Active Users

The number of unique visitors whose session or cookies have not yet expired – in other words, who have clicked on the page or website within a specified period of time.

Advertiser

The merchant, store, company, or person who owns the products that you will be promoting as an affiliate marketer. This is who pays your commission.

Affiliate Agreement

A legal contract defining the terms of service the Publisher and Advertiser have agreed upon. It specifies the responsibilities of each party and what the agreements are about such as guidelines, requirements, and commissions.

Affiliate ID

A unique code that an advertiser issues to each affiliate for tracking sales for commissions.

Affiliate Link

This is your link to the advertiser’s website; this link includes your affiliate ID and is what you would place on your promotional page. This link is used to monitor what sales originated from you, so the appropriate commissions for their purchases are added to your affiliate account.

Affiliate Manager

The person responsible for managing an advertiser’s affiliate program along with providing training and support to the affiliates.

Affiliate Marketer (or Publisher)

This is you, the person or company who agrees to publish, promote, and market an advertiser’s products for them. An affiliate marketer is an independent contractor. All sales generated are tracked and the affiliate marketer receives a predetermined fee or commission in reward for forwarding any visitors to an advertiser’s site (when the visit results in a sale).

Affiliate Network

An affiliate network service will have a list of many affiliate programs to choose from, and is a one-stop-shop for affiliates to connect with merchants. Using an affiliate network service makes it easier for you to find affiliate programs and for merchants to find you. Affiliate networks handle tracking and the payment of commissions

Affiliate Program

A referral program that pays you to promote their product or service in exchange for a commission or fee.

Algorithm

A set of rules or calculations. In the context of affiliate marketing, algorithms are used to determine how a webpage or affiliate is performing.

Analytics

A statistical analysis that gives insight into how your website or marketing efforts are performing so you can alter your SEO or marketing plan as needed.

Anchor Text

Clickable text that overlays a link to another webpage or website. Affiliates add their affiliate code to this link for tracking purposes.

Attribution

Is the action of advertisers giving proper credit for any sales, leads generated, or other desired action, to the last affiliate that referred the customer. Note: If a user clicks on another affiliate’s link after clicking yours and before they make an actual purchase, you will not receive credit – the other affiliate will.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Computer algorithms that try to mimic human thinking and speech, which can be used to help solve problems and can sometimes take the place of human employees.

Autoresponder

A predefined response to incoming emails, messages, or website inquiries that is sent out without any effort on your part (beyond setting it up).

Badges

A small clickable image, or icon, which overlays a link and is used to drive referral traffic to a website and increase brand awareness. These include things like company logos, professional affiliations, website validations, awards, and accreditations.

Banner Ad

An advertisement displayed on a webpage in the form of a graphic. Banners come in different shapes and sizes and could be anything from a big banner to a small button.

Black Hat SEO

Search Engine Optimization practices that can ruin your ranking in search engines. Black Hat SEO refers to things like copying other websites’ content (duplicate content), keyword stuffing, low-quality posts, excessive use of advertisements, paid-for backlinks, and URL cloaking.

Blog

The word “blog” is derived by combining the words “Web” and “Log.” Blogs were originally used as journals or diaries and have evolved into the regular sharing of ideas, information, opinions, reviews, and updates. Blogs are used to engage audiences and attract followers and are now considered a must-have for website search engine optimization.

Blog Post

A single “article” posted on a blog.

Boards

This is part of a website where users can go to share information, ask questions, and engage with an online community. Your boards on Pinterest can be used to categorize your products and work like a personal online scrapbook, where users can search for products or ideas and save the Pins that interest them.

Branding

A way of setting your products apart from other similar products by attaching the product to your company through a logo or unique brand name, etc. This opens the door for customers to become loyal to your products, by making them easy to recognize.

Call to Action (CTA)

Prompting, encouraging, or asking the user to do a specific action, for example “buy now”, “sign-up now” or “get a quote.”

Campaign

When a customer returns an item, the money is reversed out of your earnings by the advertiser.

CJ (Commission Junction)

A well-known and trusted affiliate network.

Click

When a website visitor clicks on a text or image link on your website it is called a “click” in the analytics for that page.

Click Fraud

When you pay a company or person to make fake clicks on your links. This is done either manually by people or through a computer program (a “robot”). Affiliate programs will drop you if they catch you doing this.

Click Stream

This is the path or journey your customer follows before completing a purchase or other desired action, such as joining your email list. It is how the visitor is “funneled” to get to what you want them to do.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

The percentage of people that see your link who click on it.

Client-Based Tracking

This is tracking that is done by discreetly placing a tracking cookie (a small piece of code), on a user’s computer. (see “Cookie”)

Cloaking

See “Link Cloaking.”

Content

This includes any material available on the Web, such as blogs, articles, reviews, social media posts, images, animations, music, and videos. In other words, anything you see on a website is considered content.

