GLOSSARY

Understand the fundamentals to starting a campaign or promoting advertisers. Here you’ll find an information hub aimed at providing a brief introduction to affiliate marketing and TradeTracker’s platform.

A

Affiliate Marketing

Being a type of performance marketing, affiliate marketing is a business which rewards one or more affiliates for bringing in a (paying) customer through its own marketing activities. There are 4 key players within this type of marketing: the advertiser, the affiliate, the network and the consumer.

Affiliate ID

A unique number that identifies a specific publisher to our network, incorporated in all tracking links so that the TradeTracker system knows which publisher to assign a sale to. Also tracks any banner impressions and clicks which are referred from a publisher website.

Average Order Value (AOV)

A measurement of the average amount of a purchase. To find this you divide the total value of purchases by the total number of purchases.

Average Basket Value (ABV)

Includes the total value of products and services sold in a certain period, divided by the number of orders. This is a common way of benchmarking how your product add-on measures are performing.

Automatic Approval

Advertisers will automatically add any publishers who apply to host their content. The alternative ‘manual approval’ is when an advertiser will review a publisher before accepting them to feature their content.

Authority Sites

Websites recognised as having a strong reputation in their respected field. They usually have sites which boast high PageRank, are visually up to date, have a high number of quality inbound links, are experts in their niche and share dynamic fresh ideas.

Attribution

Marketing and analysis measuring which allows the tracking of a sales process across multiple channels, from the initial touchpoint right through to the conversion.

Article Marketing

An advertising approach in which publishers can write short articles relating to their field of interest. These articles are then made available for purchase in online marketplaces, where they can be used as content for anyone seeking to raise readership. Articles are presented with a description and can include links to a writer’s affiliate site.

Approval Rate

This is the sum number of pending sales that are confirmed by an advertiser as authorised sales.

Approval

Advertisers often review the sites of potential publishers to ensure they meet quality guidelines before they agree to partner with them. Once an affiliate has been approved by an advertiser, they receive an automatically generated email to confirm their application to feature the advertiser’s campaigns. Approval can also refer to the positive assessment of a transaction.

Anchor Text

The clickable text that is shown in a hyperlink. Influential in helping retain the content and narrative required, while also providing an external link path to a visitor.

Analytics

Tools which are utilised by a website owner to gather a greater understanding of the audience they regularly see. Helping them understand their behavior and optimise their site to suit the way they navigate. Insights can include the number of visitors, time spent on site, popular pages, bounce rates and exit points to name just a few.

Agency

Independent companies that manage and run the affiliate marketing activities of advertisers on their behalf.

Affiliate Software

An independently run software which an advertiser can use to run their own campaign in-house, allowing them to track affiliate efforts and generate their own affiliate reporting. Additionally, this means advertisers build their own networks and publishers have individual logins for each advertiser they choose to partner with.

Affiliate Program

A revenue sharing program in which an advertiser rewards a publisher through generating a sale or lead to an online advertiser. Typically, an advertiser will provide a commission to a publisher for giving them a customer who went on to make a sale.

Affiliate Network

The system which organises and introduces both advertisers and publishers. An intermediary platform for both, allowing them to connect and provide the opportunity to implement and provide available ads.

Affiliate Link

A link which contains a code for the tracking of an online visitor who is sent by an affiliate. Each link contains an affiliate’s identity in order to record their sales, visitors and impressions they’ve accrued, which then allows the attribution of a commission.

API – Application Programming Interface

The programming interface in which a website or program provides to their users. It uses a set of routines, protocols and tools which allow for the building of software applications.

Affiliate Agreement

An agreement between both the publisher and advertiser regarding their partnership. Defining the duties, rules, responsibilities and legal aspects for both sides.

Affiliate

A website owner who hosts the products and services of an advertiser. The publisher utilizes their online audience to leverage an advertisers abilities. A network of publishers equips a virtual salesforce to the advertiser, who rewards them once a visitor has interacted with their featured content, or fulfils a desired action. Synonyms: Publisher

AdWords

A google tool which offers the ability to bid on the opportunity to feature in a user’s online search results for dedicated keywords.

Advertiser

A website offering a product or service, seeking to promote themselves and their solutions through a publisher producing content with a regular audience.

Adjusted Commissions

Representing the commissions that are adjusted from a baseline of commissions. Due to special offers, cancellation and/or returns.

Ad Stream

A series of advertisements which appear to a user, on a single visit to a website.

Ad Space

The allocated space a publisher offers to an advertiser on their website to feature content.

Ad Server

The hardware which delivers and tracks advertisements on a website. To help garner trust between both advertisers and publishers all tracking and interactions are attributed by a neutral third-party.

Ad Call/Request

A user’s action that leads to a request for an advertisement which is then recorded by the ad server. A request can come directly from the users browsing or through an internet resource such as a web content server.

