Banner Advertising
These are ads on a web site that promote and link back to another website. Most banner ads are formatted as animated GIF images, although many are HTML as well. Ads are charged at their rate of impressions (or amount of times the ad is viewed by web visitors), usually in groups of 1,000. Banner advertising can detract from a web site if used excessively, and is no longer the best method of presenting your message on the web.

Branding
A marketing concept used to create a greater awareness of your company's products and services. Companies that are interested in branding try to get as many Web users as possible to view their banner ads and logos - with less emphasis on the number of click-throughs to their Web sites.

Bulletin Board
An online forum for a threaded conversation. Users can browse through previously posted messages or add their own message.

Campaign
Refers to the schedule by which a banner ad will run. Banner ads are losing favor these days, but are still in use.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
A CGI script is a small program that results in an action based on the user's input. Chat
A method whereby users can "speak" to one another on a real-time basis. Generally, messages that are typed-in can be viewed immediately.

Click Through Rate
Refers to the percentage of web visitors who actually click on a sponsored listing or sponsored ad link to reach the target web site. Click-through rates are usually from 3 percent to 5 percent for targeted campaigns.

Co-Located Server
If your website is hosted on a co-located server, the Host, or ISP (Internet service provider) will provide high speed Internet access to a server computer provided for you. The primary responsibility of the host, or ISP is to make sure the Internet connection is always functioning. You are responsible for making sure the server works (but there are additional services you can buy so you don't have to do all the work).

Cookie
These are actually scripts that collect user information and to deliver customized content on a per-session basis (only when you are on the specific website).

Cost Per Click
Cost per "click through" to your site when using sponsored (paid) advertising.

CPM (Cost Per Thousand)
Internet advertising is charged by the amount of times an ad is viewed by web visitors; usually in blocks of 1,000.

Credit Card Purchasing
In order to accept credit cards, you must have merchant software and a merchant account with a bank. When accepting/processing credit cards online, it is necessary to do so with highest security and encryption possible (like an ATM).  128-bit SSL Secure Server Certificate encryption is typically used. Depending on the level of service, payment processing software can deposit funds directly into your bank merchant account.

Dedicated Line
A type of telecommunications service where a high-speed open connection is maintained between two points (like DSL or broadband).

Dedicated Server
Another way of saying that you have your own "dedicated" server computer with its own direct connection to the Internet. Like all server computers, once a developer needs has produced the code for a site and uploaded to the server, it becomes available to users on the Internet. Dedicated servers CAN enable faster loading web pages since no other website files reside on them (like with "shared" hosting accounts). However, since this type of service is costly, it is typically used only by companies with large, complex sites.

Domain Name
The text-based address a user types in on a browser program so a web site is found and displayed. Most for-profit businesses use a domain name that ends with .com extension; nonprofit organizations generally use the .org ending. Many new web suffixes are now in-use due to the proliferation of web sites on the Internet.

Dynamic Pages
These are pages that are completely automatically generated by a code residing on a web server, or are inserted "sub-pages", that can be generated as above, or, by "extracting" data from one or more databases. 

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
FTP allows you to upload or download files directly from actual websites on the Internet. To make things simpler, there are several programs available so that using FTP for a website is simplified.

Firewall
Firewalls block outsiders from accessing private information or altering your Web site.

GIF File
One common Internet image format for websites. Another popular image type is JPG or JPEG. Image files must be selected and optimized carefully in order to allow your web pages to load as quickly as possible.

Host (Host Provider)
The providing of server computers (connected to the Internet) that enable a web site to be accessed over the Internet.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
This is the base code used to construct web pages so they can be rendered (interpreted and viewed) by "browsers" like Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. The language utilizes text, tags, tag attributes, and scripting to help a browser display pages.

HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol)
The protocol used to access pages across the Web. When you type in http://www, etc., you are using HTTP.

Impression
Another term for "page view". The number of web users that view a particular page.

Internet
A worldwide network of interconnected computers. The Internet uses TCP/IP protocol to send information between systems.

