A/B split –
Refers to a test situation in which a list is split into two pieces with every other name being sent one specific creative, and vice versa. See also Nth name.
Above the fold -
The part of an email message or Web page that is visible without scrolling. Material in this area is considered more valuable because the reader sees it first. Refers to a printing term for the top half of a newspaper above the fold. Unlike a newspaper, email and Web page fold locations aren't predictable. Your fold may be affected by the users' preview pane, monitor-size, monitor resolution, any headers placed by email programs such as Hotmail, etc.
Acquisition cost -
In email marketing, the cost to generate one lead, newsletter subscriber or customer in an individual email campaign; typically, the total campaign expense divided by the number of leads, subscribers or customers it produced.
Adbar / Banner -
A horizontal online ad unit (width varies) that may or may not link to a microsite or corporate Web site.
Ad Copy -
The actual text of an advertisement that explains what product or service is being advertised.
Ad impression -
1) An ad which is served to a user’s browser. Ads can be requested by the user’s browser (referred to as pulled ads) or they can be pushed, such as e-mailed ads; 2) a measurement of responses from an ad delivery system to an ad request from the user's browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and is recorded at a point as late as possible in the process of delivery of the creative material to the user's browser -- therefore closest to the actual opportunity to see by the user. Two methods are used to deliver ad content to the user - a) server-initiated and b) client-initiated. Server-initiated ad counting uses the publisher's Web content server for making requests, formatting and re-directing content. Client-initiated ad counting relies on the user's browser to perform these activities.
For organizations that use a server-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur subsequent to the ad response at either the publisher's ad server or the Web content server. For organizations using a client-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur at the publisher's ad server or third-party ad server, subsequent to the ad request, or later, in the process. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Ad activity -
This is an alternative to the click rate as a unit to measure the success of an ad campaign. Events such as expand, mouse on, time spent in the ad and video plays can be tracked to determine the effectiveness of an ad.
Ad network -
An aggregator or broker of advertising inventory for many sites. Ad networks are the sales representatives for the Web sites within the network.
Ad request -
The request for an advertisement as a direct result of a user's action as recorded by the ad server. Ad requests can come directly from the user’s browser or from an intermediate Internet resource, such as a Web content server.
Ad serving -
The delivery of ads by a server to an end user's computer on which the ads are then displayed by a browser and/or cached. Ad serving is normally performed either by a Web publisher, or by a third-party ad server. Ads can be embedded in the page or served separately.
Ad stream -
The series of ads displayed by the user during a single visit to a site (also impression stream).
Ad tag (publisher) -
A script calling an ad from ad d server via an URL. The tag ,for organization and accuracy purpose, should contain, at the bare minimum, the following information: page content theme, ad size which should be displayed in this ad slot and a cache busting random number to defeat impression discrepancy.
Advertising network –
A service where ads are bought centrally through one company, and displayed on multiple websites that contract with
that company for a share of revenue generated by ads served on their site.
Affiliate marketing -
An agreement between two sites in which one site (the affiliate) agrees to feature content or an ad designed to drive traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate receives a percentage of sales or some other form of compensation generated by that traffic.
Affirmative consent -
An active request by a reader or subscriber to receive advertising or promotional information, newsletters, etc. Generally affirmative consent does not included the following -- failing to uncheck a pre-checked box on a Web form, entering a business relationship with an organization without being asked for separate permission to be sent specific types of email, opt-out.
Alert -
Email message that notifies subscribers of an event or special price.
Algorithm -
The technology that a search engine uses to deliver results to a query. Search engines utilize several algorithms in tandem to deliver a page of search results or keyword-targeted search ads.
Alternate text -
A word or phrase that is displayed when a user has image loading disabled in their browser or when a user abandons a page by hitting "stop" in their browser prior to the transfer of all images. Also appears as “balloon text” when a user lets their mouse rest over an image.
Analytics –
A broad term referring to data analysis. Is used in PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising to help determine the quality
and success of specific pay per click advertising campaigns.
Anchor text –
The clickable text part of a hyperlink. The text usually gives visitors or search engines important information on what the page being linked to is about.
Animated GIF -
An animation created by combining multiple GIF images in one file. The result is multiple images, displayed one after another, that give the appearance of movement.
Anonymizer -
An intermediary which prevents Web sites from seeing a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Audit -
Third party validation of log activity and/or measurement process associated with Internet activity/advertising. Activity audits validate measurement counts. Process audits validate internal controls associated with measurement.
Attachment -
A text, video, graphic, PDF or sound file that accompanies an email message but is not included in the message itself. Attachments are not a good way to send email newsletters because many ISPs, email clients and individual email recipients do not allow attachments, because hackers use them to deliver viruses and other malicious code.
Auto Bidding -
The opposite of Fixed Bidding. A type of keyword bidding in which an advertiser sets a maximum bid for a specific keyword but may pay less for each clickthrough of that keyword. For example, if Advertiser A bid $0.10 on a keyword, but the next highest bid (Advertiser B) on that keyword is $0.05, then Advertiser A will pay only $0.06 for each clickthrough. However, if Advertiser B changes his/her bid from $0.05 to $0.09, then Advertiser A will pay the full $0.10 (Advertiser A's maximum bid) for each clickthrough.
Authentication -
An automated process that verifies an email sender's identity.
Autoresponder -
Automated email message-sending capability, such as a welcome message sent to all new subscribers the minute they join a list. May be triggered by joins, unsubscribes, all email sent to a particular mailbox. May be more than a single message — can be a series of date or event-triggered emails.
Backbone -
A central network connecting other networks together.
Bandwidth -
1) the transmission rate of a communications line or system, expressed either as cycles per second/hertz for analog lines, or as bits (bps) or kilobits per second (Kbps) for digital systems; 2) line speed; 3) the amount of information that can be transmitted over communications lines at one time.
Bandwidth competition -
A bottleneck, however brief, when two or more files are simultaneously transmitted over a single line. Unless the system is able to prioritize among the files, the effect is to slow delivery of each.
Bayesian filter -
An anti-spam program that evaluates header and content of incoming email messages to determine the probability that it is spam. Bayesian filters assign point values to items that appear frequently in spam, such as the words "money-back guarantee" or "free." A message that accumulated too many points is either rejected as probable spam or delivered to a junk-mail folder. Also referred to as content-based filter.
Behavioral Targeting -
A technique used by publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their online ad campaigns. Behavioral targeting consists of displaying ads to users based on their past browsing behavior within an ad network. Information related to the user’s habit is collected and stored in a cookie dropped by and only accessible by this ad network. From the browsing habits of a user, demographic profiles can be built up and ready to be targeted not only on a specific interest based site, but across a whole network. This practice is however controversial and under investigation by the Canadian privacy commissioner.
Bid (Keyword Bid) –
The maximum amount of money that an advertiser is willing to pay each time a Web searcher clicks on an ad and visits their Web site.