Actual Commissions

Representing the sum of all commissions earned after adjustments, including returns and cancellations.

Account Balance

A publishers earnings through advertising campaigns which have not been added to a payment yet.

Above the Fold

Once a website has loaded, all the information featured immediately on the browser without having to scroll or swipe.

Abandonment

An event where a customer leaves an online shopping cart with an item/items and does not complete a transaction.

B

Behavioral Targeting

Using information collected through a user’s web browsing behavior, there is an ability to see the pages visited or searches made which can determine targeted and relevant advertisements shown to an individual.

Beta 

A software version or feature which is being tested before release.

Big Data

A term used to describe the huge amount of data that can be accrued lately due to the spike in internet users and their engagement with the online world.

Black Hat

An unethical method of approach to SEO. TradeTracker consistently monitors the activity of publishers in this regard and removes anyone who undertakes these tactics.

Blog

A website with regular posts, which can entertain an infinite number of topics. Anyone from the tech illiterate to the savvy can create and update one.

Bonus

A reward for good performance within a particular campaign which is in addition to their standard commission rate.

Bookmarking

Allows you to pin websites of your choice so that your browser remembers them, allowing a quick return to a site or specific page in the future.

Brand Bidding

A term relating to publishers used when bidding on search engine keywords which includes an advertiser’s brand name, or phrases closely related to them.

Branded Sign-up

A specifically built application created by an advertiser for the purpose of providing direct registration to their campaigns. Allowing them to more directly identify publishers who emulate their brand and fit their campaign needs.

Browser

The piece of software used for navigating to different websites on the internet. Popular browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

Bum Marketing

An approach to affiliate marketing in which you expend zero cost.

Banner

A clickable advertising graphic, and the most popular in online advertising. They are featured in an array of shapes, sizes and formats such as animated GIF’s, HTML or Flash.

Base Rate

A standard rate allocated to a campaign term.

Baseline Commissions

A commission earned by a publisher on an advertiser’s baseline program. Not including special offers or other adjustments such as cancellations or returns.

Batch Commissions

Commission validations are uploaded by file. This process allows account managers to validate commissions using a CSV file..

C

Cost Per Download (CPD)

The cost to an advertiser once a visitor downloads a resource from one of their pages.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

The cost to an advertiser, every time a visitor clicks on a publisher hosted creative such as a banner or link.

CSV Feed

A list of products in plain text format – separated by a delimiter – of an advertiser’s product catalogue.

Cross Selling

An approach to presenting and encouraging additional products to what the visitor may have originally planned to purchase. An example could include visitors purchasing a holiday who are then presented with options for car hire and travel insurance.

Creatives

Materials provided by the advertiser to the publisher for them to host as advertisements. These can include an array of materials from banners, buttons, text links or videos to name a few.

Coupon

A coupon or coupon code is used by shoppers to receive a discount on their purchase. Discounts can include a percentage off the price, bonuses or free shipping. Coupons can be shared to potential customers through an advertisers own promotion, or now proving popular as publishers is dedicated coupon sites who provide codes. Synonyms: Discount code 

Cost Per Sale (CPS)

A commission structure whereby an advertiser pays the publisher a percentage or agreed upon fee for the sale of a product or service. Often the most popular of the commission models.

Cost Per Order (CPO)

A metric highlighting the number of orders generated relative to the running cost of an advertisement.

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

The cost to an advertiser per every thousand impressions they show from an advertisement. An ideal method of payment for advertisers wanting to reward for their exposure, with no clear goal page needed.

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

A cost to the advertiser for each qualified lead generated.

Cost Per Install (CPI)

The cost to an advertiser once a program or app is installed by a user.

Cost Per Form (CPF)

The cost to an advertiser which is rewarded to a publisher once a visitor completes an advertiser’s form they host on their site.

Cost Per Action (CPA)

A cost to the consumer to complete a certain action (sale, request for information or click-through)

Copyright Infringement

Presenting, hosting or distributing copyrighted content without consent from the copyright holder.

Cookieless Tracking

A tracking solution which does not rely on cookies. After being developed in response to an increasing number of users who clear their cookies from their devices.

Cookie Stuffing

An act where false cookies are placed on visitor’s computer without their knowledge, in a bid to generate a fraudulent publisher sale. When a visitor eventually does make a purchase then the cookie which was implanted will wrongly credit a publisher. Synonyms: Cookie Dropping

Cookie Overwriting

An event where an affiliate ID tied to a cookie is replaced by another affiliate ID. Unlike the name suggests, the cookie remains the same, and only the affiliate ID is changed.

Cookie Length/Expiration

A defined set of time in which a cookie will remain with a user’s browser, with an industry standard set at 30 days. If a tracking link is activated through a visitor who made a purchase after visiting a publisher site 30 days after, they will still be allocated the commission provided they are the most recent referrer.

