A/E - An account executive (A/E) is an advertising agency employee assigned to a client and responsible for overseeing the services provided to the client.

AAAA - Founded in 1917, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) is the national trade association representing the advertising agency business in the United States. Its membership produces approximately 75 percent of the total advertising volume placed by agencies nationwide.

Above The Fold - Any area of a web page that is viewable without the viewer having to use the vertical scroll bar. Ad space in this area is usually more expensive since it is more likely to be viewed by the visitor.

Acquisition Cost - The cost to an advertiser to gain a new customer. Advertisers take into consideration the amount of revenue potential from a potential customer over a life time in order to determine the maximum acquisition cost.

Ad Flight - The duration of time for which an advertising campaign is live.

Ad Network - A advertising company that usually serves as a broker between web site publishers and advertisers. Larger ad networks aggregate sites into general categories so that they can offer advertisers targeted buys. The majority of banner advertisements on the Internet are sold and served by ad networks.

Ad Server - A computer, normally operated by a third party, that delivers and tracks advertisements independent of the web site where the ad is being displayed. Use of an ad server helps establish trust between an advertiser and publisher since the statistics are maintained by a objective third party.

Ad Space - The space on a web page reserved for the displaying of advertisements. Typically at the top or bottom of a page or if a small advertisement in the right or left column. The most desirable ad space is above the fold.

Ad Units - A way of classifying ad types. Ad units on the Internet include banners, buttons, micro buttons, pop ups, skyscrapers, text links, interstitials, superstitials, etc. Ad units are usually defined by the IAB as voluntary guidelines.

ADU - Audience Deficiency Unit

Advertise - To communicate information through print and digital media about a company's product or service. The information is usually targetted to those the company believes have the most interest in the product or service.

Advertorial - An advertisement styled to resemble the editorial format and typeface of the content in which it runs. Often generates higher response rates.

Affiliate Marketing - A type of advertising system based on the CPA payment method whereby web sites run advertiser's banners for free but get paid on any sales or registrations that result from visitors that click on the banner.

Affinity Marketing - Any marketing effort including email promotions, banners or offline media aimed at consumers on the basis of established buying patterns. For example a book store might send an email advertisement to all customer who had previously bought mystery books with a headline of "New mystery books released this week."

Agency - An advertising company that represents other companies by providing advertising related services such as planning, creating, buying and tracking an advertisement on behalf of their client.

Agency Discount - A discount, normally equal to 15%, that is offered to advertising agencies that place an order on behalf of their clients. Many large companies establish their own in house agency in order to qualify for the discount when they place the advertisements directly.

AIDA - Stands for attention, interest, desire, and action (AIDA). This is a historical model of how advertising works, by first getting the consumer's attention, then their interest, etc.

AJAX - Ajax is the acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.

Ala Carte - Terms used to describe the way services are offered at some advertising agencies. For example, if an ad agency chooses to provide only the services that a client wishes to purchase instead of providing all services for a set price it would be offering their services Ala carte.

Alt Text - Short for alternative text (Alt Text). Alt text is HTML code that allows an HTML coder to add text to a graphic that is visible to those that have images disabled or those that hover their mouse over a banner advertisement. Often used by advertisers to reinforce a message or call someone to action such as: "Click Here".

ANA - Founded in 1910, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is the national trade association dedicated to serving the interests of corporations that advertise their products and services in the US.

AOR - An agency of record (AOR) is an advertising agency that handles the purchasing of ad space and time for large companies, often coordinating such through other agencies.

Applet - A program written in Sun's Java programming language which allows viewing of simple animation on web pages.

ATL - Above the line (ATL) is any advertising technique which focuses on general media such as TV, cinema, radio, print and Internet.

Audited - The process of reviewing advertising statistics for errors and making any needed adjustments for accuracy. This may occur anytime after an advertising campaign has begun, but usually occurs after the campaign is finished. Ideally performed by a 3rd party.

B2B - Business to business (B2B) is a business model by which a business's main customers are other businesses. Common B2B web sites include online marketplaces where companies can buy raw materials, supplies & equipment.

B2C - Business to consumer (B2C) is a business model in which a business's main customers are consumers. Common B2C web sites include online stores selling books, music & videos.

Backbone - That part of the Internet infrastructure consisting of high speed telecommunications lines that carry the bulk of Internet traffic to smaller regional networking companies and ISPs. If there is a problem on the backbone web pages and banner advertisements may not load as fast or at all.

Banner Burnout - A term used to describe an event when a banner has been shown to the same visitor(s) to the point where the click through rate has dropped dramatically. Rotating banners helps to reduce banner burnout.

Banner Exchange - A Internet service that provides free banner impressions to those willing to place free banners on their sites. A typical exchange ratio is for every 2 banners one shows for free, they get one of their banners shown for free on some one else's site. The company running the banner exchange takes the other impression and tries to sell it.

