• Above The Fold – The section of a web page that is visible on the computer screen without the use of scrolling.

• App – Abbreviation for application.  A piece of software that runs on the Internet, computer, mobile device or other electronic device with a specific intended purpose.  I.E. Calendar App, Facebook App, Weather App, Game App, etc.

• B2B – A business that sells or provides services to another business.

• B2C – A business that sells or provides services to end users/customers.

• Back Link – Hyper-links pointing to a particular Web page from another source of material.  Also see hyper-link.

• Banner Ad – A graphical web advertising that is placed in a specific location of a website, with different widths and heights depending on its location.  Usually they are placed on high trafficking websites in exchange for a fee.

• Blog – An online journal that is published.  Followers of the Blog can read, comment and share with other Social Media users.  The activity of updating a Blog or making regular entries is called blogging.  Someone who keeps a Blog is called a blogger.  Blogs typically do not require a high level of skill to maintain as specific software is used to create and continue creating on the Blog.  Also see WordPress.

• Browser – Internet software that is used to view various kinds of internet resources (websites, articles, online communities, etc.)  Examples would be Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.

• Buzzword – A trendy word or phrase that is used to impress, but doesn’t really express the meaning of something.

• Caching – The storage of online web files (online history) by an internet browser and/or server to make it easier and faster to get back to the information.

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) – A data format used to separate the design elements of a website from the content.

• Click-Through – The process of clicking on an online advertising to the advertiser’s destination.

• Click-Through Rate –   The average number of Click-Throughs per 100 ads that are viewed.   Expressed in a percentage.

• Content Analysis and Optimization Guidelines – In the world of SEO, content is King.  Analyzation of target page’s content and recommendation of additional content and changes to the existing content to make sure the page is properly optimized.  Once the content requirements are determined to be needed per page, the creation of content guidelines for future content, what keywords to be used and how often to use them.

• Content Management System (CMS) – Acomputer program or software that allows publishing, editing and modification of content to maintain and manage a website or Blog.

• Conversion Rate – The percentage of visitors that take the desired action.

• Cookie – Information stored on a user’s computer by a website so that preferences are remembered on future requests.

• Copy – Text of a print, radio or television advertising message or the written words of an online document, website or article with the intended purpose of catching the attention of the targeted audience and persuading him or her to take a certain action.

• Crawl or Crawlers – A program that visits web sites and reads their pages and other information in order to create entries for a Search Engine index.  All major search engines on the internet have such a program, which is also known as a “spider” or a “bot.” Crawlers are typically programmed to visit sites that have been submitted by their owners as new or updated.  The programs gained the name because they crawl through a site a page at a time, following the links to other pages on the site until all pages have been read.

• Customer Acquisition Cost – The cost required to get a new customer.

• Domain Name – The unique name that identifies a website.  The online address for a website.  I.E. www.Example.com

• Domain Redirect Optimization – When websites use both the WWW and non-WWW versions of their URL and the website does not redirect to the WWW version of the URL automatically (and vice versa), then a redirect is programmed into the website’s backend.

• ECommerence – Products and/or services sold electronically on a website.  Often defined by having a “Shopping Cart” and secure checkout on site.

• Google Places – Free mapping app that detail the geographically defined locations of an organization using Google Maps.  It displays the address of the business being searched for, or the listed businesses in a particular area, as well as points of interest and Google user reviews.  It displays results based off keyword relevancy as well.

• Google Webmaster – A free online application that provides detailed reports about your web pages’ visibility on Google.  When used properly it helps to enable an organization to improve its website’s Google search results, diagnose specific problems and use link reporting tools to download comprehensive data about internal and external links to its site.  A powerful tool in the use of statistical analysis.

• Google Webmaster Error Checking & Reporting – Checking the website for crawl errors, malware and other problems using a diagnostic tool found in Google Webmaster and then reporting the findings to client with any recommendations.

• Ezine – An electronic magazine.

