When it comes to Internet marketing, one of the most important things to learn right off the bat is the terminology. You can get lost in the maze of language if you don’t understand what HTTP and FTP stand for.
Of course, just knowing the language isn’t enough. You’ve also got to know what the significance of each term is and how it can help you in your quest for more traffic, generating leads, and converting traffic to sales. That said, here are five Internet marketing terms every small business owner should know:
- Domain Name – I still talk to people who don’t have a clue about what a domain name is. If you look in your Web browser, at the top of the browser where the website address is, that’s the domain name. HTTP://www.smallbusinessmavericks.com is the domain name of this website. Each individual page on a website has an URL, which is the Web address of that specific page, but the domain name is where the home page of a website sits, the main part of the website address between HTTP and .com.
- Blog – A blog is simply another way of organizing a website. Most websites have pages that sit either under a page and are described as having a parent-child relationship, or they are side-by-side. You have to click a link to go from one page to another. A blog lists web pages in reverse chronological order, but you can also navigate between the pages by tags and categories. They make great marketing tools.
- E-mail Marketing – E-mail marketing refers to any type of marketing that is deployed through e-mail channels. That consists of electronic newsletters, e-mail blasts (often sales letters), digital brochures and post cards, and other content delivered by e-mail.
- Keyword – In search engine optimization language, a keyword is any word or phrase you hope to rank for. In other words, these are words you hope people will search for to find your business website.
- Social Media – Social media has grown into its own little ecosystem. The system consists of websites where people gather around a specific interest, demographic, or other common characteristic and engage in dialogue, share information, and interact in a variety of media, which may include text, images, video, and multimedia presentations. Popular social media websites include Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
When it comes to online marketing, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. That’s why it helps to know the terminology and to understand what each type of service or channel can offer your business.
For more Internet marketing terminology, visit the Small Business Mavericks Online Marketing Glossary.