Below The Fold - The placement of an ad in the area of media that requires one to unfold or scroll to see.

Billboard - An outdoor advertisement on a large board usually placed along the side of busy roads.

Bleed - Describes an ad which is larger than the space for which it is intended. It is cut down to fit the media so that its edges go all the way out to the edges of the media.

Blind Link - A text or graphical hyperlink which does not clearly indicate where the hyperlink leads to.

Blind Traffic - Web visitor traffic that is generated using blind links.

Bounce Rate - Used in web site traffic analysis. Represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who "bounce" away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.

Boutique - An agency that provides a limited service, such as one that does creative work but does not provide media planning, research, etc. Usually, this refers to a relatively small company.

BPS - Bits Per Second (BPS) is a measurement of how much data, called bits, can be transferred through a network connection in one second. When the amount goes over 100,000 bps it will often be shorted to 1 mega bit per second (mbps).

Browser - A computer software program that enables one to access and view text or graphical web pages on the world wide web (WWW). Two popular browsers include the Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

BTF - Below The Fold BTL - Below the line (BTL) is a type of sales promotion focusing on short-term incentives, usually targetted towards consumers.

Button - A type of advertising unit that is smaller than a banner and usually placed in parts of a web page where space is limited such as in narrow columns on the left or right side of a page.

Cache - A type of computer memory that stores previously accessed documents locally so that they can be accessed faster should they be needed again. If you go back to a web page that you have previously visited, much of the pages content may be able to be accessed from your cache instead of requesting the data from the server againthus decreasing the time it takes to load the page.

Cache Bursting - This process, also known as "defeating cache", is accomplished by adding a random number to the banner HTML each time the page is reloaded. This causes a separate banner request to be sent to the server, thus insuring the banner is not cached and banner advertisement impressions are not undercounted.

Campaign - The process of planning, creating, buying and tracking an advertising project from start to finish.

CASIE - The Coalition for Advertising Supported Information and Entertainment (CASIE) is an advertising industry trade group founded in 1994 by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) for the benefit of those involved in the interactive advertising industry.

CGI - The common gateway interface (CGI) is a popular scripting language that enables programmers to create dynamic web pages. An example of a CGI powered web site feature might be be a web site's feedback form or banner rotation program.

Click Rate -The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click through. Calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. For example if a banner was click on 13 times after being displayed 1000 times, the banner would have a click rate of ( 13 ÷ 1000 = .013 ) 1.3%. This is also commonly know as a banners click through rate.

Click Through - The action of clicking on a banner and having ones browser automatically redirected to the web page a banner is hyperlinked to.

Click Through Rate - The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click through. Calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. For example if a banner was click on 13 times after being displayed 1000 times, the banner would have a click rate of ( 13 ÷ 1000 = .013 ) 1.3%. This is also commonly know as a banners click rate.

Clicks - The number of click throughs that have occurred as a result of a user clicking on a banner and being redirected to an advertisers web page.

Clickstream - The path a visitor takes while navigating from site to site or from page to page within a web site. Useful to publishers to see what path people are taking before leaving their site.

CM&S - Content Management & Strategy (CM&S) is a term often used in web banner advertising.

Comp - Short for comprehensive it is a layout prepared to resemble, as closely as possible, the finished project. Comps are often created for ads, brochures, packaging, etc.

Comparative - An advertising appeal that consists of explicitly comparing one product brand to a competitive brand. Can be effective when one brand has a major advantage over another and they are priced the same.

Console - A type of popup window. Pop up windows that launch when a visitor leaves a site are often called exit consoles.

Contextual Advertising - Contextual Advertising is also known as content-targeted advertising, which means that an advertisement is shown on a web site that is "in context" to a company's specific product or service.

Conversion - Term used to describe the process of getting a web visitor to accept an offer or become a paying customer. Advertisers strive for high conversion

Cookies - A process by which a small file is sent from a web server to the local users computer to store information unique to that browser. Often used by advertisers to keep track of the number and frequency of advertisements that have been shown to a visitor or by sites to help them determine the number of unique visitors.

Copy Writing - The process of writing text for an advertisement that gets readers attention, generates interest and desire and prompts action.

Copywriter - One who create the words and concepts for ads and commercials.

CPA - Cost per action (CPA) is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pays for ever action (sale or registration) completed as a result of a visitor clicking on their advertisement. Prices typically range from $1 to $25 or if a percentage of a sale 5% to 25%. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who want to guarantee only the number of customers generated as a result of a advertisement.

CPC - Cost per click (CPC) is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pays for each click through made on their advertisement. Prices typically range from 1¢ to over 50¢ per click through. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who need to guarantee they only pay for those viewers of the banner that click on it and visit a page on their site.

CPD - Cost per day (CPD) is a payment model by which advertisers pay for their ads to be shown on a daily basis.

CPD - CPD is an abbreviation of cost per day. It represents the amount of money to advertise in a certain medium over a period of a single day rather than by the number of views or clicks on the advertisement.

