Affiliate Tools Online

Below is a list of terms and acronyms commonly associated with Internet Marketing. Some of the terms have links which will take you pages offering more detailed information about that term.

If you don’t see a term you’re looking for, let me know so I can get it added to the list.

Adsense
This is another Google advertising program whereby internet marketers can make money by displaying ads on their web pages. Unlike Google Adwords (where you pay Google for clicks), with Adsense, Google pays you when people click on the ad.

Affiliate Marketing
The process of promoting products for somebody else in exchange for commissions on leads or sales generated. An affiliate marketer is somebody who makes money doing affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Network
An internet site that brings merchants and affiliate marketers together is an affiliate network. Merchants pay a fee for the service, whereas affiliates can usually sign up for free. ClickBank, Commission Junction, and LinkShare are most popular affiliate networks.

Affiliate Program
The program ran by a merchant whereby affiliates can sign up to promote their products. A merchant will hire an affiliate network to run their affiliate program for them, or run their own by purchasing affiliate management software. Most affiliate programs are free to join (and you should avoid any that charge you to join).

Autoresponder
An automatically generated response or action to an email. One of the most common uses is to have an auto-response email sent to folks who complete your Opt-In offer. There are various other uses for autoresponders, but the goal is to provide immediate response to customers – and the more personalized, the better.

Blog
Short for “web log“, blogs are an informal web site where you can post opinions, product reviews, information, news, and more, and let people comment on it. Posting to a blog is called “blogging”. Blogs are a great way to add content to your site without interfering with your sales copy. They’re also a great way to interact with your site’s visitors. And if done right, you can build in affiliate links to posts to boost your income. Blogger (owned by Google) is a web site which lets you set up a blog for free.

CAPTCHA
CAPTCHA is short for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. No doubt you’ve been to sites that have those little boxes with warped letters in them that you have to fill in before you’re allowed to complete your request. Those little boxes are CAPTCHA. The idea behind CAPTCHA is to prevent automated computer spamming.

Chicklets
Chicklets are little feed buttons. They can be added to your web site or blog so that people can add your RSS feed by clicking on the button. For more information as well as instructions for how to add chicklets to your site, click here.

eBook
These are electronic (or digital) books that people download from the internet and read on their computer. Most eBooks can be printed and kept in a 3-ring binder. Some eBooks are free, some aren’t. But creating an eBook is a great way to make money online, because you only have to create it once and you can sell it again and again.

Email Marketing
The process of sharing relevant information on a particular topic as well as soft plugs for products. If you have a good relationship with folks on your mailing list, people will buy products from you that you recommend via email.

IMC
This is short for “Internet Marketing Center”, one of the top experts on internet marketing. This company was started by Corl Rudl and is now headed by Derek Gehl. they are my favorite group of internet experts.

Internet Marketing
The process of marketing a web site or product on the internet. An internet marketer is somebody who makes money on the internet through various means (affiliate marketing, direct sales, PPC, etc.).

Keyword
Words or phrases that people type into a search engine to find information about or solutions to problems. Keyword research is the backbone of internet marketing.

Niche Market
A group of keywords (or topic) that folks are actively searching for information on and not finding many relevant results. Finding a niche market is critical to internet marketing success!

Opt-In
This refers to any free offer given on a web site whereby people must provide their name and email address in order to receive the free offer. This strategy is used to gain people’s names an information so you can communicate and market to them via email. And Opt-Out is when the visitor chooses to have their name and email address removed from your list.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
Internet advertising where you create ads relevant for search results and pay the search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.) every time somebody clicks on your ad. Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are the most popular PPC programs.

PermaLink
Permalinks are short for “permanent link” and are the direct URL to a blog post. One of the problems with blogs is that posts are archived over time and may no longer be visible on the main blog page. So if somebody wanted to bookmark that post, bookmarking the index page wouldn’t help since that post will eventually be archived and no longer displayed on the index. But if you have a permalink, then the reader only needs to click that link to get the actual URL for that post (which doesn’t change) - and they can save that. Some blogs display the permalink as a link at the bottom of the post, and others use the title as the permalink (like this one).

Private Label Rights (PLR)
These are similar to reprint or resell rights, except that Private Label Rights allow you to modify the original content so it looks like you’re the original author of it. Anything allowing you to change the content (except branding an affiliate link) is called Private Label Rights. For more information about Private Label Rights, click here.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM is a combination of different SEO stategies used to increase a web sites visibility for internet marketing purposes.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The strategy for optimizing a web site or page around certain keywords so as to better target the market. To be successful online, every internet marketer must learn the basics of SEO.

Social Marketing
This is the process of interacting with others through blogs, forums, and other social web sites . The purpose is to better understand your target audience (their needs, likes and dislikes) and build your credibility.

Wordtracker
A fee based site that helps you find keywords and niche markets. It’s the first place to start your research on internet business ideas.