The Modern Business Dictionary

A/B testing, or split testing, is experimentation where you randomly show people two (or more) variants of your products, ads emails, content, or pages.

An abandoned cart is when a customer adds products to the shopping cart but doesn’t complete the checkout. Learn more…

Ad copy is text and messages on digital advertising, landing pages, emails, ad video scripts, or printed marketing materials. Learn more.

Ad creative is the visual art used in digital and traditional advertising – for example, images, graphics, animations, and video.

Aesthetics refers to your account’s and content’s look and feel… Read more

AI chatbot is a technology known as AI (Artificial Intelligence). It is a computer program that can simulate a conversation with people.

AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. It’s a model to capture people’s attention, generate interest and desire, and encourage action.

Algorithm is a code that decides which content to show users – for example on social media, search engines, and other apps.

Alt text, or alt descriptions, is a text description of an image. It improves accessibility for visual impairment and helps search engines… Read more

AMA stands for Ask Me Anything, a popular format for online discussion. Think of it as Q&A, but in a social media setting.… Read more

Analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data to gain insights and drive decision-making… Read more

Angel investor is an individual who invests in promising startups or entrepreneurs. They take an active role in providing advice and guidance.

API stands for application programming interface, a set of instructions that lets apps and software “talk” with each other.

AR stands for Augmented Reality, a technology that overlays digital information on top of the camera image in real-time.

An avatar is an image or physical representation of a person that can be used on websites, social media platforms, and other digital spaces.

Average view duration is a YouTube metric that shows how engaging your video is. Video with high average view duration are more engaging.

B2B stands for business-to-business, where one business provides goods or services to another. Read more

B2C stands for business-to-consumer that sells products and services to consumers. Read more

Baby Boomers are a generation of people born between 1940 and 1965, following the silent generation. They have shaped the modern world.

A backlink is a link from one website to another external site. Backlinks play an essential role in SEO. Read more

BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. It’s the framework salespeople and marketers use to qualify leads.

Bio is short for “biography.” It’s your personal information, such as your name, age, location, and other relevant details.

Bitmoji is an app that allows you to create personalized emoji characters. You can use them in your chats and social networks.

Black hat SEO are search engine marketing tactics that violate search engine guidelines to gain an advantage in rankings.

Block is a feature that allows users to hide someone from their social media feed or take any other actions.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger that operates as an online database, enabling secure online transactions between parties… Read more

A blog is written content, like articles, that you post on the website. Many people use blogs to express themselves… Read more

A blue checkmark is a verified badge indicating that an account is an official page or profile. It verifies the account holder’s identity.

A boosted post (or to boost a post) is a form of advertising on social media. It’s when you pay to show an existing post… Read more

Bounce rate measures how often users leave your website after viewing just one page. A high bounce rate is high is a bad sign.

Brand advocate is someone who loves your brand and promotes your product/service.

Brand awareness is the ability of a customer to recognize and remember a company, product, or service… Read more

Brand extension is the process of taking an existing brand and applying it to a new product or service… Read more

Brick-and-mortar refers to a physical location. It can be a store, apartment building, or office.

Broetry is a writing style that focuses on telling a story in short, simple sentences with lots of line breaks.

A business accelerator is a program that helps established startups grow and scale. Accelerators provide mentorship, office space, capital, resources, and a community of like-minded people.

A business incubator is a program that helps early-stage startups develop their ideas, create a business model, and find how to monetize it. Read more

A buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer. It helps you to think more deeply about who your customers are… Read more

CAC stands for cost per acquisition. It’s the cost of acquiring a customer or user. It can be used to evaluate marketing and sales efforts.

CASL stands for Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation. It prohibits sending commercial emails and requires companies to include contact information.

CBO stands for Campaign Budget Optimization, which allows you to control your budget at the campaign level. It’s done by testi… Read more

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking person in a company. CEO’s primary responsibilities… Read more

CFO stands for chief financial officer who’s responsible for the company’s financial management.

A chatbot is a computer program that interacts with people through text, voice, or video. It’s an AI that is designed to interact with people.