CPI - Cost per inquiry (CPI) is the same as cost per lead, CPL.

CPL - One of the types of CPA, a cost per lead (CPL) method allows advertisers to pay for every lead or customer inquiry that resulted from a visitor who clicked on a their advertisement. Prices typically range from $1 to $10. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who want to guarantee only the number of potential customers with an interest generated as a result of a advertisement. Also known as cost per inquiry (CPI)

CPM - Cost per thousand (CPM) is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pays for every 1000 impressions of their advertisement. Prices typically range from $1 to over $50 per thousand impressions. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who want to guarantee only the number of people who sees their banner. The "M" in CPM is from the Roman numeral for 1000. The Roman numeral M was derived from the latin word "mille" meaning "thousand".

CPS - One of the types of CPA, a cost per sale (CPS) method allow advertisers to pay whenever a visitor who clicked on their advertisement generates a sale. Prices typically range from $1 to $25 or if a percentage of a sale 10% to 25%. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who want to guarantee only the number of paying customers as a result of a advertisement

CPT - One of the types of CPA, a cost per transaction (CPT) method allows advertisers to pay whenever a visitor who clicked on their advertisement generates a transactionusually a sale. Prices typically range from $1 to $25 or if a percentage of a sale 10% to 25%. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who want to guarantee only the number of paying customers as a result of a advertisement.

CPTM - The cost per targeted thousand impressions (CMPT) is the same as CPM but used when referring exclusively to a targeted campaign.

Creative - The technology used to create a banner or other type of advertising material. Common creative types include GIF, JPEG, Java, HTML, Flash or streaming audio/video.

CRM - Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to how a company manages data about its customers.

CTA - Call to Action (CTA) is a marketing message that directs visitors to act in some specific manner such as requesting a brochure.

CTR - Abbreviation for click through rate. The rate at which viewers click on an advertisement.

Dark Site - A dark website is a pre-made, non-visible website, that can be activated online when a particular crisis occurs. It is one of the most common and useful tools in any crisis management strategy and is one of the must-have policies in consumer sectors such as larger airlines, food/beverage companies, pharmaceuticals, financial enterprises and so on. It is common for most companies to have several; all of them customized according to certain vulnerabilities and corporate risks. They store written-in-advance news releases, pictures, official statements and other background information, as the specific details will only be added right before their release. The dark site can be placed on a separate domain, be a distinct section of the main website or totally replace the original. It could be saved on any of the corporate servers or be kept safely on a preferred external device.

Deceptive - A deceptive advertisment is one which contains a representation, omission, act or practice that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances. In order to fall under regulation, the claim must be material.

Defaults - Term used by ad networks to describe a type of banner that is served to a site when no paying banner is available. Usually a PSA type of advertisement unless the ad network permits publishers to specify their own default advertisement.

Defeating Cache - This process, also known as "cache bursting", is accomplished by adding a random number to the banner HTML each time the page is reloaded. This causes a separate banner request to be sent to the server, thus insuring the banner is not cached and banner advertisement impressions are not undercounted.

Demographics - Information regarding the size and characteristics of a particular population of people of interest to advertisers Such as their age, sex, income, education, size of household, ownership of home, etc. This does not include psychographics such as classification by subjective attitudes or opinions of consumers.

Direct Response - A type of advertisement that allows recipients to respond directly to the sender to order a product/service or get more information. Common methods of response include mail, telephone and email.

DMA - Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is a trade association for advertisers and marketers.

DNS - A domain name server (DNS) is a computer on the Internet that helps to translate domain names into IP addresses. Without it web sites could not be found when typed into a browser.

Domain Name - The part of of an Internet address including and immediately preceded by the domain extension. For example adratesonline is our domain name. The domain name is part of a web sites URL. Each web site has its own unique domain name.

End Date - The date on which an advertising campaign ends.

EPC - Abbreviation for earnings per click. Calculated by deviding the total earnings from click throughs by the number of clicks.

EPV - Abbreviation for earnings per visitor. Calculated by deviding the total earnings from visitors by the number of visitors.

Exclusivity - If an advertiser requests their banner not be shown in rotation on the desired pages, they are requesting exclusivity. Publishers tend to charge more for this since since it limits the number of advertisers they can accept for those pages to one.

Exit Exchange - An arrangement between two or more sites in which each site shows advertisments for other sites in exchange for the others doing the same.

Exit Traffic - Type of web visitor traffic in which visitors leaving a site click on a popup or popunder advertisment - otherwise know as a exit console.

Extramercial - Banner ads placed in the extra space in the right column of Internet web pages.

Flash - A software plugin that enables browsers to play multimedia animations. Some rich media advertisements require users to have this plugin.

Flight - The period of time in which one or more commercials air. Usually associated with broadcast media although occasionally used to describe the duration of any type of advertising.

Forced Click - Type of click through that is forced apon a visitor without their consent.

