About.com
Formerly known as The Mining Company , About is a guide based information portal.
Online: http://www.about.com

Above the fold
With reference to the top part of a newspaper, the term is used in internet marketing to describe the top part of the page that the user can see without scrolling down.

Ad Clicks
Number of times users click on an ad banner.

Address
A unique identifier for a computer or site online, usually a URL for a web site or marked with an @ for an email address. Literally, it is how your computer finds a location on the information highway.

Ad Views (Impressions)
Number of times an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by visitors. If the same ad appears on multiple pages simultaneously, this statistic may understate the number of ad impressions, due to browser caching. Corresponds to net impressions in traditional media. There is currently no way of knowing if an ad was actually loaded. Most servers record an ad as served even if it was not.

Algorithm
The process a search engine applies to web pages so it can accurately produce a list of results based on a search term. Search engines regularly change their algorithms to improve the quality of the search results. Hence search engine optimisation tends to require constant research and monitoring.

Alta Vista
A popular search engine. One of the first search engines origanally owned by Digital now owned by Yahoo.
Online: http://www.altavista.com, http://www.av.com

\Anchor
A word, phrase or graphic image, in hypertext, it is the object that is highlighted, underlined or "clickable" which links to another site.

Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the visible text for a hyperlink. For example: < a href="http://www.seo-help.com/" >This is the anchor text< /a >

AOL
American Online. Stands for "A(merica) O(n)L(ine)" America Online, Inc., based in Virginia, originally began as a closed network content provider; meaning only AOL subscribers had access to AOL content. Today, this popular service provider continues to offer their own content (available only to AOL subscribers) as well as e-mail and Internet access that can be parentally controlled.
Online: http://www.aol.com

API
Application Programming Interface

ASCII
American Standard Code for Intformation Interchange

Applet
An application program written in Java which allows viewing of simple animation on web pages.

ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency)
The U.S. Department of Defense agency that, in conjunction with leading universities, created ARPAnet, the precursor of the internet.

Ask Jeeves
A meta search engine that allows natural english quires. You can ask a question as your search.
Online: http://www.ask.com

ASP
Microsoft Active Server Pages. Also know as Application Service Provider.

ASPX
Microsoft Active Server Page Framework

Auditor
Third-party company that tracks, counts and verifies ad-banner requests or verifies a Web site's ad reporting system.

Avatar
A digital representation of a user in a virtual reality site.

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B2B
Business to Business

B2C
Business to Consumer

B2E
Business to Employee

BMP
Bitmap (file.bmp)

BTF
Below the Fold

Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a large pathway within a network. The term is relative to the size of network it is serving. A Backbone in a small network would probably be much smaller than many non-Backbone lines in a large network.

Bandwidth
How much information (text, images, video, sound) can be sent through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move approximately 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video requires about 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.

Banner
Banners are the 468-by-60 pixels ad space on commercial Web sites that are usually "hot-linked" to the advertiser's site.

Beta
This term has migrated from computer and software development, and it is usually used as "beta site." It means test site or test version. Beta is not the finally version of a product or web site, but it's close enough to show in public and work the bugs out.

Bookmark
A bookmark is an easy way to find your way Back to a web site -- just like a real bookmark helps you keep your place in a book you are reading.

Bot
Abbreviation for robot (also called a spider). It refers to software programs that scan the web. Bots vary in purpose from indexing web pages for search engines to harvesting e-mail addresses for spammers

Branding
A school of advertising that says, "If the consumer has heard of us, we've done our job." Fortunately for agencies, brand value is extremely difficult to measure, so branding campaigns can be easily defended with grandiose predictions of future glory.

Browser
An application used to view information from the Internet. Browsers provide a user-friendly interface for navigating through and accessing the vast amount of information on the Internet.

Browser Caching
To speed surfing, browsers store recently used pages on a user's disk. If a site is revisited, browsers display pages from the disk instead of requesting them from the server. As a result, servers under-count the number of times a page is viewed.

Browsing
A term that refers to exploring an online area, usually on the World Wide Web.

BBS (Bulletin Board System)
Software that enables users to log into email, usenet and chat groups via modem.

Buttons
Objects that, when clicked once, cause something to happen.

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Cache
Cache is a storage area for frequently accessed information. Retrieval of the information is faster from the cache than the originating source. There are many types of cache including RAM cache, secondary cache, disk cache, and cache memory to name a few.

CD-ROM
Compact Disk-Read Only Memory, a storage medium popular in modern computers. One CD-ROM can hold 600 MB of data.

