M
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 list management systems, and you should find the ones that concern your business.
manual review
All major search engines combine a manual review process with their automated relevancy algorithms to help catch search spam and train their relevancy algorithms. Abnormal usage data or link growth patterns may also flag sites for manual review
manual submission
Manual submissions describes the action of adding a URL to the search engines individually by hand. Manual search engine submission may be more time consuming than automated search engine submission, but many optimization specialists still manually submit their urls because they believe the search engines prefer this.
marketing plan
The marketing plan is the part of the business plan that outlines the marketing strategy for a product or service. It should includes information on the product or service offered, target market, pricing, marketing budget and the promotional mix, and, of course, competitors.
mashup
A web page containing single purpose software, gizmos and gadgets and/or links to similar applications. E.g. tool collection pages
maximum CPM bidPrint
A maximum CPM bid is the highest amount that you’re willing to pay for each 1000 impressions your ad receives. CPM stands for cost-per-thousand impressions.
megabyte
One million bytes (1,000 kilobytes) of data.
meme
Richard Dawkins, in ‘The Selfish Gene’ defines a meme as “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.” Many people use the word meme to refer to self spreading or viral ideas.
mentoring
Personal or group coaching sessions with an expert who teaches his own techniques aimed at producing immediate results for the student’s business.
meta data
Data about Data
meta description tag
Typically a sentence or two of content which describes the content of the page. Search engines may consider or display this tag at their discretion. Relevant meta description tags may appear in search results as part of the page description below the page title.
Meta Keywords
The meta keywords tag is a tag which can be used to highlight keywords and keyword phrases which the page is targeting
meta refresh
A meta tag used to make a browser refresh to another URL location.
meta robots tag
Lets page authors prevent their webpages from being added to a search engine’s Index. Alternatives to a meta robots tag are Robots.txt files and password protection.
meta search engine
A search engine which gathers the results of other search engines to provide a wider range of results
meta tag generator
This is a tool that will output META tags based on input page information. It can be software-based or Web-based, simple or complex, bundled or standalone. Meta tag generators make it easy people who don’t understand META tags, to add them to their sites.
META tags
Meta tags describe various aspects about a Web page and are used for a wide variety of metadata—(data that describes other data) that is sought by search engines. However, many site promoters focus primarily on the description tag and the keywords tag. Not all search engine use meta tags, and the other ones may not pay much attention to the contents.
meta verification tag
Meta tags generated by Google Webmaster Tools , Bing Webmaster, and Yahoo Site Explorer to enabled webmasters to track important information about their website as it pertains to search engines. Meta Verification code is found between the <head></head> tags
metric
A standard of measurement used by analytic programs
MFA
Abbreviation for “made for advertising”; a page often containing reprinted content such as press releases, abstract pages and articles aimed at attracting clicks on Javascript ads appearing on the page.
microblog
type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts
microformats
A web-based approach to semantic markup that seeks to re-use existing XHTML and HTML tags to convey metadata and other attributes. This approach allows information intended for end-users (such as contact information, geographic coordinates, calendar events, and the like) to be automatically processed by software.
Microsoft (MSN)
Microsoft Corporation; a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, some of its most well-known products include the Microsoft Windows operating system, the internet browser Internet Explorer, and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software among others.
microsite
also known as a minisite or weblet, it refers to an individual web page or cluster of pages which are intended to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website
Microsoft AdCenter
Microsoft’s cost per click ad network. It includes features such as dayparting, and demographic-based bidding.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface; computer-created synthesized sound.
MIME
Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions, a method of encoding a file for delivery over the Internet.
mindmap
A diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. It is a learning tool that allows Internet marketers to share, teach or replicate effective techniques in other businesses.
