The terms included in this section are used as and when applicable on this website. As a result, they have been explained and defined for greater clarity and understanding:

A/B TESTING

A controlled experiment with two variants.

AUTOCUE

Sometimes called a teleprompter in the US. This is a platform that enables presenters and newsreaders to follow a pre-written script.

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

This includes absolutely everything to do with the generation of an audience; the increase in usage and/or conversions by that audience; and the measurement of the audience.

ATL MARKETING

This means above the line marketing, which includes marketing activities aimed at reaching the widest possible number of people. As a result it is largely untargeted and of less relevance to small scale businesses. An example of an ATL marketing campaign would be a national television, or radio advert.

ASTROTURFING

This is a term used to describe fake grassroots support on websites and/or blog comments. This is a method frequently (and effectively) employed by public relations agencies, political groups and the advertising industry.

ASPECT RATIO

This is the relationship between the width and the height of your video dimensions expressed as a ratio.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

AI is an intelligence displayed by computers, in contrast with the organic/natural intelligence displayed by humans and other sentient animals.

ARPU

This is simply the average revenue per user.

ARPA

Average Revenue per advertiser.

AMA

Ask me anything. A new type of open interview pioneered on Reddit, but now found across social media and the various video platforms.

AIDA

This standard for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

ADVOCACY JOURNALISM

This is a genre of journalism that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually in order to play to its target audience, or potential audience.

ADVERTORIAL

An advert that is deliberately styled to look like the editorial of a newspaper, magazine, or web publication. The television equivalent is an infomercial.

ADCENTER

Bing Ads powers paid search results on Microsoft Bing.

AD EXTENSIONS

Added information that is included in your text ad.

ACTIVEX

A technology introduced by Microsoft in the mid 1990s. It provides a simple way for software developers to add functionality and interface with software installed on your computer.

A/B/C TESTING

Same as A/B testing, but using a third variant.

ABOVE THE FOLD

The part of the page you can see without scrolling down or over.

AUTOMAGICAL

To complete a technology-related task in a seemingly ingenious, automatic way.

AVERAGE DAILY GROWTH

Average rate at which you add subscribers.

AVERAGE SUBSCRIPTION

Average number of days active for a subscriber.

BACKLINKS

Links from other websites pointing to any particular page on your site.

BEACONS

A form of tech that allows marketers to connect and engage wirelessly with consumers via their mobile devices.

CANONICAL TAG

A tag that tells Google and other search engines which page is preferred when two URL’s are duplicate, or dangerously similar.

BYLINE

The name of the author of a specific content item. Within the news publishing business, it is always best to have a named name rather than a staff writer as Google (for example) will not feature your content on its newsfeed without the authors name.

BUYER PERSONA

A fictional depiction of your target customers, based on knowns plus assumptions.

BTL MARKETING

This means below the line marketing, which includes very specific and targeting marketing activities. For example, a PPC campaign on google AdWords would be BTL as it is highly targeted and specific to a select group of potential customers.

BT

Behavioural targeting.

BOTTOM THIRD EFFECTS

These are graphical effects added to a video in the bottom third of the screen, such as the name of the presenter, et cetera.

BOT

A software application that runs automated tasks. Sometimes called a Robot.

BELOW THE FOLD

The part of the page hidden when first viewed in the browser.

COMPOSITING

This is the process of combining multiple images using post production software.

COHORT

A related segment or group within an audience.

COCA

On an individual scale, this is the total ‘cost of customer acquisition’ (CoCa).

CMS

Content management system.

CHURNALISM

This equates to bad journalism, where the writer merely churns out rewrites of press releases. To be frank, much journalism today consists of this.

CHURN RATE

Annualised rate at which customers cancel their subscriptions.

CHROMAKEY

This is a colour background, normally either a green screen, or blue screen, but also potentially white, or black. They are used to standardise the background and remove any shadows to enable any and all special effects to be added. To add the effects, all you need to do is isolate and mask the specific colour and replace with whatever you want. This is how virtual newsrooms are built.

CHATBOT

This is software which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods, often mimicking a human.

CDP

Content delivery platform.

CPM

Cost Per Mille (aka Cost Per Thousand).

CPL

Cost Per Lead.

