Unsure of a term? You’ll find brief explanations of many website building, digital and general marketing terms in this glossary.
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A
Advertising – Advertising is a part of marketing responsible for promoting a product or service through print, television, radio or digital communication.
B
Brand Advertising – This type of advertising is different to direct-response or sales-focused advertising in that it is focused on creating a ‘feeling’ for a brand, and developing a strong, long-term relationship with consumers over time.
C
CMS – See Content Management System.
Content – See Marketing Content or Web Content.
Content Management System (CMS) – A web-based system where a website owner or those with permission can add content to a website and upload it live at any time.
Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) – Conversion Rate Optimisation (or Optimization) is concerned with increasing the percentage of visitors who perform a desired action on a website, such as purchasing a product or joining an email list. This is influenced by a variety of factors, including messaging (the Copy) and User Experience Design.
Copy – The text (written words) used in marketing, advertising and promotional materials. Can also be used to refer to scripts for video or radio advertising.
Copywriter – A person who writes copy for marketing, advertising or promotions.
Copywriting – Copywriting is the craft of writing text for marketing, advertising and promotions. The product of copywriting is known as copy or sales copy. Copywriting is not to be confused with the legal term, copyright.
CRO – See Conversion Rate Optimisation.
D
Designer – See Graphic Designer or Web Designer.
Developer – See Web Developer.
E
EDM – See Electronic Direct Mail
Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) – A form of digital marketing where a business promotes its products or services to a list of potential customers via email.
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Graphic Design – The craft of combining text and images in marketing and advertising materials.
Graphic Designer – A person who performs the craft of Graphic Design.
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Keyword or Keywords – A word, term or phrase used by a person to perform a search in a search engine, such as Google. Sometimes referred to as a Keyword Phrase. A fundamental part of SEO and SEM.
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Marketing Content – The written material, images and videos used in marketing.
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Organic Search Results – Organic Search Results are the non-paid listings that appear on a search engine results page (SERP) based on keywords and rated by relevance.
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Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads – Pay-per-click advertising is a type of internet advertising that’s used to drive traffic to a website, where the advertiser pays a search engine, web publisher or internet advertising network when a person clicks on an ad.
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Sales Copywriting – Copywriting with a distinct focus on persuading the reader, viewer or visitor to purchase a product or service. See also Copywriting.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – SEM is a paid advertising strategy that’s used to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results (SERPs) and drive direct traffic to the site.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – Search engine optimisation or optimization is the science (and art) of using carefully chosen and placed keywords or keyword phrases on a website that enables search engines, such as Google, to list the site and display it when a person makes a search engine query. The aim of SEO is to get a web page or site listed as high in the search engine results (SERPs) as possible.
Search Engine Results Page(s) – The page that a search engine returns after a person submits a search query. A page typically includes Organic Search Results, paid search and Pay-Per-Click Ads.
SEM – see Search Engine Marketing.
SEO – see Search Engine Optimisation.
SEO Copywriter – A Website Copywriter with a particualar focus on how effectively SEO Keywords are used in a website’s messages (or copy), and how a website’s copy and content can be used to boost a web page or site’s rankings in search engine results. See also Web Copywriter.
SERP or SERPs – See Search Engine Results Page.
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U
Usability – See User Experience
User Experience (UX) – User Experience is concerned with a website’s ease of use, or how easily a visitor interacts with the site. The aim is to eliminate things such as navigation confusion, barriers to sale, and other aesthic and technical issues that might affect a visitor achieving their goal or a business making a sale.
UX – See User Experience
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Web Content – The written material, images and videos used on a website.
Web Copywriter – The web copywriter writes the messages (or the copy) on a website, with a focus on how they entice visitors, how they satisfy the visitors needs, how they guide a visitor from page to page, and how they drive action, such as a purchase. This might also include how effectively SEO Keywords are used in the messages. See also SEO Copywriter.
Web Designer – A person responsible for the look and visual appeal of a website. This includes suitable brand colours, fonts and visual elements, such as photos and diagrams.
Web Developer – A person responsible for building a website from a technical perspective. They ensure the site architecture or page flow is logical and that everything works as expected.
WordPress – Free and open-source Content Management System, with an extensive range of website templates (known as themes) and plug-in utilities that can perform pretty much anything you need in a website, and many of them are free to use.
WP – See WordPress