CFM
Cold Fusion Markup (file.cfm)

CGI
Common Gateway Interface. An interface-creation scripting program that allows Web pages to be made on the fly based on information from buttons, checkboxes, text input, etc.

CGI-BIN
Common Gateway Interface - Binary (/cgi-bin)

Chat Room
An area online where you can chat with other members in real-time.

Click
The opportunity for a visitor to be transferred to a location by clicking on an ad, as recorded by the server.

Click-Through Rate
Percentage of times a user responded to an advertisement by clicking on the ad button/banner. At one time the granddaddy of Web-marketing measurements, click-through is based on the idea that online promotions that do what they're intended to do will elicit a click.

Cloaking
Cloaking describes the technique of serving a different page to a search engine spider than what a human visitor sees. This technique is abused by spammers for keyword stuffing. Cloaking is a violation of the Terms Of Service of most search engines and could be grounds for banning.

Copyrighting
Copywriting for search engines is the art of creating web page copy that is tailored not only to fall in line with the current interpretation of search engine algorithms, but also to entice the reader to perform the action you desire. For example, to sign up for your newsletter, or click through to a certain area of your site.

Cookie
A file on your computer that records information such as where you have been on the World Wide Web. The browser stores this information which allows a site to remember the browser in future transactions or requests. Since the Web's protocol has no way to remember requests, cookies read and record a userÕs browser type and IP address, and store this information on the userÕs own computer. The cookie can be read only by a server in the domain that stored it. Visitors can accept or deny cookies, by changing a setting in their browser preferences.

CPA
Cost Per Action

CPC
Cost Per Click

CPC Campaign
A website marketing campaign based on a cost-per-click price where you only pay for the visitors that click on your listings. Hitwise Search Marketing provides guaranteed traffic at competitive cost per click prices. Due to our relationships with search engines combined with our optimisation techniques, the price of marketing your website is lowered drastically.

CPL
Cost Per Lead

CPM
CPM is the cost per thousand for a particular site. A Web site that charges $15,000 per banner and guarantees 600,000 impressions has a CPM of $25 ($15,000 divided by 600).

CPS
Cost Per Sale

CPT
Cost Per Transaction

CPTM
Cost per targeted thousand impressions.

CRM
Cuustomer Relationship Management

CSS
Cascading Style Sheet (file.css)

CTA
Abbreviation for Content Targeted Ad(vertising). It refers to the placement of relevant PPC ads on content pages for non-search engine websites.

CTR
Click Through Rate

Coverage
The percentage of a population group covered by the Internet.

Crawler
A program used by a search engine to "crawl" links on the Internet to find and index content. Also called a robot or spider. Can be used to identify and differentiate between types of crawlers indexing your site.

Creative
The technology used to create or develop an ad unit. The most common creative technology for banners is GIF or JPEG images. Other creative technologies include Java, - HTML, or streaming audio or video. These are commonly referred to as rich media banners.

Cyberspace
Coined by author William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," cyberspace is now used to describe all of the information available through computer networks.

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Delegation
The process of assigning name servers to a domain name.

Description
A short piece of descriptive text to describe a web page or website. With most search engines, they gain this information primarily from the meta data element of a web page. Directories approve or edit the description based on the submission that is made for a particular URL.

Directory
An index of websites based mainly on human editing and categorization. In most cases the content is submitted to the directory, the editorial team will then approve a title and description and place the URL in an appropriate category. For example, Yahoo! is a human edited directory.

Directory Optimisation
The process of creating a submission that is designed to increase the ranking according to relevant search terms. This process is especially important for paid submissions as an optimised submission greatly enhances the chances of receiving a good ROI.

DHTML
Dynamic Htpertyext Markup Langugage

DML
Data Manipulation Language

DNS - Dimain Name System
Translates domain names to IP addresses. When a domain name is delegated to a name server, the domain name system ensures the name can be translated to the IP address of the web server.

Doorway Page
A page that is optimised to rank well for a given keyphrase. Also known as a Hall Way or Tunnel Page.

Domain
A domain is the main subdivision of internet addresses, the last three letters after the final dot, and it tells you what kind of organization you are dealing with. There are six top-level domains widely used: .com (commercial) .edu (educational),.net (network operations), .gov (US government), .mil (US military) and .org (organization). Other, two letter domains represent countries; thus;.uk for the United Kingdom, .dk for Denmark, .fr for France, .de for Germany, .es for Spain, .it for Italy and so on.
Online: Lazworld.com Domain Name Center

Dynamic Rotation
Advertisements rotate on a timed basis.

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email
Electronic Mail, text files that are sent from one person to another.

