For me, quitting my job and creating a blog was like starting a whole new career path. I basically abandoned all the knowledge I gained from college, and jumped into something totally new.
I didn’t have a college professor teaching me blog terminology, website coding, or email marketing strategies. I had to learn it all on my own.
Therefore, there was a huge learning curve at the beginning that I had to navigate. One of those being this new blogging lingo which was basically like learning a foreign language for me.
Although you may think it’s just computer terminology, there’s a whole lot more vocabulary and concepts that you must understand when you start a business of blogging.
Of course, there are the technology components that you must learn regarding making the website, but there’s also the business terminology that you must understand as well.
Remember, the sooner that you start thinking of your blog as a business, the more successful you will be!
Here are some of the most popular terms that newbies need to know and understand in order to create a website, write blog posts, promote their content, and manage their business.
Website
Web Host: Your host is a company that is providing space on its servers to store your blog on the internet. Once the hosting company hosts your website, users can access it in their web browser. Bluehost and SiteGround are two of the biggest and best hosts available.
Domain: The domain is the address of your website. It’s what a user would type into their web browser to get to your site. www.(DOMAIN).com
Niche: Specific blog topic
Theme: The selected style and layout of your blog. A theme is composed of templates and stylesheets that make up the appearance of your blog. There are premade themes that make it easier for someone with no coding experience to be able to use. This is how you design your webpage to be user-friendly and exactly what you want it to look like.
Above the Fold: What you see on your website when it first pulls up before having to scroll. This term is typically used when talking about where to place your most important information for sales and interest.
Branding: the streamlined look of your blog. It can include fonts, color codes, image types, etc. You want to keep your branding consistent over your platforms (website, social media, email newsletters, logo, etc.).
Static Front Page: In WordPress, you have two options, a front-page (or home page) that shows a list of your most recent blog posts (little to no customization) or a static front page, which is a page you create and decide what is displayed.
Sticky: The item will be stuck where you place it. If you want a blog post to be sticky, it will always be visible as the top post on your main blog page.
Content: a compilation of information, ideas, and messages that are translated into some kind of written, visual, or audible format for others to consume. Typically a blog post or social media post that you create can be considered content.
WordPress
WordPress: The online tool that will help you create your website and manage your content. WordPress allows you to build your website, including writing blog posts and pages to creating menus and categories, with little to no website coding needed.
Plug-in: Think of a plug-in as an app for your WordPress site. By installing a plug-in, you add the feature it offers onto your site, in addition to your theme. If you want to place a Pinterest button on your page, you add that plugin. To add an Instagram feed, you add that plugin. To add a scrolling bar, you can add the plugin. There are thousands of plugins to choose from that let you really personalize your site for the user.
Sidebar: The area of your blog located on the side of your content. Depending on your theme, this can be the left or the right side of your blog. *This is optional, however, it gives you added space that will stay visible as the user reads your content. You can use this area for ads, images, categories, or really anything you want to share consistently with your readers.
Widget: A small block that can be inserted on your website that performs pre-set functions. For example, there are text widgets, image widgets, category widgets, etc.
Categories: a way to sort your posts on your blog. For example, a cooking blog may have Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipe categories. It could be broken down even further than that, such as 10-minute recipes, crockpot recipes, healthy eating, etc. You can really break down your categories however you want.
Round-Up Post- a post that is a collection of other posts. An example would be “17 Delicious Christmas Cookie Recipes” and within the post, you share links to 12 other bloggers’ recipes. Always link back to the original poster to give them credit.
Search Engines
SEO: Search Engine Optimization. The process of setting up your blog and blog posts to be easily read by search engines. This increases your rank of place within search results in a search engine. When a user puts in some words or a question in their search bar, you want to have the highest slot coming up in their view. The higher you rank, the better chance you will have for someone to click on your post and visit your site.
Backlink: A link to your blog from another website. If someone refers to my website from theirs, they would insert my link to get the user to check out my site. For example, “Check out more info on starting a blog at Michelle’s website www.startablog.com” Backlinks actually help your search engine optimization by lettering Google know that you are a reputable website because other bloggers are referencing or linking to your site.
Keywords: The words or phrases that you use to show search engines what your blog is about. They are typically what the blog post covers. Ex. ‘blog’ ‘terminology’ ‘words’ ‘website’ would all be seperate keywords
Long-tail keyword: A phrase used as a keyword instead of just a word. Ex. ‘blogging terminology for beginners” and “start a blog” would be long-tail keywords
Tags: These are additional descriptive words for your blog post. They can be words or phrases. A blog post about what to feed your toddler might include ‘toddler meal ideas,’ ‘foods for a picky toddler,’ ‘get your toddler to eat.’
Alt Text: Short for Alternative Text. This is an additional area within a photo that you can add keywords to. This will help with your SEO and Pinterest searches.