FPO - For Position Only (FPO) refers to a low resolution image put into a layout which is later replaced with a higher resolution image before the prepress process.

Frequency - A term used to describe the number of times the same advertisement is shown to the same visitor during a particular session or time frame. This can be accomplished through the use of cookies.

Geotargeting - Showing ads or content based on the physical location a user is accessing the Internet from.

GIF - The graphical interchange format (GIF) is a graphical file extension. Most banner advertisements are created in the GIF format. More popular than the JPEG format. GIF89a or animated GIFs are a sequences of standard GIF images combined to create animated banners. These animated banners tend to generate higher click through rates than non-animated banners.

Hit - A term used by webmasters that refers to a request made to a web server for a page, graphic, audio or sound file. A web page that has 5 graphics will create 6 total hits in a servers log fileone for each graphic and one for the page itself. While useful for estimating the load on a server, hits serve little value to advertisers or marketers.

Hot Linking - Process by which one links to an image stored on one site yet it appears on one or more other sites. If done without permission, this is considered unethical since one is using bandwidth they are not paying for.

House Ads - A type of banner advertisement that a web site publisher runs in an ad space when no paying advertisement is available to fill the space. Typically filled with an advertisement promoting one of the web sites services, products or features.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a computer programming language that helps control the format of a documents content and design on the world wide web. An HTML editor is a software program that enables one to easily create HTML pages.

Hyperlink - HTML code that when clicked on redirects ones browser to another web page. Most banners are hyperlinked to the advertisers web page.

IAB - Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the leading online global advertising industry trade association with over 300 active member companies in the United States alone. IAB activities include evaluating and recommending standards and practices, fielding research to document the effectiveness of the online medium and educating the advertising industry about the use of online and digital advertising

Impressions - The number of times a banner ad was requested and presumably seen by users. It is often hard to obtain an accurate impression count as they can be undercounted due to issues relating to cache or overcounted due to requests that were not completed.

Incentivized Click - A type of click through in which the person clicking on the advertisement does so in order to receive some reward. Often results in low visitor quality

Insertion Order - A online or printed document that specifies the details of an advertising campaign. The terms of the agreement may also be specified on the insertion order or they may be placed in a separate document but are almost always referred to the insertion order if not present.

Intermercial - From the words interactive and commercial, an intermercial is a short video ad which is presented to online users between web pages while one is waiting for the next page to load.

Internet - From the term internetworking, the Internet is made up of multiple interconnected networks connected using the TCP/IP protocol. The Internet originated from what used to be known as the ARPANet created in the 1960s and 1970s.

Interstitial - An intrusive type of advertisement that loads between web pages without having been requested by the visitor. Similar to superstitials except they do not load in the backround.

Inventory - The number of ad spaces available for sale on a web site during a certain time frame. Determined buy taking into consideration the number of advertisements on a page, the number of pages with advertisements and the number of page views during a specific time frame.

IP Address - A Internet protocol (IP) address is the numeric address (207.235.5.120) that is translated into a domain name (adratesonline) by a domain name server (DNS). Each server connected to the Internet is assigned a unique IP address.

IRC - Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a part of the Internet that enables people to chat in real time with others on channels of interest to them.

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a digital network offered by some ISPs that enables its users to transfer up to 128,000 bps over a standard telephone line. Not as fast as a cable or DSL modem but faster than a 56,000 bps modem.

Island Position - A advertisement that is completely surrounded by editorial material with no adjoining advertisements to compete for the audience's attention.

ISP - An Internet service provider (ISP) is a company that provides access to the Internet via one or more types of technology. These may include a phone line, cable, fiber optic, radio waves or satellite.

Java - Java is a programming language, created by Sun, that enables developers to write software on one platform and run it on another. It is popular on the Internet as it allows programmers to create programs called applets to run within a web browser and develop server-side applications for online forums, stores, polls, processing HTML forms, and java - Java is a programming language, created by Sun, that enables developers to write software on one platform and run it on another. It is popular on the Internet as it allows programmers to create programs called applets to run within a web browser and develop server-side applications for online forums, stores, polls, processing HTML forms, and more.

JavaScript - JavaScript is a cross-platform, object-based scripting language developed by Netscape for client and server applications. It is commonly used on web pages to add interactivity and dynamic content such as banner rotation.

JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), pronounced "jaypeg", is a graphics format which displays photographs and graphic images with millions of colors. Great for photos, but graphics in the GIF format are still the preferred standard for web sites.

Jump Page - See Splash Page.

Keyword - A word or phrase entered into a search engine in an effort to get the search engine to return matching and relevant results. Many web sites offer advertising based on keyword targeting so an advertisers banner will only show when a specific keyword(s) are entered.

Keyword Density - The measurement of how frequently any given keyword appears within a web page. Too high a density can result in a web page being classified as spam while too low a density will cause a page to not be indexed as well for the given keyword.

