The Glossary is an educational tool to help people understand the different aspects of website development and internet marketing.
Short for Robot. A device or software that executes commands, replies to messages, or performs routine tasks, e.g. online searches, either automatically or with minimal human intervention. An example is a shopping bot that helps consumers find the best prices.
Keep in mind when reviewing Analytics that the amount of traffic is 50% from bots, not humans.
A three digit code sent back to the server when an email bounces (cannot be delivered). A code beginning with four shows a bounce is temporary, a code beginning with five means the bounce is permanent.
The percentage of visits in which a person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with your site.
Used in software development, a breakpoint is the stopping place in a program that specifies when a certain change should occur. For example, in responsive web design, a developer would typically include at least three breakpoints: desktop, tablet, and mobile.
This refers to the set of browsers that the site needs to work properly on. It includes browsers e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer as well as operating systems and screen resolutions. As of 2014 there are close to 300 devices that access the Internet and hundreds of browser and operating systems. We use the tool Browser Stack which makes the process of testing sites easier. Note due to the amount of browser and operating system combinations, it’s not possible to test every one.
Takeaway
It’s important to familiarize yourself with the browser spec for the project including knowing if the browser/OS/screen resolution you use is on the list before the project starts.
This refers to properly placing buttons at the bottom of a page or section of a page. Button placement is typically best after people have had time to read or view more info and then decide if they want to continue on or click on a Call to Action button. People naturally look for buttons at the bottom of a page.
Buyer Persona is a description of your ideal customer base that is derived from market research and real data on your current customers. If you offer more than one product or service it is typical to have more than one persona.
When creating a buyer persona take into account demographics, behavior patterns, goals, motivations, education level, career title, income level, age, gender, and anything else that you find typical of your customers.
Takeaway
Developing buyer personas are vital to target marketing. The personas tell you exactly who your customers typically are which allows better-targeted advertisements, sales, and promotions.
The process of a potential client obtaining information regarding a future purchase.
Caching enables faster page load times by storing information more efficiently. This functionality is enabled through the CMS as well as the server software such as Apache. Note Drupal has more advanced caching capabilities than other CMSs such as WordPress.
Takeaways
How fast a page loads is one of the most important aspects of a website. Not only do people love fast sites but Google also ranks pages higher that load faster.
This could be in the form of a text link, button, image, or another type of weblink that entices a visitor of your site to be directed further into the site to help them learn more or become a lead.
Examples:
"Read More", Subscribe Now", "Download the Whitepaper Now", "Contact Us, "Request a Free Quote", Etc.
"cc" stands for country code when dealing with top level domains(TLD). Typical TLD is .com but websites in the UK, for example would be co.uk while in France they are .fr
This term refers to the rate at which a search ad or other types of online marketing items are clicked on. It is typically expressed as a percentage e.g. the click through rate for the Google ad was 2%. This means 2% of the people who saw the ad clicked on it.
Takeaway
Make sure you are aware of the CTR for your ads and then invest more in ads that have a higher CTR.
When an HTML call link is embedded within text or an image, and, upon selection, the user is prompted to dial the phone number that is hyperlinked.
An example of this would be the main office number for BI.
Compass functions as a framework for CSS. Sometimes CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) can become overly complicated; Compass addresses this problem by offering ways to simplify the coding process.
Identifying your direct competitors and analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the marketplace.
Intentional parameters surrounding what a user can do on a site, ensuring a low likelihood of errors and confusion. Constraints are used to optimize the smaller set of actions a user can perform.
Software that is used to record information relating to your contacts, that is generally used to quickly locate contact information.
A bounce code of 571 or 554, indicating that the software protecting the target email account classified your content as spam and rejected it.
A database application that makes it easier to build and manage websites as well as create dynamic user experiences. Some of the top CMS's are: Drupal, WordPress, Adobe CQ5 WCM, SiteCore, SharePoint, Joomla!, Expression Engine, Kentico, Interwoven and Vignette. Some are free and open source, whereas others can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars per year. Learn more about CMSs and how they work.
Takeaway
Make sure the CMS you are using is right for your company or organization. Some of the variables include cost, functionality, extensibility, ability to customize, and support.
Content marketing is used to increase traffic, engagement, conversion and acquire new leads as well as increase sales. It lies at the core of most all Internet Marketing programs, especially SEO and is often the most critical component for determining success. It is also the most easily disregarded or last to be considered when allocating marketing resources. Content marketing is the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant and interesting information used to attract a certain key audience with the objective of driving an action.
Takeaway
Content marketing is the most important part of Internet marketing and should be an integral part of a business strategy.
Frequently content needs to be migrated from one site to another or from an old site to a new site. A migration can be done using tools such as Drupal’s Migrate module or it can be done manually. Content migration often takes longer than expected since there are many variables that need to be defined such as mapping content types and fields. Other types of data migration via exporting and importing also are difficult to estimate since the data needs to be mapped correctly.
The process of reposting content from your website to other parts of the web following certain guidelines crediting content creators.
Websites typically contain different types of content, such as an article, news, events, videos, polls etc. In Drupal, these are called 'Content Types'. Content Types allow for easy distribution of content throughout a site.
Takeaway
Try to identify how many different types of content your site will have and on what pages the content will be displayed.
A marketing strategy that accounts for data related to a user to create more personalized interactions with a site.
In the context of the European Union's new internet regulations (GDPR), a controller is a person, company, or organization tasked engaged in obtaining and processing user data.
This refers to when someone enters information or clicks on a social media button, ‘converting’ them from an anonymous person to a known quantity. It is often a Key Performance Indicator for marketing since the person has become a prospect that can be nurtured or sold to.
Takeaway
Keep in mind how many and how effective your conversion points are on your site. This can be Call to Action forms to social media sharing widgets.
The way in which an unknown user on your site transforms into a new lead.
Stands for the rate at which a user converts over having the opportunity to convert. See conversion for more information.
A series of steps taken to increase the conversion rate on your platform. Typically this refers to increasing leads on a website by optimizing the calls to action (CTAs). These are short forms on a site that capture user information that results in a sale or provides an email address so you can nurture those leads.
with a Booster program for Healthcare companies.