Yoast: This refers to a plug-in that can assist you with your SEO tactics.
Stats
Analytics: Data and statistics about the users of a website and how they interact with the website. Analytics can be used to uncover information about who browses your website (demographics), how much time they spend on the website, and the specific actions they take on the website.
Google Analytics: a free tool provided by Google that gives you an in-depth look into your traffic. Where traffic is coming from, who your audience is (age, interest, location) and so much more.
Pageviews: The total number of times your blog has been viewed. This includes how many times one user has viewed multiple pages on your site. For example, if 1 person reads 5 blog posts on your page while on your site for 10 minutes, that counts as 5 page views. It is usually referred to daily or monthly, however, you can get your stats for any set time periods. Commonly abbreviated as PV.
Unique Visitors: The total number of people coming to your site each day, week, month. This number will always be equal or less than your pageviews assuming that visitors will view more than one page. If you have 5 users that each read 5 blog posts each, you would have 25 page views, but only 5 unique visitors.
Bounce Rate: This measures how quickly people “bounce” off your site. If every user only viewed one blog post and left your site, you would have 100% bounce rate which is not good. You want to aim for a low bounce rate. The longer they stick around, the more pages they view, the lower the bounce rate. This shows Google that you have quality content because the user likes what they see when they first come to your site so they choose to stick around and read more posts. If most users land on your page and click on 3 or 4 other blog posts while there, you may have a bounce rate of 80 or 90%.
Making Money
Monetization: The term for allowing your website to make money. You must build in strategies to make a blog profitable. This can be done by placing ads, selling a product, recommending products for a commission, etc.
Display ads: These are often made up of text-based, image or video advertisements that encourage the user to click-through and take action or just view an advertisement for future purchase or knowledge.
Ad Network: A vendor that connects advertisers to publishers. Ad networks act as a single point of contact between publishers and advertisers, helping negotiate supply and demand. Popular ones are Google Adsense, Mediavine, Adthrive, etc.
Click-through Rate (CTR): Expressed as a percentage of total impressions, this statistic shows how often people who are served an ad end up clicking on it. An ad’s CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks an ad received by the number of times it’s been served, then converting that into a percentage.
Cookie: Information stored on a website visitor’s browser. A cookie tracks the visitor’s movement on the website and is used to remember the visitor’s behavior and preferences. Every time a user clicks on a website, a cookie is monitoring that behavior and tracking it.
Copy: Text in an ad, or text written to be delivered audibly. Typically it’s written persuasively to get the user to make a purchase.
Landing Page: The web page users are directed to after they click on a display or paid search ad.
Lead: A potential customer. In digital advertising a lead is someone who has given you their contact information, often by signing up for a newsletter or filling out a form to download an eBook or other gated content.
Pay per Click (PPC): Pricing model where advertisers pay vendors or publishers based on the number of clicks received in a campaign.
Affiliate Marketing: Publishers (bloggers) have websites that get traffic and advertisers (companies) want to get their products in front of the eyes of the people who visit those websites. Affiliate marketing is an agreement between the publisher (blogger) and an advertiser (brand) where the publisher receives compensation for every click delivered and/or every sale made of the advertiser’s product or service.
Affiliate Link: A specific URL that includes the affiliate’s unique code or an affiliate ID. This link tells the company which affiliate (blogger) sent the new business their way and, if sales are made, which affiliate will receive the commission.
Proper Disclosure: The FTC has rules about bloggers and compensation. If you are using affiliate links or have been paid to post something, you must disclose to your reader that will be getting a commission from their purchase or that you got paid to review or advertise the product.
Sponsored Post: When a company pays you to place content on your site. Usually in the form of a product review. You can also do sponsored posts strictly for your social media channels.
Promotion
Call to Action (CTA): A phrase included within an ad, or a graphic element such as a button, which invites the audience to take a certain action. Examples include phrases such as Click to Read More, Download Your Free eBook Now, or Subscribe to My Email List Here.
Media Kit: A media kit is basically a resume for a blogger. It highlights who you are, what your blog is, your accomplishments and more. It is typically used to promote yourself to companies to get paid for a sponsorship or brand deal.
Email List: a list of subscribers who have opted in to receive emails from you.
Opt-In, freebie, lead magnet: Something your give to your followers as a reward for signing up for your email list. It is the best tactic to get a user to sign up for your newsletter or email marketing list. It can be a printable, checklist, guide, short course, ebook, secret tips, etc.
Email Automation: the process of having emails sent through an automated system, like MailerLite. As soon as someone subscribes to your list, they enter the automation and will receive pre-written emails at designated times.
Tailwind: A tool that allows you to schedule your Pinterest pins and Instagram posts and will automatically post for you when the scheduled time comes. It also offers wonderful analytics tools and insights into board performance. You can sign up for 100 free scheduled pins here.