Blacklist -
A list developed by anyone receiving email, or processing email on its way to the recipient, or interested third-parties, that includes domains or IP addresses of any emailers suspected of sending spam. Many companies use blacklists to reject inbound email, either at the server level or before it reaches the recipient’s in-box. Also referred to as Blocklist and Blackhole list.
Block -
A refusal by an ISP or mail server not to forward your email message to the recipient. Many ISPs block email from IP addresses or domains that have been reported to send spam or viruses or have content that violates email policy or spam filters.
Bounce -
This refers to what happens when e-mails are returned to the mail server as undeliverable. A message that doesn’t get delivered promptly is said to have bounced. Emails can bounce for more than 30 reasons: the email address is incorrect or has been closed; the recipient’s mailbox is full, the mail server is down, or the system detects spam or offensive content. See hard bounce and soft bounce.
Bounce handling –
The process of dealing with the email that has bounced. Bounce handling is important for list maintenance, list integrity and delivery. Given the lack of consistency in bounce messaging formats, it's an inexact science at best.
Bounce message -
Message sent back to an email sender reporting the message could not be delivered and why. Note: Not all bounced emails result in messages being sent back to the sender. Not all bounce messages are clear or accurate about the reason email was bounced.
Bounce rate: Also return rate -
Number of hard/soft bounces divided by the number of emails sent. This is an inexact number because some systems do not report back to the sender clearly or accurately.
Broadband -
An Internet connection that delivers a relatively high bit rate–any bit rate at or above 100 Kbps. Cable modems, DSL and ISDN all offer broadband connections.
Broadcast -
The process of sending the same email message to multiple recipients.
Browser -
A software program that can request, download, cache and display documents available on the World Wide Web. Browsers can be either text-based or graphical.
Bulk folder (also junk folder) -
Where many email clients send messages that appear to be from spammers or contain spam or are from any sender who’s not in the recipient’s address book or contact list. Some clients allow the recipient to override the system’s settings and direct that mail from a suspect sender be sent directly to the inbox. E.g., Yahoo! Mail gives recipients a button marked “Not Spam” on every message in the bulk folder.
Bulk Upload –
A tool that some PPC (Pay-Per-Click) search engines offer to advertisers that allows the advertisers to upload a large number of keywords into their account. In some cases, advertisers are able to upload complete PPC campaigns, or parts of complete campaigns, from one PPSCE to another.
Button -
Clickable graphic that contains certain fuctionality, such as taking one someplace or executing a program; buttons can also be ads.
Cache -
Memory used to temporarily store the most frequently requested content/files/pages in order to speed its delivery to the user. Cache can be local (i.e. on a browser) or on a network. In the case of local cache, most computers have both memory (RAM), and disk (hard drive) cache. Today, Web browsers cause virtually all data viewed to be cached on a user's computer.
Cache busting -
The process by which sites or servers serve content or HTML in such a manner as to minimize or prevent browsers or proxies from serving content from their cache. This forces the user or proxy to fetch a fresh copy for each request. Among other reasons, cache busting is used to provide a more accurate count of the number of requests from users.
Cached ad impressions -
The delivery of an advertisement to a browser from local cache or a proxy server’s cache. When a user requests a page that contains a cached ad, the ad is obtained from the cache and displayed.
Call to action -
Information which tells the user what action to take on an ad.
Capping -
Is an act to voluntarily prevent ads from repeatedly displaying. Often referred as frequency capping, one popular way of capping is x amount of impressions per x amount of hours.
Catch-all -
An email server function that forwards all questionable email to a single mailbox. The catch-all should be monitored regularly to find misdirected questions, unsubscribes or other genuine live email.
Catfish -
A slim banner ad displayed at the bottom of the user’s browser window. The ad is fixed at bottom of the window as they user scroll up and down.
Cell- Aka Test cell or version. A segment of your list that receives different treatment specifically to see how it responds versus the control (regular treatment.)
Challenge-response system -
An anti-spam program that requires a human being on the sender's end to respond to an emailed challenge message before their messages can be delivered to recipients. Senders who answer the challenge successfully are added to an authorization list. Bulk emailers can work with challenge-response if they designate an employee to watch the sending address' mailbox and to reply to each challenge by hand.
Chat -
Online interactive communication between two or more people on the Web. One can “talk” in real time with other people in a chat room, but the words are typed instead of spoken.
Churn -
How many subscribers leave a mailing list (or how many email addresses go bad) over a certain length of time, usually expressed as a percentage of the whole list.
Clicks -
1) metric which measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad. There are three types of clicks: click-throughs; in-unit clicks; and mouseovers; 2) the opportunity for a user to download another file by clicking on an advertisement, as recorded by the server; 3) the result of a measurable interaction with an advertisement or key word that links to the advertiser’s intended Web site or another page or frame within the Web site; 4) metric which measures the reaction of a user to hot-linked editorial content. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines. See also ad click, click-through, in-unit clicks and mouseover.
Click Fraud:
Activity that occurs in PPC advertising when an ad is repeatedly clicked by a person, group of people, or some type computer program or software.
Click-stream -
1) the electronic path a user takes while navigating from site to site, and from page to page within a site; 2) a comprehensive body of data describing the sequence of activity between a user’s browser and any other Internet resource, such as a Web site or third party ad server.
Click-through -
The action of following a hyperlink within an advertisement or editorial content to another Web site or another page or frame within the Web site. Ad click-throughs should be tracked and reported as a 302 redirect at the ad server and should filter out robotic activity.
Click-through & click-through tracking -
When a hotlink is included in an email, a click-through occurs when a recipient clicks on the link. Click-through tracking refers to the data collected about each click-through link, such as how many people clicked it, how many clicks resulted in desired actions such as sales, forwards or subscriptions.
Click-through rate (CTR) -
The rate (expressed in a percentage) at which users click on an ad. This is calculated by dividing the total number of
clicks by the total number of ad impressions. CTR is an important metric for Internet marketers to measure the performance of an ad campaign. For example, if an ad is displayed 100 times and is clicked on 7 times, that ad has a click through rate of 7% (7/100).
Clickthrough Rate/Yield
The ratio of clickthroughs to ad impressions.
Click-within -
Similar to click down or click. But more commonly, click-withins are ads that allow the user to “drill down” and click, while remaining in the advertisement, not leaving the site on which they are residing.
clickTAG -
The clickTAG is the tracking code assigned by the ad serving network to an individual ad. The clickTAG allows the network to register where the ad was displayed when it was clicked on. This click through data is reported to the ad serving servers so advertisers may determine the effectiveness of their campaign.
Commercial email -
Email whose purpose, as a whole or in part, is to sell or advertise a product or service or if its purpose is to persuade users to perform an act, such as to purchase a product or click to a Web site whose contents are designed to sell, advertise or promote.
Confirmation -
An acknowledgment of a subscription or information request. "Confirmation" can be either a company statement that the email address was successfully placed on a list, or a subscriber's agreement that the subscribe request was genuine and not faked or automatically generated by a third party.
Content -
All the material in an email message except for the codes showing the delivery route and return-path information. Includes all words, images and links.
