Education Glossary

E-commerce Education Center - Glossary of Internet Terms

The vocabulary of the internet is forever evolving. It is crucial that one become familiar with different internet terms. Take a moment to become acquainted with the terms listed in this glossary.

Address

On the internet there are two kinds of addresses that are commonly used. The first one is an address of website that is known as a URL. The other is a person's e-mail address.

Above the Fold

The part of the page or email that is initially visible to the visitor without having to scroll.

Affiliate

A partner who is paid a commission on the basis of the results shown by marketing your products and services. An affiliate may simply place a link to the merchant's site on their own site or create a site dedicated solely to promoting the merchant's products or services.

Affiliate Program

A popular website promotion tool where a website contracts with other websites for driving visitor to its site. The revenue is calculated according to the traffic brought by a particular website.

Application Service Provider (ASP)

A web-based services provider in wherein the clients need not install on their own computers as all tasks are hosted on the companies ASP servers.

Authentication

Automated verification of an email sender's identity.

Autoresponder

An automated email message sent to a new subscriber as soon as they trigger an event.

B2B

Business-to-business

B2C

Business-to-consumer

Back Button

In most browsers when clicking the upper left button will return the web surfer to the webpage previously viewed.

Backbone

The part of the network that handles the major traffic.

Bandwidth

A term used to explain the total of data that can travel in given time - usually one second across a network or connection to a network, such as a modem.

Bill-me Later

A deferred payment method provided on purchase of a particular product or service.

Bits Per Second (BPS)

The data transfer rate that specifics the number of bits that a computer system can transmit per second. Cable modems, DSL and network connections provided the highest transfer speeds than computer modems.

Blacklist

A database of addresses that includes domain or IP addresses of an email sender suspected of sending spam. Also see Authentication.

Bookmarks or Favorites

A feature of your browser which stores the addresses of sites which you have "bookmarked" so that you can access them again without having to manually type in the site's URL address.

Browser

Software Application program required to access and read the websites on the internet.

Business to Business

A business model for business on the Internet. Popularly called B2B, it includes a ecommerce transaction between two business organizations.

Business to Consumer

A business model for business on Internet. Popularly called B2C, it includes ecommerce transactions between a business organizations and an individual.

Client

Refers to a computer attached to any network, with the Internet. The term is also used to explain personal-computer software that gives access to and facilitates the use of the internet, either by modem connection or by connection to a local area network (LAN) and related hardware. A client can also describe a program such as a web browser that used to retrieve data or service, from a server on the Internet.

Conversation Rate

A marketing expression that calculates the percentage of orders from the total number of visits to a website over a period time.

Cyberspace

A popular term (first used by author William Gibson) for the electronic medium that seems to exist within computers and computer networks in which online communication takes place.

Domain Name

The unique name given to every website. It is used to physically locate a website over the Internet. A domain name consists of three different parts with each separated by a dot. These are host server name, the unique name of the website and the third defining the purpose/type of the website.

Download

The procedure of copying a file (e.g. text or graphics) from a remote computer to one's own computer.

Drop Shipping

This business relationship is beneficial to both the retailer and wholesaler. The retailer sells the product, and the wholesaler then ships it to the customer complete with the retailer's label on the package. Some of the advantages of drop shipping include no inventory, no shipping, and the distributer supplies the product information and new products.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)

A generic name for digital name for digital lines that are provided by telephone or Internet supplier companies to their local subscribers that carry data at high speeds.

Ecommerce

A Methodology used for executing business- either completely or partly- over Internet or a network.

E-mail (Electronic Mail)

A method of sending and receiving messages electronically over a computer network as amongst or professional workplace personal computers.

E-mail Address

An electronic location for sending and receiving email. The email address includes your username, the @ symbol. And the domain name (eg. sales@flashecom.com ).

FTP (File Transfer Protocal)

A globally accepted set of rules used while transferring files from one computer to another computer of a network or Internet.

Gateway

A hardware of software that acts as a mediator between two distinct protocols and help in the transfer of information between diverse system.

Hit

A connection made to a website over the Internet or another network. (eg, our online store gets X amount of hits a day).

Homepage

Is the starting page and landing page of a website and us used by a browser to click on links that can take one to other pages within the website.

Hosting

A term used for storing and maintaining files, email or domains on a server that is connected with the Internet.

Hypertext Makeup Language (HTML)

A markup communication used to organize text and multimedia documents and to set up hypertext links between documents, used expansively on the World Wide Web.

Instant Import Buys

Instant wholesale product purchases that have just been imported into the United States from overseas.

Internet

A vibrant, global network of computer networks that permits people to send e-mail messages, participate in discussions and access information without a middle authority. The word is often used to explain the total body of interrelated computer networks.

Light Bulk Wholesalers

A concept created by WorldWideBrands Inc, and is best explained in reference to those who are home based internet based Internet business owners. Home Internet business owners work with real wholesalers who agree to sell to them, small bulk quantities of products. .

Liquidation Wholesalers

A term coined by WorldWideBrands Inc, describes liquidation wholesalers that sell Brand Name products at rock bottom wholesale prices.

Link

To follow a hypertext link (eg with a click of the mouse one linked themselves to the company's website)

Mailing List

Online merchants often use mailing lists to send email campaigns for newsletters, promotions or any other announcements from the company itself.

Merchant Account

An online bank account required by a store to receive payments through electronic mediums like credit cards. It can be considered as a virtual bank account that receives electronic money

Order Tracking

The process of tracking the status of particular order placed by a customer in a web store.

Page View

Is the measurement of how a page is viewed, if a browser views 4 pages of your site the views will be calculated as 4 views.

Protocol

Set of rules that are the norm in regards to computer communication. Without protocol computer networks will not exist.

Payment Gateway

A computer system that acts as a mediator between merchant account and online storefront. Payment gateway is used in authentication of credit card information and real-time charging from a credit card.

Search Engines

World Wide Web sites such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN used for browsers to type in their specific search and list of matching websites are populated.

Server

HTTP clients connect to in order to send commands and receive replies along with data contents.

Secured Server

A sever that is secure in which protects privacy of electronic payments made on the Internet.

Shipping Provider

An organization that provides the services of physically transporting the goods ordered on the Internet, to the address specified by a buyer.

Shopping Cart

Software required for building an online store and for accepting orders online

Storefront

A term for an ecommerce website on the World Wide Web. The Storefront is the same as a homepage for a generic website.

SSL

Secure Socket Layer. It's a protocol designed for the secure transfer of information over the Internet. It helps to maintain security, reliability and privacy of the information and ensures that the information is not tempered with while the transfer is talking place.

Uniform Resource Locater (URL)

An HTTP address used by the World Wide Web to identify a certain site.

Visit

A visitor who actually clicks into your website.

Volume Wholesalers

Larger volume wholesalers who sell their products at an extremely discounted rate.

Webmaster

The person who is in charge of the creation and maintenance of their website.

Website

A collection of files organized in a structure that can read through a browser. The domain name given to a website is the unique identification of a website in the World Wide Web.

Website Traffic

The number of times a website is viewed by a unique visitor within a given time.

Wi-FI

High speed wireless Internet

World Wide Web (WWW)

With a web browser, user can view web pages, commonly abbreviated to the Web.