Cookie

A small technology used by a web browser to capture previous browsing habits to understand a user’s preferences. The information contained in them proves useful for when users may return to a site, examples include saving their login or registration details or shopping cart information.

Conversion Rate Optimisation

Through testing various elements and studying the information you have, you can refine your presence and build a more successful rate of conversion.

Conversion Rate

A percentage measurement of the number of users who make a purchase after clicking on an advertisement. Measuring the success of a certain ad and the publisher it is hosted with, allowing an insight to see which content and publishers are proving effective.

Conversion

The event that occurs when a goal is met. Such as when a customer makes a purchase with an advertiser after coming from a publisher site. Conversions can include the completion of a sale or lead.

Conversion Path Tracking

The page types and interactions a visitor takes in the lead-up to a conversion. Understand how someone navigates in the approach to a conversion.

Contextual Linking

The implementation of affiliate links within a related article or text on a website.

Content Islands

A collection of content including websites and pages that link to each other.

Confirmation Page

A page which is produced just before the visitor is sent to the payment page. It summarises all the products about to be ordered.

Commissionable Transaction

Occurring when a transaction applies to the conditions of an advertiser.

Commissionable

A transaction that is deemed eligible for a commission.

Commission Tiers

Tiers which are set out to reward publishers, increasing at every level of the conversions generated. Measurements can include quantity of sales or an amount of revenue.

Commission Rate

A percentage of a sale in which an advertiser offers a publisher as commission.

Commission Groups

Allows commissions to be divided into certain groups, which helps structure commissions into specific products.

Commission

The amount paid to a publisher for generating a sale, lead or click-through for an advertiser’s website.

Conversion Path Attribution

Identifying the key actions in the path to a conversion and assigning them a value depending on the importance they played. Offering a holistic approach to understanding conversions as a process and not just a single stroke of luck.

Co-Branded Landing Page

A landing page built to feature a logo and additional branding details of a site which referred the customer. Serving as an ‘on-hold’ aspect of the journey, it builds confidence with the user as they see the advertisers branding and can be reassured they are on the correct page.

Client Based Tracking

A method of tracking which stores a cookie on the user’s browser after an advertisement is clicked. If a conversion page is then triggered, a tracking pixel which is embedded here then grabs this cookie information and sends it to the tracking platform, which rewards the conversion to the contributing publisher. Client-based tracking is simpler to implement on the advertiser’s side, but not as accurate due to its reliance on cookies..

clickTag

A digital variable placed within a flash file replacing a URL, allowing an ad server to use its own tracking URL.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

A ratio measuring visitors solely viewing, to those who have clicked on an advertisement. The higher the percentage the better interaction you’re having with an ad on sites.

Click Through

The action of a visitor clicking on a link and being redirected through to an advertiser site.

Click Reference

A tool allowing publishers to directly identify the page or link which has led to a sale.

Click Command

Used to keep an eye on the clicks which are obtained on certain rich media, including HTML and text-link ads. It acts in creating a HTML line which is then added to the HTML for easy identification.

Click Append

A command added to the destination URL which is used to identify the activity which led to the customer landing on an advertiser’s site.

Checkout Success Page

A page which is produced after a visitor has made a purchase or provided information for a lead on an advertiser’s website. A tag resides within, which triggers and allows us to confirm any actions. Synonyms: Thankyou Page

CANSPAM

An act introduced in 2003 which governs the sending of email communications and provides a clear practice to how companies attain and approach their email lists. This has led to standards which include the sender’s information readily available, an ‘opt-out’ ability, an accepted ethical approach and a variety of other inclusions.

D

Down Tracking

Referring to any irregularities within the implementation of tracking methods on an advertiser’s page.

Drop Shipping

A method of affiliate marketing whereby a publisher will take orders and payment, from there they provide the advertiser with instructions for their service or product delivery. As the publisher takes a more active role, they are general rewarded with higher commission rates.

Duplicate Commission

A single commission that appears more than once on an advertisers control panel.

Duplicate Commissions

Occurs when a specific commission will appear on an advertiser’s dashboard more than once. Often occurring due to a customer refreshing a confirmation page.

Duplicate Content

A situation where the same content exists on more than one of a websites page. For optimum search results it is best to have a sole page for information you are publishing.

Dynamic Links

A link which can be quickly updated by an advertiser across numerous publisher sites. Keeping product information up-to-date and flexible all in real-time.

Dynamic Web Page

A generated web page from a template once requested by a publisher. Providing the opportunity for personalised elements, live data feeds and other important dynamic data.

Dashboard

The interface you are presented with to navigate and approach your affiliate marketing. It allows access to your features and reports detailing your insights. Dashboards differ for both advertisers and publishers as they have different tools, necessary insights and approaches.

Datafeed

Supplied by an Advertiser and processed by TradeTracker to ensure that all links and images have the ability to be tracked. Publishers can then user this information within their own sites.