Content network –
A group of websites that agree to show ads on their site, served by an ad network, in exchange for a share of the revenue generated by those ads. Examples include Google AdSense or the Yahoo Publisher Network.
Contextual Advertising -
Advertising that is targeted to a web page based on the page’s content, keywords, or category. Ads in most content networks are targeted contextually. For example, if contextual ads are being shown on a Web page discussing dog training, the automated system may display ads for dog collars, dog leashes and pet food.
Conversion -
When an email recipient performs a desired action based on a mailing you have sent. A conversion could be a monetary transaction, such as a purchase made after clicking a link. It could also include a voluntary act such as registering at a Web site, downloading a white paper, signing up for a Web seminar or opting in to an email newsletter.
Conversion Rate –
The number of visitors (expressed in a percentage) who "convert" after visiting a site through an ad. "Convert" can mean purchase an item, sign up for a newsletter, etc. That varies from site to site. For example, if an ad has 50 click-throughs and 4 of the 50 people who clicked on the ad proceed to convert, the conversion rate = 8% (4/50 * 100). Higher conversion rates generally translate into more successful PPC advertising campaigns.
Cookie -
A file on the user’s browser that uniquely identifies the user’s browser. There are two types of cookies: persistent cookies and session cookies. Session cookies are temporary and are erased when the browser exits. Persistent cookies remain on the user’s hard drive until the user erases them or until they expire.
Cookie buster -
Software that blocks the placement of cookies on a user’s browser.
Co-registration -
Arrangement in which companies collecting registration information from users (email sign-up forms, shopping checkout process, etc.) include a separate box for users to check if they would also like to be added to a specific third-party list.
CPA (Cost-per-Action) -
A form of advertising where payment is dependent upon an action that a user performs as a result of the ad. The action could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or asking for a follow-up call. An advertiser pays a set fee to the publisher based on the number of visitors who take action. Many affiliate programs use the CPA model.
CPC (Cost-per-click) -
Cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received. Also called pay-per-click (PPC). A performance-based advertising model where the advertiser pays a set fee for every click on an ad. The majority of text ads sold by search engines are billed under the CPC model.
CPL (Cost-per-lead) -
Cost of advertising based on the number of database files (leads) received.
CPM (Cost-per-thousand) -
An ad model that charges advertisers every time an ad is displayed to a user, whether the user clicks on the ad or not. The fee is based on every 1,000 ad impressions (M is the Roman numeral for 1,000). Most display ads, such as banner ads, are sold by CPM. For example, a Web site that charges $1,500 per ad and reports 100,000 visits has a CPM of $15 ($1,500 divided by 100).
CPO (Cost-per-Order) -
Cost of advertising based on the number of orders received. Also called Cost-per-Transaction.
CPS (Cost-per-Sale) -
The advertiser's cost to generate one sales transaction. If this is being used in conjunction with a media buy, a cookie can be offered on the content site and read on the advertiser's site after the successful completion of an online sale.
Crawler -
A software program which visits virtually all pages of the Web to create indexes for search engines. They are more interested in text files than graphic files. See also spider, bot, and intelligent agent.
CRM -
Customer relationship marketing. Marketing specifically targeted to increasing brand loyalty.
Cross-campaign profiling -
A method used to understand how email respondents behave over multiple campaigns.
CTR -
Click-through rate.
Dedicated Server -
An email server used by only one sender. A dedicated server often costs more to use because the expense can't be spread among many users, but it performs better than a shared server. Email usually goes out faster, the server is more secure, and you eliminate the possibility that another sender could get the server blacklisted for spamming.
Deduplication (deduping) -
The process of removing identical entries from two or more data sets such as mailing lists. AKA merge/purge.
Delivered email -
Number of emails sent minus the number of bounces and filtered messages. A highly inexact number because not all receiving ISPs report accurately on which email didn't go through and why not.
Delivery tracking -
The process of measuring delivery rates by format, ISP or other factors and delivery failures (bounces, invalid address, server and other errors). An inexact science.
Deploy -
The act of sending the email campaign after testing.
DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language) -
An extended set of HTML commands which are used by Web designers to create much greater animation and interactivity than HTML.
Discrepancy -
This refers to the recorded impressions difference between ad serving platforms which are involved in the process of publishing online ads. It is often a ground of dispute between publishers and ad serving agencies. Publisher numbers are, if not always, higher than the 3rd party ones. The discrepancy tolerance threshold is 10%. Factors such has general internet latency, bad website layout, browsers and proxies caching mechanism and different impression calculation method influence the level of reported discrepancy.
Digest -
A shortened version of an email newsletter which replaces full-length articles with clickable links to the full article at a Web site, often with a brief summary of the contents.
Domain name -
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Every domain name consists of one top or high-level and one or more lower-level designators. Top-level domains (TLDs) are either generic or geographic. Generic top-level domains include .com (commercial), .net (network), .edu (educational), .org (organizational, public or non-commercial), .gov (governmental), .mil (military); .biz (business), .info (informational),.name (personal), .pro (professional), .aero (air transport and civil aviation), .coop (business cooperatives such as credit unions) and .museum. Geographic domains designate countries of origin, such as .us (United States), .fr (France), .uk (United Kingdom), etc.
Double opt-in -
A process that requires new list joiners to take an action (such as clicking on an emailed link to a personal confirmation page) in order to confirm that they do want to be on the list. Sometimes interpreted incorrectly by some email broadcast vendors to mean a new subscriber who does not opt-out of or bounce a welcome message.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) -
A high-speed dedicated digital circuit from a given location to the telephone company's central office, using normal copper telephone lines. DSL provides a separate channel for voice and fax, which means that phone calls and faxes can be carried at the same time high-speed data is flowing across the line. DSL is a general term that includes several variations: ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), ranging up to 1.5 Mbps; HDSL (High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line), 1.5 Mbps; SDSL (Single-line Digital Subscriber Line), 1.5 Mbps; VDSL (Very high-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line), ranging up to 2.3 Mbps; and RDSL (Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line), various speeds.
Dynamic content -
Email-newsletter content that changes from one recipient to the next according to a set of predetermined rules or variables, usually according to preferences the user sets when opting in to messages from a sender. Dynamic content can reflect past purchases, current interests or where the recipient lives.
Dynamic IP address -
An IP address that changes every time a user logs on to the Internet.
Editorial Review -
A process in which advertiser listings are checked to ensure relevancy. Not all PPC Search Engines review listings.
E-mail Campaign -
In advertising campaign distributed via e-mail.
Email client -
The software recipients use to read email, such as Outlook Express or Lotus Notes.
E-Commerce -
The process of selling products or services via the Web.
Email Domain -
Aka Domain. The portion of the email address to the right of the @ sign. Useful as an email address hygiene tool (e.g. identify all records where the consumer entered "name@aol" as their email address and correct it to "name@aol.com").
Email filter -
A software tool that categorizes, sorts or blocks incoming email, based either on the sender, the email header or message content. Filters may be applied at the recipient's level, at the email client, the ISP or a combination.