Landing Page - The page on a web site where one is taken after clicking on a advertisement. While this can be any page, it is often a page designed to expand on the service or product mentioned in the initial advertisment.

Lead - Term used to describe a person or company that has expressed interest in an offer. Companies follow up on leads in hopes of converting them into customers.

Lead Product - A type of product, may be sold at a loss, that is used to help companies generate new customers.

Life Time Value - Term used to describe the monetary value of a customer to a company over the cutomers lifetime.

Line Item - A unit of advertising that is sold by the publisher to the advertiser. It specifies the details of the sale, such as site, section, ad size, date(s) to run, cost

Log File - A type of computer file on a web server that keeps records of a servers activitysome of the data recorded include page requests and errors.

Loss Leader - A product or service that loses money but due to its low advertised price gets consumers into stores where the advertiser hopes they will purchase other products or services.

Make Goods - Adjustments made by a publisher to an advertiser to make up for a shortfall in contracted ad impressions or errors.

Malvertising - Malvertising (malicious advertising) The use of online advertising to spread malware. It is typically performed by masking malicious code with seemingly harmless online advertisements. The advertisements may lead to harmful or deceptive content or may directly infect a victim's computer with malicious software. Cybercriminals exploit the ability to easily to "push" their attacks by exploiting the reputation of the website and the allegedly advertised brands. Malware perpetrators infiltrate online advertising networks, including the creation of fake advertisers or advertising agencies that appear to represent legitimate brands and well as to exploit security vulnerabilities in the ad supply chain.

JavaScript - JavaScript is a cross-platform, object-based scripting language developed by Netscape for client and server applications. It is commonly used on web pages to add interactivity and dynamic content such as banner rotation.

JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), pronounced "jaypeg", is a graphics format which displays photographs and graphic images with millions of colors. Great for photos, but graphics in the GIF format are still the preferred standard for web sites.

Jump Page - See Splash Page.

Keyword - A word or phrase entered into a search engine in an effort to get the search engine to return matching and relevant results. Many web sites offer advertising based on keyword targeting so an advertisers banner will only show when a specific keyword(s) are entered.

Keyword Density - The measurement of how frequently any given keyword appears within a web page. Too high a density can result in a web page being classified as spam while too low a density will cause a page to not be indexed as well for the given keyword.

Landing Page - The page on a web site where one is taken after clicking on a advertisement. While this can be any page, it is often a page designed to expand on the service or product mentioned in the initial advertisment.

Lead - Term used to describe a person or company that has expressed interest in an offer. Companies follow up on leads in hopes of converting them into customers. Lead Product - A type of product, may be sold at a loss, that is used to help companies generate new customers. Life Time Value - Term used to describe the monetary value of a customer to a company over the cutomers lifetime. Line Item - A unit of advertising that is sold by the publisher to the advertiser. It specifies the details of the sale, such as site, section, ad size, date(s) to run, cost Log File - A type of computer file on a web server that keeps records of a servers activitysome of the data recorded include page requests and errors. Loss Leader - A product or service that loses money but due to its low advertised price gets consumers into stores where the advertiser hopes they will purchase other products or services. Make Goods - Adjustments made by a publisher to an advertiser to make up for a shortfall in contracted ad impressions or errors. Malvertising - Malvertising (malicious advertising) The use of online advertising to spread malware. It is typically performed by masking malicious code with seemingly harmless online advertisements. The advertisements may lead to harmful or deceptive content or may directly infect a victim's computer with malicious software. Cybercriminals exploit the ability to easily to "push" their attacks by exploiting the reputation of the website and the allegedly advertised brands. Malware perpetrators infiltrate online advertising networks, including the creation of fake advertisers or advertising agencies that appear to represent legitimate brands and well as to exploit security vulnerabilities in the ad supply chain. Max Loop Size - The maximum number of times an animated graphic may repeat its loop. Normally 3-5 times.

Max Time Length - The maximum number of seconds it takes for an animated graphic to complete one loop. Normally 10 to 20 seconds.

Media Kit - Information offered to potential advertisers by publishers to help advertisers understand the publihsers rates, visitor demographics, terms, etc.

MI - Monthly impressions (MI) is a term used to describe the number of impressions in one month.

Mind share - The amount of attention required by something and the time spent thinking about something. It can also refer to the development of consumer awareness about a specific product or brand in hopes that they will buy the product or brand. One of the main objectives of advertising and promotion is to establish what is called mind share, or share of mind.

Monetization - The way or ways in which money is generated from a process, resource or service.

MRR - Monthly rental rate (MRR) is the rate at which a given number of impressions over the period of a month are sold at.

Netiquette - The do's and don'ts of online behavior. For example, typing in all CAPITALS is considered shouting and thus not good netiquette if what one is writing is not something they would normally shout.

Newbie - A term to describe someone new to the Internet. Niche - That part of the market consisting of those people most likely to be interested in a product or service you are selling. Often refered to as ones target market.