Emotions
The online means of facial expressions and gestures. Examples: :) Tip your head to the left and you will see the two eyes and smiling mouth. Use them where applicable in chats and email. Other emotions include: :( sad :0 surprised o:) innocent.

EPC
Earnings Per Click

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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
FAQ is a commonly used abbreviation for "Frequently Asked Questions." Most Internet sites will have a "FAQ" to explain what is in the area and how to use its features.

FFA
Free For All (FFA Links Page)

Firewall
A security barrier placed between an organization's internal computer network -- either its IS system or intranet -- and the internet. It keeps your information in, and unwanted people out. It consists of one or more routers which accept, reject or edit transmitted information and requests.

Flame
An intentionally crude or abusive email message or usenet post. Rule: Don't do it. Ever. Not only is it bad netiquette, you leave a trail.

Flash
A vector based animation program that has become a popular technology used to deliver content. Currently search engines have difficulty indexing flash effectively as robots cannot read the text that is held within.

Forms
The pages in most browsers that accept information in text-entry fields. They can be customized to receive company sales data and orders, expense reports or other information. They can also be used to communicate.

Frames
The use of multiple, independent sections to create a single Web page. Each frame is built as a separate HTML file but with one "master' file to identify each section. When a user requests a page with frames, several pages will be displayed as panes. Sites using frames may report one page request with several panes as multiple page requests. Most audit firms count only the master HTML page request and therefore can accurately report the page requests.

Freeware
Shareware, or software, that can be downloaded off the internet -- for free.

Frequency
The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single session or time period. A site needs to use cookies in order to manage ad frequency.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol. A protocol that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another. FTP can also be used as a verb.

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Gateway
A link from one computer system to a different computer system.

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)
GIF (pronounced "gift") is a graphics format that can be displayed on almost all web browsers. It is a common compression format used for transferring graphics files between different computers. Most of the "pictures" you see online are GIF files. They display in 256 colors and have built-in compression. GIF images are the most common form of banner creative.

GIF89a or Animated GIF
A GIF animation tool that creates sequences of images to simulate animation and allows for transparent Background colors. Animated GIF's can generate higher response rates than static banners.

Goto.com
The original pay per click search engine that changed names and is now located at www.overture.com. Was acquired by Yahoo in 2003.
Online: http://www.overture.com

Gross Exposures
Each time a Web server sends a file to a browser, it is recorded in the server log file as a "hit." Hits are generated for every element of a requested page (including graphics, text and interactive items). If a page containing two graphics is viewed by a user, three hits will be recorded - one for the page itself and one for each graphic. Webmasters use hits to measure their server's work load. Because page designs vary greatly, hits are a poor guide for traffic measurement.

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HB
HotBot A popular search portal that is part of the Terra Lycos Network, but operates as a separate search engine in its own right.
Online: http://www.hotbot.com

Hacker
Originally used to describe a computer enthusiast who pushed a system to its highest performance through clever programming.

Helper Application
This term refers to software programs that run along with browser programs enabling them to perform additional functions. Good examples are Shockwave for downloading and viewing moving images and Real Audio for hearing sounds and music online.

History List
Most browsers have a pull-down menu which displays the sites you've recently visited so you can return to site instantly or view your latest surfing session. The same mechanism makes it possible for servers to track where you were before visiting a particular site -- better viewing habit information than television networks ever dreamed of providing.

Hit
The sending of a single file, whether text, graphic, audio or other type of file. When a page request is made, all elements or files that comprise the page are recorded as hits on a servers log file. While there is no accurate formula for determining the number of visitors to a page or site based on the number of hits -- one visitor could go Back and forth twenty times or twenty people could visit a single time each -- a hit at least indicates somebody was there. Thus, hits can be far more valuable than the tracking devices in any other media.

Home Page
The page designated as the main point of entry of a Web site (or main page) or the starting point when a browser first connects to the Internet. Typically, it welcomes you and introduces the purpose of the site, or the organization sponsoring it, and then provides links to the lower-level pages of the site. In business terms, it's the grabber. If your home page downloads too slowly, or it's unclear or uninteresting, you will probably lose a customer.

Host
An Internet host used to be a single machine connected to the Internet (which meant it had a unique IP address). As a host, it made available to other machines on the network certain services. However, virtual hosting has now meant that one physical host can now be actually many virtual hosts.

Hotlists
These can be pull-down or pop-up menus on browsers that contain new or popular sites. Major browser and search engine home pages also contain updated hotlists, and there are entire sites -- such as Cool Site O' the Day.