Email Friendly Name -
Aka Display Name, From name. The portion of the email address that is displayed in most, though not all, email readers in place of, or in addition to, the email address.
Email harvesting -
Automated process in which a robot program searches Web pages or other Internet destinations for email addresses. The program collects the address into a database, which frequently gets resold to spammers or unethical bulk mailers.
Email newsletter -
Content distributed to subscribers by email, on a regular schedule. Content is seen as valued editorial in and of itself rather than primarily a commercial message with a sales offer. See ezine.
Email Prefix -
The portion of the email address to the left of the @ sign.
Email vendor -
Another name for an email broadcast service provider, a company that sends bulk (volume) email on behalf of their clients. Also email service provider (ESP).
Encryption -
The scrambling of digital information so that it is unreadable without the use of digital keys.
Enhanced whitelist -
A super-whitelist maintained by AOL for bulk emailers who meet strict delivery standards, including fewer than 1 spam complaint for every 1,000 email messages. Emailers on the enhanced whitelist can bypass AOL 9.0’s automatic suppression of images and links.
Event triggered email -
Pre-programmed messages sent automatically based on an event such as a date or anniversary.
Eyeballs -
Reference to the number of people who view, or "lay their eyes on," a certain advertisement.
False positive -
A legitimate message mistakenly rejected or filtered as spam, either by an ISP or a recipient's anti-spam program. The more stringent an anti-spam program, the higher the false-positive rate.
Fixed Bidding –
The opposite of Auto Bidding. A type of keyword bidding in which you pay exactly what you bidded for each clickthrough. For example, if you bid $0.10 on a keyword, you will pay $0.10 for each clickthrough, regardless of other advertiser bids. See "Auto Bidding" for further explanation.
Flash™ -
Macromedia’s vector-based graphics file format which is used to display interactive animations on a Web page. This form of rich media technology is available via a plug-in.
Floating ads -
Ad or ads that appear within the main browser window on top of the Web page's normal content, thereby appearing to "float" over the top of the page.
Fold -
An ad or content that is viewable as soon as the Web page arrives. One does not have to scroll down (or sideways) to see it. Since screen resolution can affect what is immediately viewable, it is good to know whether the Web site's audience tends to set their resolution at 640 x 480 pixels or at 800 x 600 (or higher).
Forward (aka as Send to a Friend) -
The process in which email recipients send your message to people they know, either because they think their friends will be interested in your message or because you offer incentives to forward messages. Forwarding can be done through the recipient’s own email client or by giving the recipient a link to click, which brings up a registration page at your site, in which you ask the forwarded to give his/her name and email address, the name/email address of the person they want to send to and (optionally) a brief email message explaining the reason for the forward.You can supply the wording or allow the forward to write his/her own message. AKA viral marketing.
Footer -
An area at the end of an email message or newsletter that contains information that doesn’t change from one edition to the next, such as contact information,the company’s postal address or the email address the recipient used to subscribe to mailings. Some software programs can be set to place this information automatically.
Frequency -
The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single session or time period. A site can use cookies in order to manage ad frequency.
From -
Whatever appears in the email recipient's inbox as your visible "from" name. Chosen by the sender. May be a personal name, a brand name, an email address, a blank space, or alpha-numeric gobbledegook. Note - this is not the actual "from" contained in the header (see below) and may be different than the email reply address. Easy to fake. Aka Email Friendly Name.
FTP -
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a network protocol used to exchange and manipulate files over a TCP computer network, such as the Internet. An FTP client may connect to an FTP server to manipulate files on that server.
Full-service provider -
An email vendor that also provides strategic consulting and creative support, in addition to sending messages.
Geo-targeting –
Delivery of ads specific to the geographic location of the searcher. Geo-targeting allows the advertiser to specify where ads will or won’t be shown based on the searcher’s location, enabling more localized and personalized results.
Goodbye message -
An email message sent automatically to a list member who unsubscribes, acknowledging the request. Always include an option to resubscribe in case the unsubscribe was requested accidentally.
Googlebot –
Google uses several user-agents to crawl and index content in the Google.com search engine. Googlebot describes all Google spiders. For example, Googlebot-Mobile: crawls pages for Google’s mobile index; Googlebot-Image: crawls pages for Google’s image index.
GUI (Graphical User Interface) -
A way of enabling users to interact with the computer using visual icons and a mouse rather than a command-like prompt/interpreter.
Hard bounce -
Message sent to an invalid, closed or nonexistent email account.
Header -
Routing and program data at the start of an email message, including the sender's name and email address, originating email server IP address, recipient IP address and any transfers in the process.
Hit -
When users access a Web site, their computer sends a request to the site's server to begin downloading a page. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, interactive items) is recorded by the site's Web server log file as a "hit." If a page containing two graphics is accessed by a user, those hits will be recorded once for the page itself and once for each of the graphics. Webmasters use hits to measure their servers' workload. Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no relationship to the number of pages downloaded, and is therefore a poor guide for traffic measurement.
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 other pages within the site.
House list -
The list of email addresses an organization develops on its own. (Your own list.)
HTML message -
Email message which contains any type of formatting other than text. This may be as simple as programming that sets the text in a specific font (bold, italics, Courier 10 point, etc.). It also includes any graphic images, logos and colors.
HTML page -
A HyperText Markup Language document stored in a directory on a Web server and/or created dynamically at the time of the request for the purpose of satisfying that request. In addition to text, an HTML page may include graphics, video, audio, and other files.
Hybrid pricing -
Pricing model which is based on a combination of a CPM pricing model and a performance-based pricing model. See CPM pricing model and performance-based pricing model.
Hyperlink -
HTML programming which redirects the user to a new URL when the individual clicks on hypertext.
Image map -
A GIF or JPEG image with more than one linking hyperlink. Each hyperlink or hot spot can lead to a different destination page.
Impression -
A measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to opportunity to see the page by the user. If an ad is displayed 1,000 times, that is considered to be 1,000 impressions.
Inbound link –
An inbound link is a hyperlink to a particular web page from an outside site, bringing traffic to that web page. Inbound links are an important element that most search engine algorithms use to measure the popularity of a web page.
Instant messaging -
A method of users communicating one-to-one or in groups over the standard IP protocol. Users can assemble “buddy lists” and chat with friends, family and colleagues.
Interstitial ads -
Ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as transition ads, intermercial ads, splash pages and Flash pages.
Invisible web –
A term that refers to the vast amount of information on the web that isn’t indexed by search engines. Coined in 1994 by Dr. Jill Ellsworth.
IP address -
Internet protocol numerical address assigned to each computer on the network so that its location and activities can be distinguished from other computers. The format is ##.##.##.## with each number ranging from 0 through 255 (e.g. 125.45.87.204)
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) -
High-speed dial-up connections to the Internet over ordinary copper phone wires. DSL has in large part replaced ISDN. See DSL.