Content Affiliates

These are niche websites that provide unique content focusing on one specific topic. Creating a content site is the best way to portray yourself as an authority in your field and to build a large amount of traffic, with ongoing loyal followers.

Conversion

This is when a website viewer is converted into a customer. An example would be when the product purchase has been completed and verified.

Contextual Links

This is a descriptive text link within your content. When clicked, it either takes the user to another location within your website or directs the user (using your affiliate link) to another website. These links don’t say “click here” – they describe what the user will be clicking on like “read more about XYZ Product.”

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who land on your website and then complete doing something you specifically want, such as making a purchase or submitting a lead form.

Cookie

A small piece of code that is discreetly saved onto a user’s computer so that you can track their behavior. Cookies usually have an expiration date and delete themselves.

Cookie Expiration Date

This is the date and time that the cookie will automatically be deleted and no longer tracking the user.

Cookie Length

This is the period that a cookie is stored on a visitor’s computer. If the user completes a purchase during this timeframe, you will receive a commission. Cookie lengths vary depending on what affiliate program you are using.

Cost Per Action (CPA

The amount it costs you for each viewer to complete a desired action. For example, if you pay for an ad, the cost per action would be how much you paid to post the ad divided by how many sales were completed.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

This would be the amount you paid for an ad divided by the number of clicks recorded for that ad.

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

This is a method of measuring the cost-effectiveness of your marketing campaign. It’s the amount you pay per click on an ad to generate traffic and make a sale.

Cost Per Sale (CPS)

This is the overall amount you pay to generate each sale.

Creatives

The marketing materials used to promote your products, such as: Banners, text links, emails, and product images.

Dayparting

When you target your marketing to the specific days or hours that historically have proven to produce the best results from your niche audience.

Digital Products

Things like recorded media, eBooks, apps for your smartphone, ECT., which you can easily sell online for download. These are the kinds of products that could be sold on a physical CD, DVD or cassette tape.

Disclosure

Affiliate marketers must disclose that they make money on any purchases that are made through affiliate links on their site. This must be done to stay in compliance with the current FTC Laws. Make sure to research and keep up to date on the FTC Laws, to make sure you comply. https://www.ftc.gov/influencerstion

Domain Name

Basically, the name of a website and the text which will begin the URL for any page within that site, including the ending “.com”, “.net”, etc. For example, Amazon’s domain name is amazon.com. Domain names are unique.

Double Opt-In

This is when a person who signs up for a mailing list on your webpage receives an email to confirm that they agree to subscribe. When doing email marketing make sure you understand the laws of your country. The CAN-SPAM Act in the US, the CASL laws in Canada, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003 in the UK. These laws change periodically so stay up to date on them.

Email Affiliates

Affiliates that run email campaigns to their niche market as their main method of generating sales.

First-Party Cookies

This is a cookie that is only placed on the user’s computer if they directly visit a website. The cookie is only used for that website and not shared with other sites.

Funnel

A series of steps that your potential customers will be invisibly nudged to follow which will guide them to completing a desired action, such as making a purchase or giving you their email address.

Gray Hat SEO

Search Engine Optimization practices that “bend the rules.” These practices are not banned by the search engines; however, search engine algorithms may penalize your website ranking for doing this.

Hashtag

Named for the hash symbol (“#”) which precedes the label, a hashtag is used on social media to categorize content. On webpages that use hashtags, placing a hash symbol (“#”) in front of a word automatically makes the word clickable and searchable, connecting it to other posts with the same label.

Hyperlink

Clickable text or images that when clicked on will take you to another location, either on the current page or another webpage.

Impression

The number of times your ad or link has been displayed or viewed by website users.

Influencer Network

A website that is designed to connect qualified influencers with product brands that are willing to do paid placement for having an influencer mention their product.

Influencers

Online publishers with a large, strong, and loyal following. These followers can be following through YouTube, social media, or a Blog.

Keyword

The words or phrases that you expect a user to enter into a search engine when searching for products in your specific niche market.

Keyword Density

This is the number of times that a specific word or phrase appears on a webpage in relation to the total number of words on the page. If the density is too high, you can be penalized by the search engines for keyword stuffing.

Landing Page

The webpage a user lands on when clicking your affiliate link or ad. The landing page could be on your own website, or it could be the Merchant’s product page. The web address of this page is called the offer URL.

Last Click

The last affiliate link corresponding to the publisher’s website that a user clicked on. This determines which affiliate will get credit for the sale.

Lead Magnet

A way to attract users to your website and to build an email list. A lead magnet can be in the form of free eBooks, infographics, ECT., that people can download or access in exchange for giving you their email address. You are offering something of value to the user in exchange for a contact email to build your mailing list.

Lifetime Value (LTV)

The estimated money you will make over time from a customer.

Link Cloaking

When you conceal that your link has an affiliate tracking code on it by hiding, or masking, the link’s destination URL so the user doesn’t see it. You can be banned from being an affiliate if you do this.

