Internet Marketing Acronyms

The sheer number and volume of acronyms thrown around the blogging and internet marketing field can be overwhelming, KWIM? (know what I mean…)

We are often inundated by a hodgepodge of abbreviations from different sources and that makes things even more baffling!

Often seeing so many letters thrown around and wracking our brains to sort them out makes us want to go AFK (away from keyboard…) and in search of a stiff drink!

But before you BRB (be right back… ) I’d like to introduce you to a few that, unlike the “chat” or “conversational” acronyms I’ve thrown around above, are actually essential to your business success online.

This list is not intended to cover the chat acronyms, of which there are hundreds, but to help you identify a few key terms that will let you make sense of marketing ideas and jargon. It should also help you avoid a business SNAFU (situation normal, all f’d up…) that could get you in a bind!

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the action of improving amount of traffic a website or receives from search engines through improving the way the search engine lists or ranks the site. SEO is often considered to be “natural” or “unpaid” adjustments made to either “on-page” factors (such as keyword density) or “off-page” factors (such as number of inbound links). While SEO can seem baffling at first the fundamentals are actually quite simple and its an important skill for any business related site to have knowledge of for success.

SEM – Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a variation of SEO that targets paid services. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO), SEM methods include: search engine optimization (SEO), paid placement,  paid inclusion and contextual advertising. It may also including buying paid search listings. SEM is generally considered “inorganic” as it involves tactics that are outside of the normal flow of writing and natural in-linking that occur with little to no manipulation. Some SEM tactics may not be approved by Google and one should always be careful with what they purchase.

SM – Social Media

Social Media (SM) is any platform (although generally only online or digital platforms use this term) that brings together individual members or visitors in a way that inspires them to interact, share content or generate content. Blogging with comments or forums enabled is considered a social media as it is a online platform for connectivity and sharing. Traditional websites that lacked any ability for visitors to interact with each other (rather than just with the site owner) are not considered a social media. The content involved can be words (forums), video (Youtube), pictures (Flickr) or really just about anything. The key is that it facilitates visitor interaction with each other.

SMM – Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the total mix of a company or brands advertising plus social media engagement that allows them to connect with and build rapport with their fans. Unlike traditional marketing it focuses on making the fans heard and allowing or encouraging them to create content or promotions of the product or company. An example of this Oreo cookie’s interaction with their fans on Facebook. SMM is considered an emerging field and “standards”, from a business perspective, do not yet truly exist. SMM is often considered “free” traffic although that is usually an inaccurate statement once time investment is calculated in to the equation as SMM usually requires substantially more time investment than PPC marketing.

IM – Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing (IM) is the act, process or concept of marketing online also known as marketing on the internet. This distinguishes it from marketing through traditional platforms such as print, radio or television. The first generation of internet marketing was not particularly social in nature but today as the user experience online emerges and develops more and more of internet marketing has social media marketing influences. Just like all forms of marketing it is evolving over time as what works best shifts.

MMO – Make Money Online

This is more of a concept or goal and simply means to “make money online” or the action of “making money online”.

DBA – Doing Business As

This is actually a legal term and it may not be available to you depending on where you are from. It stands for “Doing Business As” (DBA or d/b/a) and is the name under which a business is operating rather than the name of the individual (or corporate entity) that owns the business. In Canada this is known as O/A for “Operating As” and certain other countries use T/A for “Trading As”. All of these are approximately the same concept although laws vary. Of course, since IANAL (I am not a lawyer…) please consult your legal professional for any legal counsel.

PPC – Pay Per Click

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is an internet marketing method of advertising in which the advertiser only pays for the advertising when the ad or link is clicked. So regardless of how many people actually see the advertisement, only those that take action on it are charged to the advertiser. Google is the largest seller of PPC advertising and Facebook is another common PPC platform for advertisers. Clicks may be purchased on a bidding system (common with search engines) or at a fixed rate (common with content providers). PPC is one of the largest online marketing paid traffic methods.

CPC – Cost Per Click

When an advertiser is purchasing PPC advertising with a host, the cost per click (CPC) is the amount the advertiser pays the host for a single click on the advertisement. This amounts to what it costs to bring a single visitor to the advertisers website.

CPA – Cost Per Action

Cost per action (CPA) is another advertising model. In the CPA model, a business seeking a desired action step taken, such as clicking a link or filling out of form or taking a survey offers to pay a CPA value. Anyone in their network can get paid on this offer by driving traffic to the call to action and getting paid for each action taken. For example, a new laundry detergent company may pay $0.50 CPA for each laundry survey taken and a website about household goods may encourage their members to participate and get paid from the laundry detergent company for every website member that completes the survey. Generally we hear a lot more about PPC advertising than CPA advertising although there is money to be made in both systems.

CMS – Content management System

A content management system (CMS) is a system by which nearly anything – be it movies, documents, data, facts, figures, images – can be easily stored, controlled, managed, revised, indexed and and generally sorted in a way that makes it easy for visitors or owners to find the data they need when they need it. Wikipedia defines a web-based CMS as “a CMS designed to simplify the publication of web content to web sites and mobile devices, in particular, allowing content creators to submit content without requiring technical knowledge of HTML or the uploading of files.”

WP – WordPress

WordPress is a web-based CMS and blogging platform that often serves double or triple duty in businesses. WordPress can serve as the store front, social media (blog) platform and CMS all at the same time. It is one of the most integral and respected platforms in the world today for its ease of use, flexibility and rich community support. Because Google appears to favor it, it is also loved by those doing SEO and PPC campaigns that are seeking favor with the search engine giant. It’s a favorite among bloggers – both hobbiest and businesses – alike.

There you have some of the fundamental internet marketing acronyms that IMHO (in my humble opinion… ) will help you understand business and blogging jargon today!

I look forward to TTYS (talking to you soon…) and reading and replying to your comments below. Did any of these help you make sense of all the lingo? Did I miss one you would like to share? Which one made you scratch your head for the longest time? Got an acronym you don’t know the meaning to and would like help with it? Leave your comments below and I look forward to getting to know you!

Kimberly

PS: Hope you also enjoyed the incredibly brief introduction to chat acronyms as I had some fun sprinkling them throughout this post! Some of the chat acronyms are a lot of fun and can leave you LOL (laughing out loud…)!