Nucleus - Marketing and Design Newsletter

E-marketing has a language all its own—click-throughs, keywords, CAN-SPAM, white lists—not to mention an entire alphabet of initials and acronyms. To survive and thrive in today's digital marketplace, you need to learn the lingo. To help expand your e-marketing vocabulary, we've put together the list below to get you started.

Search Engine Optimization

The art and science of improving the visibility or results ranking of a website within search engines like Google or Bing. Typically the "higher" on the results page and the more frequently it appears in relevant searched, the more visitors a site receives. And more traffic often translates into more sales.

Keyword

Word or words used by a searcher on a search engine—vital for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Savvy companies optimize Web sites to increase their rankings on major search engines. If your site does not appear within the first few results page, you may want to consider SEO.

Keyword Stuffing

The dubious practice of repeating keywords/phrases to try and raise a Web site"s ranking on search engines. Most search engines are on to this little trick and penalize heavily, so don't even think about it.

Natural Search

Nonpaid search engine listing results. Where your site appears in this list is based on factors like key word relevance Search Engine Optimization can be used to raise your ranking.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Popular online advertising model: you pay for each "click'' on your Web advertising in search engines and some sites.

Above The Fold

The part of an email or Web page that can be seen on a screen without having to scroll down. Try to keep as much of the good stuff as you can here—especially in your email communications.

Open Rate

The number of times that recipients who opened or viewed your e-mail messages in HTML format (as opposed to text).

Opt-in

Collecting permission to email users. Typically the user has taken an action to receive your email communication, online newsletters, etc. Remember, if a recipient hasn't opted in, it's SPAM.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

The percentage of recipients that click on a link within your email. Not to be confused with...

Conversion Rate

The percentage of recipients that complete the desired action (e.g., register for webinar, buy your product or service) as a result of your electronic communication compared to your list size.

Blacklists

Blacklists are lists of IP addresses belonging to organizations that are believed to be spammers. You don't want to be here. Internet Service providers (ISPs) use these lists to filter out spam and block messages.

CAN-SPAM

The U.S. law that regulates commercial email. Want to impress your friends at cocktail parties... here's a little tidbit: CAN-SPAM is an acronym for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing.

If you want to know more about any of the term above and how they can be put to good use for you and your business, remember we're always here to help.