ISP (Internet Service Provider) -
An organization that provides access to the Internet. An ISP can be a commercial provider, a corporate computer network, a school, college, university, or the government.
iTV (Interactive Television) -
Any technology that allows for two-way communication between the audience and the service provider (such as the broadcaster, cable operator, set-top box manufacturer) via standard or enhanced television appliance.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) -
File format that uses a compression technique to reduce the size (number of bytes) of graphic files.
Joe job -
A spam-industry term for a forged email, in which a spammer or hacker fakes a genuine email address in order to hide his identity.
Jump page ad -
Microsite which is reached via click-through from button or banner ad. The jump page itself can list several topics, which are linked to either the advertiser's site or the publisher's site.
Keyword -
A word or phrase entered into a search engine in an effort to get the search engine to return matching and relevant results. The keyword can be purchased by advertisers in order to direct the hyperlink opportunity to the advertiser's site or to serve an ad related to the user’s search. For example, possible keywords for a site selling apples would be "apple," "red apple" and "green apple’’.
Keyword search revenues -
Fees advertisers pay to retrieve the hyperlink opportunity to the advertiser’s site or to serve an ad related to the user’s search.
Landing page -
A Web page viewed after clicking on a link within an email or an ad. Also may be called a microsite, splash page, bounce page, or click page.
Link -
An electronic connection between two Web sites. Also called "hotlink" or "hyperlink."
Link bait –
Editorial content, often sensational in nature, posted on a web page and submitted to social media sites in hopes of building inbound links from other sites. Or, as Matt Cutts of Google says, “something interesting enough to catch people’s attention.”
Link building –
The process of getting quality websites to link to your websites, in order to improve search engine rankings. Link building techniques can include buying links, reciprocal linking, or entering barter arrangements.
Linkrot -
What happens when links go bad over time, either because a Web site has shut down or a site has stopped supporting a unique landing page provided in an email promotion.
List -
The list of email addresses to which you send your message. Can be either your house list or a third-party list that sends your message on your behalf.
List fatigue -
A condition producing diminishing returns from a mailing list whose members are sent too many offers, or too many of the same offers, in too short a period of time.
List hygiene -
The act of maintaining a list so that hard bounces and unsubscribed names are removed from mailings. Some list owners also use an email change-of-address service to update old or abandoned email addresses (hopefully with a permission step baked in) as part of this process.
List management -
How a mailing list is set up, administered and maintained. The list manager has daily responsibility over list operation, including processing subscribes and unsubscribes, bounce management, list hygiene, etc. The list manager can be the same as the database manager but is not always the same person as the list owner. See list owner.
List owner -
The organization or individual who has gathered a list of email addresses. Ownership does not necessarily imply "with permission."
List rental -
The process in which a publisher or advertiser pays a list owner to send its messages to that list. Usually involves the list owner sending the message's on the advertiser's behalf. (If someone hands over their list to you, beware.)
List sale -
The actual purchase of a mailing list along with the rights to mail it directly. Permission can only be "sold" if the subsequent mailings continue to match the frequency, brand name, content, and "from" of the past owner's mailings -- and even then this is a somewhat shaky procedure on the spam-front. You are in effect buying a publication, and not just a list.
Log file -
A file that records transactions that have occurred on the Web server. Some of the types of data which are collected are: date/time stamp, URL served, IP address of requestor, status code of request, user agent string, previous URL of requestor, etc. Use of the extended log file format is preferable.
Login -
The identification or name used to access a computer, network or site.
Mail bomb -
An orchestrated attempt to shut down a mail server by sending more messages than it can handle in a short period of time. See DOS.
Mailing list -
An automatically distributed e-mail message on a particular topic going to certain individuals.
Makegoods -
Additional ad impressions which are negotiated in order to make up for the shortfall of ads delivered versus the commitments outlined in the approved insertion order.
Meta tags –
Information placed in the HTML header of a web page, providing information that is not visible to browsers, but can be used in varying degrees by search engines to index a page. Common meta tags used in search engine marketing are title, description, and keyword tags.
Micro-sites -
Multi-page ads accessed via click-through from initial ad. User stays on the publisher’s Web site, but has access to more information from the advertiser than a standard ad format allows.
Minimum Bid -
The lowest amount of money that a Pay Per Click Search Engine allows advertisers to bid for a certain keyword. This amount is usually $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, $0.20, or $0.50.
Mouseover -
The process by which a user places his/her mouse over a media object, without clicking. The mouse may need to remain still for a specified amount of time to initiate some actions.
Multi-part MIME -
Also known (confusingly) as an "email sniffer." Message format which includes both an HTML and a text-only version in the same message. Most (but not all) email clients receiving messages in this format will automatically display the version the user’s system is set to show. Systems that can’t show HTML should show the text version instead. This doesn’t always work — in particular for many Lotus Notes users. Also, no data, except HTML open rates and possibly link click tracking, is transmitted back to the sender regarding which version a recipient wound up viewing.
Netiquette -
A term that is used to describe the informal rules of conduct ("do's and don'ts") of online behavior.
Newsgroup -
An electronic bulletin board devoted to talking about a specific topic and open to everybody. Only a handful of newsgroups permit the posting of advertising.
Nth name -
The act of segmenting a list for a test in which names are pulled from the main list for the test cell by number -- such as every 5th name on the list. See also a/b split.
Open rate -
The number of HTML message recipients who opened your email, usually as a percentage of the total number of emails sent. The open rate is considered a key metric for judging an email campaign's success, but it has several problems. The rate indicates only the number of emails opened from the total amount sent, not just those that were actually delivered. Opens also can't be calculated on text emails. Also, some email clients also users to scan message content without actually opening the message, which is falsely calculated as an open. See preview pane.
Opt-in -
Refers to an individual giving a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a particular reason, such as to market the company's products and services. See permission marketing.
Opt-in e-mail -
Lists of Internet users who have voluntarily signed up to receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest.
Opt-out -
When a company states that it plans to market its products and services to an individual unless the individual asks to be removed from the company's mailing list.
Organic Search Results -
Unpaid search engine listings. The opposite of paid search engine placments, or pay per click ads.
Paid Inclusion –
A service that guarantees (for a fee) that a Web site's pages will be indexed. The fee guarantees inclusion within the search engine's results (and also that the search engine will spider the pages often) for a set period of time, usually one year. Paid inclusion guarantees that a Web site will be included in search results, but does not guarantee top placement within the search results.
Page impression -
A measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user’s browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to the opportunity to see the page by the user.See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Page request -
The opportunity for an HTML document to appear on a browser window as a direct result of a user's interaction with a Web site.
Page view -
When the page is actually seen by the user. Note: this is not measurable today; the best approximation today is provided by page displays.
Pass-along -
An email recipient who got your message via forwarding from a subscriber. (Some emails offer "forward to a friend" in the creative, but the vast majority of pass-alongs happen using email clients, and not that tech.) Pass-alongs can affect the formatting of the email, often stripping off HTML. Also known as viral.
Password -
A group of letters and/or numbers which allow a unique user access to a secured Web site and/or a secure area of a Web site.