I use mindmaps to help plan out the content strategies for my clients’ websites. Some are more complex than others!
mindshare
A measure of the amount of people who think of you or your product when thinking of products in your category.
mirror site
Site which mirrors (or duplicates) the contents of another website.
mobile web
The Mobile Web refers to access to the world wide web, i.e. the use of browser-based Internet services, from a handheld mobile device, such as a smartphone, a feature phone or a tablet computer, connected to a mobile network or other wireless network.
mobile website
A website designed for the small screens of mobile phones. Queries to a website include the type of browser being used, and when a request from a mobile browser is made, the site redirects it to its mobile counterpart (if there is one) for a more streamlined visitor experience.
Mobile sites render their pages in narrow columns and often provide only a subset of their regular website. See also ‘responsive website’.
mobisode
a broadcast television episode specially made for viewing on a mobile telephone screen and usually of short duration.
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.
moderator
Someone entrusted by the administrator of a forum to help discussions stay productive and within the guidelines. Most moderator openings are volunteer positions, although there may be substantial indirect rewards. These positions can lead to enhanced status within a community which can translate into business leads, as potential clients become familiar with the moderator.
mod-rewrite
A module or plugin for Apache web servers that can be used to rewrite requested URLs on the fly.
monetize
Process of generating income from a page or site.
Mosaic
Developed by NCSA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Urbana, this was 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.
mousetrapping
The use of browser tricks in an effort to keep a visitor captive at a site, often by disabling the “Back” button or generated repeated pop-up windows and is one of the most hated marketing tactics on the internet. The most aggressive forms of mousetrapping are found on the seedier side of the Web, and because these sites cannot count on repeat visits from satisfied visitors, they often resort to deception to acquire new visitors. The more aggressive forms of mousetrapping include continuous loading of pop-up ads and disabling of key browser features.
movable type
Blogging software which allows a user to host a blog on his own website which is typically much harder to install than WordPress is.
moved permanently
Called a 301-Redirect or “moved permanently”, this means that the file has been moved permanently to a new location.
moving the free line
This concept is the movement of prospects from free resources to paid products to high-end back end products. Offering free content gets people into your sales funnel. If you imagine a funnel or inverted triangle with the widest point at the top, the free line would be at the top of the triangle and all of your free stuff would be outside your funnel.
‘Moving the free line’ means moving that line further down your sales funnel so that more of the information that you used to charge for becomes a free resource that is now sitting above the free line.
MPEG
The file format that is used to compress and transmit movies or video clips online.
MSN Search
Search engine built by Microsoft. MSN is the default search provider in Internet Explorer.
multi dimensional scaling
The process of taking shapshots of documents in a database to discover topical clusters through the use of latent semantic indexing.
multivariate testing
A process by which more than one component of a website may be tested in a live environment. It can be thought of in simple terms as numerous A/B tests performed on one page at the same time.
MySpace
MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user- generated content with network of friends, music, photos, bullitens, blogs, groups, and more.
MySQL (My Structured Query Language)
A relational database management system (RDBMS) which has more than 6 million installations.
N
natural language processing
Algorithms which attempt to understand the true intent of a search query rather than just matching results to keywords
natural listings or organic listings
Web page listings that appear in a search engine’s results, based on the engine’s own proprietary algorithm. The website/web page owner has not paid for these positions in the results, and the listings are ranked in order of relevance to each search query with the most relevant listed first.
navigation
Describes the movement of a user through a website or other application interface. This term also indicates the system of available links and buttons that the user can use to navigate through the website.
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.
netiquette
Short for network etiquette, the code of conduct regarding acceptable online behavior including through including email, forums and chat. Violating the code of conduct for a community (e.g. using spam) may get you banned. It is possible to be banned from search engines, forums, ISPs and webhosts.
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
Netscape
Originally a company that created a popular web browser by the same name, Netscape is now a social news site similar to Digg.com.
network (ad network)
An aggregator or broker of advertising inventory from many sites – 24/7 Europe is an Ad Network.
network (social)
The network effect is often the result of word-of-mouth testimonials. It can be perpetuated indirectly, as well, through analysis of a network’s size and projected growth. Web 2.0 has enabled networks to emerge and develop through social bookmarking, forums and blogs.
newbie/noob
A term to describe anyone new to an area, whether it be a particular forum online or the Internet. Sometimes “noob”.
