Affiliate Website

If you are just starting out in the internet marketing world, then your biggest obstacle will not be search engine optimization. It will also not be finding affiliate programs or building backlinks. It will not even be finding the best niches to target. The biggest hurdle experienced by beginning internet marketers is understanding what all of the industry terms mean.

From IM (Internet Marketing) to CPC (Cost Per Click), there are acronyms for literally every aspect of internet marketing and affiliate website design and development. As a beginner, you definitely need to learn these terms as thouroughly as possible.

Aside from acronyms, there are also plenty of terms that are used in the world of internet marketing. Things such as “niche research”, “social bookmarking”, “second tier affiliates”, etc. While most of them describe themselves, we all have our moments where we just cannot figure out what something means. This guide aims to clear these things up as early as possible so that beginners can start their personal journeys to internet marketing success.

There are tons of resources available on the web that teach internet marketing extremely well. Unfortunately, for every good resource, there are at least ten bad ones. Knowing internet marketing terminology allows you differentiate between both, and it helps make sure that you gain the most knowledge from the good resources that you come across.

Below you will find a giant list of commonly used terms within internet marketing. I will do my best to update this list as often as possible. On that note, remember that the internet is a constantly evolving thing. New terms develop every few months and sometimes old terms are discarded even faster than that. Just stay on top of the latest in internet marketing, shameless plug for my rss feed found by clicking here, and you will notice the new trends within the industry.

Commonly Used Terms and Their Meaning

CPC – Acronym for Cost Per Click. Used with affiliate programs that pay you for each individual affiliate link clicked on your website. Biggest examples are Google Adsense and Chikita.

CPI – Acronym for Cost Per Impression. It is closely related to the Cost Per Click described above. Often used for banner advertisements, it usually works around the number 1,000. For example, a $25.00 CPI banner advertisment will bring in $25.00 for every 1,000 impressions (views).

SEO – Acronym for Search Engine Optimization. It is the catch all term for anything related to the art of making a web site rank well within the search engines.

Backlink(s) – Backlinks are a commonly discussed aspect of SEO. A backlink is simply a link to your general website, ie. www.sabaschapa.com, or a specific page, ie. www.sabaschapa.com/specific-page. They are important because the more backlinks your website has, the higher it will rank. Search engines regularly scan the Internet and tally up how many times other websites backlink to your website. This gives your website an “authority status”.

Authority Status – A commonly discussed aspect of SEO. Authority status is the state of having a website that is seen as prominent and important by search engines. It is generally accomplished by having a large number of backlinks, especially from other authority or high “Page Rank” websites.

Page Rank – A commonly discussed aspect of SEO. Page Rank, or PR for short, is Google’s unique way of giving your website a ranking based on how important it is according to the Google search engine. A variety of SEO factors determine your Page Rank, especially backlinks. Do note that a website with a higher Page Rank may not necessarily rank higher than one with a lower Page Rank in search results.

Affiliate Program – An Affiliate Program is a way of generating income online by promoting the products or services of a third-party. Generally, you will be provided with HTML code for a banner based advertisement or a direct link to place on your website. If the program is click based, then you will be paid a predetermined amount (CPC) each time someone clicks on your affiliate link. If the program is commission based, then you will earn a percentage based on the total sale price. This can range from 1% to as high at 60%, depending on the program.

Affiliate Network – An Affiliate Network is website that allows you to signup and participate in a large number of affiliate programs all at once. Instead of calling and asking a company to allow you to promote their products, most companies have already signed up with various affiliate networks. By creating one account with an affiliate network, you instantly have access to hundreds of affiliate programs to promote. Two popular affiliate networks are Commission Junction and Linkshare.

CTR – Acronym for Click Through Rate. It is usually expressed as a percentage and shows you how many times your affiliate link is clicked as a ration against how many times it is viewed. For example, if your website had 100 visitors and 25 of them clicked on a specific affiliate link, your CTR is 25%. For most affiliate programs, you will be given a report showing the average CTR on a monthly basis. This is useful in determining whether or not it is worth your effort to send more traffic to the website.

There they are. I wanted to call this post “The Top Ten Internet Marketing Terms For Beginners”, but I only felt that these nine terms are really necessary for a beginner to know. There will be plenty more that you will come across, but you will deal with that bridge later on down the road. These set of nine however allow you to read through an SEO article and understand it. Likewise, you can also get started exploring affiliate programs, which are the bread and butter of internet marketing.

Please leave any other terms that I have missed and their explanations in the comment box below. Try to make it as easy as possible for beginners to understand, and thanks for your contribution .