topic and highly specialized information. Mini-sites began as
single sales pages, but today these types of sites are called micro-sites (see above). Currently, the optimal
mini-site contains at least 10 pages of targeted content – product reviews, specs, FAQs, recommendations,
etc. – as well as sales pages. Many “mini-sites” are actually quite large – some contain hundreds of pages of
content.
MOUSEOVER: When a user moves their mouse or cursor over a specific item on a webpage. Javascript
rollovers, where an image changes color as you move your mouse over the image, is an example of a
“mouseover.”
MOUSETRAPPING: When a web developer uses tricks to make it difficult to impossible for a visitor to leave a
site, such as showing endless pop-ups or disabling the “back” button.
MP3: A popular file format for audio files.
MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING (MLM) : Also referred to as Network Marketing. MLM moves products through a

tiered group of independent distributors who buy products at wholesale prices through the MLM company,
then sell the products at retail prices, and sponsor other people to do the same while they get a percentage
of their sponsoree’s sales.
MYSQL:  A type of database that can be integrated into a website and collect information.
NAVIGATION: The design and structure of a site that allows users to move from page to page.
NEWBIE: Someone who is new to affiliate marketing or to the internet.
NICHE: A particular industry or group of products within an industry that share common characteristics and
often have a similar audience.
ONE-CLICK TECHNOLOGY: One-click technology provides you with the ability to guide your customer through
the check-out process with ease.
ONE TIME OFFER (OTO): A sales-generating strategy.  For example:  A customer buys a product from your
website. After they pay for the product they are redirected to a second web page that makes them an offer
to purchase additional products. The reason it’s called a “One Time Offer” is because they only see the offer
at that time, immediately after purchase.
OUTBOUND LINK: A link that points out from your site to another site, or, a link that takes a user to a new
site. See inbound link.
OPT-IN: When someone signs up for something online, usually for an email newsletter.
OPT-IN PAGE: An opt-in page entices the reader to opt-in— to “find out more” —about your product by
receiving a report, receiving a download and so on.
OPT-OUT: When someone unsubscribes from an email newsletter or any other kind of communication.

P

PARTNER PROGRAM: See Affiliate Program.
PAYMENT PLAN: Payment Terms – monthly, quarterly, yearly, other.
Payment Processors: A third-party company that connects your e-commerce software to your merchant
account allowing you to collect credit card, and in some cases, electronic check payments in real time from
your online store.  Examples include:  ClickBank,  PayPal or Paydotcom.
PAYPAL:  A leading online payment system that allows individuals to pay and receive payment for products
and services over the Internet with credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers.
PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC): A program in which an affiliate is paid for each click to a merchant’s web site. Pay-
per-click returns are very low, usually less than $.50 per click and sometimes as low as $.01 per click. Best
for webmasters with extremely high traffic sites.

