Insurance Journal is one of the *best* companies I have ever had the pleasure of working for, so I was happy to get geeky and get interviewed to help!

In my podcast interview with Mitch, I compare web analytics technologies, talk pitfalls of “spam marketing,” (the practice of sending unsolicited emails to purchased email lists)and explain the fundamental principals of online marketing.  Then, we down down and web-geeky defining (once and for all!) terms like “hit”, “impressions”, “pageviews” and “unique users”.   I also get to rave about Google Analytics, and why it’s better then expensive competitors!

The podcast is under 30 minutes and is chock full of tips.  Stream this while you work – enjoy!!  Mitch and Insurance Journal – thank you for a great interview!

Affiliate – the publisher/salesperson in an affiliate marketing relationship. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Affiliate Marketing – Revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers/salespeople, whereby compensation is based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales, clicks, registrations, or a hybrid model. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Affiliate Network – a value-added intermediary providing services, including aggregation, for affiliate merchants and affiliates. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Banner Ads – A term to describe the ads on a website. Although the term “banner” represents a 468×60 pixel size, “banner” may be used to describe other ad sizes. See Creative and Display Ad.

Blog – A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order. The word blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. (Source – www.wikipedia.com)

Click or Click-Through – A click is when someone clicks on an ad to go to the advertiser’s site. Some ads may not click through if the advertiser is having website difficulty.

Click Through Rate (CTR) – The average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, expressed as a percentage. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Cookies – information stored on a user’s computer by a Web site so preferences are remembered on future requests. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Community – Also know as a virtual community or online community is a group of people that primarily or initially communicates or interacts via the Internet. The dawn of the “information age” found groups communicating electronically rather than face to face. (Source – http://en.wikipedia.org/)

Conversion Rate – The percentage of visitors who take a desired action. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Cost per Action or Cost per Acquisition (CPA) – Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as leads, sales or registrations. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Cost per Click (CPC) – The cost or cost-equivalent paid per click-through. A click-thorough is the process of clicking through an online advertisement to the advertiser’s destination. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Cost per Thousand (CPM) – Cost per thousand impressions.

Creative – Various advertising units (banners, text, email, etc.) that are used in online promotions.

Customer Acquisition Cost – the cost associated with acquiring a new customer. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Display Ads – A term that can be used to describe banner ads on a website.
See Banner or Creative.

Impression – When someone looks at an ad. Can also be referred to as “eyeballs”. Hit the refresh button on your browser on a site with ads in it. Every new ad you see is an ad impression.

Merchant – the advertiser in an affiliate marketing relationship. (Source –
www.marketingterms.com)

Privacy – Notices posted on a website that will disclose how a company collects, uses and shares data with partners or advertisers.

Publisher – An owner of a website or websites that allocates space for online
advertisements.

ROI – Return on Investment.

Run of Network (RON) – ad buying option in which ad placements may appear on any pages on sites within an ad network. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Run of Site (ROS) – ad buying option in which ad placements may appear on any pages of the target site. (Source – www.marketingterms.com)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – the overarching term to describe marketing a website through search engines including (single or combined) efforts to improve Organic listings, running Pay per Click ads, using Pay per Inclusion and getting listed in Vertical search placements.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – The act of modifying a website so that it has a higher likelihood of appearing well in the organic or natural listings of the search engines.

SERP – Acronym for “Search Engine Results Page”.

SPAM – Short for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003. The act focuses on regulating the distribution of commercial e-mails.

Viral Marketing – Any marketing technique that induces websites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect. (Source – http://searchcrm.techtarget.com)

Web 2.0 – Web 2.0 is a term that encompasses technical components of web development but also bridges the connective, future components of the web that deliver rich user experiences. Web site are no longer just brochures, they are solutions!

Web Analytics – the objective tracking, collection, measurement, reporting and analysis of quantitative Internet data to optimize websites and web marketing initiatives. (Source – Web Analytics Association)

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I posted this message on Twitter:
Over passive Plaxo invites. Help me understand why I do all the work to help colleagues update their online Rolodexes? Not working for me.

I am tired of doing all the heavy lifting to help people update their address books.  Nothing against Plaxo, it’s rocking technology, it was my vent against the passive aggressive insinuation that I had to take time to update my info to help someone else update theirs.

To add comic relief to the issue, Don Lubach, Ph.D., a colleague and fellow UCSB-er, emailed me and said:

“I agree. This situation begs for one of those modern terms. PLAXOdaisical: indifference to allowing oneself to be data-mined.”

HA!  Brilliant!

What I appreciated most was the authentic Twitter message from the head of Marketing at Plaxo who inquired about my snarky comment.  That was very cool.  The fact that Plaxo is on top of social media, reads messages and reached out personally really impressed me.

My tweet-vent had everything to do with projecting ownership of interactive Rolodex onto me…I have nothing against the technology.

Lessons learned:

1. You are what you tweet

2. Some days I feel like people project their management issues onto me and as a Marketing Therapist that makes me crabby and

3. We may all feel PLAXOdasical sometimes

Team Plaxo, being so on your marketing impresses the heck outta me and you scored major she-geek points in my book – rock, rock on!