HTML
HyperText Markup Language is a coding language used to make hypertext documents for use on the Web. HTML resembles old-fashioned typesetting code, where a block of text is surrounded by codes that indicate how it should appear. HTML allows text to be "linked" to another file on the Internet.

Hypertext
Any text that that can be chosen by a reader and which causes another document to be retrieved and displayed.

HTTP
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol, the format of the World Wide Web. When a browser sees "HTTP" at the beginning of an address, it knows that it is viewing a WWW page.

HTTPS
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol Secure.

Hyperlink
This is the clickable link in text or graphics on a web page that takes you to another place on the same page, another page or a whole other site. It is the single most powerful and important function of online communications. Hyperlinks are revolutionizing the way the world gets its information.

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ICANN
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a global non-profit corporation formed to oversee a select range of Internet technical management functions currently managed by the U.S. Government, or by its contractors and volunteers.
Online: http://www.icann.org

Index
The database of a search engine or directory.

IIS
Internet Information Services

IM
Instant Messaging

Impression (Ad Impression or Page Impression)
The ad impression is the metric a site uses for measuring inventory. Different definitions exist for this term: 1. The viewing of a page or ad(s) by the user. The assumption is that the page or ad images were successfully downloaded and the user viewed the page or ads on the page are recorded whether or not a user clicks on an ad. 2.The request for a page or ad. Agencies usually collect a fee for every thousand impressions (hence the term CPM Ð cost per thousand).

Infopreneur
Someone who starts up a business in information technology or online communications.

Interactivity
If your web site isn't interactive, it's dead.

Internet
A collection of approximately 60,000 independent, inter-connected networks that use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from ARPANet of the late '60s and early '70s. The Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks providing reliable and redundant connectivity between disparate computers and systems by using common transport and data protocols.

Internet Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet entity.

Interstitial
Means "something in between" and is a page that is inserted in the normal flow of content between a user and a site. An Interstitial Ad is an "intrusive" ad unit that is spontaneously delivered without specifically being requested by a user. Blocking the site behind it, Interstitial Ads are designed to grab consumers' attention for the few nanoseconds it takes them to close the window. Interstitials can be full pages or small daughter windows. Also referred to as "pop-ups."

Intranet
Intranets are private networks, usually maintained by corporations for internal communications, which use internet -- usually web -- protocols, software and servers. They are relatively cheap, fast, and reliable networking and information warehouse systems that link offices around the world. They make it is easy for corporate users to communicate with one another, and to access the information resources of the internet.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
A facility that allows people -- from many different places in the world at one time -- to chat in real time. The chats, or forums, are typed remarks, and they can be either public or private. This, understandably, is a wildly popular consumer area of the internet. A sort of "ham radio" for the '90s, it offers intimacy combined with autonomy. Many celebrities are also talking to the public at pre-announced times, so IRC has commercial publicity uses, too. Business meetings can be conducted in the same way.

Inventory
The number of ads available for sale on a Web site. Ad inventory is determined by the number of ads on a page, the number of pages containing ad space and the number of page requests.

IP address
Internet Protocal address. Every system connected to the Internet has a unique IP address, which consists of a number in the format A.B.C.D where each of the four sections is a decimal number from 0 to 255. Most people use Domain Names instead and the resolution between Domain Names and IP addresses is handled by the network and the Domain Name Servers. With virtual hosting, a single machine can act like multiple machines (with multiple domain names and IP addresses).

IP Delivery
To deliver content based on the IP address of the computer requesting the URL. Sometimes used to tailor content to different user groups.

ISDN (Integrated Digital Services Network)
ISDN lines are high-speed dial-up connections to the internet. That's good. What's bad is that their cost and availability is determined by local telephone companies, which means in some places they are available, in other places not; and sometimes they're cheap, and at other times wildly expensive. It is a lot of commotion for a connection roughly four times faster -- 128,000 bits per second -- than a normal phone line. (The joke among communications experts is that ISDN stands for "It Still Does Nothing.") Wait for fiber optic lines which will be thousands of times faster -- that's the future.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A business that provides access to the internet. Its services are available to either individuals or companies, and include a dial-in interface with the internet, software supply and often web site and intranet design. There are currently over 3,000 ISPs in the U.S. alone. It's a growth business, and as a result pricing is highly competitive, so shop around.

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Java
Java is an object oriented programming language created by Sun Microsystems that supports enhanced features such as animation, or real-time updating of information. If you are using a web browser that supports Java, an applet (Java program) embedded in the Web page will automatically run.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
JPEG (pronounced "jay peg") is a graphics format newer than GIF which displays photographs and graphic images with millions of colors, it also compresses well and is easy to download. Unfortunately, not many browsers currently support it, so don't use it for your logo.