PAY-PER-CLICK AFFILIATE:  An affiliate who performs the majority of their advertising through pay-per click.
PAY-PER-IMPRESSION: An advertising term that means the advertiser pays for their advertising by how many
impressions (or views) it receives.
PAY-PER-LEAD (PPL): A program in which an affiliate is paid a commission for each “qualified” lead
generated through your affiliate link. Merchants often have very specific criteria for what constitutes a
“qualified” lead. In general, the prospect must take some sort of action while at the merchant’s site, such
as filling out an application, subscribing to an ezine or offer list, entering a sweepstakes, requesting a free
sample, or downloading software or PDFs.
PAY-PER-PERFORMANCE MARKETING: A generic term that encompasses the entire affiliate marketing
industry and all types of affiliate programs, most commonly commission-based programs.
PAY-PER-SALE (PPS): Most common affiliate program, where you receive a commission for each sale of a
product or service via your affiliate link.
PERCEIVED VALUE:  A consolidated measure: either the difference between the perceived benefits that a
product delivers and its perceived price, or the ratio of the perceived benefits and the perceived price.
POSITIONING: The process of choosing how you will present your product to your market. Positioning includes
price, promotion methods, packaging, distribution, competition, marketplace needs, demand, etc.
PRE-CART OFFER: This is the page before they enter their credit card. For example, if they are buying a
book, they can either choose the ebook version, the physical version, or both combined.
PRE-TRANSACTION BUMP: This is a pre-checked option box in the first checkout page, providing the
customer with an attractive and immediate additional purchase.  An example is an option offering a
subscription that will continue on a monthly basis, such as a DVD of the month club, or special access to a
customer club.
PRE-TRANSACTION UPSELL: This is the page where they check off the terms of service, and actually enter
their credit card information.
PRICE POINTS: This is the price of your initial offer and it will always be specific to the niche and to the
product; it should be congruent with its perceived value
PERFORMANCE PRICING MODEL: an advertising model where advertisers pay based an ad’s performance
which can be measured as clicks, number of sales, number of leads, or other actions.
PERMISSION MARKETING: A marketing technique that asks for information from a customer bit by bit over
time in order to build a trusted relationship.
PERSONALIZATION: Customizing a message by “personalizing” the text, graphics and layout based on each
customer’s specific information.
PHP:  Hypertext Preprocessor, a programming language that helps integrate database  operations into

websites.  PHP can be embedded into HTML  and allows webmasters to create dynamic content.
PODCAST:  A multimedia file, usually an audio program or file that is broadcast over the Internet using RSS
feeds or Atom- syndication.
POP-UP AD: A new browser window that appears suddenly and includes advertising.
POP-UNDER AD: A new browser window that appears under the user’s main browser window and includes
advertising.
PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF): A type of file that preserves the design formatting (text and images)
of a document on any computer that runs the free program Adobe Acrobat. A common file format for ebooks.
PPC CAMPAIGN:  An advertising campaign that starts when an advertiser or webmaster chooses to use pay-
per click to promote a site.
PROFIT: The amount of money earned from your sales after expenses.
PLUG-IN: A small software module that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common plug-ins are
Active-X and Adobe Acrobat.
PORTAL: A web site or page of a web site intended to be a point of entry for a large amount of information.
Many companies have attempted to create portals covering every topic available on the internet.
POSTING: A message added to a newsgroup, forum or message board.
PRIVACY POLICY: The legal statement posted on a website that explains how a visitor’s private information
will be used and protected.
PROMOTION: A marketing campaign, or individual marketing message.

Q-R

QUALIFIED LEAD: See Pay-Per-Lead.
REACH: How much of a market will be exposed to a given advertisement, promotion, or marketing
technique.
RECIPROCAL LINKS: A link swap between two sites that each agree to put an outbound link to their partner’s
site on their site.
RECYCLING CONTENT:  Various ways to sell the same thing. For example: 1. Re-package your web site
content into different products to sell, like speeches, audio books, classes, or video tapes. 2.  Add to your
content and create an ebook to sell. 3. Use your free content as a lead-in product for your fee- based
content or private site.
REFERRAL FEES: The commissions paid by advertisers for delivering a sale or a sales lead..

REFERRAL LINK: See Affiliate Link.
REFERRAL PROGRAM: See Affiliate Program.
REPEAT VISITOR: A website visitor who returns to a website after their first visit.
RESELLER PROGRAM: Sometimes used as a synonym for an Affiliate Program. However, a true Reseller
Program is usually structured as a B to B (business-to-business) wholesaler relationship. Many merchants
require Resellers to apply to their program, and require a transparent contractual business relationship.
Resellers then purchase product at greatly reduced prices, but often also have to provide product support.
RESIDUAL INCOME: A program that pays commissions on recurring payments. These are usually memberships,
subscriptions, or monthly fees for services such as web hosting.
REVENUE SHARING PROGRAM: See Affiliate Program.
ROI (Return On Investment): A method for measuring actual profit from a given sales campaign.
REAL SIMPLE SYNDICATION (RSS): An XML-based markup language used for syndicated content. Many blogs
support RSS.
RECURRING: Also called a Continuity Offer or Continuity Program. Once a customer purchases it, they are
charged a monthly fee (until they cancel it).
RESIDUAL EARNINGS: Affiliate programs that pay lifetime commissions. So an affiliate makes commissions off
the first and every subsequent purchase a customer makes.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI): The money earned by your advertising investment. For example, a $2
commission earned from a click that cost $1 is a 200% return on investment.
ROBOTS: A program written by a search engine (or similar company) that follows links across the internet,
hopefully indexing every page it comes across.
RON (Run-of-Network): When an advertisement appears across an advertising network.
ROS (Run-of-Site): When an advertisement appears on every page of a web site.

