Cutting the Crap: Breaking Down Digital Marketing Jargon
– By #RSA
There are few things in life more frustrating than going to the doctor and being bombarded by medical terms that you can’t comprehend. It can be discouraging to leave an appointment feeling like you didn’t get any answers simply because they weren’t explained in a way that makes sense to someone without an M.D. behind their name.
It is very easy to spot when someone is coming at you with industry-specific jargon. However, when we are talking to someone about our own profession or work, it can be easy to slip into those habits. As marketers, it’s important that we speak to our clients in a way they can understand and comprehend.
If you’ve ever left a marketing agency feeling like you had no idea what they said, have no fear! In this blog, RSA will break down typical digital marketing jargon to make sure you are in the know for your next meeting!
Common Digital Marketing Terms and what they mean:
SEO: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In simple terms, SEO is the process of improving your website content to increase your rankings on Google and other Search Engines. The better rankings you have the better chance you’ll have to get your website seen by a larger percentage of your target audience. Things like well-written content, Title & Meta tags, and relevant keywords can all help to improve SEO. (Don’t worry we’ll explain it all)
ROI: ROI or Return on Investment is the practice of evaluating a marketing campaign to determine its performance, and if the campaign led to a direct increase in profits or other key metrics. Boiled down, ROI is how you determine if the money you spent on advertising had a positive impact on your business. Everyone wants to make sure their money is being spent wisely so make sure you are carefully evaluating the analytic reports you receive from your agency to determine if your campaign is meeting your desired outcomes.
Organic Rankings: Organic Rankings or Organic Search Results refer to how your website ranks without any paid advertising behind it. It is common for large companies to buy certain search keywords to achieve higher rankings when those phrases are searched. But like we mentioned earlier, there are many ways you can improve your organic search rankings without spending money on paid advertising.
Search Ads: Search Ads are one of the most popular forms of paid digital advertising. Essentially, brands will outbid other companies to have their ads displayed higher up when users search for certain keywords. This allows these brands to show up before all organic results and can outrank their competition if they are willing to pay enough. Search Ads can be a fairly inexpensive way to help boost your website rankings. However, keep in mind that some keywords may be more expensive than others due to competition and other bids made.
Bounce Rate: A website’s bounce rate is a key metric outlined in Google Analytics that tells you how well people are engaging with your website. Simply explained, bounce rate is calculated when someone visits a page on your website and doesn’t click on any other page before leaving. An extremely high bounce rate may indicate to you that your website is lacking proper SEO or website content. Analyzing your bounce rate can help you determine where any changes may need to be made.
Call to Action (CTA): A call to action or a CTA is exactly as it sounds. It is a piece of content that requests the user to take a specific action. These can be as simple as “visit our website” or “buy now” but can also be more specific. CTA’s are often represented as buttons on websites, links in digital advertisements, or even a flyer encouraging you to visit a store. Almost every single advertisement has some sort of CTA even if it isn’t overtly noticeable.
Conversion Funnel: Conversion Funnels tie in directly with CTA’s and they refer to the flow through which a user lands on your website and then takes a desired action. When a customer takes the action you intended that is called a conversion. It is referred to as a funnel because as marketers it is our job to pull potential customers through your website. While this may seem confusing, the concept behind it is fairly simple. One of the biggest ways to build successful conversion funnels is to envision how you would use a website. Making your website functional and easy to use will help build stronger conversion funnels.
Cost per Click: Cost per click, frequently referred to as CPC, is a revenue model that various websites and platforms use to bill advertisers based on the number of times a user clicks on their ad. CPC can range depending on the platform you are using to advertise, as well as the content you are promoting. For example, if you want to reach a wide demographic across multiple states, your cost per click is going to be higher than someone trying to reach a smaller, local audience. A good agency should be transparent about your CPC and how it compares to similar businesses in your industry.
Title & Meta: Page Titles and Meta Descriptions are pieces of code found in every webpage (or they should be). They show the title of the page as well as a short description. Title and Meta act as a summary that website users can use to determine whether or not a certain website has the information they are looking for. In addition, they are also incredibly important for your website’s SEO value. Google and other search engines use Title and Meta tags as a determining factor when ranking websites. The more accurate and descriptive your Title and Meta, the better chance you have of getting more visits to your website.
Keywords: A keyword or keyword phrase is simply the word or words that best describe the content on your page. When people search for a certain keyword, the page on your website related to their search term should appear. For example, if I were to write keywords for this blog they might be Digital Marketing terms and Marketing Jargon. When determining keywords, marketers need to not only determine what kinds of search words they want to be found for, but also what words people are actually searching for.
If you’re still finding yourself confused when you meet with your agency after reading this blog, give Robert Sharp & Associates a call at (605)341-5226. Our team loves sitting down over a cup of coffee to go over ideas, strategies, and answer any questions you may have.
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