• Flash – Outdated technology developed by Macromedia that allows a lot of interactivity to fit in a small file size.  Used to create animation and graphic illustrations, but not supported by mobile devices and more modern software.

• Homepage Redirect Optimization – An analysis to determine if a website’s home page has different URLs and/or perma-links that could confuse and negatively affect SEO.  If there are numerous home page URLs, then determining which one is the best to use in search results to direct organic traffic to the home page.

• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) – The backend coding language used when creating a website that communicates to the Browser how to display the website and it’s content on the internet.  HTML5 is the newest coding language and allows websites to be Responsive.  Also see Responsive.

• Hyper-link – A link that is activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image.

• Keyword – A word used in performing a search.

• Keyword  Competition Analysis – Analysis of the competitiveness of targeted keywords and the feasibility of ranking for the specific keywords on the first page of a search engine.

• Keyword Grouping – Keywords of a given marketing campaign grouped together based on, but not limited to, similar keywords, related terms and geographical target.

• Keyword Marketing – A strategic marketing plan used to put a specific message in front of a targeted audience, who are searching for a specific keyword, term or phrase.

• Keyword Optimization of Existing Website Content – Incorporating and inserting target keywords to a target page’s existing text content.  Best used when the page has at least 300 words.

• Keyword Research – The search for keywords related to a website and the analysis of which ones yield the highest return on investment.  Certain keywords in each industry are more competitive than others.

• Keyword Tag – Also known as a META Tag, used to help define the primary keywords of a web page.  Also see META Tag.

• Malware – Software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems.

• Manual and Software Driven Keyword Research – The steps before a marketing campaign to determine what keywords to target.

• META Description Optimization – The META description is only processed by the Search Engines.  Ideally a sentence or two of content that describes the content of the pages.  Should be relevant and unique to the page, while reinforcing the Page Title and focusing on including offers and secondary keywords and/or phrases to help add context to the Page Title.  Helps Search Engine positions/rankings.

• META Tag – A tag or coding statement used in HTML (the language used to code) that describes some aspects of the content of a certain web page.  The information in the tag is used by Search Engines to index the page so that someone searching for the information will be able to find it.

• Mobile – (noun) A portable, wireless computing device that is small enough to be used while held in the hand, that allows its user to access information from anywhere they have a satellite signal.  Includes mostly cell devices and tablets.

• Mobile Advertising – Advertising through the use of a mobile device.  Also see SMS Marketing.

• Mobile Website – A condensed version of an individual’s or organization’s website that can be viewed on a mobile cell or tablet.

• Open Source – Computer software for which the source code is freely available and usually constantly being updated by an open community of coders.

• Page Titles – A descriptive text string identifying a page on a website.

• Page Title Optimization – Optimization of page title tag in such a way to include keywords that make it more relevant in the Search Results, while still remaining eye catching and appealing to a visitor of the website.

• Press Release – An official statement issued to newspapers or online news distributors giving information on a particular matter.  A written or recorded communication directed to individuals in the news media with the intended purpose of announcing something.  Also know as a news release, media release and press statement.

• Ranking – The position at which a particular website appears in the results of a Search Engine query for particular keywords, phrases and/or terms.  Each page of the search results typically lists 10 websites, although there are sometimes local listings, videos and images listed as well in the results (especially since the popularity of Social Media).

• Project Management – Planning, organizing, motivating, and/or controlling resources to achieve specific goals for a set period of time.  RiPE Technologies uses Project Management software to keep all projects organized and appropriate due dates assigned to each task.

• Push Notifications  – Used on smart phones to notify the user of new information or alerts waiting for them from a particular app.  Push Notifications can be sent to a person’s mobile device even when the app is not in use.

• QR Codes – A two dimensional bar code used in marketing that can be scanned by mobile devices and that directs the user to very specific information, websites or coupons.

• Responsive Website – Formatting of a website that detects the size of the screen it is being viewed on.  The website automatically changes the format of the site so that it can be optimally viewed on any device.  This has become very popular as it makes it easier and more user friendly to view websites and to shop online while using either a smartphone or a tablet.

