Glossary: GIF & JPG
You’ve probably seen a picture or image on the web and may have noticed it was .gif format. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format, which basically means it is a compressed image file format.
The reason .gif is used more widely on the web is because the file size is smaller than a .jpg file and is faster and easier to load in your web browser.
GIFs are great for small icons and animated pages, but lack the color range for high quality photos.
If you have an image you want to use on your mom blog or web site that is in .jpg format, MS Picture Editor has a tool you can use to compress the image into a .gif file. If you don’t know how to do this or don’t have the time, you can hire a VA, such as myself, to do it for you.
JPG, pronounced “jay peg”, is one of the most common types of image formats used on the Internet. The format is either abbreviated as JPG or jpeg and comes from the name of the committee that created the standard, Joint Photographic Experts Group.
JPG technology was designed for compressing full-color or gray-scale images of natural, real-world scenes. It works well on photographs, naturalistic artwork and similar material.
Glossary: FTP
The term is an anagram for “file transfer protocol” which is the standard method for downloading and uploading files on the Internet.
Understanding FTP is very useful for building a website. Basically, you download an FTP program or client to your computer. Once that’s complete, you can then use the program to transfer files from your computer to your webhosting site that you need and want on your website or mom blog.
There are several different FTP programs to choose from. We recommend Filezilla and Fire FTP.
Glossary: Forum
An Internet forum is a place on the Internet for holding discussions. Normally, forum members will either discuss one specific topic or have a common thread among all of the members.
For example, Mom Masterminds is a discussion group for Work At Home Moms where we discuss not only business related topics, but parenting, budgeting, time-management and even give each other the much needed support for owning and running a business from home.
Forums allow individuals to really connect with one another across distances using the Internet. Unlike e-mail, messages posted to the forum will be viewable by all forum members. In fact, information posted on forums is part of the public knowledge for years to come. This is one of the reasons why being a member of Mom Mastermind’s is so great: there may be a tip or idea that was posted on the forum 4 years ago, but it’s perfect for your situation right now.
Forums are supported by many different software platforms, and are very user friendly. For a lot of Internet newcomers, forums are their first entry into using the Internet. Some of the other common terms for forums are web forums, discussion forums, bulletin boards, message boards, discussion boards and discussion groups.
Glossary: Free Reprint Articles
Free Reprint Articles are articles that are free to publish on web pages. Normally, these articles are distributed by article directories and are categorized by topic.
Some of the most popular article directory sites are:
FRAs are used to add content to web pages that will help attract search engine traffic. For example, if you have a website on which you sell scrapbooking supplies, you would search for FRAs on that particular topic. Article directories list available articles in specific categories and normally have a searchable database.
Using FRAs is the quickest way to get quality content for a website. It will save you time because you won’t have to come up with the topics yourself and then type it out.
However, when using FRAs you will need to rewrite the articles so as to avoid duplicate content on the web. Other people who are in the same line of business as you may also obtain these articles, and when someone conducts a search engine query on a particular subject, you don’t want them finding duplicate content. For one thing it looks bad because your readers want to know your content comes from you, and another thing search engines don’t like duplicate content. So, make the articles your own by rewriting them to suit your personality and style.
If you don’t have time to rewrite the articles yourself, you might consider hiring a ghostwriter who will do it for you. A quality ghostwriter will be able to determine your style and personality, therefore will write in your “voice”.
Glossary: FAQ
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions and is a list of questions and answers that are related to a Web site, newsgroup, software or any kind of product or service.
Before contacting customer service or tech support you should check this list. Most users can find answers to their questions on the FAQ list.
As a mom blogger you may or may not need an FAQ page depending on what type of blog you run. If you sell products from your site, an FAQ page is probably a good idea.
If you don’t have an FAQ page already set up, you may want to in order to answer any questions you think your customers might have, or have already asked. An FAQ page may help cut down on the amount of email you receive from customers, freeing up more time for other things.
Having an FAQ page shows your customers you care about their concerns and have thought about additional information they may need in order to make a purchase. An FAQ page saves your customers time, because they won’t have to send out an email and wait for a response when their question is covered in the FAQ.
Glossary: Forward
Forwarding is the act of redirecting mail from your inbox to another e-mail user. If you have messages from one person that you would like to share with another person, you can forward the messages to the latter. Normally, this is achieved by simply clicking the “forward” button on your e-mail program and entering the second party’s e-mail address.
Forwarding is also a helpful way of distributing important information. For example, you send me an important message and I want to convey that message to Kelly, I simply click the ‘forward’ button in my email program. Kelly then receives the exact same message you sent to me, only it appears in her email program as if it came from me.
When an email message is ‘forwarded’, most email programs place the letters FW in front of the subject in the subject line, letting the person receiving the forward know it is a ‘forwarded’ message.
However, some messages are online versions of chain letters and encourage the recipient to forward them on to someone else. Most “forwards”, as they are called, involve both an inspirational message and a promise for good luck if you forward the message on. Chain email is annoying to most recipients and is discouraged as part of good ‘netiquette’.
Glossary: Emoticons
Simply put, Emoticons are symbols that are used in chat rooms, message boards, e-mail messages, IM messages and word processors to display emotions. The name “emoticon” comes from a combination “emotion” and “icon.”
Emoticons are normally used at the end of a sentence in order to convey the feeling associated with that sentence. For example, when a person makes a statement in jest, the “winking” emoticon can be used afterward to imply sarcasm. Read more
Glossary: E-book
E-books (also spelled ebooks) are quickly becoming the newest way to receive information online. They are created for a variety of purposes and have several different uses, such as: recipes, learning aids and information.