De-Duplication

The technology used to ensure that a publisher is not rewarded multiple times for the same activity. This can be necessary as some publishers have their sites utilizing several networks, networks without de-duplication can see an advertiser paying multiple commissions for a single order.

Deeplink

A link which connects a user to pages which lie beyond the homepage, usually a category or product details page.

DHTML

An extended array of HTML commands, utilized by web designers wanting to create interaction and animation on a greater level than standard HTML.

Discrepancy

A difference of figures seen by two ad serving systems in relation to the same advertisement. A difference of 10-15% is common and considered a normal result due to the different tracking methodologies. Higher figures may be seen when there are errors in the ad setup.

Domain

A unique name used as an address to a website, which can feature a number of unique designations. To customize a designation you can feature a number of top down domains which include .com or .org for example. They can also be separated by geographic designations of .uk, .de, .fr or .es to name a few.

Double Opt-In

An action important to email marketing, occurring when someone voluntarily signs up to a websites subscription list and then receives a confirmation email which requires an action for them to verify their subscription.

E

E-Commerce

Short for electric commerce, it is the trading of goods and services using the internet medium as a relied upon channel. Such examples can include shopping carts, electric funds raising, email, web services or online transaction processing.

Earnings

A publishers earned commission throughout an advertiser’s campaign.

Earnings Per Click (EPC)

A metric typically used to understand the amount of revenue that can be expected to be earned for every 100 clicks. It is commonly used to help publishers compare the earnings potential of different advertisers.

Engagement Time

An insight to understanding the amount of time a visitor spends on a page through reviewing their mouse movements, clicks and scrolls.

F

Feeder Sites

A website who’s only purpose is to redirect or push traffic to one or more dedicated sites.

First Click

Acknowledging the first interaction a customer had with an advertisement as the key to the sale and then crediting the sale to them.

First Party Cookie

A type of cookie which is set explicitly by the website itself.

Flash 

A multimedia platform popularly used by websites for animations or within banner advertisements. Slowly being utilized less due to limited mobile support and security issues.

Forced Clicks

A click which occurs without a user’s consent.

Frequency 

The number of times the same advertisement is shown to a user in a particular session or duration of time.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol. A predefined method of transferring files to and from a web server. This is used as a common way in which advertisers can post their product feed to our servers.

G

Geo-Targeting

A refined approach to advertising, where an advertiser sets limitations that changes advertising depending on a user’s geographical area to provide more relative content.

GIF 

An image file extension commonly used on web pages for their small file size and ability to show animated images.

Grey Hat

Methods which test the boundaries between the unethical and ethical approach to SEO.

H

Hit

A request for a file from a web server. Since a web page can compose of a number of files, a hit can encompass an image, a HTML file, or any other file type needing to be loaded on a site.

HTML

Short for ‘Hyper Text Mark-up Language’, it is a computer programming language which forms the foundation for many modern websites, and provides the directory to how a website should be shown to a visitor.

HTTP

The most common format in transferring files on the internet. If a secure connection is used, data is transferred by means of the HTTPS protocol.

I

IAB

Short for ‘Internet Advertising Bureau’, and is the trade association governing digital advertising. They are influential in setting an operating best practice within the industry.

IFRAME

An HTML tag which supports an inline frame, which allows the addition of HTML or webpages to a site.

Image Pixel

A tracking method for advertisers, whereby the pixel is a reference in the code of a confirmation page. Also featured in the use of tracking impressions.

Image Size

Pixel dimensions of an image.

Impression

A metric to understand how many times a user sees an advertisement. Through monitoring your number of impressions and comparing to other metrics, you can get a better understanding of how effective some of your advertisements are proving.

Incentive

Additional rewards for meeting performance-based success. Governed by the advertiser, they are often paid a bonus on transactions they have led to.

Incremental Sales

Affiliate marketing activities that have led to new customers or actions being generated that otherwise would not have been produced.

Industry

The area of business in which an advertiser and publisher most prominently features.

Interstitial

An advertisement which loads between pages without the user’s knowledge..

Inventory

A list of the available spaces available for sale on a website.

IP Address

A numerical address assigned to each device on a network, allowing its activities and location to be recognisable and identified among other devices.

J

JPEG

Short for ‘joint photographic experts group’, it is an image format which is the popular lossy compression output of digital photography.

JSON

Short for JavaScript Object Notation. Easy to generate as an interchangeable lightweight data format used to structure data. It is based on a subset of JavaScript Programming Language.

Java

A programming language that enables developers to write software for a variety of platforms. It is popular among the developing community for it’s applets and server-side applications which are beneficial for online forums, stores, polls, HTML forms and much more.

Javascript

A cross-platform, object-based scripting language for client and server applications. It is beneficial in its ability to add a high level of interaction and dynamic content to web pages.