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.
newsletter
A publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscriber and regularly distributed through email.
news reader
An application which allows users to aggregate articles from various websites into one place, using RSS feeds. This promotes faster and more efficient consumption of information.
niche
A topic or subject which a website is focused on. Generally it is easier to compete in small, new, or underdeveloped niches than trying to dominate large verticals. As your brand and authority grow you can go after bigger markets.
niche directory
Directories which focus on or niche topics, specialist sectors, restricted regions, or single languages.
niche marketing
The marketing of a product or service to a small and well-defined segment of the market place. Niche research and keyword research are vital.
noscript tags
Tags which are used to introduce content to supplement 100% Flash websites.
no follow
Attribute used to prevent a link from passing link authority. Commonly used on sites with user generated content, like in blog comments.
no index
A command found in the head section or in the individual link code, instructing robots or crawlers to not index a specified page or link.
noob/newbie
(pronounced noo-bee) see newbie
O
off-site or offpage SEO
Search Engine Optimization techniques which do not involve any direct manipulation of a website’s files but involve activities from a website that have a direct influence on how a site ranks in search engines. This includes using articles, FAQ pages, case studies etc.
offline consulting
Internet marketing consultants have realized the need to provide IM services to traditionally offline businesses to allow them to have a profitable online presence.
one-way link
A term used among search engine optimizers referring to a specific type of link building method. It is a Hyperlink that points to a website without any reciprocal link; thus the link goes “one way” in direction.
online
being connected to a network of computers or other devices
online backup system
Also known as cloud backup, it is a data protection service that provides users with a system for backing up and storing website files. It is a basic tool for Internet marketers who need to secure historical data, voluminous files and content found in a website or sites.
It involves sending a copy of the data over a proprietary or public network to an off-site server. The server is usually hosted by a third-party service provider, who charges the backup customer a fee based on capacity, bandwidth or number of users.
online forum
Web forums, message boards, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards for holding discussions and posting user-generated content
online press releases
Online statement announcing a range of news items, including events, awards or new products or services in order to generate site traffic and backlinks.
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.
on-page SEO
The process of making a website appealing to both human and search ‘spider’ visitors using website files such as meta tags, keyword placement and title tags. Contact me if you would like me to create you SEO enhanced website pages.
ontology
In philosophy it is the study of being. As it relates to search, it is the attempt to create an exhaustive and rigorous conceptual schema about a domain. An ontology is typically a hierarchical data structure containing all the relevant entities and their relationships and rules within that domain
open rate
Percentage of emails opened n any given email marketing campaign or the percentage opened of the total number of emails sent.
open source
Software which is distributed with its source code such that developers can modify it as they see fit.
Opera
A freeware web browser for Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux operating systems, developed by Danish company, Opera Software.
opt-in email, single opt-in, double opt-in
Opt-in email is communication explicitly requested by the recipient. The term “single opt-in” means that the recipient took an action to sign up for the email in question. The term “double opt-in” means that the subscriber has taken a second step to confirm their subscription, often by responding to an automatically-generated message sent to the email address.
opt-out
This term can be used in two ways (A) type of program that assumes inclusion unless stated otherwise. (B) to remove yourself from an opt- out program (not to be confused with the term “unsubscribe”. (You unsubscribe to something to which you had previously subscribed. You may opt-out of something you never joined in the first place.)
organic listings/natural listings
Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings). Instead, sites appear solely because a search engine has deemed it editorially important for them to be included, regardless of payment.
organic results
Also referred to as “natural search results”; these are unpaid / algorithmic displayed according to relevance and determined by linkage data, page content, usage data, and historical domain and trust related data.
organic search
A process by which World Wide Web users find web sites having unpaid search engine listings, as opposed to using the pay per click (PPC) advertisement listings displayed among the search results
outbound link
This is a link to a site outside your own, sending visitors away from your web site. Some site owners will only link to non-competitive sites, or to their own sits, others refuse to link at all. Most only provide links that open in a new browser window.
outsourcing
Getting other people to do the work for you! If you don’t like doing it or aren’t any good at it – outsource it. For content writing, ask me!