JS
Java Script

JSP
Java Server Pages (file.jsp)

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Keyword
A word -- or often phrase -- used to focus an online search.

KDA
Keyword Effectiveness Index

Killer App
A term that migrated from software development to online. It is nothing more than tech-talk for the eternal search for next big idea.

Lag
The amount of time between making an online request or command and receiving a response. Until lag time becomes no time at all the internet will not be consumer-friendly, and its profit potential will remain limited.

LAN (Local Area Network)
A computer network -- which for some reason is pronounced "land" -- limited to a certain area, usually a single floor or building. The web is a network, but not a LAN.

Link
An electronic connection between two Web sites (also called "hot link").

Link Popularity
A measure of inbound links. Several search engines have included this factor into their algorithms, the most notable being Google with their trademarked PageRank.

Listserver
A program that automatically sends email to a list of subscribers. It is the mechanism that is used to keep newsgroups informed.

Load
Usually used with up-load or down-load, it means to transfer files or software -- to "load" -- from one computer or server to another computer or server. In other words, it's the movement of information online.

Log or Log Files
File that keeps track of network connections. These text files have the ability to record the amount of search engine referrals that is being delivered to your website.

Login
The identification or name used to access -- log into -- a computer, network or site.

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Mailing List
Online a mailing list is an automatically distributed email message on a particular topics going to certain individuals. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to a mailing list by sending a message via email. There are many good professional mailing lists, and you should find the ones that concern your business.

Meta Data
Data about Data

Meta Search Engine
A search engine which gathers the results of other search engines to provide an wider range of results
Online: Meta Tag Generator

MIME
Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions, a method of encoding a file for delivery over the Internet.

Modem
A contraction for "modulation/demodulation," it is the device that converts a digital bit stream into an analog signal (and Back again) so computers can communicate across phone lines.

Modem Speeds
The speed at which you connect to the Internet through your computer's modem. They include 14.4, 28,8, 33.6 and ISDN. T1 and T3 are high speed connections that don't require a modem.

Mosaic
Developed by NCSA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Urbana, this is the breakthrough browser that revolutionized the internet. It brought clickability and graphics to a hard-to-navigate, text-heavy information system and made the web -- and its vast commercial possibilities -- a reality.

MPEG
The file format that is used to compress and transmit movies or video clips online.

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Netiquette
A term that is used to describe the do's and don'ts of online behavior. There are books out about it. Read them if you want, or for a detailed online explanation go to The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette. But it all comes down to good business -- and social -- practice. Be polite, be aware of the folks you are talking to, talk nicely and not too much.

Network (Ad Network)
An aggregator or broker of advertising inventory from many sites - 24/7 Europe is an Ad Network.

Net Monthly Circulation
The number of unique Web users in the panel that visited the site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percentage of the in-tab.

Newbie
A term to describe anyone new to an area, whether it be a particular forum online or the Internet.

Newsgroup
A discussion group on Usenet devoted to talking about a specific topic. Currently, there are over 15,000 newsgroups. Also called usenets, newsgroups consist of messages posted on electronic bulletin boards. Each board has a theme, and there are tens of thousands of newsgroups concerning every imaginable topic. Many of them cover professional subjects and societies and are rich sources of business information; others are junk and contain little but mindless drivel.

NSI
Network Solutions Inc.
Online: http://www.networksolutions.com

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Online
It's where you are right now -- and where the rest of the world is heading to get its information and entertainment, to communicate and buy products and services.

Online Service
A business that provides its subscribers with a wide variety of data transmitted over telecommunications lines. Online services provide an infrastructure in which subscribers can communicate with one another, either by exchanging email messages or by participating in online conferences (forums). In addition, the service can connect users with an almost unlimited number of third-party information providers. Subscribers can get up-to-date stock quotes, news stories hot off the wire, articles from many magazines and journals, in fact, almost any information that has been put in electronic form. Of course, accessing all this data carries a price.

Opt in/Opt out
An email marketing promotion that typically gives consumers an opportunity to "opt in" (taking action to be part of the promotion) or to "opt out" (taking action to not be part of the promotion). Marketers can be sensitive about the distinction, although many are secretly anxious about the day when email, like real-world direct mail, becomes an opt-out medium.