K

Keyword

Words or phrases which are important to a web page in positioning them for a high ranking in search results.

L

Loyalty & Rewards Publisher

A publisher who rewards consumers with cash back or gifts through using incentives, virtual currency and alternate payment systems.

Long Tail Keywords

Keywords that pertain to a sentence and are more directly meeting what a searcher is seeking. Generally there is not as much competition, which allows publishers the ability to identify a more refined and relevant audience.

Long Tail

In relation to affiliate marketing, it is the name given to a conglomerate of sites who sell individually on a small level but in large volumes collectively.

Listing

A term related to search engine marketing, it is the information which is submitted to a search engine in supporting paid placement and inclusion services. Each listing is made up of a title, keyword, description and target URL.

Linking Farm

In a bid to boost search engine results, pages are created which include a number of a websites links.

Linking Code

A code in which a publisher will use to link to an advertisers website.

Link Replacer

A publisher can add a line of script to their site which will automatically monetise all the content links on their site.

Link Popularity

Refers to the number of sites which link to a website through backlinks and inbound links.

Link Name

The label given to a link, which usually offers a short description as to what the link has to offer.

Link Juice

PageRank can be passed from one page to another through correct linking practices. Building credible links between pages helps increase their page authority.

Link Generator

A TradeTracker feature which allows publishers to generate deep links directly from product pages even as content is being created.

Link Cloaking

A technique which does not show the actual destination page of a link.

Link

A form of advertising that once clicked, will send a user to a landing page on an advertiser’s website.

Lifetime Value (LTV)

A customer’s total amount they will spend with a company over their lifetime.

Leakage

A term used to describe a process in which customer has made a purchase with an advertiser but has done so in an untraceable manner, causing the customer to leave the site, or making a purchase within a page on the site which does not lend to a publisher being credited..

Lead

The admission of a user’s information, which can be used to help form a sale at a later time. Through this a user’s information can be gathered to approach regarding a sale, sending a quote or adding to an email list, the opportunities are all up to you. 

Last Click

The final publisher which was clicked before a customer makes an online purchase. In many affiliate models, this is the preferred way of crediting a publisher for a sale. However debates continue as to whether a first or last click approach is the most pivotal in leading to the sale.

Landing Page

A page which a user is directed to, once they click on an affiliate link. Directly sending customers to these pages can help them by-pass navigating through unnecessary pages and places them closer to the conversion goal.

M

Manual Approval

An advertiser has the power to approve or deny a publisher seeking to join their campaign by personally overseeing their application.

Manual Commissions

Money paid to a publisher, which did no travel through the normal validation process. They are then used to fix any errors in payments or provide commissions to offline sales.

Merchant ID

Through this ID an advertiser is allocated a direct reference number.

Microsite

A compact interactive HTML or rich media advert, often used for pop-up advertising. An effective way of engaging a visitor’s attention by featuring both interactive content and product information.

Minimum EPC

Minimum Earnings Per Click. An optional assurance the advertiser may offer to publishers for the duration of a campaign.

Mobile Advertising

A form of advertising which caters to many portable devices who’s most notable differences are a smaller screen size and more limited access to data. Most prominent as a mobile web banner, mobile web poster, full screen interstitial, mobile gamin ad and mobile video ad..

Mobile Content

Media optimised for a mobile device, in a non-advertising format.

Mobile Search

Completing a search using a search engine or within a website on a mobile device.

Mobile Web

A channel for the delivery of mobile content, enabling formats which are aware of their mobile context.

Monetising

The implementation of new abilities in the hope of earning money from an asset.

N

Niche Marketing

A marketing strategy with a focused audience or specific topic included in all approaches.

Non-Commissionable Transaction

A transaction which is not eligible for a transaction. Instances can include a transaction as not part of an offer or an invalid affiliate ID is provided.

Native Advertising

Digital advertising which is implemented to work as part of the main content flow and will often supply audiences with a ‘content experience’. Ad formats can include the likes of content curation units, discovery and recommendation units. ‘Sponsored’ or ‘featured’ content are also often seen as examples.

Network Override

A percentage charged to an advertiser for network services, calculated from the total amount of publishers commission for a set time.

Niche

Determined as a specific topic or vertical. Identifying yourself to be relevant to a refined audience.

O

Opt-In

The action of a visitor who subscribes to receiving emails and messages from a website.

Opt-Out

The action of a visitor who subscribes to an email or message list who no longer wishes to receive any more communications.

Optimisation

A process of identifying and prioritising certain creatives of a campaign in order to serve more impressions. Ad-serving solutions are sometimes able to perform this automatically.

Order

An online visitors request to an e-commerce page when purchasing an item or service.

Order Inquiry Manager

A tool within the TradeTracker dashboard which allows publishers and advertisers to monitor any missing orders. A publisher can directly enter the information of a missing order and inform the advertiser.