Churn rate is the number of customers or employees who leave a company during a given period. It can indi… Read more

CIO stands for Chief Information Officer, a corporate executive responsible for Information Technology (IT) strategy and implementation.

The CMO is responsible for identifying market opportunities and risks, creating a plan to reach people, and implementing tactics… Read more

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that allows you build, manage, and maintain the website without… Read more

Competitive intelligence involves collecting and analyzing information about your competition… Read more

Content marketing focuses on creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract, engage, and retain customers.

COO stands for Chief Operating Officer, a corporate executive who oversees the daily operations of a company.

CPA stands for cost per action that gives advertisers control over their campaigns. You pay for each conversion you generate… Read more

CPM is the cost per mile or cost per 1000 views. It’s the amount you (advertiser) pay to show your ad to 1,000 people.

Crisis management is the process of dealing with an unexpected event that threatens to disrupt operations or affect a reputation.

CRM stands for customer relationship management, which refers to managing your customers and their interaction with your brand.

Crowdfunding is a popular way to raise money by getting many people to invest small amounts to fund projects.

Crowdsourced content is created with input from a large group of people, usually via the Internet. You could do photo and video contests… Read more

CSAT stands for customer satisfaction score, the overall score of how satisfied customers are with your product quality and/or customer service.

CSO stands for Chief Security Officer, a senior-level role responsible for an organization’s physical and digital security.

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It’s a way to organize and format the look and layout of a website or web app.

A call to action (CTA) is a sentence or a set of elements that motivate people to take action.

CTO stands for Chief Technology Officer, an executive who oversees the development and implementation of a company’s technology strategy.

Click Through Rate (CTR) is a metric that measures how often people who see your ad end up clicking on it.

Customer friction is a point in your customer journey where people stop or leave. It’s anything that gets in the way of a customer.

Conversion rate (CVR) is the percentage of people who took action from the total who saw your offer, landing page, etc.

CX stands for customer experience, an interaction between your customers and your brand that influences the whole customer journey… Read more

D2C/DTC stands for direct to consumer, a business model where companies sell products directly to consumers without going through traditional… Read more

Dark social is the term that describes the private sharing of content and links through messengers or email.

De-indexing refers to a website or a being removed from Google’s (or other search engines) index. Deindexing happens if…

Direct message (DM) is a private message sent through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Direct response marketing is a form of advertising that persuade people to take immediate attention. This includes filling out… Read more

Discord is a free online service for text messaging, voice chat, video chat, group chat, as well as sharing files.

Domain Name System (DNS) is like your phone book for the Internet. Just as you would use it to find someone’s phone number, DNS helps… Read more

Domain Authority (DA) is a ranking score from 1 to 100, with 1 being the lowest and 100 being the highest.

Doxing is the act of obtaining and publishing information about someone online, usually with malicious intent.

Ebook stands for electronic book. It’s a digital book that people can read on a computer, mobile device, or dedicated ebook reader.

Ecommerce is doing business on the internet by marketing, selling, and providing service/support… Read more

Email marketing is a marketing technique to promote products or services through email. It builds relationships with customers, ge… Read more

Emoji are set of tiny graphics or icons that can be used to represent an emotion or describe a mood… Read more

Employee advocacy is when people promote the company they work at. They can promote products, services, and culture on social media or..

Engagement is a form of interaction with other users and brands on social media platforms. For example, post likes, comments, and shares.

Engagement rate is a metric that tells you how people interact with your content on social media. Learn more about engagement rate!

Ephemeral content is a type of content that has a short lifetime before it expires. It’s designed to be consumed in the moment.

Equity investors invest in companies in exchange for a part of the company’s assets and profits… Read more

Evergreen content is a type of content that remains relevant and useful over time. In other words, posts and topics that rarely change.

Facebook is a social media platform that allows users to connect with friends and family. It lets companies target these users with ads.

A featured snippet is a type of search result that appears in the SERPs. They’re designed to give users quick access to information

Feed on social media is a way to share a video or a picture to your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media accounts.

