The world of digital marketing is full of specialized jargon and easily confused abbreviations.

Here, we’ll demystify 26 tricky terms you’re likely to encounter as a small-business owner:

Native advertising is designed to match the look and feel of the content on the platform where it appears.

1. Alt Text:A descriptive text attribute that can be added to images or videos to provide a textual description of the content for users who are visually impaired or have images disabled in their browser settings.
2. Backlink: A link from one website to another, often used in search engine optimization (SEO) to signal to search engines that the linked website is authoritative and valuable.
3. Bidding: The process of setting the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a click or impression in a digital advertising auction, often used in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
4. Boosted Post: A paid social media advertising strategy that promotes a specific post on a social media platform, often used to increase engagement and reach a wider audience.
5. Call To Action (CTA): A message or button on a website or advertisement that encourages users to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a form.
6. Content Marketing: A marketing strategy that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a target audience and drive profitable customer action.
7. Conversational Marketing: A marketing strategy that emphasizes personalized and real-time conversations with customers, often through chatbots, messaging apps, and social media.
8. Conversion: The act of a user completing a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to a newsletter, often used to measure the effectiveness of digital marketing efforts.
9. Dynamic Content: Content that is personalized and tailored to individual users based on their behavior, preferences, and characteristics, often used to improve engagement and conversion rates.
10. Editorial Calendar: A tool used to plan and organize content marketing efforts, often including a schedule of upcoming content, topics, and publishing dates.
11. Evergreen: Content or marketing materials that are always relevant and useful, regardless of the season or time of year, often used to provide long-term value to users and generate sustained traffic.
12. Geofencing: A location-based marketing technique that targets users within a specific geographic area, often using mobile device GPS data.
13. Impression: A digital advertising metric that measures the number of times an ad is displayed to a user, regardless of whether they interact with it.
14. Lookalike Audience: A target audience in digital advertising that is created based on the characteristics and behaviors of an existing audience, often used to find new customers who are similar to existing customers.
15. Marketing Automation: The use of software tools and technology to automate repetitive marketing tasks and workflows, such as email campaigns, social media scheduling, and lead nurturing.
16. Microsite: A separate website or section of a website that is dedicated to a specific topic, campaign, or product, often used to provide a more focused and immersive user experience.
17. Native Advertising: A type of digital advertising that is designed to match the look and feel of the content on the platform where it appears, often used in social media advertising and sponsored content.
18. Pay Per Click (PPC): A digital advertising model in which advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad, often used in search engine advertising and social media advertising.
19. Responsive Design: A design approach that optimizes a website for different screen sizes and devices, ensuring a seamless user experience across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
20. Retargeting: A digital advertising technique that targets users who have already interacted with a brand or visited a website, often through personalized ads based on their behavior and interests.
21. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): A digital advertising strategy that involves promoting a website or product through paid search engine advertising, often using platforms such as Google Ads or Bing Ads.
22. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords and phrases, often through on-page and off-page optimization techniques.
23. Social Listening: The process of monitoring and analyzing social media conversations and trends to gather insights and identify opportunities for engagement and marketing efforts.
24. Social Proof: The use of social influence and testimonials to build credibility and trust with potential customers, often through reviews, ratings, and user-generated content.
25. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): A set of guidelines and standards for making digital content, including websites and mobile apps, more accessible to people with disabilities.
26. Zero-Click Search: A search engine result where the user can find the information they are looking for without clicking through to a website.

Defining Success

If you’re ready to put your knowledge into action, consult your financial institution.