Order Reference

The unique reference in which an advertiser uses for any sales and leads on their website.

Organic Search

Traffic seen to a website which comes from a search engines algorithm, and not a paid-for resource. Through a tactical approach, websites can improve their search engine ranking and push them towards the first page of results, which leads to both a higher volume of traffic and a more reputable site as visitors find you from an unbiased third party..

P

Performance Marketing

Performance marketing is a form of advertising in which an advertiser pays only for marketing activities when there are measurable results. One of the most common forms of performance marketing is affiliate marketing in which an advertisers would only pay for the marketing activies after a consumer buys a product within the webshop.

Pop-Up

An advertisement type which will automatically display in a smaller window on top of your last clicked window.

Portal

A website or service which offers a number of resources, such as email, forums, search engine results and online shopping.

Post Click

The action of a user on a web page with tags, after previously being directed there through an advertisement.

Post Impression Tracking

The actions of tracking a user by means of a banner impression rather than a click. Synonyms: Post View Tracking

Prepayment

The ability for advertisers to pay the network an amount up-front which is used to swiftly pay out commissions to affiliates so they can reinvest in their efforts quickly. Typically reduces the payment cycle with 50%.

Product Feed

A feature allowing publisher’s access to an updated information rich document, which holds many details of the products an online advertiser has available. Product information can include the product ID, name, price, links to offer pages, image URL, specifications and any other details which may be product relevant. Product feeds most commonly come in an easily downloadable and common XML, CSV or JSON format.

Publisher 

A website owner who hosts the products and services of an advertiser. The publisher utilizes their online audience to leverage an advertisers abilities. A network of publishers equips a virtual salesforce to the advertiser, who rewards them once a visitor has interacted with their featured content, or fulfils a desired action.

Publisher Tag

A piece of code placed on a publisher’s website which contacts an ad server requesting a suitable ad to feature

Pop-Under

An advertisement type which displays in a smaller window behind the current open window.

PNG (Portable Network Graphic)

An uncompressed image format popular for its use on websites, due to their small file size and ability to have a transparent background.

Placement

In reference to search engine marketing, a listing will become a placement once it is submitted to a search engine. A listing can become multiple placements, governed by how many individual search engines receive it. A placement will contain the listing information, along with the bid amount and any other necessary information which is specific to a search engine.

Payout Frequency

The rate at which payouts to affiliates occur over a particular period of time. At TradeTracker, affiliates are paid out up to 4 times a month.

Payment Threshold

An amount of commissions which a publisher must meet, before they are eligible for payment. To lower accounting costs, it is wise for some advertisers to set a minimum threshold. While some publishers also utilize this feature by only receiving payments once they have met a certain point to avoid having to cash smaller cheques..

Payment Level

A unique feature that allows advertisers the ability to reward consistently performing publishers with bigger commission and or longer tracking periods.

Payment for Performance Marketing

 A system where only proven results require any payment from an advertiser. If a company sees no sales generated from their affiliate marketing programs, then they do not pay.

Pay Per Sale

A method of commission where a publisher is paid once a referred visitor makes a purchase with an advertiser’s site.

Pay Per Lead

A method of commission where a publisher is paid when they have led to an online subscription, registration or membership completion and submission to an advertiser..

Pay Per Click (PPC)

A method where an advertiser pays a commission once an action is triggered through a click.

Page Source

HTML code which describes the foundations, layout and content of a web page.

R

Rich Media

Rich Media –  An advertisement technology which includes rich graphics, audio or video within an advertisement. Rich media often lets users interact with the ad without leaving the page. Formats are commonly HTML, Shockwave and Flash.

ROAS

Short for ‘Return on Advertising Spend’ and refers to the amount of money from a specific advertising campaign. Calculating ROAS is the percentage of revenue gained in relation to your expenditure on the campaign. Revenue / Cost. This could be multiplied by 100%.

For example, a company spends $2,000 on an online advertising campaign in a single month. In this month, the campaign results in revenue of $10,000.

Therefore, the ROAS is a ratio of 5 to 1 (or 500 percent) as $10,000 divided by $2,000 = $5.

For every dollar that the company spends on its advertising campaign, it generates $5 worth of revenue.

ROI

Short for ‘Return on Investment’. See ‘ROAS’

Roll Over

If a publisher does not meet a minimum balance for a payment, then the payments accrue until they reach the amount eligible for payment.

Run of Network

An advertisement with consistent placement across a network of sites. Often used by agencies to optimise results for buyers who hold high priority ad commitments.

Run of Site

An advertisement which rotates between all non-featured ad spaces within a publisher site.

Reversal

An advertiser removing a sales commission accredited to a publisher due to goods being returned, a declined credit card or fraudulent activity.