Finsta is a slang term, short for a fake Instagram account. It’s a secondary or private account with content that doesn’t fit your main feed.

Follow Friday (#FF) is a Twitter tradition where users share lists of their favorite users to help others find new users to follow.

Full funnel marketing is a strategy that focuses on the entire customer journey, from awareness through consideration to purchase and beyond.

FYP, or For You Page, is a feature on social media platforms that makes personalized content recommendations based on your interests.

Gen X is the generation born between 1965 and 1980. They’re considered to be transitional, sandwiched between the Boomers and Generation Y.

Millennials, or Gen Y, is the generation born between 1980 and 1995, following Gen X. They grew up at the beginning of the digital revolution.

Gen Z is the generation born between 1995 and 2010, following the Millennials. They grew up during the digital revolution.

Google Analytics (or GA) is a powerful tool that allows businesses to track and measure the success of their website.

Google Analytics 4 (or GA4) is the latest version of Google Analytics, which is designed to help businesses gain more insights.

Google My Business is a free Google Maps and Search listing. It lets you control how your business looks in search results.

GPL stands for GNU General Public Licence, an open-source license for the software. It lets you modify and redistribute the source code… Read more

Graphic design is the process of simplifying and communicating information through visual art. It’s used in marketing, advertising, branding.

Growth marketing is an approach that only focuses on strategies and tactics that bring growth and results.

A social media handle is a unique name you use on each social media platform (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

A hard bounce is a permanent email delivery issue when you cannot deliver emails to a recipient. Learn more!

A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hashmark (#). People use hashtags on social media to find and organize content, start… Read more

Headline is a text at the top of an article or page in a blog, newspaper, or magazine. It indicates the main point of the content.

Heat map is a graphical representation where you can track visitor behavior and detect what works and doesn’t on your site or page.

Hemingway Editor is a handy tool that can help you to improve your writing. It’s designed to make your writing clearer and more concise.

HTML tags are the building blocks of any webpage or email. They provide structure for the content like headings, text, images, videos, and other elements.

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, a communication protocol for transferring data from a server to a web browser.

Hyperlink is a link that allows you to navigate between web pages, jump to specific sections within a page, open external files, or another site.

Iframe (inline frame) is a web browser technology that lets you embed content from another website within your webpage. People use iframes to display ads (ex., Google Display Ads), embed videos, collect web analytics, and add interactive content. Example of iFrame: This HTML <iframe src=”https://gazizoff.com/” title=”Gazizoff Digital Home page”></iframe> displays this:

An impression is a metric that lets you know how many times people saw your links (on search), ads, or content (on social media).

IBL stands for inbound links, links that come from another website or blog to your website. They are essential for your SEO… Read more

Inbound marketing is an approach that focuses on organic strategies and tactics to attract people to your business.

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that involves connecting with influencers who have a large online following and influence over their audiences.

Infographic is a visual representation of data or information. It helps to communicate… Read more

Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to share photos, and videos, connect with people and stay up-to-date.

IP stands for Internet Protocol address, a number that identifies the device on a network. It’s like a postal code for computers… Read more

IPO stands for initial public offering; it’s when a company sells shares to the public for the first time… Read more

JavaScript (JS) is a scripting language that makes it easy to create interactive and dynamic web content, apps, and websites.

A jingle is a short, catchy melody often used in advertising. The purpose of a jingle is to help a listener remember a product or service.

A jobber is a middleman who buys products in bulk from manufacturers and resells them to retailers at a lower price than the retail.

JSON-LD is a lightweight Linked Data format that is easy to read and write. It is based on JSON and uses the Linked Data principles.

Keyword stuffing is a technique some website owners use to improve their site’s ranking in SERPs by overusing important keywords.

Keywords are words, terms, or phrases that people look for when they use a search engine like Google… Read more

KPI stands for key performance indicator, any metric that helps you understand whether you’re moving towards your goals.

A landing page is a website page that marketers use to convert visitors into leads or customers… Read more

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a metric that tells you how fast the first largest element loads on your page.