S

SALES FUNNEL: The sales process through which every customer goes once they say yes to an offer. This
process is often depicted as a “funnel” where new leads enter at the wide top of the funnel. They pass
through the system until at the narrow end, an order is placed and sale is closed. Also called

SALES LETTER: Comes from the direct marketing industry, where a sales letter is sent via snail mail to
promote a product or service directly to consumers. A sales letter is you online sales presentation in the form
of a web page.
SALES PIPELINE: See Sales Funnel.
SALES VIDEO: A video of yourself or someone else introducing and explaining your product.
SECOND TIER: In a two-tier affiliate program, the second tier represents affiliates recruited by an affiliate
already in the affiliate program (1st tier). Every time the second tier makes a sale, the first tier earns extra
commissions.
SECURE SERVER: A web server with special encryption that allows credit card and other sensitive information
to be transferred securely during a purchase. You can determine if a server is secure by checking the web
address. All secure servers begin with “https://” https:// rather than the standard   “http://” http://.
SERVER: The physical computer or hardware that stores the files of a website and managed the requests
from other computers for those files.
SERVER LOGS: The records a server keeps of every file request, when it was requested, who requested it and
more. These logs are used to create traffic reports.
SIG FILE: See Signature File.
SIGNATURE FILE: Similar to an Email Signature, this usually refers to a brief message that follows your
signature in a forum posting. See also Email Signature.
SKYSCRAPER: The shape of a graphic ad. There are two standard sizes of skyscrapers: 120 X 600 and 160 x
600.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The practice of making changes to a web site so it is more visible to the
search engines. Includes developing inbound links to the site.
SHOPPING CART: Software integrated into a website that acts as a “virtual” shopping cart, keeping track of
what a visitor at a website wants to purchase.
SCRIPTS: A set of programming instructions  executed by another program without the need for user
interaction.
SPAM: Unsolicited commercial email, junk email, or junk forum postings. Today, the term is also loosely (and
erroneously) applied to ANY UNWANTED email received from any source. Any email you send to a purchased
bulk email list (“Mail to 1 Million People For Only $199”) is bound to be spam.
SPYWARE: A program that is surreptitiously installed on a computer during a free download that tracks a
user’s activity online and reports it to the third party.
SQL (Structured Query Language): A database programming language commonly used for websites.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): A protocol used to enable encrypted, authenticated
communications across the Internet. All secure servers use this protocol.
STREAMING: Technology that allows large audio and video files to play continuously while they are
downloading. Streaming allows immediate playing of files that would otherwise take several minutes to
download completely.
STOREFRONT: An e-commerce website.
SUB-AFFILIATE: Affiliates you have referred to a Two-Tier Affiliate Program. (See also Two-Tier.)
SUPER AFFILIATES: A term originally coined to describe the top 1% earning affiliates. Today it loosely refers
to anyone who makes a good living from affiliate programs.
SURROUND SESSION: An advertising technique where a visitor sees ads from only one advertiser during their
visit to a site.

