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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Where terms appear in bold in the entries, please refer to the appropriate page in Key Concepts in e-Commerce

 

E

Email address appending

The practice of merging a database of email addresses with an existing database. The email list is obtained from a third party company who will match a list of customers, users or prospects provided by the organization with email addresses on their database. Although it can mean that as those people listed have not given explicit permission to the marketer, emails may conceive any emails as spam, this can be addressed by sending a 'permission pass' email as an introduction to the email campaign. Once common, the exercise died off as it is became the norm for contemporary databases to be developed with email addresses included, - although more efficient database management has seen a comeback for the practice.

 

Email spoofing

The practice of making an email appear to have come from someone other than the actual sender – for example, you get an email that has my email address in the sender box, but I know nothing of the message. A tactic used in spamming, it is illegal in some parts of the world. It can be extremely harmful to businesses and brands whose name has been spoofed (as senders) because recipients of those emails assume the spam has come from that company. As the first significant example of this kind of spoofing used the email address of a site called Joes.com (early in 1997), the practice is also known as being a Joe job.

 

L

Link baiting

A tactic in a linking strategy, link baiting is the practice of encouraging people to link to a site by producing quality content that attracts – hooks – those links. Baits could include:

• News hooks, normally in a specific environment, industry etc.


• Contrary hooks where the writer takes up a contrary stance to expert, or public, opinion on a given subject.


• Rants, similar to the contrary stance, but berating something that others will agree with you about e.g. taxes or road traffic.


• Tools that offer functional help to the user – these might be complex or simple, they are often industry-specific – an instant calculator for paint requirements for a decorator, for example.


• Resource hooks, where the web site gains a reputation as the place to go for information.


• Humour hooks attract those looking to pass on to others some light relief.


• Lists, very popular for giving advice on a subject in which you are expert and are looking to sell your services, for example: ‘10 ways to generate link bait’.


• Exposés, perhaps a little ‘tabloid newspaper-ish’ but exposing some kind of online scam in your area of expertise would attract readers.


• Contests or quizzes, for prizes or just to pass time.

With all of these hooks the subject should be relevant to the product or service on offer, so ensuring that link popularity scores are high by having the links come from sites (and blogs) that address the same subject areas. Although link baiting has some negative connotations – as link spam – when performed with integrity it is an acceptable practice. Such is its popularity, particularly within social media, that certain individuals or sites are recognized as effectives conduits for link baiting – these are know as linkerati.

 

Link spamming

In an effort to take advantage of link popularity, less scrupulous search engine optimizers (so called black hats) look to create links into their site by nefarious means. They do this by visiting web sites where users have access to leave comments (for example, chat rooms, bulletin boards in fact any source of consumer generated media, including blogs) and leave a message that includes a link of their web site. Although this can be done manually, it is more likely that a software program would be employed on the task. Like other such activities, the search engines are aware of, look for, and penalize the practice. Other dubious methods include paying for links to be added to obscure web sites and link farming. The days of link spamming may be numbered, however, with the search engines (led by Google in 2007) clamping down on the practice. Links from sites that have no obvious connection with the subject – or are paid for – are now penalised by the search engines.

 

N

Net (network) neutrality

A subject being discussed and debated – in the USA up to Congressional level – the outcome of which may have an impact on the fundamental use of the Internet. The question is whether or not web sites should be served in the same way to all users – that is, in a neutral way. Opposing neutrality are the telecoms and network providers who would like to see a two-tier system which creates fast lanes and slow lanes for web access – the fast access going to web sites that are willing to pay for it. Note that when presented from the non-net neutrality standpoint the concept is often referred to as tiered web delivery. Since the first edition of this book was published the issue faded somewhat – the January 2007 about-face of telecoms giant AT&T (to not campaigning in favour of net neutrality is seen as the beginning of the end of the debate – and then returned, with some commentators suggesting that with increased content on web sites (videos etc) the information super highway might grind to a halt if ‘extra’ lanes are not built. In net neutrality terms, those new lanes would be toll roads.

 

O

Online advertising network

A network of brokers, or aggregators, of online advertising inventory. Whilst some web publishers handle the sale of all of their advertising space themselves – if they choose to do so – it is rare for them to sell 100 per cent of what they have available. Other publishers, particularly small ones, find it easier to not even try to sell their ad space themselves. This is where the ad network specialist comes in, acting as the conduit between those who have advertising space and those who wish to advertise. The advertiser can stipulate the types of web site on which they wish their ads to run, or they can use a blind network where they do not know the exact places where their ads are being run. The first is more expensive, but the advertising is better targeted, and so should be more productive. The online ad network would normally use its own ad server to deliver the ads. Although ad networks have existed for as long as ads have been hosted online, the practice has gained both prominence and use since the major search engines – in particular Google – launched their own network systems. These systems mean that any web publisher can include pay per click ads on any page by simply ‘cutting and pasting’ a section of code supplied by the search engine immediately the publisher joins the network. See also ad exchange.

 

Online reputation management

Where online credibility considers the web site from in a static context (that is, information provided within the site’s content) reputation management considers credibility from an ongoing standpoint. The practice of online reputation management involves the monitoring of all web sites that feature consumer generated media in order to track – and if appropriate, respond to – any adverse comments about the organization, brand or product that might be made on those sites. In a wider context, online reputation management might be seen as an aspect of brand management. Because mention of brands, organizations or individuals in social media environments is referred to as creating a ‘buzz’, companies offering reputation management sometimes promote themselves as buzz monitoring services. See also cyberbashing and snorkelling tools

 

S

Spyware

The generic title given tosoftware that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without their knowledge (sometimes using lureware). Although the term originally referred to malicious use of such software – its association with theft of personal information, for example – its use in advertising (see adware) and e-metrics has seen public attitude towards the concept soften.

 

V

Virtual community

A phrase attributed to Howard Rheingold (author and founding executive editor of Hotwired), which refers to the way in which people can interact with each other using information technologies (rather than face to face contact). Although Rheingold’s comments came before common public use of the Internet, it is the Internet that embraced the concept and made the virtual community what we know it as today. As with an offline community, the virtual – or online – community can have many attributes, such as shared interests, common traditions, common ownership and mutual advantage. Virtual community web sites are now commonly referred to as portals, indeed it is often difficult to differentiate between the two. For the online marketer the virtual community should be considered as an element of consumer generated media. Of particular relevance in this context is that virtual communities, by their very nature, are supported by people who are out-going, vociferous even – sometimes to the point of being evangelical – about their chosen interests. In marketing terms, these people are not only early adopters of new products, but are referred to as influencers – that is, those individuals whose opinions others, both in and outside that community, listen to and follow. It is worth noting that for a group of people who visit a specific web site to be recognized as a community (of that web site) those visitors must register – or join – the community. Simply being a visitor to a web site does not qualify a person as being part of its community. See also customer evangelists and networks.

 

Visit

When someone downloads a web site onto their browser, they are deemed to have made a visit to that web site, making them a visitor to that site. However, it is the norm for e-metric purposes that they are only considered to have made a visit when they have been on more than one page of the web site. See also unique visitor.