CPC

This stands for Cost Per Click and is the unit of measurement when calculating the cost of each click in a PPC campaign.

CONTEXTUAL ADVERTISING

This is used in display advertising networks and on Search Engines where advertising is placed automagically next to relevant content.

CONVERSION FUNNEL

This is used to describe the journey a potential customer takes from origin point through to converting to a sale.

CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE

The average value of each member on the portal. In terms of formulating the calculation, assume that if the individual subscription price is $100 per month and the member is a paying full tariff subscriber for 12 months, then the resulting Customer Lifetime Value is $1,200.

CTR

Click Through Rate.

DEEP LINKING

Linking to a page other than the homepage.

DIY

Relates to web development and means don’t repeat yourself.

DYNAMIC RETARGETING

Adverts shown to users who have already visited the site. They often contain images and information about the exact item they viewed.

ECPM

This stands for Effective CPM (Cost Per Mille).

EDGERANK

This is the name of the algorithm Facebook uses to rank pages, groups, or individual accounts to determine which posts from those accounts will appear in the feed.

ELEMENTS / OVERLAYS

This is a video effect added to a video.

ENDOTHERMIC

Absorbing.

ENTERPRISE SEARCH

Professional quality search capability aimed at Enterprises. The core functionality often includes faceted search, advanced functionality to tailor relevance and results on your server; and bespoke business rules. For example, the excellent open source enterprise Search Engines Apache SOLR, or Sphinx.

EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMICS

Evolutionary economics is a mainstream economic theory dealing with the study of processes that transform organisations, industries and entire economies using evolutionary game theory and the biological evolutionary methodology developed by Charles Darwin.

EXOTHERMIC

Releasing.

FPS

In video, this means Frames Per Second. In order to produce good quality video with no missed frames you will want to produce video with a minimum of 24-25 FPS, which is what most movies use.

FREEMIUM

A free service with the option for customers to upgrade to a paid, premium version.

GEO-BLOCKING

This is where online content providers limit access based on your geographic location.

GROK

A Swedish word that means to by intuition, or by empathy entirely understand the issue/subject/..

GUI

Graphical user interface.

GUID

This is an acronym for ‘Globally Unique Identifier’. Alternatively, it is sometimes known as ‘Universally Unique Identifier’, or UUID.

HARD BOUNCE

When an Email bounces back to the broadcaster because the Email address does not exist, or refuses to receive Emails from the broadcaster.

HEATMAP

A graphical representation of data that uses a system of colour-coding to represent different value.

HYPER LOCAL

A term used in journalism to refer to content written and/or read by residents within a defined, small scale geographic area (e.g. Kingston, or Brighton in Melbourne).

IAAS

Infrastructure as a Service.

IDE

Integrated Development Environment.

IFRAME

This is short for inline frame. This is a HTML element that allows an external webpage, or ad unit to be displayed on a page.

IOT

Internet of Things.

KANO MODEL

Kano is a product development theory that classifies features into five simple areas to aid prioritisation.

LATENCY

In computing the word latency describes some kind of delay, often caused by lack of system resources either on the network side, or on the client side.

LEAD MAGNET

This is a (hopefully) irresistible offer the marketer puts together for visitors who in exchange for offering their contact information will gain access to the product. The goal of the Lead Magnet is to increase the number of relevant leads within the sales funnel.

LEADERBOARD

Ad unit that is 728×90 pixels.

LEADIN

Introduction to a recorded/filmed excerpt from a news source, or another journalist.

LEDE

The introductory section of a news article that is intended to entice the reader to read the full story.

LEAN-TESTING

Refers to the process of testing assumptions, whilst managing costs effectively.

LEARNABILITY

This term describes a platforms capability to help users become familiar with the functionality easily, speedily and with efficiency.

LONG-TAIL PUBLISHERS

Normally blogs that are supported by programmatic networks, or similar and based around keywords.

MACHINE LEARNING

Machine learning (ML) is a field within computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.

MERCHANT ACCOUNT

This is a type of bank account that allows a business to accept credit card (and often) debit card transactions.

METERED PAYWALL

Simply put, this is a type of paywall that enables non-members to view a stated number of pages over a stated number of days.

MULTIVARIATE TESTING

Same as A/B testing, but with many variants.