• Search Engine – An online software program or app that indexes documents, images, websites, articles, video, etc. that attempts to match indexed material that is relevant to the user’s search requests and/or keywords.  The more relevant the higher it is ranked.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – A method of strategies, techniques and tactics that are part of a strategic plan to increase the amount of organic visitors to a website or a certain part of the website by obtaining a high position or placement in the search results.  Most commonly used search engines are Google, Bing and Yahoo.  It is common practice for Internet users to not click through results that land past the first page.

• Search Engine Position – See Search Results.

• Search Results – The results listed as being relevant to the keywords, terms or phrases entered into a Search Engine.  Listed in the order of most relevance. These are also commonly referred to as SERPs, which is an acronym for search engine results page(s).

• Server – A special computer, which is constantly switched on and connected to the internet.  They are called servers because the information is stored and when you ask for it, it “serves” it to you.  This computer is built with selected high quality components, which can endure a lot of traffic and a high workload without pausing or an interruption.

• Smart Phone – A mobile cell that has advanced capabilities, often offering PC like functions and app downloads.

• Smart Phone Apps – Applications that run on Smart Phones.

• SMS Marketing (Short Message Service) – The use of text messaging via mobile devices to sell products and services.  Also known as text messaging marketing.

• Social Media – Online communication exchanged from one user to another or from one user to a wide array of online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content (images, video, art, etc.).  Examples would be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, etc.

• Spyware – Software that is secretly installed on a user’s computer, that monitors the activity and/use of the computer without the user’s knowledge or consent.

• Strategic Plan – The process of defining a plan for the overall conduct or actions of a business, individual or project, toward the achievement of a specific goal or end result.  Done at the upper levels of the organization and is the first step to defining a clever use of resources or maneuvers for outwitting the competition or overcoming existing barriers to win an objective.  The term “STRATEGY” is derived from the Greek words:

– strategos, which means General,

– stratos, which means army,

– agein, meaning to lead. 

• Target URLs – The pages primarily targeted for SEO keywords.

• Unique Visitors – Individual visitors to a specific website during a specific time frame.  Typically 30 days.

• URL  – Stands for Uniform Resource Locator.  It is the address of a specific website or file on the internet.  It cannot have spaces or certain other characters and uses forward slashes to denote different pages within the website structure.

• URL Architecting – Creating proper URL “perma-links” to easily identify what page the user is located on.  I.E.  www.ripe.marketing/web-design-agency/

• URL Mapping – The process of determining which page should contain certain keywords, factoring in theme relevance and page rankings in Search Engines.

• Vector – Graphics that are made paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles.  A path can be a line, a curve, a square or a triangle.  This format is used for images that need to have the ability to be scaled to any size without losing any image quality.  Vectors are used for Billboards.

• Viral – An image, video, advertisement, etc. that become hugely popular and is circulated rapidly on the internet.

• Web Directory – An organized, categorized listing of websites on the internet.  Websites displayed are not based off of keywords.  Web directories often allow website owners to submit their site for inclusion and the directory’s editors review the submissions for appropriateness.

• Web Hosting – A paid service that allows an individual or organization to publish their website or Blog and make it visible to visitors on the internet.  The service provider houses and maintains the website files and images.  Also known as “hosting” or a web hosting system.

• Website Malware and Virus Check – Diagnosing a website for malware, viruses or other malicious entities to ensure that the site is functional and being normally indexed by Search Engines.

• Website Traffic – The number of visitors and visits a website receives.  Usually tracked with the use of software like Google Analytics.

• WordPress – A free and Open Source content management system (CMS) that is typically used for creating Blogs and Websites.  Requires a web hosting system to be seen on the Internet.

• Work Reports – Tracking of tasks throughout a marketing campaign for a set period of time that includes details on progress and any final outcomes (when ending campaign).