Chapter 4 Digital Marketing

POEM

Paid, Owned, and Earned Media; three major categories of digital media.

Website

An owned digital property that can provide information, generate leads, sell products, provide customer service, and act as a central conversion hub.

Conversion

When a visitor completes a desired action, such as making a purchase, subscribing, booking, or submitting a form.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action; calculated as conversions divided by visitors × 100.

Call to Action (CTA)

A prompt that tells users what action to take next, such as Buy Now, Sign Up, Shop Now, or Learn More.

User Interface (UI)

The visual elements of a website or digital product, including its colors, fonts, buttons, images, spacing, and layout.

User Experience (UX)

The overall experience a person has when using a website or digital product, including ease of navigation, usability, and ability to accomplish tasks.

Usability

How easily and effectively users can navigate and accomplish their goals on a website.

Responsive Design

Website design that automatically adapts to different screen sizes and devices.

Above the Fold

The portion of a webpage visible before the user scrolls.

Visual Hierarchy

The arrangement of design elements using size, contrast, placement, spacing, and other features to control what users notice first.

White Space

Empty space around website elements that can improve readability, organization, and visual hierarchy.

Landing Page

A webpage designed as the destination for visitors arriving from a specific advertisement, campaign, or other source.

Message Match

Consistency between the message in an advertisement or traffic source and the content users see on the landing page.

Attention

Landing-page principle focused on immediately capturing a visitor's attention through elements such as headlines, images, and contrast.

Context

Landing-page principle stating that the page should make sense based on where the visitor came from and what they expected.

Clarity

Landing-page principle focused on making the message, product, offer, and desired action easy to understand.

Congruence

Landing-page principle stating that the elements on the page should work together toward the same conversion goal.

Credibility

Landing-page principle focused on establishing trust through features such as reviews, specifications, guarantees, testimonials, and recognizable brands.

Closing

Landing-page principle focused on encouraging the visitor to complete the desired conversion.

Continuance

Landing-page principle focused on giving the customer an appropriate next step after a conversion.

RACE Framework

Digital marketing framework consisting of Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage.

Reach

The RACE stage focused on building awareness and attracting people through channels such as search, social media, and advertising.

Act

The RACE stage focused on encouraging interactions such as viewing products, reading content, clicking, or signing up.

Convert

The RACE stage focused on turning interest into a valuable action, such as a purchase.

Engage

The RACE stage focused on developing long-term customer relationships, loyalty, repeat purchases, and advocacy.

5Ss

Five potential goals of digital marketing: Sell, Speak, Serve, Save, and Sizzle.

Sell

Using digital marketing to increase sales and generate revenue.

Speak

Using digital channels to communicate and build relationships with customers.

Serve

Using digital channels to provide customers with useful information or services.

Save

Using digital technologies to reduce costs or increase efficiency.

Sizzle

Using digital experiences to strengthen the brand and create memorable experiences.

Customer Journey

The process a customer moves through while interacting with a company, often including awareness, consideration, conversion, and retention or engagement.

Touchpoint

Any individual interaction between a customer and a brand, such as seeing an ad, visiting a website, receiving an email, or making a purchase.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A traffic-generation strategy with the goal of gaining prominent placement on the SERP for many different searches; it consists of on-site and off-site activities.

SERP

Search Engine Results Page; the page displayed by a search engine after a user performs a search.

Organic Search Results

Links on a search engine results page that are not paid for.

Ranking

The position of a website within the organic search results on a SERP.

Keyword

A word or phrase associated with what users enter into a search engine and that marketers may optimize website content around.

Fat Head

A keyword term with high search volume, usually broad and less specific.

Long-Tail Keywords

Multi-word phrases that are extended or more specific versions of a core fat-head term.

Search Intent

The purpose or goal behind a user's search, such as finding information, comparing options, or making a purchase.

On-Site SEO

Also called on-page SEO; formatting and optimizing content on a website to maximize its chances of ranking for desired searches.

Off-Site SEO

Also called off-page SEO; creating and disseminating content to build quality backlinks to a website and improve organic search rankings.

Backlink

A link from an external website that points users back to your website.