Non Remnant - Used in research, but applied to online advertising specifically it refers to ad space sold directly by the primary owner of the ad space versus remnant display which is sold through third party.

Opt In - A process where by a user voluntarily agrees to start receiving email, usually commercial, about a topic of interest.

Opt Out - A process where by a user voluntarily agrees to stop receiving email, usually commercial, about a topic of interest.

Optioned media - Advertising space that one has acquired the right to advertise on.

OSI - On-schedule indicator (OSI) is a factor, calculated by DART for all DART for Publishers ads, that indicates whether an ad is ahead of or behind schedule by comparing the average number of ads delivered each day with the optimal daily delivery.

OTS/H - Term used to describe the opportunity to see/hear (OTS/H) an advertisement. Online this is similar to a page view.

Page View - Occurs when a users browser requests a web page. A single page view may create multiple hits to the server if the page contains multiple elements such as banners. Since page views do not take into consideration users who may have their browsers set to disable images, they are of little value to advertisers.

Proxy Server - A web server between a web site and a users browser that is used to cache frequently accessed data from a web site so that it may be accessed quicker. Commonly used by ISP's with slow connections or heavy loads.

PSA - A public service announcement (PSA) is an announcement serving the public interest and run by a web site at no charge when no other paying advertisements are available. For example, a health agency of the US government may run an anti drug message.

Psychographics - Identification of personality characteristics and attitudes that affect a person's lifestyle and purchasing behaviors. Psychographic data points include opinions, attitudes, and beliefs about various aspects relating to lifestyle and purchasing behavior.

Publisher - This is the web site operator, also referred to as an Affiliate or Partner. A publisher displays ads, text links, or product links on its web site, in e-mail campaigns, or in search listings and is paid a commission by the respective advertiser when the ad is displayed, clicked on, or the user takes a specific action such as filling out a form, making a purchase or subscribing to a service.

Puffery - A legal exaggeration of praise lavished on a product that stops just short of deception.

Rank - A web site or advertisement's standing in comparison to other web sites or advertisements. Rank provides advertisers with information on performance comparisons.

Rate Card - The published rates and ad space availability for a particular media such as a web site. Usually subject to change and often negotiable. May also include technical details regarding the banner specifications.

Reach - The number of unique visitors that visited a site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percent of the universe for the demographic category. Also called unduplicated audience.

Readibility Test - Developed by Rudolph Flesch, it helps in assessing the readability of the copy by determining the average number of syllables per 100 words.

Real Audio - A computer software program from Real that enables web sites to serve audio files to visitors by streaming the file so that visitors do not have to wait for the entire file to download before it begins.

Real Time - A term used to describe immediate results. For example, an advertiser may need real time statistics on how their campaign is performing rather than statistics that are updated hourly or daily or weekly.

Referring Page - The web page that a visitor was previously at before arriving to the current page as a result of clicking a hyperlink on the previous web page.

Regional - Often used to describe web page requests that originated from a similar geographical area. This is measured by analyzing a server's log files for requests from ISPs and then aggregating those requests by region according to the ISPs geographical location.

Registration - A process by which visitors to a web site are either requested or required to register certain details about themselves in order for complete access to the site. Depending on the level of the data requested, it may enable web sites to target advertisements to their registered users more effectively and track unique visitors.

Remnant Space - Advertising space that remains unsold right before it is about to be used and thus often sold at a discount at the last minute.

Request - The attempt by ones browser to retrieve a page, including page elements such as a banner advertisement, from a server on the Internet.

Return Visits - The number of times the same visitor returns to a site over a set period of time.

RFP - A request for proposal (RFP) is a term that may be used by an advertiser that is requesting some type of advertising arrangement with a web site.

RFQ - A request for quotation (RFQ) is a term that may be used by an advertiser that is requesting a price for placing advertisements on a publishers web site.

Rich Media - A type of advertisement technology that often includes richer graphics, audio or video within the advertisement. Unlike static or animated GIF banner advertisements, rich media advertisements often enable users to interact with the banner without leaving the page on which it appears. Some popular types of rich media banners are created with HTML, Shockwave & Flash.

Right hand read - Ad place on the right hand side of a page on the right page.

Roadblock - An ad roadblock provides an advertiser with the ability to "own" 100% of the page views on an online ad network, blog, website or other online property for a specified period of time. They are most often used for important announcements and product/service launches.

ROC - Run of category (ROC) means a banner will appear anywhere within a category on a web site or ad network. More targeted than a run of site (ROS) campaign where the banner would appear randomly on any page of the site.

ROI - Return on investment (ROI) is the process used to determine whether the monetary benefits from an expenditure, such as a advertising campaign, are above or below the amount of money spent on the campaign. Depending on the objective of an advertising campaign, the ROI may be hard to determine with certainty.

RON - Run of network (RON) means a banner will appear on any page of any site that is part of an ad network. Since this type of buy is not targeted, it tends to be the least expensive type of advertisement that can be purchased.