Overture
Overture, formerly known as GoTo, is the most widely used pay per click search engine. Overture supplies results for some of the most popular search engines and search portals, including AltaVista, GO, HotBot, iWon, Lycos, MSN Search and others.
Online http://www.overture.com


Page
All Web sites are a collection of electronic "pages." Each Web page is a document formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that contains text, images or media objects such as RealAudio player files, QuickTime videos or Java applets. The "home page" is typically a visitor's first point of entry and features a site index. Pages can be static or dynamically generated. All frames and frame parent documents are counted as pages.

Page Request
The opportunity for an HTML document to be appear in a browser window as a direct result of a visitors interaction with a Web site (IAB). The page request is for a browser to "get' a page from a site and this request is recorded by the server log.

Page Views
Number of times a user requests a page that may contain a particular ad. Indicative of the number of times an ad was potentially seen, or "gross impressions." Page views may overstate ad impressions if users choose to turn off graphics (often done to speed browsing).

Pay-per-Click
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies based on how many consumers clicked on a promotion. Condemned by advertisers and agencies alike for its many marketing vagaries and technical loopholes.

Pay-per-Impression
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies based on how many consumers see their promotions.

Pay-per-Sale
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies based on how many consumers actually buy something as a direct result of the promotion. Despised by agencies for the wretched accountability it brings to their lives.

PCMCIA
An acronym meaning Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association. Many laptop computers use these devices as modems.

PDF
Portable Document Format. Word processing software, business applications or desktop publishing files on the Web that look exactly like the originals. Must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

PDF Files
Adobe's Portable Document Format (pdf) is a translation format used primarily for distributing files across a network, or on a web site. Files with a .pdf extension have been created in another application and then translated into .pdf files so they can be viewed by anyone -- regardless of platform.

PID (Personal Information Destination)
There are millions of pages of information on the web, but if you are looking for a specific item, there is only one page -- or very few -- that contains exactly the information you need. That's your PID. Think of it as a needle in a haystack.

PFI
Pay For Inclusion. Ensures that your URL's are included in the search engine index. However, there is no guarantee of ranking.

PFP
Pay For Placement

PHP
Hypertext Preprocessor (file.php)

Plug-in
A program application that can easily be installed and used as part of a Web browser. Once installed, plug-in applications are recognized by the browser and its function integrated into the main HTML file being presented.

PNG
Portable Network Graphics (file.png)

PPC
Pay Per Click. A type of campaign or service which applies a CPC price to relevant keyphrases to easily and accurately calculate positioning, online marketing costs and ROI for your website. As opposed to a Maintenance or Optimization SEO campaign, the client only pays for the traffic that is provided, based on the agreed CPC.

POP
Point of Presence. POP is a service provider's location for connecting to users. Generally, POPs refer to the location where people can dial into the provider's host computer. Most providers have several POP's to allow low-cost access via telephone lines.

Portal
A Web site or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as email, forums, search engines, and on-line shopping malls. The first Web portals were online services, such as AOL, that provided access to the Web, but by now most of the traditional search engines have transformed themselves into Web portals to attract and keep a larger audience.

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Lines)
Unless you are reading this at a high-tech company or large corporation -- which has ISDN or T1 lines -- chances are you accessed over POTS, copper wires that transmit at about 28.8 Kbps. Which means surfing for you surfing is a fairly slow business.

PPP (Point to Point Protocol)
The language that enables a computer to use telephone lines and a modem to connect to the internet. Gradually replacing SLIP as the preferred means of connection.

Protocol
A set of rules that governs how information is to be exchanged between computer systems. Also used in certain structured chat rooms to refer to the order in which people may speak.

Push
Is the delivery ("pushing of') of information that is initiated by the server rather than being requested ("pulled") by a user. Pointcast is the most well known push service that pushes information based on the users profile.

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Query
A request for information, usually to a search engine

Rank
An ad's standing in comparison to other ads, based on the graphical click-through rate. Rank provides advertisers with information on an ad's performance across sites.

Reach
Unique Web users that visited the site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percent of the universe for the demographic category. Also called unduplicated audience

Real Time
Events that happen in real time are happening virtually at that particular moment. When you chat in a chat room, or send an instant message, you are interacting in real time since it is immediate.

RealAudio
A commercial software program that plays audio on demand, without waiting for long file transfers. For instance, you can listen to National Public Radios entire broadcast of All Things Considered and the Morning Edition on the Internet.

Referrer
The URL or webpage that the user clicked on to arrive at your web page. This is often recorded in the log files via the web server software.