Inventory
The number of banner ad "impressions" that occur during a certain period of time.

IP (Internet Protocol) Address
A string of numbers used to identify the location of your domain name (and thus your website) on the Internet. The domain name system translates domain names into a string of numbers, separated by periods. One example could be this: 167.124.21.80.

ISDN
A digital dial-up service used for a high-speed Internet connection.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
ISPs offer businesses and consumers e-mail connection to the Internet. Some also offer site hosting services.

Java
A programming language developed for use with websites. Java provides the ability to create small interactive applications for visitors.

JavaScript (no relation to Java)
A scripting language that is widely used within HTML for client and server Internet applications.

Meta Tags
Special HTML tags that provide information about a web page to a search engine. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed. Instead, they provide information such as who created the page, how often it has been updated, page keywords and descriptions, etc. Many search engines use this information when building their relevance indices. Others use only limited Meta information.

Perl
A programming language favored by UNIX programmers for tasks involving system utilities, website forms, database access, graphical programming, networking, and other web programming.

POP (Point of Presence)
A physical location maintained by an Internet service provider to provide a local connection to the Internet.

Portal
Another term for search engine or search directory. A portal is basically an Internet hub that acts as a starting point for locating information on the web. Some examples of portals are Yahoo Search, MSN, Google, and AOL Search. Others are DMOZ and the Yahoo Directory. There are also portals that serve much more specific topics or business areas as well. These are sometimes referred to as "vortals".

Search Directory
A non-automated internet search source.  On search directory sites, search categories are arranged into hierarchical directories for manual website inclusion and searching. You have to find categories and sub-categories in order to find information.

Search Engine
Search sources that use "intelligent" means for seeking, categorizing and displaying information from the world wide web.  Search engines work by using what is called a "spider", "crawler", or "bot" program that searches the contents of server directories (where web pages are stored) for indexing and then ranking. Ranking is updated regularly, and based on a variety of relevance factors.

Secure Pages
Pages that are encrypted as they travel across the Internet to ensure information privacy. They are typically used for forms that contain credit card, or other personal information that is not desirable to be intercepted.

Shared Hosting
This is most typical type of hosting option used for a site to gain access to the Internet (see Host or ISP above). Fees are charges monthly, bi-yearly, or yearly.

Shopping Cart
On a website that sells products or services online, the shopping cart refers to a page or pages that contains a catalog where a user can make purchasing selections. Typically, the user checks off any product or service to be ordered and then, when finished ordering, "checks out" by proceeding to a page where billing and shipping information is collected so the order can be placed and confirmed via credit card. The software that provides the ability of a website designer to build a catalog, an associated database, and integrate pages within the website for shopping is known as "shopping cart software". A primary consideration when choosing shopping cart software is whether it will continue to serve a website's needs as its catalog and volume of orders grow. The optimum (and least expensive way) to utilize shopping cart software, is to pick a host provider that includes it in a plan.

T1, T2, or T3
Dedicated lines used by companies with substantial "bandwidth" connection requirements. Dedicated lines can carry enormous quantities of data per second. T1 has the smallest capacity while T3 has the largest. They are typically used to connect a user to a Host/ISP (using T1 in this case typically), or to connect a Host provider to other locations on the Internet (T2 and T3).

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
These two protocols were developed by the U.S. military to allow computers to talk to each other over long distance networks. IP is responsible for moving packets of data between nodes. TCP is responsible for verifying delivery from client to server. TCP/IP forms the basis of the Internet and is built into every common modern operating system (including all flavors of Unix, the Mac OS, and the latest versions of Windows).

Telnet
A program that allows users to operate other computers from remote locations. Users can run commands and programs as if they were sitting at that computer.

URL
This stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Essentially, the term refers to a unique web address for a unique web page on the Internet. You can recognize URLs by their prefix "http://". This is followed by the "www." prefix.

Virtual Domain Name
A service offered by Web site hosting companies that allows you to utilize a special domain name as your website address.

Website
A collection of web-formatted pages (or files) that are linked together as an extensions of a particular domain name (and home page).

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