Black-Hat SEO Practices

Website optimization practices designed to manipulate search engines into giving a website good rankings without actually providing good value to searchers.

Keyword Stuffing

An ineffective black-hat SEO tactic involving inserting a selected keyword phrase too frequently within a page's content.

Keyword Cannibalization

Optimizing multiple pages on the same website for the same keyword, causing the pages to compete with one another.

Alternative Text (Alt Text)

A label or tag that communicates information about an image to web browsers for visually impaired users or when images are deactivated or unavailable.

Header Tags

Markers that identify headings and sections of a webpage, making content easier for users to browse and giving search engines clues about the content's topic.

Title Tag

A webpage tag that identifies the page title and is displayed at the top of a browser and can appear as the clickable title in search results.

Meta Description

A short description of webpage content, traditionally around 160 characters or less, included in the page's code and often displayed by search engines in search results.

NAP

Consistency of this information across the web is important for local search results.

Structured Citations

Bits of code that mark specific types of website content so search engines can better identify and understand the information.

XML Sitemap

A technical map of a website that helps search-engine crawlers discover and properly index its pages.

URL Inspection Tool

A Google Search Console feature that allows webmasters to check whether Google is properly crawling, indexing, and rendering a webpage.

Knowledge Graph

Google's repository of information about people, places, organizations, and topics that can be displayed directly on the SERP.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

A measurement of how long it takes for a webpage's main content to appear; a high ___ can indicate a poor user experience.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

A measurement of unexpected movement of webpage content as other content loads; excessive shifting indicates a less-than-ideal user experience.

First Input Delay (FID)

A measurement of the delay before a user can interact with content on a webpage; a high delay indicates a less-than-ideal user experience.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of website sessions that consist of only one page view.

Paid Search

Search-engine advertising in which businesses pay for ads to appear on search engine results pages.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Commonly used to describe paid strategies for gaining visibility on search engine results pages.

SEO vs. Paid Search

SEO focuses on earning organic search visibility, while paid search involves paying for advertising visibility on a SERP.

Tracking Pixel

Code used to record user behaviors or actions such as page views, purchases, form submissions, or adding products to a cart.

Retargeting

Advertising to people who previously visited or interacted with a company's website, app, or other digital content.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

A system for storing and managing information about customer relationships and interactions, such as contact information, purchases, leads, and service history.

Pixel vs. CRM

A pixel primarily tracks user behavior, while a CRM stores and manages customer information and relationship history.

UTM Tags

Tracking parameters added to URLs that help marketers determine the campaign, source, or channel responsible for website traffic.

Web Analytics

The collection and analysis of website activity to understand traffic, user behavior, and marketing performance.

Traffic

The users or visits coming to a website.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The percentage of impressions that result in clicks; calculated as clicks divided by impressions × 100.

Impression

An instance in which an advertisement, search result, or piece of digital content is displayed to a user.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

The amount of marketing or advertising cost required to acquire a customer or conversion.

Average Order Value (AOV)

The average amount customers spend per transaction.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

The estimated total value or revenue a customer generates throughout their relationship with a company.

Organic Traffic

Website visitors who arrive through unpaid search-engine results.

Local SEO

Search engine optimization focused on increasing a business's visibility in location-based searches; consistent NAP (name, address, phone #) information is especially important.

Core Web Vitals

Google website experience measurements that include metrics related to loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability, such as LCP, FID, and CLS.

SEO Crawling

The process in which search-engine software discovers and examines webpages and their content.

Indexing

The process of a search engine storing and organizing discovered webpage information so the pages can potentially appear in search results.

What are the five foundational components of SEO

Website size, website age, website popularity, linking, and text

How search works

crawling, indexing, caching, and link analysis & ranking

Caching

The process of storing temporary copies of website files (HTML, images, and scripts) in a fast-access location so pages load much quicker for returning visitors

Link Analysis & Ranking

Relevance + Authority

Process for ranked results list

query input, relevance scoring, link analysis, and ranked results list

Repository

Centralized digital storage system used to collect, organize, and manage marketing files, data, and creative assets