Everything has gone digital so it comes to no one’s surprise when people now turn to Digital Marketing instead of the traditional marketing which included mediums like newspapers, billboards and magazines and opt for Digital Marketing that is geared towards social media, websites and emails, etc.
Digital Marketing is not a completely new concept that fell from the sky just yesterday, however, some of the terms used — the ‘jargon’ used can be something you are not familiar with. It has its own lingo for discussing marketing channels, tactics, techniques, analytics, and so much more.
It sounds overwhelming, we know (trust us, we’ve been there too!). To make it a little simpler for you, here are 10 terms we think are vital to know before you wade into the Digital Marketing pool.
Note – We’ll be using an artisanal flower shop as an example throughout to help you understand things a little better.
- Click through Rate (CTR) – CTR is a measure of how many users click on a specific item of an interest, like a link, to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. Google has simply put out a calculation to track your CTR;
- “CTR is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown: clicks ÷ impressions = CTR”.
- Cost per Click (CPC) – As the name suggests, CPC means the cost of a single click to your website. For example, if you have put up a digital advertisement, every click that is made to that advertisement will cost you a nominal amount. In a working environment you may hear people prefer to run their campaigns over the week instead of the weekend as CPC prices seem to be higher during weekends.
- Impressions – impressions are the number of times your content is displayed to users online. However, this does not record whether any action is taken after a user sees your content. Imagine you put out a new marketing campaign for your flower shop and you notice it has received thousands of impressions, however you will not be able to know through this feature if you’ve received any orders or not.
- Index – Just like the ones in the back of encyclopedias, an index is a searchable catalog of web pages and digital content used by a search engine to provide relevant results. For contextual purposes, here’s an example of how an index can prove useful; Your flower shop website isn’t getting a lot of views however that slowly changed once your site popped up on Google’s (a search engine) index for local bakeries.
- Keyword - A word or a phrase typed into a search engine, which businesses can target as part of their advertising campaigns. Using the example from above; some of the keywords you could use to promote your flower shop would be ‘florists near me’, ‘flower shop’, ‘flowers’, etc.
- Landing page – The first page on a website that a person usually sees. You might think ‘oh like a homepage’ but it isn’t necessarily the homepage of that website. It could be a coupon or a discount code pop up that you could add so that your website visitors will be encouraged to buy your cakes.
- Pay Per Click (PPC) – This is an advertising tool in which advertisers pay for users to click on their advertisements. Google Ads,LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram are all types of PPC advertising. For example, you want to promote your special valentine flower arrangements so run an advertisement on a platform such as Google Ads. Every time someone clicks on it, you just need to pay a fee. If used correctly, it can prove to be very beneficial.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – SEO is a term you need to really get familiar with because it’s something you’re going to hear often. Search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO focuses on organic or unpaid search results. By investing in SEO your website can get a higher ranking in search engine results which will consequently drive more traffic to your website.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Unlike SEOs, Search Engine Marketing is a form of advertising that allows you to bid for your advertisement to show along with search results for keywords that people are typing in. That means you have to pay to be seen. Your website will get promoted by increasing its visibility in search engine results pages primarily through paid advertising. It is more efficient than SEO and creates website traffic quickly but the downside is that it costs more.
- Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – We saved the easiest for last! You know that page that comes with a list of results right after you put in whatever you need to search into the box on Google? That’s the Search Engine Results Page! Every search engine has one and the higher your website ranks, the higher on the list you will appear which again will get more users clicking on your site.
Digital Marketing seems daunting at the first, second and even maybe the third glance…but once you get the hang of it, it really isn’t too complicated. You can start out with this little handy guide that has terms you must absolutely know and you can take it on from there.