There are many free e-books available on the web, and there are also e-books available for purchase. When you obtain or purchase an e-book, you can download it directly to your computer and save it for reading at a later date. Most e-books are saved in pdf. format and require Adobe Acrobat reader (a free program) to be accessed.
Creating your very own e-book is fairly simple with the right tools. If you have a topic that you think would be of interest to your niche or target market, check out the following resources that will help you create your e-book and get it in front of the people who will want to download or purchase it.
Glossary: E-Business
An e-business is a business that is drawing a majority of its income from selling products or services online. The term e-business can also be used to refer to any business practices that are handled electronically such as supply chain management, order tracking and processing, and payroll.
Advantages to running an e-business, as opposed to a traditional business:
Start-up costs for doing business online are considerably lower than opening a brick and mortar store. Basically, all you need is an internet connection and a website. There can be the added cost for advertising and setting up a merchant account so you can accept payments, however, overall, the costs are much lower than opening a store in a building. Read more
Glossary: Double Opt-In
I’m sure most of you, as mom bloggers, have “opted-in” at one time or another when you requested materials from a website or other blog.
The basic process is as follows:
- A potential customer requests information from a website and is asked to confirm that they want the information to come to their e-mail address.
- The potential customer then receives a confirmation e-mail in their inbox. This e-mail requires them to click on a verification link to receive further information.
Once the verification is received, the potential customer will receive the future messages from the mailing list, e-course or autoresponder series.
If you are a mom blogger that sells informative eBooks, eCourses or other material, using the Double Opt-in technique ensures that a potential customer actually wants to receive the marketing materials you’re sending them. It is a way to prevent unwanted spam and your customers will appreciate it!
Glossary: Download
Downloading is one of the most highly used functions of the Internet. Many programs, files and documents are available for downloading from the Internet.
The basic definition of Download is: The act of transferring a file or files from one computer to yours, using the Internet.
The opposite of download is upload (ya think?). When you upload a file or files, you are transferring them from your computer to another. When I first started using the Internet, these two terms were quite confusing to me. They seemed backwards, but once you get these two terms straight, you will be an Internet wizard. Well, okay, you might need to learn a few more things before you’re a wizard, but you will be much further ahead in your knowledge of Internet and computer terminology.
There are a few basic methods of downloading from the Internet. You can download directly from a website or an FTP site. (FTP is a term we will learn a little later down the road.) You can also download from e-mail attachments, although it is highly recommended that you do not download e-mail attachments from unknown sources as they may contain harmful viruses.
As you begin to use the Internet regularly, building your mom blog or web site, the term download will become part of your everyday language and probably part of your everyday life.
Glossary: Domain Name
Before I became familiar with the term Domain Name, I was confused to what it was exactly. As a matter of fact a lot of the Internet terms were confusing, which is exactly why we created the glossary of Internet terms! But Domain Name is one term that you will use over and over and therefore you should understand what it is and why it’s important!
The domain name is the text name that covers up the numeric IP address of a computer that is hooked up to the Internet. Huh? Basically, a Domain Name is the address or URL of a particular website. For example www.Google.com is the domain name for the Google search engine. Read more
Glossary: del.icio.us
del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/) is a social book marking site. It is for storing and sharing web bookmarks with other users. The service is completely free and relatively new. del.icio.us first came online in late 2003.
Everything that is posted on del.icio.us is viewable by the public, although you can choose to make specific bookmarks private. Bookmarks are publicly viewable for a purpose. Many people use del.icio.us to publish links to their personal or business blogs. You can use the del.icio.us interface to keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music etc. You can also share your favorites with anyone who has an e-mail address. del.icio.us also has a search function that allows you to explore what others are book marking, and find other websites that are related to your interests.
Del.icio.us can be a great tool for mom bloggers because when you bookmark your blog publically it then becomes more visible for people to find on the web. You can also explore other blogs that may spark an idea for a topic on your blog.
The del.icio.us toolbar is compatible with Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer and other popular internet browsers. However I have found it not to be compatible using Google Chrome, yet.
A Really B.A.D. Day is Coming Your Way
What??? Is this some kind of joke??? No, but it is a play on words if you will. B.A.D. stands for Business Advice Day. Pretty cool, huh?! I love a good acronym!
Totally her is hosting B.A.D., a day where you can pick the brain of leading women in business. How awesome is that?! But wait, there’s more! It’s FREE! You read right, it’s free!
This awesome day is Tuesday, January 20th. Are you thinking something else is going on that day? Well you’re thinking right! It’s inauguration day! B.A.D. will run from 10:00AM to 5:30PM Eastern time with a break at Noon Eastern time for the inauguration! So, you will get inspired, more knowledgable and a new president all in the same day!
Here is are the awesome women leaders in business you will get to chat with: Liz Strauss, Anita Campbell, Kelly Phillips Erb, Jessica Smith, Kelby Carr, Susan Payton, Miranda Marquit,Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, Kelly McCausey, Lucretia Pruitt, Char Polanosky, Barbara Jones & Wendy Piersall.
Go to Totally Her for all of the amazing details and examples of questions you might want to ask! Oh and don’t forget to mark your calendar and set a reminder so you don’t miss any of the invaluable information that is going to be exchanged!!!
Glossary: Copywriting
The main purpose of copywriting is to persuade the reader to act somehow, whether that is buying a product, signing up for an e-course or clicking on a link. It is the process of writing words to promote a business, person, opinion or idea. Copywriting can include plain text messages and a variety of other online media.
Copywriting for website placement involves the strategic repetition of keywords phrases within articles and refer to the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) methods that are used to achieve higher rankings in search engines. This type of copywriting is often referred to as content writing.
The expert on copywriting is Alice Seba, Internet Marketing Sweetie. Pick up her eCourse Copywriting Sweetie Course today!