Residual Earnings

Crediting a publisher with the lifetime sales of a customer they referred to an advertiser’s site, after they make the initial purchase. Differing from the usual method of offering a once off commission for each individual purchase.

Referring URL

The URL in which a visitor came from to land on a website.

Referral Period

The time an advertiser enables cookies to remain on a publisher’s site to be accessible and recognisable for allocating commissions.

Redirect Setting

A link attribute which is used to redirect from a default destination URL.

Redirect Image URL

Images and links from an advertiser, equipped with a URL to forward traffic through to a desired page.

Redirect

A page which sends a visitor to another page automatically. There exists several approaches to a redirect and they can be beneficial in a variety of situations.

Recurring Commission

These are commissions which are paid once a customer makes a purchase, then will repeat as they continue to make purchases. This model is commonly seen with a subscription service.

Real Time

Insights as they happen. A view of interactions with no delay from when they occurred. Offering an up to date oversight and allowing the decision making process easier with the benefit of current information.

Reach

The number of accumulated impressions an advertisement has. Increased reach means a larger exposure, which leads the ad to a greater opportunity for visitor interaction.

Raw Clicks

A metric common in reporting which identifies the overall number of clicks which have occurred on an affiliate link. Raw clicks is purely quantitative, recording clicks even if they were just one user who clicks it numerous times. They are usually accompanied by unique clicks to provide a comparison of affiliate link activity.

S

SDK

A SDK (Software Development Kit) is a piece of code that needs to be programmed into the Merchant's app. This code enables TradeTracker to track the mobile metrics of the app. Most Merchants who have an app are already using a SDK from Appsflyer, Adjust, Branch or Singular. It is easily manageable to plugin to such an SDK and to immediately start a new campaign with Mobile Metrics.

Super Fast Payment

A unique feature offered by TradeTracker which pays out commission to publishers within 72 hours after the transaction has been approved by the advertiser. Synonym: SFP.

Sub Affiliate Network

A publisher who hosts their own network of distribution partners.

Syndication

An aligned partnership between content producers and publishers which allows a producer to make their content available on a publisher’s site with an aim to increase readership, traffic or click-through opportunities on affiliate links within articles.

Super Affiliate

Referring to the top publishers in a campaign who generally feature in the top 5% of publishers but account for over 80% of sales.

Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)

A reference number which allows, the identification of an advertiser’s specific product. Submitting an SKU enables changes to be made to their availability, pricing or other necessary product information.

Squeeze Page

A page designed to coerce users into a goal or desired conversion. Often they will offer a material in exchange for a user’s information to then be added to email lists or promotional materials.

Spyware

A software which gathers information about a user without their informed consent. Most commonly it will be placed on a device upon installation, after they agree to an End User License Agreement which are sometimes misleading or hidden.

Sponsored Listings

A paid for ability to be featured on a certain site and implemented in a way which it looks similar to natural content.

Site Placement

A comprehensive description of an ad slot/s within a site. This will feature information such as the size of the ad slot, pricing, placement and where they are located. This allows publisher sites to be more easily identified by advertisers.

Shop

An e-commerce site which offers products for purchase online. They will often be situated in the role of an advertiser.

Shockwave

A software plug-in which enables a browser to play a variety of multimedia. Commonly used in rich media for the purposes of showing animation and providing interaction.

Session Duration

The time a visitor spends on a page or website after arriving there.

Secure Site

A website which utilises cryptographic protocols – known as Secure Socket Layer – to prevent unauthorised people from viewing the confidential information transferred between the computer and the website. The feature is commonly implemented for e-commerce, online banking, stock trading and often financial focused transactions on the internet. Also see HTTPS.

Secure Servers

A website who often handles online payments will generally be hosted on secure servers. This assures all data sent to and from the server is encrypted or protected against people listening in to gain valuable information such as credit card details. Secure connections are most commonly recognizable by their web address beginning with ‘https://’ or commonly signified by a padlock symbol featured in the navigational bar at the top of the web browser.

Search Publisher

A publisher who focuses on the promotional avenues of paid and organic search, along with domain parking and redirecting to drive sales.

Search Policy Guidelines

A merchant policy and guidelines outline how a publisher is permitted to feature an advertisers brand within search engines. Including details such as trademark rights, recommended keywords and URL/direct linking rights.

Search Engine Position

A websites ranking within a search engine in relation to a set of keywords.

Search Engine Optimisation

An approach to refining your site to boost its ranking on search engines with a focus on organic results. Synonyms: SEO

Search Engine Marketing

A focus on marketing towards the search engine platform and utilizing the primary avenues of optimizing for organic search results, paid keywords and utilizing any other tools that a search engine may offer..

Search Engine Advertising

A focus on marketing towards the search engine platform and utilising the primary avenues of optimising for organic search results, paid keywords and any other tools that a search engine may offer. Synonyms: SEA

Script

Commands which initiate an action on a website. Commonly governing those which determine what information is delivered to a visitor and also sent from them.

