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Glossary of Common Internet Terms

 

FAQ: 100/M =  $100.00 Cost Per Thousand

 

Ad Clicks
Number of times users click on an ad banner.

Address
A unique identifier for a computer or site online, usually a URL for a web site or marked with an @ for an email address. Literally, it is how your computer finds a location on the information highway.

Ad Views (Impressions)
Number of times an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by visitors. If the same ad appears on multiple pages simultaneously, this statistic may understate the number of ad impressions, due to browser caching. Corresponds to net impressions in traditional media. There is currently no way of knowing if an ad was actually loaded. Most servers record an ad as served even if it was not.

Anchor
A word, phrase or graphic image, in hypertext, it is the object that is highlighted, underlined or "clickable" which links to another site.

Applet
An application program written in Java which allows viewing of simple animation on web pages.

ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency)
The U.S. Department of Defense agency that, in conjunction with leading universities, created ARPAnet, the precursor of the internet.

Auditor
Third-party company that tracks, counts and verifies ad-banner requests or verifies a Web site's ad reporting system.

Avatar
A digital representation of a user in a virtual reality site.

Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a large pathway within a network. The term is relative to the size of network it is serving. A Backbone in a small network would probably be much smaller than many non-Backbone lines in a large network.

Bandwidth
How much information (text, images, video, sound) can be sent through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move approximately 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video requires about 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.

Banner
Banners are the 468-by-60 pixels ad space on commercial Web sites that are usually "hot-linked" to the advertiser's site.

Beta
This term has migrated from computer and software development, and it is usually used as "beta site." It means test site or test version. Beta is not the finally version of a product or web site, but it's close enough to show in public and work the bugs out.

Bookmark
A bookmark is an easy way to find your way Back to a web site -- just like a real bookmark helps you keep your place in a book you are reading.

Branding
A school of advertising that says, "If the consumer has heard of us, we've done our job." Fortunately for agencies, brand value is extremely difficult to measure, so branding campaigns can be easily defended with grandiose predictions of future glory.

Browser
An application used to view information from the Internet. Browsers provide a user-friendly interface for navigating through and accessing the vast amount of information on the Internet.

Browser Caching
To speed surfing, browsers store recently used pages on a user's disk. If a site is revisited, browsers display pages from the disk instead of requesting them from the server. As a result, servers under-count the number of times a page is viewed.

Browsing
A term that refers to exploring an online area, usually on the World Wide Web.

BBS (Bulletin Board System)
Software that enables users to log into email, Usenet and chat groups via modem.

Buttons
Objects that, when clicked once, cause something to happen.

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Cache
Cache is a storage area for frequently accessed information. Retrieval of the information is faster from the cache than the originating source. There are many types of cache including RAM cache, secondary cache, disk cache, and cache memory to name a few.

CD-ROM
Compact Disk-Read Only Memory, a storage medium popular in modern computers. One CD-ROM can hold 600 MB of data.

CGI
Common Gateway Interface. An interface-creation scripting program that allows Web pages to be made on the fly based on information from buttons, checkboxes, text input, etc.

Chat Room
An area online where you can chat with other members in real-time.

Click
The opportunity for a visitor to be transferred to a location by clicking on an ad, as recorded by the server.

Click-Through Rate
Percentage of times a user responded to an advertisement by clicking on the ad button/banner. At one time the granddaddy of Web-marketing measurements, click-through is based on the idea that online promotions that do what they're intended to do will elicit a click.

Cookie
A file on your computer that records information such as where you have been on the World Wide Web. The browser stores this information which allows a site to remember the browser in future transactions or requests. Since the Web's protocol has no way to remember requests, cookies read and record a users browser type and IP address, and store this information on the users own computer. The cookie can be read only by a server in the domain that stored it. Visitors can accept or deny cookies, by changing a setting in their browser preferences.

CPA
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.

CPC
Cost Per Click

CPL
Cost Per Lead

CPM Email
CPM is the cost per thousand for a particular site. A Web site that charges $15,000 per banner and guarantees 600,000 impressions has a CPM of $25 ($15,000 divided by 600).

CPT
Cost Per Transaction

CPTM
Cost per targeted thousand impressions.

Coverage
The percentage of a population group covered by the Internet.

Creative
The technology used to create or develop an ad unit. The most common creative technology for banners is GIF or JPEG images. Other creative technologies include Java, - HTML, or streaming audio or video. These are commonly referred to as rich media banners.

Cyberspace
Coined by author William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," cyberspace is now used to describe all of the information available through computer networks.

Direct Response
The school of advertising that says, "The Internet is an interactive medium. If the consumer interacts with our marketing efforts, we've done our job." Unfortunately for agencies, there's nowhere to hide with interactive campaigns, as they produce precise success or failure measurements.

Domain
A domain is the main subdivision of internet addresses, the last three letters after the final dot, and it tells you what kind of organization you are dealing with. There are six top-level domains widely used: .com (commercial) .edu (educational),. net (network operations), .gov (US government), .mil (US military) and .org (organization). Other, two letter domains represent countries; thus;.uk for the United Kingdom, .dk for Denmark, .fr for France, .de for Germany, .es for Spain, .it for Italy and so on.

Dynamic Rotation
Advertisements rotate on a timed basis.

E-mail
Electronic Mail, text files that are sent from one person to another.

Emoticons
The online means of facial expressions and gestures. Examples: :) Tip your head to the left and you will see the two eyes and smiling mouth. Use them where applicable in chats and email. Other emoticons include: :( sad :0 surprised o:) innocent.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
FAQ is a commonly used abbreviation for "Frequently Asked Questions." Most Internet sites will have a "FAQ" to explain what is in the area and how to use its features.

Firewall
A security barrier placed between an organization's internal computer network -- either its IS system or intranet -- and the internet. It keeps your information in, and unwanted people out. It consists of one or more routers which accept, reject or edit transmitted information and requests.

Flame
An intentionally crude or abusive email message or Usenet post. Rule: Don't do it. Ever. Not only is it bad netiquette, you leave a trail.

Forms
The pages in most browsers that accept information in text-entry fields. They can be customized to receive company sales data and orders, expense reports or other information. They can also be used to communicate.

Frames
The use of multiple, independent sections to create a single Web page. Each frame is built as a separate HTML file but with one "master' file to identify each section. When a user requests a page with frames, several pages will be displayed as panes. Sites using frames may report one page request with several panes as multiple page requests. Most audit firms count only the master HTML page request and therefore can accurately report the page requests.

Freeware
Shareware, or software, that can be downloaded off the internet -- for free.<