If you want to run any kind of business on the Internet,
you have to know the language of Internet marketing
When I first started messing around with web technologies back in the mid 90’s there were all kinds of buzzwords to learn.
And the frequency with which buzzwords are created has not let up. It seems that every few months there is a new term people are bantering about.
Many people are taking their careers, interests, hobbies, and monetizing what they know on the Internet. And there are a number of technologies they are using to do that. In order to keep track of some of these for you (and for me) I have put together a short description of some of them.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but here are some of the latest making the rounds that you may or may not be aware of.
Do let me know what you think should be included.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a means by which a commission is paid or earned on the sale of someone else’s product or service.
Merchants and Affiliates can interact directly with each other (as in Amazon.com and their Associates), or they can go through a third party (ClickBank is an example).
Amazon.com was one of the first companies to push this in a big way. You can join up to become an associate with them. When you recommend a book and link to the book on Amazon’s site from your own site, you get paid a commission.
Analytics
Analytics here refers to Web Analytics and has been around in some form or another since the advent of the Web. Web Analytics refers to the collecting and analyzing what people do when they visit your website.
Back in the day, people use to talk about ‘hits’ to a website, and ‘hit counters’ use to be on almost every website.
These days there are sophisticated software applications – with Google Analytics being the most popular – that can tell you everything from where your website’s visitors are from, to what device they are visiting your site with, and a whole lot more.
Blog
The term Blog was coined in the late 90’s and is an acronym for Web Log. Most everyone knows what a Blog is these days. Initially blogs were an online journal that could include text and images.
Tools have been developed – with Word Press being the most well known – in an effort to make it easy for anyone to create a blog.
As Google uses content as one of the determining factors when ranking websites, blogs have become an integral part of most organization’s online marketing efforts
Digital Nomad
The term Digital Nomad has become popular in recent years as more and more people work remotely. As the ability to have an internet connection has become more widespread, people have moved father abroad to do work that would have normally been done at a desk in an office.
The term Digital Nomad refers to a growing group of individuals who live and work from no fixed address. They travel the world, working from their laptop computers moving from one location to another
In 2004 I sailed around the Great Lakes for two months in a small sailboat with my wife and 3 year old and 5 year old children. I ran my company from my laptop while staying connected over my mobile phone.
These days I spend half my year sailing my boat around the world. I am often anchored off a deserted island, but still able to put in a full day’s work online.
Email Marketing
Email is still king. ‘The money is in the (email) list’ was a term coined by marketers a number of years ago and still holds true today.
Even with the advent of instant messaging, email marketing has held on to its place as the best way for marketers to stay in touch with their customers and potential clients.
Hash tag
A hash tag is a type of label primarily used in social networks that reference a specific theme or content. This allows users across the network to reference a theme that others might want to find information on. In most social networks, if you type term preceded by the hash sign (#) then any information related to that word should come up.
For example, if you search for #nasa in Facebook you will find all the posts that have referenced NASA. Similarly, searching for #SiteSpinner in Twitter or Facebook will call up posts related to SiteSpinner.
Hacking
Hacking has referred to a way to cobble something together. Though its origins had negative connotations, (‘he is a hack’, meaning not very good), these days it is meant to mean a way to break through something– as in ‘hack your way through the jungle).
Examples are Growthhacking, Freedom Hacker, Hackathon
Hosting
Hosting did, and still does refer to hosting digital media. This can refer to websites, video sites such as YouTube, and audio sites such as SoundCloud.
Most websites use a dedicated webhost. That is, if you build a website, then you determine what webhost to publish your website to. With the advent of hosted website builders such as webs.com and weebly.com, many websites are now hosted on the server that is used to create the site.