Lead nurturing is the process of helping potential customers on their buying journey by building relationships.

Lifecycle marketing focuses on improving and personalizing the customer journey to help increase customer retention and profitability.

LinkedIn is a social media platform for networking and building professional relationships… Read more

Load time is the amount of time it takes for a web page to load when a user visits it.

Local marketing is all about promoting a business within a specific geographic area. This can be done through traditional and modern methods.

Logo is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to identify a company, organization, product, or brand… Read more

Long-tail keywords are phrases that are usually longer and more specific. They describe a broad category of… Read more

Lifetime value is a metric that estimates how much money a customer will spend with your company throughout their lifetime.

Marketing automation is the process or software that automates marketing activities such as email marketing, social media outreach… Read more

A meme is a joke in the format of an image, GIF, graphic, or video that people often share online, usually through social media.

Microsite stands for a small website with a single purpose or subject to promote different parts of a business. They drive traffic and generate conversions.

A mission statement is a description of the company’s current goals. It helps you communicate your values, build trust and credibility.

MRR stands for monthly recurring revenue, a recurring sales revenue model that relies on subscription-based business models… Read more

A Minimal Viable Product (MVP) is a product with enough features to attract customers and validate an idea early.

Native advertising is a form of online advertising that blends in with the rest of the content… Read more

Newsletter is a type of email that allows companies and organizations to stay in touch with their customers and subscribers… Read more

A niche is a specific group of people you target with your product or service. These people share similar interests and beliefs.

A no-follow link is a link from one website to another that does not pass PageRank and authority. No-follow links don’t count… Read more

NPS stands for Net Promoter Score, a metric used to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction… Read more

OBL stands for an outbound link. These are links from your website to another website… Read more

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results, a system that helps businesses measure and track progress towards specific goals.

Organic traffic is the natural traffic that comes to your website… Read more

OTO stands for one-time offer, an irresistible limited-time deal. It encourages people to buy something here and now.

OoO stands for Out of Office, a message that replies automatically to any incoming emails… Read more

Outbound marketing focuses on intrusive methods like cold-calling, email blasts, and ads.

Page authority (PA) is a score that indicates a page will rank well in search results… Read more

PageRank (PR) is an algorithm Google uses to rank your website in search engine results. The algorithm assigns a “rank”… Read more

Paid advertising is a form of marketing that helps you place an advertisement on paid platforms, like search engines, social media, and websites.

Paid traffic is when advertisers pay to have their ads displayed on websites… Read more

PAS stands for Problem Agitate Solution, a sales, marketing, and copywriting framework. It involves raising a problem… Read more

Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to share images and videos on virtual pinboards… Read more

PPC stands for pay per click, an advertising model where you pay search engines only when users click on your ad. CPC stands for cost per click… Read more

Profit is the difference between what it costs to produce something and what you sell it for.

A project manager is a key member who is responsible for the successful management of a project… Read more

PTO stands for paid time off, when your employer allows you to be away from work with pay… Read more

PR stands for Public Relations, a form of marketing communication that helps companies and organizations reach out to the public.

QR code stands for Quick Response Code, a 2D matrix of black and white squares that can be scanned with a camera.

Qualified leads are leads you identified as ideal customers with an intent to buy… Read more

Quality score is a Google Ads metric that considers the quality and relevance of your keywords and your landing page. Learn more..

Questionnaires are a popular research tool; they are easy to share and let you quickly collect large amounts of data.

URL redirect is when a URL sends you to another one. You use redirects to send visitors to a different URL than the one they requested.

Referral traffic is web traffic that drives visitors from one website to another. For example, external sources like social media, blogs and moreю

Responsive web design is an approach to designing web pages that work well on various devices, from smartphones to desktop computers.

A return visitor is a user who visits a website more than once. It shows that the website provides valuable content.

A retweet is an act of sharing someone else’s post on social media like Twitter.

Revenue is what your business receives from sales of any products/services… Read more

Revenue share (rev-share) is a model where businesses share revenues in exchange for capital or service.

ROAS stands for return on advertising spend, a metric for measuring the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.