ROS - Run of site (ROS) means a banner will appear anywhere on a web site as opposed to run of category (ROC) which would appear only on pages within a specific category.

Rotation - A banner that is in rotation on a page or group of pages, will not be the only banner shown when any of the pages are reloaded. Sometimes an advertiser will request a banner not be shown in rotation in which case it would appear every time the page is loadedalso know as exclusivity.

RSS - Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other web content.

SEM - Search engine marketing (SEM) is the practice of promoting a web site through a search engine.

SEO - Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of promoting a web site through a search engine's organic listings.

Session - A series of page requests by a visitor without 30 consecutive minutes of inactivity. The number 30 is arbitrary but most commonly used among web advertisers and publishers. Also called a visit.

Shockwave - A software plugin that enables browsers to play multimedia animations. Some rich media advertisements require users to have this plugin.

Skyscraper - A type of ad unit that is much taller than it is wide. Often used in columns of web pages where there is allot of unused vertical space but limited horizontal space.

Slogan - A short, memorable advertising phrase that often appears in advertisements. For example the athletic shoe maker Nike's, "Just Do It".

Snail Mail - A term for traditional land and air mail services> Snail mail can take days for delivery Vs seconds for delivery of email.

Soft Sell - Technique of using low pressure appeals in advertisements to generate a sale or response.

Spam - The sending of unsolicited emails or newsgroup posts in bulk often containing commercial advertising messages. Considered bad netiquette, bad business and illegal in some US states. The opposite of spam would be permission based email whereby customized information is emailed to individual users who have previously requested such information. See opt in.

Spider - A software program that automatically follows links on the world wide web. The most common types of spiders are those used by search engines for the purpose of indexing web pages. Many spiders follow banner links thus over counting click throughs.

Splash Page - Also known as a "jump page", a splash page is special entrance page to a site. Advertisers often use it to direct people who click on a particular banner to more information about what the banner was regarding rather then sending them directly to the sites homepage. This can be useful for banners advertising free registrations, contests, coupons or other special offers the advertiser does not want to put on the sites main page. Can also help track click throughs.

Split-Run - The testing process of sending the same advertisment to two or more groups with different headlines or copy to determine effectiveness of each.

Sponsorships - A form of advertising in which an advertiser pays to sponsor a section of a web site. It may take the form of the typical banner and/or text that mentions "this section sponsored by:". Works best when the content of the sponsored web page is directly related to but not competitive with the advertisers products or services.

SSI - A server side include is a line of code in an HTML document that gets processed by the server each time the page is loaded. Used to output dynamic content on a web page such as from a rotating banner script.

Standards - A set of voluntary standards created by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) for online advertisement sizes, dimensions and names.

Start Date - The date on which a advertising campaign starts.

Statistics - The records that an ad serving software keeps each time it serves an ad and the ad is clicked on. The statistics recorded may be as simple as total impressions and click throughs or more detailed info such as browser types, geographical location, operating system & more.

Sticky - A term used to describe a web site on which visitors stay at for longer than normal. This is often due to the variety of content and features offered to the visitor which prevents them from needing to go elsewhere for more information. For example, online game sites are sticky as users tend to stay and play for awhile where as link directories are not as visitors tend to leave as soon as they find what they were looking for.

Subliminal - Subliminal persuasion is the use of an advertising message presented below the threshold of consciousness. A visual or auditory message that is allegedly perceived psychologically, but not consciously. Also called subception.

Supertitials - Rich media advertisements that download in the backround while a visitor is reading a web page and launch a browser window only when it has complete downloaded. They are attractive to advertisers as they permit larger and more interactive ads than a traditional banner and since they preload in the backround are not as annoying as pop ups and intersitials.

T1 - A type of high speed Internet connection used by ISPs and web hosting companies to connect to the Internet. A T1 can process 154,000 bps or 1.54 mbps (megabits per second). A 56K dial up modem can transfer 56,000 bps.

T3 - A type of high speed Internet connection used by ISPs and web hosting companies to connect to the Internet. A T3 can process 4,500,000 bps or 45 mbps (megabits per second). A T1 can transfer 154,000 bps or 1.54 mbps.

Tag Line - A slogan or phrase that conveys the most important product attribute or benefit that the advertiser wishes to convey. Generally, a theme to a campaign and appears in a banner. May also appear as clickable text beneath a banner and when clicked on redirects the browser to the same page as the visitor would have gone to if they had clicked on the banner.

Targeted - Refers to advertisements that are aimed, on the basis of demographic analysis, at one specific subsection of the market.

TCP/IP - A communications protocol that connects a number of different networks designed by different vendors into a network of networksotherwise known as the Internet. It works in layers with TCP being responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server and IP being responsible for moving packets of data from node to node.

Testimonial - A statement, often given by a celebrity or satisfied customer, affirming the value of a product, event or service. For example Tiger Woods, considered one of the best golfers, might be quoted about how a certain brand of golf balls are the best.