Pay-per-Click -
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many users clicked on an online ad or e-mail message.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising –
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising is a type of online advertising in which advertisers (i.e. you) pay for visitors on a Cost Per Click (CPC) basis. That is, advertisers only pay when a Web searcher actually clicks on a link and visits their Web site. PPC advertising is different than "traditional" online advertising, where advertisers pay according to how many times their ad is displayed. With Pay Per Click Adverting, an ad can be displayed many times, but the advertiser pays nothing unless a Web searcher actually clicks on the ad.
Pay Per Click Search Engine (PPCSE) –
A type of search engine in which search results are determined by advertiser bids. Generally speaking, the advertiser that bids the highest amount on a specific keyword will show up as the No. 1 search result for that specific keyword.
Pay-per-Impression -
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay based on how many users were served their ads. See CPM pricing model.
Pay-per-Lead -
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay for each "sales lead" generated. For example, an advertiser might pay for every visitor that clicked on an ad or site and successfully completed a form. See CPL.
Pay-per-Sale -
An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many sales transactions were generated as a direct result of the ad. See CPS.
PDF files (Portable Document Format) -
A translation format developed by Adobe 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.
Peel Over -
An ad, when expanded, which mimics the behavior of a paper top corner being peeled.
Performance pricing model -
An advertising model in which advertisers pay based on a set of agreed upon performance criteria, such as a percentage of online revenues or delivery of new sales leads. See CPA, CPC, CPL, CPO, CPS, CPT.
Permission -
The implicit approval given when a person actively requests to have their own email address added to a list.
Permission marketing -
When an individual has given a company permission to market its products and services to the individual. See opt-in.
Persistent cookie -
A cookie which remains on the user’s hard drive until the user erases it.
Personalization -
A targeting method in which an email message appears to have been created only for a single recipient. Personalization techniques include adding the recipient's name in the subject line or message body, or the message offer reflects a purchasing, link clicking, or transaction history.
Phishing -
A form of identity theft in which a scammer uses an authentic-looking email to trick recipients into giving out sensitive personal information, such as credit-card or bank account numbers, Social Security numbers and other data.
Pixel -
Picture element (single illuminated dot) on a computer monitor.
The metric used to indicate the size of Internet ads.
Plain text -
Text in an email message that includes no formatting code.
Platform -
The type of computer or operating system on which a software application runs, e.g., PC, Macintosh, Unix or WebTV.
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 their function integrated into the main HTML file being presented.
Pop-under ad -
Ad that appears in a separate window beneath an open window. Pop-under ads are concealed until the top window is closed, moved, resized or minimized.
Pop-up ad -
Ad that appears in a separate window on top of content already on-screen. Similar to a daughter window, but without an associated banner.
Pop-up transitional -
Initiates play in a separate ad window during the transition between content pages. Continues while content is simultaneously being rendered. Depending primarily on line-speed, play of a transitional ad may finish before or after content rendering is completed.
Portal -
A Web site that often serves as a starting point for a Web user’s session. It typically provides services such as search, directory of Web sites, news, weather, e-mail, homepage space, stock quotes, sports news, entertainment, telephone directory information, area maps, and chat or message boards.
Post click -
Actions performed by a user on an advertiser site after he was redirected there from clicking an ad. This is a technique used to evaluate the influence of the ad on the customer behavior on the advertiser website.
PPC -
Pay per click.
PPC Management
A service that helps pay per click advertisers manage their various PPC advertising campaigns across multiple PPC search engines.
Privacy policy -
A statement about what information is being collected; how the information being collected is being used; how an individual can access his/her own data collected; how the individual can opt-out; and what security measures are being taken by the parties collecting the data.
Profiling -
The practice of tracking information about consumers' interests by monitoring their movements online. This can be done without using any personal information, but simply by analyzing the content, URL’s, and other information about a user’s rowsing path/click-stream.
Preferences -
Options a user can set to determine how they want to receive your messages, how they want to be addresses, to which email address message should go and which messages they want to receive from you. The more preferences a user can specify, the more likely you'll send relevant email.
Preview pane -
The window in an email client that allows the user to scan message content without actually clicking on the message. See open rate.
Privacy policy -
A clear description of how your company uses the email addresses and other information it gathers via opt-in requests for newsletters, company information or third-party offers or other functions. If you rent, sell or exchange your list to anyone outside your company, or if you add email addresses to opt-out messages, you should state so in the privacy policy. State laws may also compel you to explain your privacy policy, where to put the policy statement so people will see it and even in form the policy should be displayed.
Qualified Hits -
Hits to a Web server that delivers information to a user. Qualified hits exclude error messages, redirects and requests by computer programs (as opposed to end users).
Quality score –
A score assigned by search engines that is calculated by measuring an ad’s clickthrough rate, analyzing the relevance of the landing page, and considering other factors used to determine the quality of a site and reward those of higher quality with top placement and lower bid requirements. Some factors that make up a quality score are historical keyword performance, the quality of an ad’s landing page, and other undisclosed attributes. All of the major search engines now use some form of quality score in their search ad algorithm.
Query -
A request for information, usually to a search engine.
Queue -
Where an email message goes after you send it but before the list owner approves it or before the list server gets around to sending it. Some list software allows you to queue a message and then set a time to send it automatically, either during a quiet period on the server or at a time when human approval isn't available.
Re-direct -
When used in reference to online advertising, one server assigning an ad-serving or ad-targeting function to another server, often operated by a third company. For instance, a Web publisher's ad management server might re-direct to a third-party hired by an advertiser to distribute its ads to target customers; and then another re-direct to a "rich media" provider might also occur if streaming video were involved before the ad is finally delivered to the consumer. In some cases, the process of re-directs can produce latency. See ad serving, latency.
Reach -
1) unique 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; 2) the total number of unique users who will be served a given ad.
Read email -
Not measurable. Only opens and clicks are measureable in any way. You can never know if a recipient simply read your message.
RealAudio® -
A software program that downloads and plays streaming audio files.
Real time -
Events that happen in real time are happening virtually at that particular moment. When one chats in a chat room, or sends an instant message, one is interacting in real time since it is immediate.
Referral link -
The referring page, or referral link is a place from which the user clicked to get to the current page. In other words, since a hyperlink connects one URL to another, in clicking on a link the browser moves from the referring URL to the destination URL. Also known as source of a visit.
Referral fees -
Fees paid by advertisers for delivering a qualified sales lead or purchase inquiry.
Registration -
A process for site visitors to enter information about themselves. Sites use registration data to enable or enhance targeting of content and ads. Registration can be required or voluntary.
Repeat visitor -
Unique visitor who has accessed a Web site more than once over a specific time period.
Reply-to -
The email address that receives messages sent from users who click “reply” in their email clients. Can differ from the “from”address which can be an automated or unmonitored email address used only to send messages to a distribution list. “Reply-to” should always be a monitored address.
Return on Investment (ROI) –
The amount of money you receive in relation to the amount of money you spend. In terms of PPC advertising, the formula would be: (Revenue - Expenses) / Expenses. For example, if you spend a total of $100 on advertising and receive $150 in revenue from those advertising efforts, your ROI would be 50% --> ($150-$100)/$100 = $50/$100 = 50%.
