Internet Marketing – A Short Guide to the Terminology
Internet Marketing like most type of business, and more so in every walk of life, the people who are involved come up with all the buzz words involved.
If you are new to internet marketing then it can be a minefield of terms and phrases which can leave you absolutely overwhelmed with it all. It can be very intimidating for somebody new and if you do not get your head around it all you can start thinking “what have I let myself in for”.
But, when your livelihood and survival depends on customers coming to your website then you have to make sure that they understand what they are reading. Do not lock them out with jargon because you will never get them back. They will think that is way too complicated for them so why should they hang around.
Just recently I have noticed that internet marketing is heading down that road with all the jargon we use. My interpretations of internet marketing are all about getting new customers to your website and moreover keep them coming back. I know it can be difficult to understand because I am a prime example, even though I have spent a lot of time working online, it almost blew me away. At times it made mean think it was some new form of foreign language that had sprung up on the internet.
So with that in mind I have decided to put together this short guide to the main areas of internet marketing with the intention bringing into the community all those that feel they are being left outside.
AdSense – this is an advertisement application run by Google where website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image, and more recently, video advertisements on their websites. These advertisements are administered by Google and can generate revenue on either a per click or per impression basis.
AdWords – this is Google’s advertising product and main source of revenue. AdWords offers Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner adverts. Advertisers specify the words that should trigger their ads and the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click.
Affiliate Marketing – is a marketing practice in which a merchant rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliates marketing efforts. The affiliate will be paid a percentage of the product as commission if the goods are in turn sold.
Article Marketing – is the ability to write short articles and post them to article directories as a means of advertising the related businesses products or services. Each article contains a bio box and byline that include references and contact information for the authors business. Well-written content articles can increase business credibility of the author within their chosen market as well as attracting new clients.
Ebook – an eBook is an electronic book and are very popular form of internet marketing (they can be a.pdf file, plain text file or an .exe (executable file). Ebooks sell well online, because they are instantly downloadable.
Email Marketing – is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail to communicate information the desired audience. In internet marketing it is used a means of informing prospective customers about your products and services. Opt-in emails are the preferred method of advertising used in internet marketing because it allows the recipient the opportunity to decline whether they want to accept your email. This method was developed to eliminate the disadvantages of e-mail spamming.
Internet Marketing – basically is the ability to sell any service or product on the internet. It is a much easier way of having a business than the more traditional offline method. It does not carry a lot of overheads therefore can be reasonably cheap to set up.
Joint Ventures – a joint venture is a partnership between two or more people that work together to increase their sales, or to complete a product or service.
Niche Marketing – this is the principle of selling to a specifically targeted audience of like-minded people. Niches have a tendency to be small pockets of people that are obsessed with anything related to their niche. If you produce a good product that is tailored to a specific niche market (e.g. dog collars/leads) there is every possibility that you will have no competition to deal with.
Private Label Rights – or more popularly known as PLR is similar to reselling products. They allow the purchaser to modify the product to fit their needs. Typical PLR products are articles, reports and ebooks. This type of content allows multiple buyers the opportunity to purchase the content and convert it for their own benefit.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising – PPC is a form of advertising by internet search engines, networks and content websites. This is when the advertisers advert is clicked they make a payment. With search engines, advertisers will bid on the keyword phrases that are relevant to the targeted market. Content sites normally charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.
Resale Rights – there many products (ebooks, software) that are sold in the internet marketing field that contain resell rights. There are varying types of resale rights (normal, master, private and rebranding) which can come specific terms and conditions for their use. Most resale rights packages will not allow you to alter any of its content or in any way change/tamper with the information. Always read the disclaimers surrounding them. If you wanted to change the content you would have to contact the author and request a partnership or buy the editing rights to the product.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – SEO deals with the order in which web pages are ranked when keywords or phrases are typed into search engines. Basically the principle is that the higher a page is ranked, the more likely that page will draw a greater number of site visitors. Increased traffic often translates into increased sales.
Subscriber List – this is basically an email list of people who have given permission for the internet marketer to send them email promotions. Today it is more commonly known as an opt-in list, because subscribers have decided to opt-in to receive the emails. This allows the internet marketer to keep records of the subscribers as a precaution of spam complaints from customers. There is also the double opt-in method. This is when after filling in a form; the subscriber will receive an email for verification to accept future emails before being added to list to receive them.
Web Traffic – this is normally referred to as the amount of data sent and received by visitors to a specific website. This is determined by the number of visitors and the number of pages that they visit on the website.
This is only the tip of the iceberg, but I believe this is a starter for anybody new to internet marketing. I hope that even this brief introduction will help you to understand what the majority of internet marketers take for granted. My philosophy is that we all started as a “newbie” once, some earlier than others, so we should pass on our knowledge to any newcomers that come along.