Digital marketing - Chapter 1: Digital marketing foundations

Domain name

The name of a website

Registrar

A company which manages the leasing and reservation of domain names

e.g. GoDaddy

Registering a domain name

The domain will be reserved for you, and anyone who types it in won’t be taken to someone else’s site

Server

A computer connected to the internet that fulfils info requests to the website

Web browser

Software that displays webpage stuff to users

e.g. Google, Yahoo, Firefox

Internet protocol (IP) address

A set of procedures that locates computers, and transfers information between computers

Internet protocol (IP) address (con’t)

Requests to a browser which need to be translated into the right IP address

Domain name system (DNS)

Handles the translation(s) of domain names to IP addresses for specific requests to be sent to the right server

Web hosting company

A company that gives server space for people to run websites

Security certificate/Secure sockets layer (SSL)

Allows users to use sites without being watched by third parties

Uniform resource locator (URL)

Locates resources on the internet; every page on a website has a URL

Transport layer security (TLS)

An encryption method used to prevent third parties from eavesdropping

HTML & Javascript

Code that tells browsers how to display websites

eCommerce

Websites that sell products

Payment gateway

A way to accept credit cards

Merchant account

A way to collect payment

Analytics package

Provides a report of visitors and traffic to the site

The process of communication between computers and servers that allows people to use internet web pages

Web pages are stored as HTML code on servers; the device requests a page from the server and the browser interprets and displays the HTML code it gets

Awareness, interest, desire, action

When a consumer learns about a business, becomes interested in their offerings, gets the desire to buy something from them, and decides to buy something

How do successful websites make customers?

1. Generate customers by bringing traffic to the site

2. Driving conversions (piquing consumers’ interests and wants so they’d take action)

3. Maximizing revenue per conversion by increasing the monetary value of consumer’s action

The 4 types of traffic a website can earn

1. Direct traffic

2. Referral traffic

3. Search traffic

4. Email traffic

Direct traffic

Comes from habits or offline advertising activities; visitors may already be aware of the business

e.g A URL is typed directly into the browser

Referral traffic

Traffic to a site that’s the result of ads hosted on another site; they can be paid or unpaid

e.g A user clicks a link to the site from another site

Search traffic

When a user clicks on a link from a search site’s results page

Email traffic

Ads for a website which are sent to a consumer via email

Conversion

A target action that visitors are desired to take

Conversion rate

A % of visitors who convert; it’s one of the most important indicators of a site’s success

Lead generation website

A site who’s main goal is to generate leads (an inquiry from a potential consumer into a business’ offerings); it earns revenue by closing deals outside of the site

e.g. A plumber may not sell products on their site, but they’d like people to call and hire them for a job by putting his info on a website

Media websites

Sites that make money by exposing users to ads; the more ads users engage with, the more revenue earned

Affiliate marketing websites

Sites that usually provide info on products and have links to other sites where users can buy those products; earns revenue by commissions on products sold

What is the largest registrar site?

GoDaddy