Does it seem like your Web page designer’s speaking a foreign language? Here are some key terms to memorize before embarking on a trip into cyberspace.
Ad banner: The most prolific, if not most effective, manner of online advertising. Generally used to catch the consumer’s eye when on a Web page, and as a gateway to send the consumer to an expanded Web page with more detail on the advertised product. Many include an electronic commerce capability where a product can be ordered through the banner.
Applet: A Java program that can be inserted into an HTML page.
Bandwidth: The capacity for transmitting information through a connection.
Baud: The baud rate determines how many bits a modem can send or receive per second.
Clickthrough: The process of a Web site visitor clicking on a banner ad and being sent to the advertiser’s home page for further information. Ad banner clickthrough rates average less than one percent.
CPM: Cost-per-thousand impressions, the longstanding ad rate measure used in traditional media, is also employed with regard to the Internet. Unlike clickthrough, which denotes actual interaction with a marketer’s message, an impression is registered when a consumer simply sees the ad.
Cookie: A piece of information sent by a Web server to a Web browser that tracks Web page activity. Web users usually can choose whether to accept or disregard the cookies, which contain information ranging from registration to e-commerce activities. Cookies generally expire after a certain amount of time.
Domain name: The unique name of a Web site: “.com” designations refer to a business/ commercial site; “.gov” refers to government; and “.edu” refers to an academic site.
E-Mail: Text messages exchanged via computer. Increasingly capable of graphic image exchanges. Considered the true “killer app” of personal and professional online usage. Several ad-supported, free-to-user e-mail services have appeared, including HotMail.
HTML: Acronym for hypertext markup language, which is used to display and link documents on the Web.
Interstitial: Refers to pop-up ads that appear when the Web user clicks on designated areas of a Web page.
Intranet: An internal online network that may be used by a company’s employees, or other closed unit, but cannot be accessed by unapproved users.
Spam: “Junk” e-mail sent to consumers who haven’t requested the information. Not an acronym, the Internet term is said to have derived from a Monty Python skit about a restaurant where everything comes with Spam – the Hormel lunch meat, that is.
Spam ain’t what it used to be.
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