I won’t get into whether I think these are a good idea or not (as I may be considered a tad biased running a company that promotes a desktop website design tool). However, Neil Patel, a well respected blogger has a few things to say about third party websites here: http://neilpatel.com/2015/07/30/from-0-to-launch-6-steps-to-building-your-first-website/
Landing Page
A landing page is a webpage designed for the purpose of being linked to from a specific source. For example, if I created an advertisement for purple chilli sauce on a banner ad on Facebook, I would have that advertisement link directly to a page on my site that was created for that ad. If I sold different types chilli sauce, it would be much more beneficial for me to have that ad link to the purple chili sauce page, as opposed to linking to my home page.
Online Course
Online courses are lessons that are accessible over the internet. They may include subjects offered by universities and offered up through such websites as Coursera, they may be offered through private companies such as Udemay, or they may be offered by individuals who have a specific expertise in a certain field.
They can be a beneficial way to get up to speed on a subject in a more interactive way than reading a book.
Periscope (now owned by LinkedIn)
Periscope is live streaming video app. It is the name of a product. I am including it here because, as of yet there is no specific term for what it does. It was released in the spring of this year and subsequently bought by Twitter.
Periscope allows you to live stream video and audio and get text feedback from people following you in real-time. The video you stream is only available for 24 hours.
People are using this app to live stream events that are happening around them. It is also being used as a tool to market individuals and events.
Platform
Platform, in this context, refers to creating a space on the web to convey a message. The web has enabled anyone to express themselves to the world. If you create a website to promote yourself, your thoughts, your opinions, then you have created a digital platform in which to do it from.
Podcast
The Merriam Webster Tenth International Collegiate defines “Podcast” as: a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet.
The term Podcast came from iPod and Broadcast. Today, media companies and individuals with specialized gear can create their own podcasts from anywhere.
Though Podcasts can be broadcast from any website, the largest repository of podcasts are found on iTunes.
PPC
PPC, or Pay Per Click, refers to a paid link. When someone clicks the link, the advertiser pays. Google made its fortune by selling PPC links on its search results pages. When you click a paid link in their Paid search, the advertiser pays Google.
Sales Funnel
A digital media sales funnel is the process of leading a prospect from initial contact to a conclusion – in this case, creating a series of web pages and/or emails that result in an eventual sale of a product or service.
Screencast
A screencast is a digital recording of a computer screen. Often used for creating tutorials, it can include audio narration and text overlay.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. A process of optimizing content on a website so as to influence how the search engines rank the website on their search results pages.
The goal is generally to get Google to rank your content as close to the number one spot in their results for the terms that you want as possible.
Hence I might want SiteSpinner to rank close to the top if you do a search for that term. And, it does.
Soloprenuer
A soloprenuer is someone who owns and runs their own company. They may have contractors who they hire to do certain tasks, but they are the soul employee.
Squeeze Page
Squeeze Page refers to a landing page that is used to entice a visitor to offer their email address. For example, if I place an advertisement for a free eBook on a website, I may link the ad to a page that first requires they enter their email address before they actually get the eBook.
Summit
A summit refers to an online meeting of people with similar or complimentary skills.
If your goal is to have discussion about online marketing, you would produce a live summit where you ask people who are influential or knowledgeable in the industry to participate. You then have your audience attend online and participate by asking questions.
VA
With more and more people making their livings over the internet and with our ability to communicate globally, many people are turning to Virtual Assistants to help them run their online business.
VA are generally located at a distance, but can do any number of tasks from organizing a person’s day, to managing their ad campaigns.
Vlog
A Vlog is a Video Blog. A Vlog may be a simple video journal posted by an individual, or it may take the form of a syndicated series.
Though a Vlog can be hosted on an individual websites, they are popular on YouTube.
Webinar
Webinar, or webcast, stands for Web Conferencing. It is a way for people to collaboratively interact via video over the internet.
For marketers, it can be used to answer questions or disseminate information to an audience. Anyone can host and broadcast a webinar. Topics can be as varied as how to sail a boat, to how to generate more traffic to your website.
Conclusion
This is a very short list of Internet specific marketing terms. If you were somehow able to disconnect yourself from the Internet for a period of time, no doubt you would come back to find there are a new terms that you would have no idea what the stand for.
What web marketing terms have I left out?
Images: Tsevis
