Are you trying to start an online business, but are not sure where to start and are totally confused by all the online marketing jargon?
Are you overwhelmed with the many online business programs available or concerned that you’ll lose money by investing in them?
While many offers sound too good to be true, there are some very good ones available – but how can you be sure?
Learning to read ‘between the lines’ will better prepare you for what’s really involved.
Here are some common phrases and online marketing jargon that is used to talk about online businesses and what it all really means.
Online Marketing Jargon And What It Means
Simple And Easy
Simple and easy depends on who’s speaking. A doctor may tell you it’s only a ‘simple procedure’ but that doesn’t mean that you should attempt it yourself.
Many online businesses ARE simple to operate. If you understand how it works you will be amazed at the simplicity – but getting to that point will require time and experience. You may just need to try a few to get a ‘feel’ for the business before deciding which one or type is easiest for you.
Those who have learned from experience can look back and see how simple it could have been if they’d known what to do all along. Finding a trustworthy guide can be a great assistance when starting out online.
Anyone Can Do This!
Sorry – starting a business of any kind is stressful and requires a learning curve.
If you are attempting an online business out of desperation or the belief you will make easy money you will face enormous obstacles. On the other hand, if you are truly seeking a business you can learn, work at and make a living from, you will find something online that fits your needs. You can learn with the best right here.
Studies of successful business people concur that those who make it have common qualities of persistence, patience and desire. These qualities are essential when trying to start an online business – do you have them?
Turnkey
The term ‘turnkey’ used to mean that a business was set up and ready to go. You will find the term in business classifieds where the new owner can just step in and start running the business. Unfortunately, some marketers use the term to suggest a business is fully automated and that there is no work involved.
There is always work involved, believe me. If the business really is turnkey than you will begin work right away because it has already been set to go.
If you want an automated business you will have to do the work to make it automated. Either way, nobody is going to give you an automated, turnkey business that makes money – they had to do the work, so why would they want to share it?
Search Engine
A search engine is what helps visitors to find your website. The most popular search engine is Google, but there are hundreds out there, including Yahoo and Bing.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. This is the art of getting your website to rank on the search engines.
SEO is not a complicated online marketing jargon to learn as it sounds, and it is well worthwhile to know how to do this, especially if your online business is website based.
If you are good at getting your website to rank, you are halfway to making a good income online from home. I got all my SEO training with this company, as if you are reading this then you know it is working because you found this article.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is the practice of referring products to your readers, and if they purchase a product through your referral, you get paid a commission.
To me, this is by far the easiest way to build up to a full-time income online, although it does take time to perfect.
It Won’t Cost Anything
You absolutely CAN set up an online business with no money but be prepared that a combination of no money and lack of experience will stifle your efforts immensely.
Most individuals who start or run a business with no money have learned how to make use of the best free techniques through experience.
They have paid their dues by trying businesses that cost money. They have spent time in and around their industry or market and they’ve been able to see where they can cut costs.
If you are prepared to spend a LOT of time researching before starting your business you may be one of the few who does it right the first time. For most people though, expect to pay something towards your online business education before seeing results – you just can’t buy experience.
MLM
MLM stands for Multi-Level Marketing. A lot of online business opportunities use this model. It involves referring others to join the business and then getting paid from their referrals and so on and so on.
In a lot of cases, it is difficult to make money with these types of business, unless you are a gifted salesman. You have to rely on whoever you refer to the business to actually work, or else you don’t get paid.
Personally, I prefer to rely on myself, as I know I am reliable.
PPC
PPC stands for pay per click. Many people who have successful websites advertise for companies on their website on this basis. If somebody clicks on the ad, the webmaster gets paid. This is one of those truly passive ways of earning an income from your website.
PPA
PPA stands for pay per action. It works almost like PPC, but people have to perform an action before the webmaster gets paid. This could be anything from leaving their email address to signing up to a service. The commissions here are normally a lot higher than PPC.
Adsense
Adsense is basically Google ads that appear on websites or on the search engines. If people click on the ads, the webmaster gets paid. There are many other companies besides Google that also offer this type of service.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is online marketing jargon that is essential to know about.
This is another very important learning curve that any internet marketer should work on perfecting. It is essential for anybody who owns a website to know how to perform this important skill.
Without doing keyword research and writing content based around popular keywords, the website will never be found in the internet jungle, and the webmaster would not be able to rely on search engines to bring him visitors.
He would thus need to do paid advertising to get his website noticed.
I use this keyword tool to do all my research, as it is the easiest and fastest way to get quality keywords for your website.
Any online business obviously has its share of work involved, but finding the right one has enormous payoffs many people are willing to sacrifice time and money to achieve this. Running your own business is satisfying and can give you more time to do what you really want to do in life.
Creating a successful online business is within the grasp of nearly everyone who is prepared to stick to it and is willing to learn, and the online marketing jargon isn’t as difficult as it seems.
Face the task of starting your business with realistic expectations while continuing to dream big and you may just surprise yourself!
So let’s get on with some great training and soon the online marketing jargon will be like your second language.
Great post and good info.
It isn’t to hard actually, but you need to find the good platform which explains everything, and this should be for free.
You have a lot of platforms which claims to explain you but you need to pay, and in the end you see it is crap.
Instead, use Wealthy Affiliate. I’m using this for a while, and everything I know about the affiliate marketing is because of them.
You should try it out.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
I also use Wealthy Affiliate. It’s the best.
Ah, you gotta love the online jargon! These are absolutely all the things I run into daily. I see a lot of the “turnkey” and “Anyone can do this!” and “simple and easy” when I’m looking at marketing products to review.
Of course, I Do think anyone can do it, but it’s not so “simple and easy”! lol Like you said, it takes time and work to get things done. But it’s fun work! Better than sitting in an office somewhere.
By the way, I think business offices are the WORST with using jargon. If you ever sat in a meeting at an office somewhere, everyone will use so much jargon to make themselves look smarter. It’s ridiculous!
Anyway, thanks for this great list of jargon! You should make a bingo game out of it. lol
Good idea Christina. And you are so right, working online for yourself is way better than sitting in an office working for someone else.
I honestly think that your article is really great and informative. Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways for someone to earn money online and you even don’t need a website although it is highly recommended. What is most difficult for me is to do keyword research as it is hard to find low-competitive keywords.
That it is Daniel, although luckily Jaaxy makes this process a lot easier. I also use a lot of long tail keywords, and this makes the process of finding good ones a lot easier.