Robots.txt is a file that helps search engine bots to crawl pages on your website. It tells search engines which pages to index and avoid in SERPS.

ROI stands for return on investment, metric businesses and marketers use to determine how well their investments perform.

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, a format that allows people to access a site’s content in a convenient way… Read more

RSS reader is a software application that can fetch content from RSS feed providers and display it in a user-friendly interface.

SaaS stands for software as a service, a business model that gives people access to an application on a pay-as-you-go basis.

A scale-up is a business with a strong validated product/model focused on rapid growth… Read more

Schema markup is a code that helps search engines better understand, display and rank your site’s content. It provides structured data… Read more

Scope of work is a document that outlines the project’s objectives, timeline, tasks, and deliverables… Read more

Seed funding are investments that help early-stage startups start a business idea.

SEM stands for search engine marketing, a process of using organic and paid strategies to appear in search engine results (SERPs).

Sender Score is a reputation metric that is used to measure the trustworthiness of an email sender. It’s assigned to a sender’s IP address.

SEO stands for search engine optimization, a process that improves a website’s organic ranking on search results (SERPs).

Series A funding is an equity investment that helps startups grow by building MVPs and getting the first traction from the market.

Series B funding is an equity investment that helps startups grow and scale by expanding operations and reaching customers.

Series C funding is an equity investment that helps established companies expand even further.

SERP stands for search engine results page, the list of results that appears after you enter a query into a search like Google.

SOV stands fir Share of Voice, a metric that measures how well a company or brand performs relative to its competitors.

A slogan is a short phrase that communicates the essence of your brand and helps customers recognize your products or services.

Smarketing is the art of mixing sales and marketing. Sometimes by aligning the teams to work together… Read more

SMART goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These help set realistic goals.

SMB stands for a small and midsized business. There are various criteria for defining SMBs… Read more

SMO stands for social media optimization, the process of improving your social media pages and content… Read more

Social media is a network of digital tools and resources that people use to communicate, connect, create and share content.

Social media marketing is the process of using social media platforms to promote and advertise a brand, its products, or its services.

Social media SEO is the process of optimizing your social media pages and content… Read more

Social proof is the evidence that people found value in your business or purchased from you… Read more

A soft bounce is an email delivery issue when you cannot deliver emails to a recipient. Soft bounces happen due to temporary issues.

Spam is any unwanted or unsolicited digital communication sent via emails, phone calls, text messages, website forms, and social media direct messages.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a security technology that encrypts data between a user and a server. It protects data from unauthorized access, tampering, spoofing, stealing, and other malicious activities.

A startup is an early-stage company focused on validating business ideas and testing markets.

Target Audience is a group of people who are or might be interested in your business, product, or service. Learn more…

TikTok is a social media platform that lets people create, share and discover short, entertaining video content.

Title tag, also known as heading 1, or h1, is an HTML tag that tells people and search engines what your page is about.

Top funnel marketing is a type of marketing that creates awareness of a brand or product. It’s usually used at the beginning of.. Read more

TOS stands for Terms of Service, a set of rules you agree to follow when using the site or service.

Tracking code helps you track users and their activity on your website, an app, emails or through links(ex. UTM tags). 

Transactional emails are automated emails like account notifications, order confirmations, shipping notifications, and order completion emails. Transactional emails are different from marketing emails. Marketing emails aim to sell products, build awareness or increase sales. Transactional emails notify customers about their orders, account updates, and other commercial transactions.

A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, derogatory, or offensive comments on social media to provoke strong emotional responses.

Tweeps is a friendly slang term to refer to fellow Twitter users. It combines “Twitter” and “peeps,” meaning people.

Twitch is live-streaming platform. It allows gamers to live-stream their gameplay, chat with other gamers, and build a following of fans.

Twitter is a social media platform that lets people share short messages. It has a 140-character limit, encouraging users to be concise.

Twitter Ads are a way for businesses to promote their products or services on Twitter. You can target specific groups of people.

UGC stands for user-generated content, content people create about a business or a product.