Return visits -
The average number of times a user returns to a site over a specific time period.
Revenue sharing
The business agreement by which a site divides its revenue with an ad network.
Rich media -
A method of communication that incorporates animation, sound, video, and/or interactivity. It can be used either singularly or in combination with the following technologies: streaming media, sound, Flash, and with programming languages such as Java, Javascript, and DHTML. It is deployed via standard Web and wireless applications including e-mail, Web design, banners, buttons, and interstitials.
ROAS -
Return on Ad Spend
ROI (Return on Investment) -
Net profit divided by investment.
RON (Run-of-Network) -
The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby an ad network positions ads across the sites it represents at its own discretion, according to available inventor. The advertiser usually forgoes premium positioning in exchange for more advertising weight at a lower CPM.
ROS (Run-of-Site) -
The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site sub-sections.
Sample -
A subset of a universe whose properties are studied to gain information about that universe.
Search advertising –
Also called paid search. An advertiser bids for the chance to have their ad display when a user searches for a given keyword. These are usually text ads, which are displayed above or to the right of the algorithmic (organic) search results. Most search ads are sold by the PPC model, where the advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad or text link.
Search engine -
A program that helps Web users find information on the Internet. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of Web resources that can be queried for the keywords or concepts entered by the user.
Search engine marketing (SEM) –
The process of building and marketing a site with the goal of improving its position in search engine results.SEM includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and search advertising, or paid search.
Search engine optimization (SEO) –
The process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. SEO includes
technical tasks to make it easier for search engines to find and index a site for the appropriate keywords, as well as marketing-focused tasks to make a site more appealing to users. Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.
Search engine results pages (SERPs) –
The page searchers see after they’ve entered their query into the search box. This page lists several web pages related to the searcher’s query, sorted by relevance. Increasingly, search engines are returning blended search results, which include images, videos, and results from specialty databases on their SERPs.
Seed emails -
Email addresses placed on a list (sometimes secretly) to determine what messages are sent to the list and/or to track delivery rate and/or visible appearance of delivered messages. Seeds may also be placed on Web sites and elsewhere on the Internet to track spammers' harvesting activities.
Segment -
The ability to slice a list into specific pieces determined by various attributes, such as open history or name source.
Selective Unsubscribe -
An unsubscribe mechanism that allows a consumer to selectively determine which email newsletters they wish to continue receiving while stopping the sending of others.
Sell-through rate -
The percentage of ad inventory sold as opposed to traded or bartered.
Sender ID -
The informal name for a new anti-spam program combining two existing protocols: Sender Policy Framework and CallerID. SenderID authenticates email senders and blocks email forgeries and faked addresses.
Sender Policy Framework (also SPF) -
A protocol used to eliminate email forgeries. A line of code called an SPF record is placed in a sender’s Domain Name Server information. The incoming mail server can verify a sender by reading the SPF record before allowing a message through.
SEO -
Search engine optimization
SEM -
Search engine marketing
Server -
A computer which distributes files which are shared across a LAN, WAN or the Internet. Also known as a "host".
Server centric measurement -
Audience measurement derived from server logs.
Session -
1) a sequence of Internet activity made by one user at one site. If a user makes no request from a site during a 30 minute period of time, the next content or ad request would then constitute the beginning of a new visit; 2) a series of transactions performed by a user that can be tracked across successive Web sites. For example, in a single session, a user may start on a publisher's Web site, click on an advertisement and then go to an advertiser's Web site and make a purchase. See visit.
Session cookies -
Cookies which are loaded into a computer’s RAM, and only work during that browser session. When the browser exits, these cookies are erased. They are “temporary cookies”, and no cookie is written to a user’s hard drive. See cookie.
Set-top box -
An electronic device that sits on top of one’s TV set and allows it to connect to the Internet, game systems, or cable systems.
Shockwave -
A browser plug-in developed by Macromedia which allows multimedia objects to appear on the Web (animation, audio and video).
Shop bot -
Intelligent agent which searches for the best price.
Signature -
A line or two of information found in the closing of an email, usually followed the sender’s name. Signatures can include advertising information, such as a company name, product, brand message or marketing call to action (subscribe to a company newsletter with the email subscribe address or Web registration form, or visit a Web site with the URL listed).
Skins -
Customized and interchangeable sets of graphics, which allow Internet users to continually change the look of their desktops or browsers, without changing their settings or functionality. Skins are a type of marketing tool.
Skyscraper -
A tall, thin online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of skyscrapers: 120 X 600 and 160 x 600.
Slotting fee -
A fee charged to advertisers by media companies to get premium positioning on their site, category exclusivity or some other special treatment. It is similar to slotting allowances charged by retailers.
SMTP -
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, the most common protocol for sending email messages between email servers.
Snail mail -
Postal mail.
Sniffer -
Software that detects capabilities of the user's browser (looking for such things as Java capabilities, plug-ins, screen resolution, and bandwidth).
Social media –
A category of sites based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, mySpace and Twitter or social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.
Soft bounce -
Email sent to an active (live) email address but which is turned away before being delivered. Often, the problem is temporary -- the server is down or the recipient's mailbox is over quota. The email might be held at the recipient's server and delivered later, or the sender's email program may attempt to deliver it again. Soft-bounce reports are not always accurate because they don't report all soft bounces or the actual reason for the bounce.
Solo mailing -
A one-time broadcast to an email list, separate from regular newsletters or promotions, and often including a message from an outside advertiser or a special promotion from the list owner.
Spam -
The popular name for unsolicited commercial email. However, some email recipients define spam as any email they no longer want to receive, even if it comes from a mailing list they joined voluntarily. Spam -
slang term describing unsolicited e-mail.
Spamcop -
A blacklist and IP-address database, formerly privately owned but now part of the email vendor Ironport. Many ISPs check the IP addresses of incoming email against Spamcop’s records to determine whether the address has been blacklisted due to spam complaints.
Spider -
A search engine spider is a program that crawls the web, visiting web pages to collect information to add to or update a search engine’s index. The major search engines on the web all have such a program, which is also known as a
“crawler” or a “bot.”
Splash page -
A preliminary page that precedes the user-requested page of a Web site that usually promotes a particular site feature or provides advertising. A splash page is timed to move on to the requested page after a short period of time or a click. Also known as an interstitial. Splash pages are not considered qualified page impressions under current industry guidelines, but they are considered qualified ad impressions.
Staging environment -
The staging environment lets you move Web site assets within and across different environments. For example, you can move a new Web page or a marketing campaign from a test environment to a production environment. In an enterprise deployment, you can define staging projects to move content from the development environment to the integration/test environment, from there to the staging environment, and from there to the production environment.
Stickiness -
A measure used to gauge the effectiveness of a site in retaining individual users. Stickiness is usually measured by the duration of the visit.