Overture
Originally known as GoTo, Overture was acquired by Yahoo and represents Yahoo Search Marketing and 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.
Overture keyword selector tool
Keyword research tool, based largely on Yahoo! search statistics which combines singular and plural versions of a keyword into a single version.
P
packet
A chunk of data that’s transmitted over the Internet usually containing 1,500 bytes.
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 impression
A request to load a single page of an Internet site
page rank
A logarithmic scale based on link equity which estimates the importance of web documents.
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. A page is defined as any file or content delivered by a web server that would generally be considered a web document. This includes HTML pages (.html, .htm, .shtml), script-generated pages (.cgi, .asp, .cfm, etc.), and plain-text pages. It also includes sound files (.wav, .aiff, etc.), video files (.mov, etc.), and other non-document files. Only image files (.jpeg, .gif, .png), javascript (.js) and style sheets (.css) are excluded from this definition.
pagejacking
Pagejacking is the theft of a page from the original site and publication of a copy (or near-copy) at another site; the original site can be completely unaware that the theft has occurred. Pagejackers siphon off traffic indirectly though the search engines. The stolen pages are copies or near-copies of the original pages which are submitted to the search engines in an attempt to duplicate the rankings of the original pages. After the pages are submitted, the stolen pages are switched in favor of pages which earn revenue for the thieves. To combat this practice, many website owners are now ‘cloaking’ or hiding their page information.
paid inclusion
A method of allowing websites which pass editorial quality guidelines to buy relevant exposure.
paid listings/sponsored listings
Listings that search engines sell to advertisers, usually through paid placement or paid inclusion programs. In contrast, organic listings are not sold.
paid placement
A program in which advertisers’ listings are guaranteed to appear on a Results Page when particular Keywords are searched. The ranking of paid placement listings is determined by competitive bidding.
Parked domain
A registered domain name or URL which has not been developed into a website.
pass-along rate
The percentage of people who pass on a message or file is called the “pass-along rate” a measure of word-of-mouth marketing. Communications that are often passed aloing include email messages, Web pages and multimedia files.
pay-for-performance
Payment structure where affiliated sales workers are paid commission for getting consumers to perform certain actions.
pay per click
PPC is an online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying click-throughs. In a PPC agreement, the advertiser only pays for qualifying clicks to the destination site based on a prearranged per-click rate. Popular PPC advertising options include per- click advertising networks, search engines, and affiliate programs.
There are definite strategies to successful PPC marketing, and I advise everyone to take some expert instruction before blowing hundreds of dollars. Alternatively, have a PPC expert manage your campaign. I highly recommend my colleagues at Swoop Digital.
pay per click search engine listings
Search engine listings where results are ranked according to a bid amount, and advertisers are charged when a searcher clicks on the search listing.
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
payment threshold
A payment threshold is the minimum accumulated commission an affiliate must earn to trigger payment from an affiliate program. They is set by combining two criteria: minimum payment amount, e.g. $100, and frequency of payment, e.g. monthly. At the nominated time interval, accumulated commissions for each affiliate are compared to the minimum payment level. If the minimum payment level is not met, the amount is rolled over to the next period. This continues until the accumulated commission is greater than the minimum payment level and the payment is then made at the next nominated pay date.
pay-per-Impression
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies based on how many consumers see their promotions.
pay per lead (see also CPA)
Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely based on qualifying leads. In a pay per lead agreement, the advertiser only pays for leads generated at their destination site. A lead is generally a signup involving contact information and perhaps some demographic information; it is typically a non-cash conversion event. A lead may consist of as little as an email address, or it may involve a detailed form covering multiple pages.
pay per sale
Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely based on qualifying sales. In a pay per sale agreement, the advertiser only pays for sales generated by the destination site based on an agreed upon commission rate.
