Glossary

2nd Tier Programs - Two tier & Multi-tier affiliate programs allow you to earn a commission on sales generated not only by you but also by people that sign up underneath you. Sometimes up to 5%, 10%, 15% or more.

Affiliate Marketing - Affiliate Marketing is the relationship between website owners and merchants whereby the merchant offers the website owner (affiliate) a commission fee structure for linking to the merchant site to offer goods or services for sale. Affiliates publish websites and ezines, so they are also known as Publishers. Merchants advertise on affiliate sites, so they are also called Advertisers.

Affiliate Networks - Affiliate networks make it easy to find merchants that will pay you to market their product by allowing you to see a directory of the merchants in the network before you join. Others show you their list of offers only after you join. They sometimes call themselves names like "marketing solutions provider", "pay-for-performance network", "cost-per-action advertising network", or even "performance-based online marketing services company". Affiliate networks provide pay-per-lead (PPL), pay-per-sale (PPS), pay-per-action (PPA) – sometimes called cost per action (CPA) – and pay-per-click (PPC) offers from merchants that you promote on your web site or in your newsletter.

Autoresponder - An autoresponder is a computer program that automatically answers e-mail sent to it. They can be very simple or quite complex. Autoresponders are often used as e-mail marketing tools, to immediately provide information to their prospective customers and then follow-up with them at preset time intervals.

Cookies - Cookies is a small file stored on the visitor's computer, which record information that is of interest to the merchant site. With affiliate programs, cookies have two primary functions: to keep track of what a customer purchases, and to track which affiliate was responsible for generating the sale (and is due a commission).

Domain Name - A name that is entered into a computer (e.g. as part of a Web site or other URL, or an e-mail address) then looked up in the global Domain Name System (DNS) which informs the computer of the IP address(es) assigned to that name. Ex. RedneckGurus.com

FTP - FTP or file transfer protocol is used to connect two computers over the Internet so that the user of one computer can transfer files and perform file commands on the other computer.

HTML - In computing, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the predominant markup language for the creation of web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document — by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on — and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects. HTML can also describe, to some degree, the appearance and semantics of a document, and can provide additional cues, such as embedded scripting language code, that can affect the behavior of web browsers and other HTML processors.

HTML Editor - An HTML editor is a software application for creating web pages. Although the HTML markup of a web page can be written with any text editor, specialised HTML editors can offer convenience and added functionality. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related technologies such as CSS, XML and JavaScript or ECMAScript. In some cases they also manage communication with remote web servers via FTP and WebDAV, and version management systems such as CVS or Subversion.

Hyperlink - A hyperlink (often referred to as simply a link), is a reference or navigation element in a document to another section of the same document, another document, or a specified section of another document, that automatically brings the referred information to the user when the navigation element is selected by the user. As such it is similar to a citation in literature, but with the distinction of automatic instant access. Combined with a data network and suitable access protocol, a computer can be instructed to fetch the resource referenced.

Links - A link, often referred to as a hyperlink is a reference or navigation element in a document to another section of the same document, another document, or a specified section of another document, that automatically brings the referred information to the user when the navigation element is selected by the user. As such it is similar to a citation in literature, but with the distinction of automatic instant access. Combined with a data network and suitable access protocol, a computer can be instructed to fetch the resource referenced.

Newsletter - A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Many newsletters are published by clubs, societies, associations, and businesses, especially companies, to provide information of interest to their members or employees. Some newsletters are created as money-making ventures and sold directly to subscribers.

Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising technique used on websites, advertising networks, and search engines. Advertisers bid on "keywords" that they believe their target market (people they think would be interested in their offer) would type in the search bar when they are looking for their type of product or service. For example, if an advertiser sells red widgets, he/she would bid on the keyword "red widgets", hoping a user would type those words in the search bar, see their ad, click on it and buy. These ads are called "sponsored links" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to and sometimes above the natural or organic results on the page. The advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad.

(SEO) Search Engine Optimization - Search engine optimization (SEO) is a subset of search engine marketing, and deals with improving the number and/or quality of visitors to a web site from "natural" (aka "organic" or "algorithmic" search engine) listings. In effect, SEO is marketing by appealing to machine algorithms to increase search engine relevance and ultimately web traffic. This is analogous to foot traffic in retail advertising. The term SEO can also refer to "search engine optimizers", an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients.

Web Hosting - A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Webhosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.