Web-ster's Dictionary

The interactive space is constantly evolving, and with it comes a continuous flow of words and terms. Following is a number of terms you will run across, not only in this web site, but in marketing trade publications and discussions of online marketing.

 

 

 

 

Addressable consumers - Consumers in the BFBW Global Database that can be reached either by e-mail or postal mail, or both.

Age screener - Similar term is LDA page; An age screener is required by law on a wine or spirits web site. It screens consumers to ensure they are of legal drinking age (LDA) before they can reach the homepage and other site content.

Animated gif - A file containing a series of GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) graphics that are displayed in rapid sequence in a web browser, giving the appearance of a moving picture. Many online banner ads are animated gifs.

Application - A software program designed to perform a specific task or group of tasks, such as word processing, communications, or database management. Microsoft Word is an example of a word processing application.

Back-end - Back-end and front-end are expressions that describe programs relative to the user. A front-end program is one that users interact with directly, while a back-end program supports the front-end services.

Back up - To create a copy of a disk's contents on another location for safe keeping. Since hard drives are not infallible, it is recommended that you back up its contents regularly.

Banner ad - Similar term: ad banner or online ad. A graphics image linked to an advertiser's web site that usually contains a brief advertising message.The online ad industry has nine standard sizes for banner ads, but the most common is 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels tall, with a pixel being equivalent to one screen dot. In print ads, measurements are made by number of column centimeters.

Blog - Short for "web log"; one- or two-way posting on the Internet to discuss items of interest to the poster and/or the reader.

Bluetooth - Developed by Ericsson Inc., Intel Corp., Nokia Corp. and Toshiba, Bluetooth is a low-power, short-range wireless technology designed to provide a replacement for the serial cable. Operating in the 2.4GHz Ism band, Bluetooth can connect a wide range of personal, professional and domestic devices such as laptop computers and mobile phones together wirelessly. The most common application of Bluetooth currently is wireless headsets that connect to mobile phones.

Broadband - High-speed transmission. The term is commonly used to refer to Internet access via cable modems or DSL, which is faster than dial-up. For years, "broadband" has referred to a higher-speed connection, but the actual speed threshold has varied. While T1 (1.5 Mbps) has been widely used as the threshold, others have used T3 (45 Mbps) for broadband. For example, after the turn of the century, South Korea leapfrogged the U.S. in Internet access, offering DSL up to 50 Mbps and calling their 1.5 Mbps service "light." In every case, however, it implies transmitting at higher speeds.

Browser - Software program used to view and interact with various types of Internet resources available on the World Wide Web. Netscape and Internet Explorer are two common examples.

Button - Sometimes known as a command button or push button, this is a widget which provides the user a simple way to trigger an event, such as clearing the display on a calculator program. Buttons are also used to provide the user ways to respond to dialog boxes. The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google takes you directly to the first web page Google returned for your query. You will not see the other search results at all.

Chat room - A chat room is a web site, part of a web site, or part of an online service such as America Online, that provides a venue for communities of users with a common interest to communicate in real time. Forums and discussion groups, in comparison, allow users to post messages but don't have the capacity for interactive messaging.

Clickstream - The path of mouse clicks that somebody makes in navigating the Internet. On a web site, clickstream analysis (sometimes called clickstream analytics) is the process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting aggregate data about which pages visitors visit in what order - which are the result of the succession of mouse clicks each visitor makes (that is, the clickstream). There are two levels of clickstream analysis, traffic analysis and e-commerce analysis.

Click-through - The process of clicking on a link in a search engine output page to visit an indexed site. This is an important link in the process of receiving visitors to a site via search engines. Good ranking may be useless if visitors do not click on the link which leads to the indexed site. The secret here is to provide a good descriptive title and an accurate and interesting description.

Contextual search - To search for records or documents based upon the text contained in any part of the file as opposed to searching on a predefined key field.

Cost-per-acquisition - A payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as sales or registrations.

CPM - The CPM model refers to advertising bought on the basis of impression. This is in contrast to the various types of pay-for-performance advertising, whereby payment is only triggered by a mutually agreed upon activity (i.e. click-through, registration, sale). The total price paid in a CPM deal is calculated by multiplying the CPM rate by the number of CPM units. For example, one million impressions at $10 CPM equals a $10,000 total price.

1,000,000 / 1,000 = 1,000 units
1,000 units X $10 CPM = $10,000 total price
The amount paid per impression is calculated by dividing the CPM by 1000. For example, a $10 CPM equals $.01 per impression.