Text Links - Text that is hyperlinked to another web page. Can be found on web sites or in newsletters and email. Often identified by appearing in blue with a line under it. When clicked on, the visitor will be taken to the page the text was hyperlinked to.

The Mnemonic Effect - The mnemonic effect occurs when the receiver of an advertising message is persuaded to make a buying decision that is not in the best interest of the creator of the specific message. When this happens the efforts of the advertiser backfire creating a situation in which he is actually stimulating the sales of his competition. Human brains group and associate different types of information to make it easier to remember relevant and important information. This discovery has been studied and used for many years buy creators of different types of mnemonic techniques. These techniques and exercises can greatly stimulate our brain, and result in amazing improvement and retention of memory. But the same natural effect can lead to undesirable consequences in advertising. Especially in image advertising or branding in which case the receiver of the advertisement is sometimes more likely to associate the image or message he views with the products he has already been using. This can be easily understood with an example of food advertising. When a potential customer views a specific food ad, in many cases instead of thinking of the food advertised he will think about whether or not he is hungry, about dinner, or his favorite dining place.

TLD - Top level domain (TLD) is the domain name extension that follows a domain name. For example in the US .com is used for businesses, .edu for education institution, .net for networking companies, .gov for government agencies, .mil for the military and .org for non profit organizations. In addition, most countries have been assigned a two letter TLD such as .ca for Canada and .uk for United Kingdom.

TOM - Short for top of mind (TOM) refers to the high level of brand awareness people have in their minds when they think of a particular product. Traffic - General term used to describe a quantity of requests for web pages or other downloadable content by web site visitors.

Trap Door - A trap door is a type of banner advertisement that leads to a page that does not easily allow the visitor to return to the previous page the banner was on. This is accomplished by using a meta refresh tag set to 0 on the destination page immediately sending them to another page or launching a browser windows that has hidden the browsers back button.

Unique Visitors - A term used to describe the total number of visitors to a site over a certain time period. The only way to accurately track this is to require each visitor to login with a unique user name to gain access to a site. Relying exclusively on IP addresses in a log file is not recommended as it would not take into consideration multiple users accessing ones site through the same IP addresssuch as would happen at companies and schools. Cookies are also used sometimes, but since they can be disabled or cached, they cannot be relied apon exclusively.

Unix - A multi-user computer operating system (OS) with support for TCP/IP, Unix is available in many varieties and is the most popular OS for Internet web servers. Another popular OS is Linux, which is based on Unix.

Up Sell - The process of making an additional offer for related products/services to a customer after they have committed to a sale but before they have completed the transaction.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the Internet "address" of a web site or web page on the world wide web. For example our sites URL is http://adratesonline. A browser requires this information in its location box in order to load a web page. Can be pronounced "you-are-ell" or "earl."

USP - Abbreviation for unique selling proposition. The unique benefits that a companies products or services offer customers.

Valid Hits - A term used to differentiate between successful click throughs by individuals and those that may have resulted in a server error or were generated by a some kind of automated software program such as a search engine spider.

VIP - Vertical Information Portal (VIP) is a specialized entry point to a specific marketplace and/or industry niche where related content and advertising can be found.

Virual - Type of advertising, usually online, that encourages viewers to pass along the ad or link to it, to others.

Virual Marketing - Advertising that propagates itself by web visitors use of a web sites feature or service. For example, most administrators of free web based email accounts attach an advertisement at the end of each message each time a user sends an email.

Visit - A series of page requests by a visitor without 30 consecutive minutes of inactivity. The number 30 is arbitrary but most commonly used among web advertisers and publishers. Also called a session

Volume Discount - A price discount often offered to advertisers willing to commit to a certain quantity of page impressions at a certain rate.

WAIS - A wide area information server (WAIS), pronounced "ways" is a older part of the Internet that allows one to search through gopher databases. Useful for finding scientific or technical information.

Web Page - A document that can contain text, graphics, sound or video and displayed in a browser window accessible on the world wide web. Multiple web pages make up a "web site".

Web Server - A computer connected to the Internet for the purpose of serving a web sites web pages to visitors on the world wide web. Web Site - A collection of hyperlinked web pages organized at the same domain name. Webcasting - A process where by sound and/or video is broadcast online. The process can deliver live or prerecorded information. Often advertisements are inserted at the beginning of the broadcast.

Webmaster - A term used loosely to describe an individual assigned to administering a web site. Typical duties might include updating pages, correcting errors, fixing links or responding to technical inquiries.

Webmercials - Full screen animated ads accompanied by professional voice over and sound effects. Usually appear between web pages for 5-30 seconds and used for branding purposes.

World Wide Web - A part of the Internet containing web pages that can be viewed using a browser.

Zine - Magazines that are published online instead of in print. Often cover very specific subjects and thus have very targeted readers.