Registration
A process for site visitors to enter information about themselves. Sites use registration data to enable or enhance targeting of ads. Some sites require certain registration in order to access their content. Some sites use voluntary registration. Fee-based sites conduct registration in the form of a transaction (take a credit card to pay for the content). A registered user is a user who visits a Web site and elects, or is required, to provide certain information. Non-registered users may be denied access to a site requiring registration.

RFP
Request for proposal.

RFC (Request for Comment)
The documents that contain the protocols, standards and information that define the internet. Gathered and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force, a consensus-building body made up of institutions and corporations involved with online communications, they are preceded by RFC and followed by a number. RFC archives can be found at InterNIC.

Robot
See spider or crawler.

Robots.txt
A file place on your website directory tree which gives instructions to robots/spiders as to what content to access.

ROI
Return on investment. A term describing the calculation of the financial return on a internet marketing or advertising initiative that incurs some cost. Determining ROI and the actual ROI in Internet marketing and advertising has been much more accurate than television, radio, and traditional media.

Router
A device that determines the next network point to which a data packet should be forwarded enroute toward its destination. The router is connected to at least two networks and determines which way to send each data packet based on its current understanding of the state of the networks it is connected to. Routers create or maintain a table of the available routes and use this information to determine the best route for a given data packet.

RSS
Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. RSS is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, an XML format for distributing news headlines on the Web, also known as syndication. First started by Netscape as part of the My Netscape site, it expanded through Dave Winer and Userland.
Online: http://my.netscape.com & http://www.userland.com

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Screen Name
The name you use to represent yourself online.

Search Engine
A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. Although search engine is really a general class of programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Alta Vista and Excite that enable users to search for documents on the World Wide Web and USENET newsgroups.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing
The process of purchasing listings so as to appear under predetermined set of search terms. These listings appear in premium placements usually above and to the right of organic listings.

Search Terms
Text that is typed into a search engine to gain results leading to related content.

Server
Servers are the Backbone of the internet, the computers that are linked by communication lines and "serve up" information in the form of text, graphics and multimedia to online computers that request data -- that's you. (When a server "goes down" it loses its online link and the information it holds can not be accessed.)

Session
A series of transactions or hits made by a single user. If there has been no activity for a period of time, followed by the resumption of activity by the same user, a new session is considered started. Thirty minutes is the most common time period used to measure a session length.

SEM
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Management
Online: Search Engine Management

SEO
Search Engine Optimization

SEP
Search Engine Positioning
Search Engine Promorion
Search Engine Placement

SER
Search Engine Results

SES
Search Engine Strategies

SEU
Search Engine Usability

Shareware
Software programs that are openly available, and usually they can be downloaded online. They are often free, though not always.

Shovelware
Shovelware is software that is inflated in value by "shoveling" in all kinds of information, usually free to anyone and generally worthless. The term is being expanded by usage to the web, where a lot of irrelevant information is shoveled onto many sites.

Shockwave
A plug-in that allows for multimedia movies to play through a browser.

SIC Codes
Standard Industrial Classifications. Classifies establishments by the type of activity in which they are engaged.

Slip
Serial Line Internet Protocol. SLIP refers to a method of Internet connection that enables computers to use phone lines and a modem to connect to the Internet without having to connect to a host.

Snail Mail
A term for traditional land and air mail services, which take days to deliver a message, versus seconds for delivery of email.

Spam
The use of mailing lists to blanket usenets or private email boxes with indiscriminate advertising messages. Very bad netiquette. Even worse, it's bad business. The future of marketing online is about customizing products and information for individual users. Anyone who tries to use old mass market techniques in the new media environment is bound to fail.

Spider
A term used to describe search engines such as Yahoo and Alta Vista, because of the way they cruise all over the world wide web to find information. It is a software program which combs the web for new sites and updated information on old ones, like a spider looking for a fly.

Splash Page
A bridge page between a banner advertisement and an advertiser's Web site that provides product information and hotlinks. Splash pages are replacing many home pages -- particularly on sites more involved with news and publishing -- as gateways into web content. They start with a bigger "splash," more graphics and timely information, and change often -- like the cover of a magazine

Static Rotation
Advertisements rotate based on the entry of users into a screen. Regardless of the amount of time a user spends with a screen, advertisements will remain on the screen for the entire time and will not change.

Stickiness
A measure used to gauge the effectiveness of a site in retaining individual users. The term is typically used in promotional material when traffic numbers are too low to be effective in lauding a site's performance. Never mind the quantity, feel the stick.

Submission
Refers to content submitted or suggested to a search engine or directory. Several search engines and directories supply forms for users to complete to suggest or pay for content to be included. In most cases the actual submission should be optimised to include relevant keyphrases to increase the chances of being found in a search.