Streaming -
1) technology that permits continuous audio and video delivered to a computer from a remote Web site; 2) an Internet data transfer technique that allows the user to see and hear audio and video files. The host or source compresses, then "streams" small packets of information over the Internet to the user, who can access the content as it is received.
Subject line -
Copy that identifies what an email message is about, often designed to entice the recipient into opening the message. The subject line appears first in the recipient's inbox, often next to the sender's name or email address. It is repeated in the email message's header information inside the message.
Superstitials® -
An interstitial format developed by Unicast which is fully pre-cached before playing. Specs are 550 x 480 pixels (2/3 of screen), up to 100K file size and up to 20 seconds in length.
T-commerce -
Electronic commerce on interactive television.
T-1 -
A high-speed (1.54 megabits/second) Internet connection.
T-3 -
A very high-speed (45 megabits/second or higher) Internet connection.
Test -
A necessary step before sending an email campaign or newsletter. Many email clients permit you to send a test email before sending a regular email newsletter or solo mailing, in which you would send one copy of the message to an in-house email address and then review it for formatting or copy errors or improperly formatted links. Email marketers should also send a test campaign to a list of email addresses not in the deployment database to determine likely response rates and how well different elements in the message perform.
Textual ad impressions -
The delivery of a text-based advertisement to a browser. To compensate for slow Internet connections, visitors may disable "auto load images" in their graphical browser. When they reach a page that contains an advertisement, they see a marker and the advertiser's message in text format in place of the graphical ad. Additionally, if a user has a text-only browser, only textual ads are delivered and recorded as textual ad impressions.
Thank-you page -
Web page that appears after user has submitted an order or a form online. May be a receipt.
Third-party ad server -
Independent outsourced companies that specialize in managing, maintaining, serving, tracking, and analyzing the results of online ad campaigns. They deliver targeted advertising that can be tailored to consumers' declared or predicted characteristics or preferences.
Throttling -
The practice of regulating how many email message a broadcaster sends to one ISP or mail server at a time. Some ISPs bounce email if it receives too many messages from one sending address at a time.
Title tag –
An HTML meta tag with text describing a specific web page. The title tag should contain strategic keywords for the page, since many search engines pay special attention to the title text when indexing pages. The title tag should also make sense to humans, since it is usually the text link to the page displayed in search engine results.
Total visits -
Total number of browsers accessing a Web site within a specific time period. Total visits should filter robotic activity, but can include visits from repeat visitors.
Total visitors -
Total number of browsers or individuals which have accessed a site within a specific time period.
Transactional email -
Also known as transactive email. A creative format where the recipient can enter a transaction in the body of the email itself without clicking to a web page first. Transactions may be answering a survey, or purchasing something.
Transitional ad -
An ad that is displayed between Web pages. In other words, the user sees an advertisement as he/she navigates between page ‘a’ and page ‘b.’ Also known as an interstitial.
Triggers -
A command from the host server that notifies the viewer's set-top box that interactive content is available at this point. The viewer is notified about the available interactive content via an icon or clickable text. Once clicked by using the remote control, the trigger disappears and more content or a new interface appears on the TV screen.
Unduplicated audience -
The number of unique individuals exposed to a specified domain, page or ad in a specified time period.
Unique Reference Number -
A unique number assigned to a list member, usually by the email-broadcast software, and used to track member behavior (clicks, subscribes, unsubscribe) or to identify the member to track email delivery.
Unique User -
Unique individual or browser which has either accessed a site (see unique visitor) or which has been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads. Unique users can be identified by user registration or cookies. Reported unique users should filter out robots. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Unique Visitor -
A specific person who visits a specific Web site. Even if this person visits the Web site 12 times in one day, he/she is still considered only one unique visitor (not 12).
Upload -
To send data from a computer to a network. An example of uploading data is sending e-mail.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) -
The unique identifying address of any particular page on the Web. It contains all the information required to locate a resource, including its protocol (usually HTTP), server domain name (or IP address), file path (directory and name) and format (usually HTML or CGI).
User centric measurement -
Web audience measurement based on the behavior of a sample of Web users.
User registration -
Information contributed by an individual which usually includes characteristics such as the person's age, gender, zip code and often much more. A site’s registration system is usually based on an ID code or password to allow the site to determine the number of unique visitors and to track a visitor's behavior within that site.
Video e-mail -
An email message that includes a video file, either inserted into the message body, accessible through a hotlink to a Web site or accompanying it in an attachment (least desirable because many ISPs block executable attachments to avoid viruses).
Viral marketing -
1) any advertising that propagates itself; 2) advertising and/or marketing techniques that "spread" like a virus by getting passed on from consumer to consumer and market to market.
Virus -
A program or computer code that affects or interferes with a computer’s operating system and gets spread to other computers accidentally or on purpose through email messages, downloads, infected CDs or network messages. See worm.
Visit -
A sequence of hits made by one user at one site. A visit is terminated by a period of
inactivity from the user or a break in the user actions. Also called session or browsing
period.
Visit Duration -
Time between first and last request of a visit; does not include how long last request of a
visit is viewed.
Visitor -
Any individual who accesses a Web site within a specific time period.
Universal search –
Also known as blended, or federated search results, universal search pulls data from multiple databases to display on the
same page. Results can include images, videos, and results from specialty databases like maps and local information, product information, or news stories.
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) -
A specification for a set of communication protocols to standardize the way that wireless devices, such as cellular mobile telephones, PDAs and others can be used for Internet-based access.
WAP device -
Any device (e.g., mobile phone, PDA, or simulator) that allows access to wireless content.
WAP phones -
Mobile phones which utilize wireless application protocol technology to access the Internet. The screen on a WAP phone can be used to deliver ads.
Web 2.0 –
A term that refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services. These usually include tools that let people collaborate and share information online, such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies.
Web beacon – AKA tracking pixel
A line of code which is used by a Web site or third party ad server to track a user’s activity, such as a registration or conversion. A Web beacon is often invisible because it is only 1 x 1 pixel in size with no color. Also known as Web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF and tracker GIF.
Web bug (also Web beacon) -
A 1 pixel-by-1 pixel image tag added to an HTMLmessage and used to track open rates by email address. Opening the message, either in the preview pane or by clicking on it, activates the bug and sends a signal to the Web site, where special software tracks and records the signal as an open.
Webcasting -
Real-time or pre-recorded delivery of a live event’s audio, video, or animation over the Internet.
Webmail (also Web mail) -
Any of several Web-based email clients where clients have to go to a Web site to access or download email instead of using a desktop application. Some examples are Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail.
Web site -
The virtual location (domain) for an organization's or individual's presence on the World Wide Web.
Welcome message -
Message sent automatically to new list members as soon as their email addresses are added successfully.
Whitelist -
Advance-authorized list of email addresses, held by an ISP, subscriber or other email service provider, which allows email messages to be delivered regardless of spam filters. See also enhanced white list.
Worm -
A piece of malicious code delivered via an executable attachment in email or over a computer network and which spreads to other computers by automatically sending itself to every email address on a recipient’s contact list or address book. See virus.
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