Merchant

The store, company, or person who owns the products that you will be promoting, or publishing, as an affiliate marketer. This is who pays your commission and is also known as the advertiser.

Metrics

Measurable, trackable data (such as the number of clicks recorded for your affiliate links last week, or the total revenue from commissions that your company generated last quarter, ECT.) which you can use to assess the quality of your marketing strategy and niche markets.

Mobile Affiliate

These are affiliates who target mobile phone users through social media, ads, and mobile apps.

Network Fee

A fee that some affiliate networks charge for using their services to connect affiliates with merchants.

Niche

A niche is your specific area of expertise, your target market. This is who you will focus your content writing and marketing efforts on to drive sales.

Niche Marketing

Marketing to only the niche that you have chosen.

Offer URL

The web address of a link’s landing page.

Organic Searches

These are the search results given by search engines that do not accept payments from webpage owners to boost their rankings.

Original Content

New, unique content that you have created that has never been published on another website, including images, videos, and written material like articles or blog posts. This means the content hasn’t been copied and pasted, reposted, shared, or content curated from another website or online media source.

Paid Placements

This is paying for your product or brand to be mentioned on an influencer’s videos, reviews, blogs, or website.

Passive Income

Income that you don’t have to work for or which you no longer have to work for, or which requires almost no work to generate.

Payout

The amount of money that you will be paid for qualified sales generated by users clicking on your affiliate ads or links.

Performance-Based Marketing

In affiliate marketing you are paid based on how well you perform. You only get paid if you generate sales.

Pixel Tracking

A small 1×1 pixel image, used for tracking, which is placed on an advertiser’s “payment received” or “thank you page”. When this tiny, invisible graphic is loaded on your screen, the merchant can see your IP address as well as the date and time the image was loaded. This helps merchants track what affiliate referred the sale.

Poor Quality Traffic

If your webpage traffic is high but people leave quickly, this isn’t a good sign. Merchants want you to send them high-quality traffic, people that will make a purchase. Focus on generating quality traffic, not simply a lot of traffic.

Publisher or Affiliate

This is you, the affiliate marketer – the person who agrees to publish, promote, and market an advertiser’s products for them.

Redirect

When you land on a webpage and are automatically sent to a different page.

Repin

This is when a Pinterest user saves your post to their board. You want people to repin your post because it will increase your visibility, resulting in more sales.

Return on Investment (ROI)

This is how you measure profitability, it is your revenue minus any costs that you have incurred, such as running ads, website registration and hosting, etc.

Revenue

All the affiliate earnings you have made from the sale of products resulting from your marketing efforts.

Rich Niche

A niche (or micro niche) market where there is not much competition, and which has a high potential to become very profitable.

Rich Pins

Special Pinterest Pins that automatically update content by connecting with your website.

Roadmap

In affiliate marketing, a roadmap is an outline of the metaphorical path (or road) that you plan to follow to achieve your marketing goals. This roadmap should outline milestones (or sub-goals), and ways to get there.

Sale Active

Affiliates who have driven at least one sale during the last reporting period.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Implementing techniques for ranking higher in search engine results to get your website more organic, or unpaid traffic.

Sub-Affiliate Network

An affiliate network that represents many brands and provides you with all the tools required to share the brand’s products. You submit one application and once approved you can promote all the brands in the Network.

Target Audience

The group of people that are potential customers for your niche market, the ones you are attempting to reach with your marketing plan.

Templates

Fill-in-the-blanks style, fully formatted documents which you can use to make your website, emails, etc., have a certain predefined look.

Text Overlay

Text that is written over an image.

Third-Party Cookies

Cookies that are not created by the website the visitor is on. For example, if you have Google Analytics set up on your site, then when a user lands on a page, Google puts a third-party tracking cookie on the user’s computer.

Tracking

Following the actions a user takes after they click on your affiliate link.

Traffic

The number of visits to a webpage or website.

Traffic Source

The website or link that the user uses to get to a webpage.

Two-Tier Affiliate Program

An affiliate program that allows you to recruit affiliates under you. This works similarly to a Multi-level Marketing program.

Unique User

A visitor who has not been on your webpage for a certain period-of-time, or whose cookie length expired since their last visit counts as a unique visitor. It doesn’t mean that they have never been on your website before.

Validation Period

The length of time from when a sale is made to the time you are credited for it. This gives time for customers to cancel their order or prove the sale wasn’t fraudulent.

Verticals

A group of companies that are focused on the same niche market as you.

White-Label Affiliate

Affiliates who specialize in promoting products or services that can be rebranded.

YouTube Affiliates

People who promote their affiliate links on YouTube by creating videos about product unboxing, reviewing, comparing, how-to, etc.

YouTube Influencer

A person who has grown in popularity to become an expert in their niche market by making YouTube videos.

Zero Risk

When you have nothing to lose. In affiliate marketing, it refers to not having to put out any cash to start your business.