Crawler - Similar term: Web crawler. An automated program that accesses a web site and traverses through the site by following the links present on the pages.

Direct traffic - The number of visitors who type the address of a web site directly into their browser. Web site traffic was initially viewed as an all-important metric for gauging success on the Web. This assumption was due in part to the lack of other business metrics to explain the .com phenomenon. Now much of the focus has shifted back to profitability, and web site traffic is only part of the equation. Web site traffic x conversion = results. Web site traffic is still important, as you can't have conversions without visitors, but it is becoming less important as a standalone metric.

E-mail open rates - Total number of times that recipients opened the e-mail messages in HTML format (excludes plaintext e-mails) vs. the number of e-mails that were delivered.

Flash - An animation format developed by the company Macromedia that allows (Flash) graphics to look the same across all browsers, as long as the plug-in is installed. One of the advantages of Flash animations is their relatively fast download time.

Graphic - Written or drawn or engraved; "graphic symbols." An image that is generated by a computer or by a computer application (e.g. Adobe Illustrator).

Keyword search - To search an electronic catalog or index by having the program search for terms (keywords) provided by the user. Keywords do not have to be standardized subject headings, and a keyword search often searches all data fields for the terms (eg, "winter" as a keyword might retrieve items with Winter in the author field as well as items with "winter" in the text or title).

IMM - Interactive Marketing Manager; B-F Online has assigned one of these for your brand.

iPod - A portable, digital audio and video player developed by Apple that allows consumers to download digital files of their favorite entertainment.

LDA page - Similar term is age screener page; LDA refers to "Legal Drinking Age." This page is required by Law on a wine or spirits web site. It screens consumers to ensure they are of legal drinking age before they can reach the homepage and other site content.

Message boards - An application that allows users to post and reply to messages from other users and review the flow of a discussion. Also known as a discussion group.

Micro-site - See "Mini-site"

Mini-site - A minisite is a small web site with a narrow subject focus or few pages that is sometimes a section in a larger web site. Similar terms are microsite and sitelet. Typically, a minisite has a separate identity and users are encouraged to link to it directly.

News group - A discussion group on the Internet about a particular topic. It starts by someone posting an initial query or comment. As others reply, the text forms a chain of related postings called a "message thread." News groups preceded the web by many years and are still widely used. They are similar to blogs, but usually have more questions and answers, whereas the blog is often used for general commentary (see blog). News groups are also a source for MP3 files and pictures.

Opt-in / out - Refers to e-mail advertising lists in which recipients may request to be added or removed from the list.

ROS - "Run Of Site:" Provides an advertiser with the opportunity to reach a broad audience by running ads throughout a web site. There is no specific targeting in this model

Search Engine - Google, Yahoo, Ask.com.

Server - A computer that delivers information and software to other computers linked by a network.

Spam -
Verb: To indiscriminately send unsolicited, unwanted, irrelevant, or inappropriate messages, especially commercial advertising in mass quantities.
Noun: electronic "junk mail".

Scrollbar - The vertical or horizontal bar in a document or window which is used to move to different locations on the window.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization; a way to configure your brand's web site that maximizes the ease in which it is found by consumer search requests; can also include paid search terms to list your site as a sponsor on search result pages.

SMS - Short Message Service; used primarily by cell phones for text messaging.

Spyware - Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet. Spyware is similar to a Trojan horse in that users unwittingly install the product when they install something else. A common way to become a victim of spyware is to download certain peer-to-peer file swapping products that are available today (e.g. music MP3's or video files).

Subject line - In an e-mail, the subject line is the "title" of the communication, as seen in the e-mail application inbox.

Textbox - A "boxed" area on a web page where consumers can type information.

Unique visitor - A person who visits a Web site more than once within a specified period of time. Software that tracks and counts Web site traffic can distinguish between visitors who only visit the site once and unique visitors who return to the site.

Web service - The standardized way of integrating web-based applications using open standards (e.g. XML) via the Internet. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, a web service allows different applications from different sources to communicate without time-consuming custom coding. An example of a B-F web service is our global age-screener web service, which is an application that is available to all agencies. It was developed in-house and meets our Legal requirements globally but any agency can use it as part of their projects.

HIGH DEFINITIONS
Run across a term in a trade publication that isn't here? No problem. Contact any of our Interactive Marketing Managers and we'll be glad tell you what it means and how it might apply to your brand.