Unfollow refers to unsubscribing from someone’s social media account. You no longer see posts when you unfollow someone on social media.

A unique selling proposition (USP) is a feature that differentiates your business from the competition. Learn more about USP.

UV stands for unique visitor, a person who visits a website at least once during a specified period… Read more

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, a string that identifies a location on the internet… Read more

A URL shortener is a online tool that can take a long, complicated URL and turn it into a shorter, simpler one.

UX stands for user experience design, the process of creating intuitive and enjoyable interfaces, products, systems, and services.

User interface design is a process of creating beautiful, easy-to-use digital interfaces for products like websites or apps.

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, a code you add to the end of a URL/link to track analytics through digital analytics… Read more

A vanity metric is a statistic that looks good on the surface but doesn’t mean much or doesn’t bring any results.

VC stands for venture capitalist, an individual or a firm that invests in early-stage companies. They provide seed or Series A funding… Read more

Verified refers to social media accounts that have proven their identity to the platform (ex., Instagram). Verified accounts have a label, usually in the form of a checkmark next to their handle (name). It’s an official way platforms show that a specific account belongs to the person or business it claims to be. That might […]

Vine was a social media platform that focused on short-form videos. Similar to TikTik, people shared short-form videos.

Viral refers to content that gets a lot of attention very quickly. That could be because it’s funny, heartwarming, or just plain weird.

A virtual event is an organized meet-up that takes place online. People do virtual events to replace or supplement an in-person events.

A vision statement is a short aspirational description of the company’s ultimate goal. It communicates the purpose of the organization.

Visual identity is the look and feel of a brand. It usually includes a logo, color scheme, typography, and design elements of a company.

Vlogging combines the words “Video” and “Blogging.” It’s a form of online video content where creators share their lives and thoughts.

VR stands for virtual reality, a computer-generated environment you can experience with a pair of VR goggles.

Watch time is a YouTube metric that measures the total time people spend watching your videos. The algorithm favors longer videos…

Web 1 refers to the early stage of the internet when people used it as a tool for sharing information. At this time, webpages were static…

Unlike the first generation (WEB1.0), which focused on static content, Web 2.0 sites are dynamic and interactive.

3 is the third generation of the World Wide Web (the internet). It is a decentralized web that is powered by blockchain technology.

A webpage is a document (usually HTML) you access through a web browser, like Chrome, Safari, or Edge. Learn more about web pages.

broadcast, or even a sales pitch.

WeChat is a messaging and calling app primarily used in China. It lets you connect with friends and family worldwide and much more.

A welcome email is an email you send to new customers or subscribers. They are a valuable tool for building relationships and onboarding.

WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets you chat with friends, family and clients. It lets you send messages, make voice/video calls, share photos, videos, and docs.

White Hat SEO refers to “good” SEO tactics that follow the guidelines set by search engines like Google. Learn more.

A white paper is an informational document formatted as a long-form article. They can include data, trends, charts, and expert quotes.

Wiki refers to crowdsourced informational websites like Wikipedia. Wikis let people add, edit, or delete content collaboratively.

A wireframe is a blueprint of a website or an app. They’re used to plan the layout, information architecture, user experience, and interface.

Word of mouth or WOM marketing is when people tell their friends, family, and others about a business. It’s the oldest forms of marketing.

WordPress (WP) is a content management system (CMS) that lets you create a website or blog, as it’s free and open-source software.

A WordPress plugin is a piece of software code that is installed on a website… Read more

A WordPress theme is a collection of files that define the appearance of your WordPress website.

XML sitemap, or Extensible Markup Language, a file on your website that helps search engines find, crawl, and index pages.

ahoo Native is a service that lets you advertise on Yahoo search (PPC), websites, and apps. You can target specific audiences. Learn more.

YooTheme is a premium WordPress and Joomla theme provider. But, it’s more than a theme; it’s a complete frontend ecosystem.

YouTube is a video-sharing and social media website that lets users upload, share, and watch videos for free.

YouTube advertising is a part of Google Ads that lets you advertise your business on across Youtube. Learn more.