PCMCIA
An acronym meaning Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association. Many laptop computers use these devices as modems.
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.
penalty
Search engines prevent some websites suspected of spamming from ranking highly in the results by banning or penalizing them. These penalties may be automated algorithmically or manually applied.
permalink
A permalink, or permanent link, is a URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives.
permission marketing
Permission marketing is centered around obtaining customer consent to receive information from a person or company. It is about building an ongoing relationship of increasing depth with customers “turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers.” Permission marketing is being embraced as a way for marketers to succeed in a world increasingly cluttered with marketing messages.
personalization
Altering of the search results based on a person’s location, search history, content they recently viewed, or other factors relevant to them on a personal level.
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
phishing
fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication
photobucket
an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website
PHP
PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is an open source server side scripting language used to render web pages or add interactivity to them.
Picasa
a software application for organizing and editing digital photos, originally created by Idealab and owned by Google
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.
pixel
A picture element, it is the smallest item of information in an image
plugin
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)
PPA
Pay Per Action, similar to Pay Per Click except that publishers are paid only when click throughs result in conversions.
PPC
Pay Per Click. A type of campaign or service which applies a CPC price to relevant keyword phrases 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.
PPC management
The process of managing PPC accounts, campaigns, ad groups, and keywords.
podcast
A method of publishing audio files to the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.
poison word
Words which were traditionally associated with low quality content that caused search engines to want to demote the rankings of a page.
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.
pop-up ad
An ad that displays in a new browser window, pop ups come in many different shapes and sizes, typically in a scaled-down browser window with only a Close command.
pop-under ad
An ad that displays in a new browser window behind the current browser window, the pop-under ad is the sneakier version of the pop- up ad. While pop-up ads are often shown (and closed) instantly, pop- under ads linger behind the current browser window, appearing only after other windows have been closed.
portal
A portal is a site featuring a suite of commonly used services, serving as a starting point and frequent gateway to a niche topic (vertical portal) or to the Web (Web portal). Web portal services often include a search engine or directory, email, news, maps, stock quotes, shopping forums, and chat.
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 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.
precision
The ability of a search engine to list results that satisfy the query, usually measured in percentage. (if 20 of the 50 results match the query the precision is 40%)
profit elasticity
A measure of the profit potential of different economic conditions based on adjusting price, supply, or other variables to create a different profit potential where the supply and demand curves cross
project management system
Online tool that allows people situated in various places to work together by following schedules, tasks, and other instructions on the Internet. This system generally has options for setting milestones or deadlines, message boards, and file uploads. Basecamp is my project management system of choice, and many internet marketers are using this to manage clients, suppliers and outsourcers very creatively.
proprietary method
Marketing terms often used by SEO services to indicate a unique method or technique they possess for achieving “Top Ten Rankings”
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.
proximity
A measure of how close words are to one another
pull marketing
In a marketing “pull” system, the consumer requests a product/service/information and initiates action that push-pull marketing”pulls” it through the delivery channel.
push marketing
One meaning of the push strategy in marketing can be found in the communication between seller and buyer. Depending on the medium used, the communication can be either interactive or non-interactive.
For example, if the seller makes his promotion by television or radio, it’s not possible for the buyer to interact (in most cases). On the other hand, if the communication is made by phone or internet, the buyer has possibilities to interact with the seller. In the first case information is just “pushed” toward the buyer, while in the second case it is possible for the buyer to demand the needed information according to their requirements.
push
Is the delivery (“pushing of’) of information that is initiated by the server rather than being requested (“pulled”) by a user.