T

TARGET AUDIENCE: The intended audience for advertising or a product/services, usually defined in terms of
the audience’s specific demographics and their online or offline behaviors.
TELESEMINAR: A seminar in which the participants, such as the speakers and listeners, are not gathered
together at a physical place, but rather in widespread locations.  The seminar is usually conducted over the
phone and can be broadcast live or taped and made available for download.
TEXT AD: An advertisement which is text only.
TEXT LINK: A link displayed as text only, without an image overlying it (such as a banner).
THIN AFFILIATE: A phrase coined by Google to describe an affiliate site that contains no real content value.
Landing pages designed solely to send traffic to a merchant site, pages containing nothing but affiliate links,
or content-poor sites designed to obtain AdSense clicks are common types of “thin affiliate” sites. (See also
FAT AFFILIATE.)
THIRD-PARTY AD SERVER: The network or company that manages ad serving, usually an advertising network.
THIRD PARTY CREDIT CARD PROCESSING: A company that accepts credit card orders on behalf of another
company (usually a retailer), making a merchant account unnecessary. An inexpensive way to enable a
website for e-commerce.
THIRD PARTY TRACKING SOFTWARE: Software located on a server other than your own that tracks and
records visits to your Web site.

TRACKING: Recording information about sales, leads, clicks, or other actions taken by a visitor on a web
page. Usually done with cookies, unique links, or unique URLs.
TRACKING METHOD: How an affiliate program tracks referred sales, leads or clicks.
TRACKING URL: A web site URL with embedded code in it that follows and records a user’s actions.
TWO-TIER: Affiliate payment model in which you can refer other affiliates and receive a small additional
commission on their sales. You are the first tier, your sub-affiliates are the second tier. Two-tier affiliate
marketing is sometimes compared to MLM (Multi-Level Marketing). But two-tier affiliate programs avoid
the complicated matrix payment systems of MLMs, as well as some of the shadier aspects of “pyramid”
marketing.

U-Z

UNADVERTISED BONUSES: A very effective tactic aimed at providing an “extra” in the mail, such as a DVD of
a presentation. Include a message like “We were going to sell this DVD separately for $97, but as our valued
customer, you get it free.”
UNIQUE SELLING POSITION OR UNIQUE SELLING POINT (USP): What makes a product or service stand out
from the competition
UNIQUE USER: A website traffic term that means a unique visitor, some times referred to like this, “I get
50,000 uniques to my site every month.”
UNIQUE VISITOR: a person with a unique address who has visited a website and the site webstats have
recorded them
UPLOAD: Transferring a file from your computer to server. Web pages are frequently edited on a user’s
computer, then “uploaded” to a web server.
UPSELL: Usually this is a more expensive product offered to a customer after he has purchased the Main
Offer — any product, regardless of price, offered after a customer says “yes” to your main offer.
UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR (URL): The address of a website.
USABILITY: An area of website design that is concerned with how easily visitors can use or navigate a
website.
USER SESSION: All the actions a website users takes in one visit. Frequently used in the context of
programming and web applications.
VIRAL MARKETING: Advertising that spreads on its own (like a virus). Viral marketing is accomplished by
offering free products with a high perceived value. These are usually delivered digitally, with permission to
copy and share the product with anyone.
VIRAL GUIDE:  An informative document on a particular topic that is distributed over the Internet to help
bring visitors to a site, build credibility for the webmaster, and promote products.
VIRUS: A malicious program that interrupts the processes of a computer. Viruses can destroy files or simply
slow a computer’s processing. They can be acquired through a free download, or by opening an email
attachment with the suffix .exe.
WEBCASTING: An online presentation using real-time or pre-recorded audio, video, or animation over the
internet.

WEBINAR:  A telephone call where hundreds or even thousands of people may listen in on the call simultaneously.
WEBMASTER: Someone who builds and maintains a website.
WEB SITE: A collection of HTML pages organized under one domain name.
WEB TEMPLATES: Pre-existing designs that help in creating the layout of a site or web page.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language): An evolved version of HTML which allows for advanced tags to structure
information, transfer data and create applications.

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