Over the months I’ve been asked a lot by clients and colleagues alike ‘what’s one of those?’ So as more of you are referring to my blog (thank you) for snippets on what’s happening online I thought it would be useful for you to have a point of reference for busting all the online jargon you ask me about.
So, welcome to my wiki. I will add to this as I go along and please feel free to send in anything you think should be on here…
Analytics is a method used to decide how a business might arrive at an optimal decision based on existing or historic data.
Application Programming Interface (API) is an interface implemented by a software program which enables it to interact with other software.
A Blog (such as this) is a type of website or often part of a website, the word itself is portmanteau of the term ‘web log’. Most blogs are regularly updated by a user or group of users expressing opinions or commenting on the topic of the blog.
The Bounce Rate is the number of single page visits to a website over a period of time.
A Byte is the unit that digital storage or transformation of information is measured in, it comes in multiples thereof. The most commonly known are kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes, (it’s unlikely you’ll deal with anything larger than that if you’re reading this, only supreme techies will handle terrabytes through to yottabytes!)
Click Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click.
Content Management System (CMS) is a back-end computer application (by which I mean it’s hidden to the web user) used to generate, edit and manage pages and information on a website or web application.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is all about using systems and databases to enable businesses to effectively manage their relationships with customers. This will cover aspects such as tracking enquiries, complaints, purchase history and contact details therefore allowing the business to build timely and relevant communications over a period of time.
A Cookie is a small text file on a user’s PC that identifies the user’s browser that can contain information such as login details, this allows a website to remember a user so they don’t have to repeatedly enter the same information.
Cost Per Click (CPC) is the cost incurred by an advertiser for a single click on an advert served within a PPC bidding system.
Cost Per Mille (CPM) or commonly translated as Cost per thousand is a cost associated with paid for media bidding systems for a thousand views served.
Google is a multinational advertising and technology corporation best known for its search engine.
Hardware is the collective name given to the physical aspects of technology e.g. a computer.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the predominant language used to create web pages.
Internet Protocol (IP) address is the unique numerical identification reference behind a web address. It’s used for location addressing and file identification.
JGI is a term we digital marketeers use on the inside that stands for ‘Just Google It’. (There is also a more explicit version: JFGI, I reckon you’ll guess what the ‘F’ stands for).
LinkedIn is a business orientated social networking site. In the main it is used for recruitment, professional profiling and networking.
An Open Rate, most commonly referred to with email marketing is the number o f times an email has been opened or viewed by its recipient.
Pay Per Click (PPC) is the bidding system used in conjunction with search engines to appear in the top ‘sponsored links’ when an advertiser bids on a keyword relevant to a specific market. A cost is incorporated once a user clicks on the advert served in relation to the keyword they searched for.
Protect IP Act (Pipa) is the senate version of Sopa. An act to support the protection of copyright on the web (see below).
Random Access Memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage, the more you have the faster your computer will work. RAM is measured in Bytes.
Return On Investment (ROI) sometimes called Rate of Return, is the ratio of money gained or lost against the original investment.
Search Engine is an engine used to search for information across the World Wide Web.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a technique used to improve volume or quality of traffic to a website through targeting what search terms people use when online and understanding how search engines work.
A Search Engine Results Page (SERP), is the list of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a search query entered.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the man credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
SMMS Social Media Management System
Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) is a proposed US legislation that aims to protect copyright on the web. This piece has been driven largely by movie studios and record labels to clamp down on filesharing and copyright infringement online, adding extra support to the existing anti-piracy laws.
Software is the collective name given to programs that tell a computer what to do.
A Tag is a piece of code which can be embedded in electronic media e.g. display advertising or emails to ascertain the number of actions taken e.g. a click by a user.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the identification given to particular resource, more commonly known as web address.
Unique refers to the total number of unique visitors to a given page.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organisation for the World Wide Web