Sale

A transaction for a good or service on an advertiser site.

S2S Tracking

Short for ‘Server to Server Tracking’, based on sending post-backs from advertiser’s systems to the TradeTracker affiliate software when a conversion occurs. Advertisers must support this tracking within their back-end, making it more technically complex than client-based tracking, but provides more accuracy, additional security and enhanced flexibility.

T

Trademark Poaching

Is most commonly a publisher’s practice of using registered trademarks as keywords when bidding on search engine keywords, but can also refer to competitors purchasing these terms to rank alongside their competitions keywords. Often advertisers will forbid the use of trademarks or URL keywords by their partnered publishers.

Traffic

Measuring the number of visitors to a website within a certain period.

Transaction

An entry in the TradeTracker platform which will eventually lead to a pending, accepted or declined commission. It can pertain to any impression, click, lead or sale, stand alone and as duplicates.

Transaction Date

The date a customer makes the relevant purchase on an advertiser’s site.

Two-Tier Affiliate Program

A reward scheme for signing up sub-affiliates. This allows publishers to earn additional commissions from the people they have managed to recruit into an affiliate campaign.

Typo Squatting

Obtaining misspelled domains of an advertiser to harvest their traffic. This relies on users misspelling a domain and landing on the misspelled website.

Tag

An HTML or XML command. Embedded within an HTML document, it describes a documents logical structure and behavior to determine how the file is shown in a browser. These tags send the request for an ad to an ad server.

Text Link

A link which is formed by text within a webpage, as opposed to an alternative banner ad or other linking image.

Third Party Tracking

A tracking tag which is implemented to an advertiser’s website to report information or actions to an external source.

Time-Decay Model

A model of attribution which rewards touchpoints closest to the sale highest and then gradually decreases on previous interactions.

Tracking Method

The way in which a campaign is following sales referrals, leads and clicks. Popular methods use a web address to identify publishers, affiliate ID’s and cookies.

Tracking Period

The length of time which the TradeTracker software tracks a click-through from a publisher’s website. Any sales made during this period are recognised as commissions in an advertisers control panel.

Tracking Pixel

Tracking pixel is also sometimes called impression pixel or iFrame pixel according to which of these two methods are used.

Tracking Tag

A piece of code which resides on an advertiser’s page which notifies TradeTracker of sales when they occur. The tracking code will capture a variety of information including the total sale value, commission group codes and voucher codes.

Tracking URL

URL’s redirected through an ad server to enable click-throughs to be attributed.

U

Unique Clicks

A metric which more accurately represents how many unique visitors you have by removing any additional clicks a user makes to visit the site. If a single user were to click multiple times over a 1.5 hour period they would still only register as one click.

Unique Selling Point

The service, product, content, an advantage or angle your website has over any competitors within your market. A special uniqueness which can be capitalised on.

Unique Visitors

A unique visitor which has accessed a site, been served unique content or ads such as email, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads. Users are tracked through cookies and registrations and although they may access a site several times, are only accounted for once in a governed time period.

User Generated Content (UGC)

Referrals to content being created by a website users rather than publishers or their site owners. A common example can include that of online forums or the comments section on articles.

V

Valid Domains

Domains that TradeTracker recognises as confirmed through a recognised page code. This ensures that sales cannot be generated on our system without being verified through an advertiser’s website.

Validating Commissions

The ability for advertisers to assure transactions are legitimate through manually assessing and approving each one credited through their site.

Validation Period

The time in which a pending sale is confirmed, with a short length of confirmation generally signaling strong campaign management.

Viewthrough

The tracking on a conversion within a determined time frame in which a visitor sees a display ad but does not click it.

Viral Marketing

The rapid spread of produced content through word of mouth or online media channels.

Virtual Sales Force

An outside party acting as an advertiser’s sales team existing online and in a capacity where they work inadvertently towards making sales for an advertiser in exchange for commissions.

Visitor

A user who lands on a website through a search engine, advertising or directly entering a URL in the search bar.

W

Web-based

A service or function platform which exists purely online, and only requires an up to date to web browser with the internet to access it.

Webpage

The single page of a website.

White Hat

An ethical approach to improving your search engine ranking by playing within the rules. Contrasted against Grey and Black Hat

Widget

An application which can be manipulated or adjusts itself to suit it’s given parameters.

Web Optimisation

The process of improving a website so that it is easier to navigate, which leads to greater usability, generally leading to increased conversion rates.

Web Services

Most commonly coming in the form of an API which can be accessed over an online network. It essentially allows machine to machine interaction over the internet.

X

XML

Short for ‘eXtensible Markup Language’, it effectively defines a set of rules for encoding documents which can be easily read by both machines and humans.

XML Feed

A document (often containing product information) structured by means of XML.