It’s not easy to keep up on all of the new advertising terms floating around the marketing world. Here’s a short advertising dictionary to make sure you stay fluent.
Banner ad: A graphic image, usually a GIF or JPEG, that can be placed anywhere on a Web page and links to an advertiser’s site.
Behavioral targeting: Reaching consumers with advertisements based on their previous Internet behavior
Click-through: The action of clicking an ad element and causing a redirect to another web page.
Click-through rate (CTR): The number of click-throughs divided by the number of impressions, multiplied by 100 and expressed as a percentage.
Cost-per-click (CPC): Pricing based on the number of clicks an ad receives.
Expandable banner: A banner ad that expands after a user clicks on it or after a user moves the cursor over the banner.
Impression: An ad served to a Web browser. Impressions are how most Web advertising is sold and the cost is quoted in terms of the cost per thousand impressions.
Keyword: A specific word, or combination of words, entered into a search engine that results in a list of pages related to the keyword.
Opt-in e-mail: E-mail containing information or advertising that users explicitly request (opt) to receive.
Pay-per-click (PPC): The payment method in which advertisers pay for each click-through to the advertiser'’ Web site.
Rich media: Contains perceptual or interactive elements more elaborate than the usual banner ad.
Search engine: A program that helps users find information on the Internet. An automated system sends out a spider to the Web and collects site links for its database.
Search engine marketing (SEM): The combination of SEO with paid search marketing through PPC, paid inclusion and paid appearance. SEM is when you pay to have text links appear at the top of the search page, based on the searched keyword.
Search engine optimization (SEO): Tactics and techniques that make it easier for spiders to find your page, contributing to higher ranking on a list of search engine results.