Surfing
Exploring World Wide Web. Commonly seen as "Surfing the 'Net."

SYSOP
The person responsible for the day-to-day operations of a computer system or network. In large corporations, this person can be the head of the IS (Information Systems) Department.

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T-1
A high-speed (1.54 megabits/second) network connection.

T-3
An even higher speed (45 megabits/second) Internet connection.

T&C
Terms & Conditions

Targeted Marketing
Banners or other promotions aimed, on the basis of demographic analysis, at one specific subsection of the market.

TCP
Transmission Control Protocol works with IP to ensure that packets travel safely on the Internet. This is the method by which most Internet activity takes place.

Throughput
The amount of data transmitted through internet connectors in response to a given request. Neat term. The more "throughput" you deliver to your customers, the better (if you're charging enough).

Title
An element of a web page which appears in the top left of most browsers. It is also the part of a directory submission that represents the title of the website. Arguably one of the most important parts of SEO is ensuring an optimised title or unique titles across all pages of a website.

Tracking Domain
A domain specifically created to measure traffic delivered to a website.

Traffic
Generally measured by the amount of visitors to a website. Hitwise Search Marketing measures search generated traffic separately by recording referrals from known search engines and directories.

TXT
Text File (file.txt)

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Undernet
An alternative IRC which is accessed through a normal, or public, chat area. Its access is limited, and it is usually used for private conversations. But be warned: unless you are behind a sophisticated firewall, little on the net is truly private.

Unique Users
The total number of different users, or different computer terminals which have visited a Web site. This is measured using advanced tracking technology or user registration.

Upload
To send a file from one computer to another via modem or other telecommunication method.

URL
Uniform Resource Locator, an HTTP address used by the World Wide Web to specify a certain site. This is the unique identifier, or address, of a web page on the internet. URL can be pronounced "you-are-ell" or "earl." It is how web pages, ftp's, gophers, newsgroups and even some email boxes are located.

Usenet
Internet message boards, also known as Newsgroups. Each board has a theme, and there are tens of thousands of usenets concerning every imaginable topic. Many of them cover professional subjects and societies and are rich sources of business information; others are junk and contain little but mindless drivel.

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VGP
Very Good Positioning

Valid Hits
A further refinement of hits, valid hits are hits that deliver all information to a user. Excludes hits such as redirects, error messages and computer-generated hits.

Viewer
Another name for a help application

Viral Marketing
Any advertising that propagates itself. When Hotmail users send email, they unwittingly infect the recipient with the tagline at the bottom of the message.

Virus
These are programs that can be downloaded onto your computer or network from the internet. Some are harmless, others are programmed to destroy your system, trash your files and disable your software. No kidding. So be careful. Use anti-virus programs. They take a few extra minutes every day to use, but the protection is worth it.

VRML: (Virtual Reality Modeling Language)
This is an online programming language for creating three-dimensional programs. Looks pretty, but at current bandwidths it's pre-e-e-etty slow..

Visits
A sequence of requests made by one user at one site. If a visitor does not request any new information for a period of time, known as the "time-out" period, then the next request by the visitor is considered a new visit. To enable comparisons among sites, I/PRO uses a 30-minute time-out.

VPN
Virtual Private Network

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W3
World Wide Web

W3C
World Wide Web Consortium

WAI
Web Accessibility Initiative

Web page
A HTML (Hypertext markup Language) document on the web, usually one of many together that makeup a web site.

Webmaster
The individual assigned to administering a corporation or organization's web site. This person lays out the information trees, designs the look, codes HTML pages, handles editing and additions and checks that links are intact. In addition, he or she monitors, routes and sometimes responds to email generated by the site.

Web Site
The virtual location for an organization's presence on the World Wide Web, usually making up several web pages and a single home page designated by a unique URL.

WAIS: (Wide Area Information Server)
WAIS, pronounced "ways," search for data through online gopher databases. Unless you are looking for scientific or technical information, look somewhere else.

World Wide Web
The web allows computer users to access information across systems around the world using URLs to identify files and systems and hypertext links to move between files on the same or different systems. The web is a client/server information system that supports the retrieval of data in the form of text, graphics and multimedia in a uniform HTML format. Allowing hypertext links and interactivity on an unprecedented level, its introduction transformed a sleepy, academic communications system into a powerful marketing tool linking businesses and customers around the world.

WYSIWYG
What you see is what you get. A type of editor used for creating web pages.

'zine
Magazines that are published digitally, rather than on paper. Some are mainstream, others are oddball and cover almost every topic imaginable.