Affiliate programs
A marketing strategy that encourages other websites to become “affiliates” by creating links to your online store. The affiliate receives a commission from every sale generated through these links.
Aliases
Aliases enable you to have a number of different addresses on your own domain, such as info@yourbusiness.com. All e-mails sent to these addresses are automatically redirected to your regular e-mail (POP) account (or to whatever e-mail account you want).
ASP
A technology from Microsoft used to develop dynamic web pages. Based on information stored in a database, a dynamic page is created on the fly.
Back-end
The code and databases that are invisible to users. They control and are “behind” what visitors see (the “front-end“).
Bandwidth
The size of the “data pipeline” between your computer and the Internet. Higher bandwidths mean that more information can flow at once causing a “faster” Internet connection.
Dial-up account
The most common way of connecting to the Internet. A service provider like M-Web lets you connect to the internet via their computer system, with a modem and a telephone line.
Directory
A directory specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. Web directories allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion, and have editors review submissions for fitness.
Domain name or URL
The unique name that identifies an Internet site: www.gnuworld.co.za. It could be thought of as the site’s telephone number or street address.
Dynamic web page
All the parts of a dynamic web page, like graphics and text, are stored as files in a database. When a user goes to a specific page, all the relevant parts are gathered from this database and displayed on screen.
eCommerce
Most often used in connection with buying and selling items via the Internet, electronic commerce refers to any online transaction.
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source, cross-platform, graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and hundreds of volunteers.
Flash
A popular method of adding animation, video and interactivity to web pages
Frames
A method of displaying multiple HTML documents on one page.
Front-end
The website’s user interface – the part that people see and interact with directly.
Hosting
In order to be available online, your website needs to be hosted on a computer (or “server”) that’s permanently connected to the Internet.
HTML
HTML is the universal language of the Net. It’s a simple scripting language that allows Web publishers to create web pages containing text and images. These pages can be viewed by anyone else on the Web, regardless of what kind of computer or browser they’re using.
Incompatibility
A website that is incompatible with certain Internet browsers (like diferent versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator) might appear ugly, not work properly, or even not display at all.
Keywords
A list of words or phrases that is included in the code of your website. These are the words or terms that people can type into search engines to find your site, so they are highly relevant to the content of your web pages.
Link popularity
How popular a search engine thinks your website is, by looking at the number and the nature of the links to and from your site.
Mailing list
A list of people who’ve agreed to receive regular e-mails from a particular source.
Meta tags
Part of a web page’s code that tells search engines how to list the page. The three most important are the keywords-, title- and description tags.
MySQL
A database program that stores and processes information. For example, if you’ve got an online store, all your product information can be stored in a MySQL database.
Open Source
Free software whose source code is available under a copyright license that permits users to study, change, and improve the software. Free Open Source software is often technically more advanced, efficient and reliable than branded products.
PHP
A language used to write programs (scripts) that make a web page dynamic.
POP mailbox
This is the equivalent of a post box at the post office. Using aliases you can link a number of e-mail addresses to a single mailbox so that all the mail sent to these addresses will land up in the same place. Alternatively, if you have a number of employees and each wants an independent, personal e-mail address you can assign each their own POP mailbox.
PPC
Pay per click is an advertising technique used on websites, advertising networks, and search engines. When a site visitor clicks on an advertisement, the advertiser is charged a small amount.
Search engine
A website, like Google, that creates indexes of Internet sites. Users can enter specific terms and the search engine will return links to sites containing those terms.
SEM
Search engine marketing is a set of marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages
SEO
Search engine optimization is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings
Usability
The degree to which a software application or a website is easy to use with no specific training
Web Browser
A software application such as Firefox that enables a user to display a web page and interact with it.
Web server
A computer that’s permanently connected to the Internet and stores the files that make up your website.
Web standards
A set of standardized best practices for designing and developing web sites.
XHTML
A markup language that is the successor to HTML.
Please contact us if you would like to suggest an addition to our glossary of website and internet terms.