MVP

Minimum Viable Product.

NARROWCASTING

Disseminate information and content to a localised, or specialised audience.

NPD

New Product Development.

OCCAM’S RAZOR

This is a problem-solving principle attributed to William of Ockham in the 14th century which equates to the simplest explanation being more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations.

OFF-PAGE SEO

Generically, this includes all optimisation activities offsite such as link building, directory submissions and bookmarking.

ON-PAGE SEO

This is search engine optimisation activity that takes place on the website itself. On-page SEO includes everything from metatags and code optimisation through to sitemap generation and page load speed. However, by far the most important aspect of on page SEO is the optimisation of the content item and homepage for relevant keywords.

PAAS

Platform as a Service.

PARALLELISM

The presentation of ideas in similar grammatical or visual forms.

PERIOD CHURNED CUSTOMER

Number of customers lost during a specific period.

PING

This means “to get the attention of” or “to check for the presence of” another party online.

PODCASTING

Historically, this has been an audio-only version of a blog. However, now video can and often is included in the broadcast.

PPC

This stands for Pay Per Click, which is the standard format of advertising used on google and Facebook.

PRE-ROLL

A promotion, or advert that plays before the content. This is the most common form of advertising on YouTube.

PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING

This simply refers to advertising that is purchased/sold/delivered using automation.

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

These are messages that pop up on mobile devices and some browsers. An important part of app marketing.

REBILLING STRATEGY

The practice of renewing active subscribers on a set timetable.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN

This means the webpage notes what browser and resolution the visitor is using and then offers the best width and user experience the design has to offer. This is increasingly important because mobile and small screen usage via tablets are becoming more and more prevalent.

RIFF

Often an enthusiastic, detail-driven opinion piece.

RON

Run of Network adverts.

ROS

Run of Site adverts.

RSS

A format of xml called ‘Really Simple Syndication’, or ‘Rich Site Summary’ depending on your era. It remains the format of xml most commonly used to syndicate and deliver regularly updating content, such as news, blogs and simple data sets such as share price data.

SAAS

Software as a Service.

SANDBOX

This is where a developer isolates applications.

SDE

Seller Discretionary Earnings. This is a method of enterprise valuation used for smaller digital properties. Its a calculation based on Revenue.

SEF

Search Engine Friendly.

SOFT BOUNCE

When an Email bounces back to the broadcast software due to a temporary problem such as the recipients inbox being full.

SOCIAL PRESENCE

Activity on social media.

SOCIAL GRAPH

The mapping of connections between individuals through one, two, or potentially many social platforms.

SLICE AND DICE

The strategy of cutting an original piece of content up and/or joining it together with other content items in order to create a new content item.

SERPS

This stands for search engine results page. The page searchers see after they’ve entered their query into the search box. This page lists several web pages related to the searchers query, sorted by search relevance.

SOV

Share of voice relates to the percentage share of available advertising inventory.

SSL CERTIFICATE

This stands for secure socket layer and is the certificate that identifies the owner of the server to the users browser. Without an up-to-date one, modern browsers will show a warning whenever the visitor lands on https://…

THREE POINT LIGHTING

This is the most common lighting setup. It lights a subject from three different sources in order to control shadows and balance contrast.

SUBSCRIPTION FLOW

Also known as Subscribe Flow. The steps by which customers become subscribers.

STRUCTURED SNIPPETS

Allow your advert to highlight specific aspects of the product. Great for displaying value, or the proposition.

YIELD PER VISIT

The average revenue generated by each visit.

WYSIWYG

This is an acronym for ‘What You See Is What You Get’.

VORTAL

A term to describe a vertical industry portal.

VLOGGING

This is simply the video version of blogging.

UX

User Experience.

UVP

Unique Value Proposition.

UI

User Interface.

TTL MARKETING

This means ‘Through the Line’ marketing, which equates to a mixture of both ATL and BTL marketing activity.

TRIPWIRE MARKETING

This is the methodology used to turn a lead into a paying subscriber by making them a simple, low-cost offer for a related product. Once they are within the sales funnel the marketer then has the opportunity to upsell them to the desired product.

UCD

User Centred Design. This is often alternatively called User Driven Development (UDD).

VOD

Video on Demand.