Over the next few weeks, the Weekly Q will run a series of tutorials which will increase your knowledge of online advertising and hopefully enable you to generate more profit for your business. Every building needs to be built with a strong foundation and, in our first class, we explain basic terms used in online marketing.

• Above-the-Fold: section of the web page that is immediately available to the user without the necessity of scrolling.  Any portion, or ad, within this section is said to be "above the fold".
• Affiliate: (also associate, publisher, partner, webmaster) an individual or company which refers clicks, leads or sales to a merchant in exchange for commission. This is usually done by means of a website, newsletter or search engine marketing.
• Affiliate Marketing: (also partner, pay for performance, performance-based, referral-based or revenue-sharing marketing) a revenue sharing partnership between a merchant and one or more affiliates, where the affiliate is paid a commission for referring clicks, leads or sales to the merchant website
• Affiliate Network: (also affiliate solution provider)a third party firm, such as PrimeQ.com, who provides software and services to run an affiliate marketing program; the firm acts as the link between merchant and affiliate.
• Affiliate Program: (also associate, partner, referral, reseller, or sponsor programs) any type of revenue sharing agreement where an affiliate website receives income for delivering sales, leads, or traffic to a merchant website.
• Cookie: a small file/code that a website places on a visitor's hard drive for tracking surfing habits, sales or other user-specific data. Affiliate marketing generally relies on cookie technology to track any leads or sales a visitor generates by clicking on a merchant link.
• Co-Registration: (also co-reg): involves placing a short text or image advertisement for a company on the registration pages of third-party websites. This method of promotion allows readers to request additional information about a product or service when they are pursuing related information. Those interested in the service
  opt-in to receive more details. With the check of a box a marketer
  has permission to contact the lead with information about his/her products or services
• EPC or average earnings per hundred clicks: a metric for measuring link effectiveness by calculating the number of clicks converting into sales. Calculated as the ratio of earnings over a defined time period to total clicks, multiplied by 100. NOTE: some affiliate networks calculate EPC as earnings per single click - not hundred clicks; for this reason EPC metrics cannot necessarily be compared across affiliate networks.
• Hit: the sending of a single file whether an HTML file, an image, an audio file, or other file type. Since a single web page request can bring with it a number of individual files, the number of hits from a site is a not a good indication of its actual use (number of visitors). One visitor to a website can generate dozens of hits and the figure is often used incorrectly.
• Impression: when a user views a banner, link or page on the Internet.
• Javascript: an Internet scripting language used to create dynamic pages on the web that allow for user interaction. Internet advertising companies use JavaScript to generate what is commonly known as pop-up or pop-under advertising. Some affiliate networks are also beginning to encourage the use of Javascript for text links. NOTE: Javascript is different from java which is fully-fledged object-oriented programming language. Java can be used to create standalone applications and a special type of mini application, called an applet.
• Lead: a potential customer, usually defined by a sign up, download or form submission; example: after clicking on a merchant banner, a visitor is asked to sign up for a newsletter; upon submitting information, s/he becomes a lead.
• Lead Generation: the manufacture of connections between consumers and target corporate vendors. Affiliates and publishers gain a commission on the leads they generate or the sales made or a combination thereof.
• Merchant: (also advertiser, client, e-commerce site, online retailer, partner) a business that sells goods or services online and pays its affiliates a commission in exchange for impressions, leads or sales.
• Pageview: when a web page is requested by somebody through a browser. Pageviews are often used to track the number of impressions a banner gets.
• Run-of-Network: (also RON) ad placed to run on all sites within a given network of sites
• Run-of-Site: (also ROS) ad that is placed to rotate on all non-featured ad spaces on a site. CPM rates (see Class 2 for definition) for run-of-site ads are usually less than for rates for specially-placed ads or sponsorships
• Referral Program: (also multi-level, two-tier or tiered program): a model where affiliates are allowed to refer new affiliates to a business and earn a commission on the new affiliates' performance. For example: ExistingAffiliate refers NewAffiliate to PrimeQ. NewAffiliate signs up with three merchants and earns $XXX in commission. ExistingAffiliate earns commission, which varies depending on the merchant program, on the commission earned by NewAffiliate.
• Two-Tier: affiliate program or network marketing structure whereby affiliates or agents earn commissions on their conversions as well as conversions of individuals or businesses they refer to the program.
• Unique Visitor: someone with a unique address who is entering a website for the first time that day, or some other specified period. Thus, a visitor that returns within the same day is not counted twice
• User Session: someone with a unique address that enters or reenters a website each day, or some other specified period. A user session is sometimes determined by counting only those users that haven't reentered the site within the past 20 minutes or a similar period. User session figures are sometimes used, somewhat incorrectly, to indicate "visits" or "visitors" per day.

Thank you to Wikipedia, Share Results and other sources for some definitions.

If you’ve ever scratched your head hearing terms like CPL, CPA or CPM used at seminars, then you will find the Weekly Q’s Master Class II beneficial, which describes the various acronyms used in online advertising. Next week’s newsletter will feature an interview with a leading light in the affiliate marketing arena and the issue after will feature Master Class II, so stay subscribed.

Nadeem Azam, PrimeQ
Public Relations Manager
nazam@primeq.co.uk

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