Ad Resource Glossary

Ad Clicks
Number of times users click on an ad banner.

Ad Click Rate
Sometimes referred to as "click-through," this is the percentage of ad views that resulted in an ad click.

Ad Views (Impressions)
Number of times an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by visitors. If the same ad appears on multiple pages simultaneously, this statistic may understate the number of ad impressions, due to browser caching. Corresponds to net impressions in traditional media. There is currently no way of knowing if an ad was actually loaded. Most servers record an ad as served even if it was not.

Banner
An ad on a Web page that is usually "hot-linked" to the advertiser's site.

Click through
The percentage of ad views that resulted in an ad click.

CPC
Cost-per-click is an Internet marketing formula used to price ad banners. Advertisers will pay Internet publishers based on the number of clicks a specific ad banner gets. Cost usually runs in the range of $.10 -.$20 per click.

CPM
CPM is the cost per thousand for a particular site. A Web site that charges $15,000 per banner and guarantees 600,000 impressions has a CPM of $25 ($15,000 divided by 600).

Hit
Each time a Web server sends a file to a browser, it is recorded in the server log file as a "hit". Hits are generated for every element of a requested page (including graphics, text and interactive items). If a page containing two graphics is viewed by a user, three hits will be recorded - one for the page itself and one for each graphic. Webmasters use hits to measure their server's work load. Because page designs vary greatly, hits are a poor guide for traffic measurement.

HTML
HyperText Markup Language is a coding language used to make hypertext documents for use on the Web. HTML resembles old-fashioned typesetting code, where a block of text is surrounded by codes that indicate how it should appear. HTML allows text to be "linked" to another file on the Internet.

Hypertext
Any text that that can be chosen by a reader and which causes another document to be retrieved and displayed.

Java
Java is a general purpose programming language with a number of features that make the language well suited for use on the World Wide Web. Small Java applications are called Java applets and can be downloaded from a Web server and run on your computer by a Java-compatible Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Javascript
Javascript is a scripting language developed by Netscape that can interact with HTML source code, enabling Web authors to spice up their sites with dynamic content.

Jump Page
A jump page, also known as a "splash page," is a special page set up for visitors who clicked on a link in an advertisement. For example, by clicking on an ad for Site X, visitors go to a page in Site X that continues the message used in the advertising creative. The jump page can be used to promote special offers or to measure the response to an advertisement.

Link
An electronic connection between two Web sites (also called "hot link").

Log file
A file that lists actions that have occurred. For example, Web servers maintain log files listing every request made to the server. With log file analysis tools, it's possible to get a good idea of where visitors are coming from, how often they return, and how they navigate through a site. Using cookies enables Webmasters to log even more detailed information about how individual users are accessing a site.

Opt-in e-mail
Opt-in email lists are lists where Internet users have voluntarily signed up to receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest.

Page
All Web sites are a collection of electronic "pages." Each Web page is a document formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that contains text, images or media objects such as RealAudio player files, QuickTime videos or Java applets. The "home page" is typically a visitor's first point of entry and features a site index. Pages can be static or dynamically generated. All frames and frame parent documents are counted as pages.

Page Views
Number of times a user requests a page that may contain a particular ad. Indicative of the number of times an ad was potentially seen, or "gross impressions." Page views may overstate ad impressions if users choose to turn off graphics (done to speed browsing).

Rich Media
Rich media is a term for advanced technology used in Internet ads, such as streaming video, applets that allow user interaction, and special effects.

ROI
ROI stands for "return on investment," one of the great mysteries of online advertising, and indeed, advertising in general. ROI is trying to find out what the end of result of the expenditure (in this case, an ad campaign) is. A lot depends on the goal of the campaign, building brand awareness, increasing sales, etc. Early attempts at determining ROI in Internet advertising relied heavily on the click-rate of an ad.

Server
A machine that makes services available on a network to client programs. A file server makes files available. A WAIS server makes full-text information available through the WAIS protocol (although WAIS uses the term source interchangeably with server).

Sponsorship
Sponsorships are increasing in popularity on the Internet. A sponsorship is when an advertisers pays to sponsor content, usually a section of Web site or an e-mail newsletter. In the case of a site, the sponsorship may include banners or buttons on the site, and possibly a tag line.

Sticky
"Sticky" sites are those where the visitors stay for an extended period of time. For instance, a banking site that offers a financial calculator is stickier than on that doesn't because visitors do not have to leave to find a resource they need.

Unique Users
The number of different individuals who visit a site within a specific time period. To identify unique users, Web sites rely on some form of user registration or identification system.

Valid Hits
A further refinement of hits, valid hits are hits that deliver all information to a user. Excludes hits such as redirects, error messages and computer-generated hits.

Visits
A sequence of requests made by one user at one site. If a visitor does not request any new information for a period of time, known as the "time-out" period, then the next request by the visitor is considered a new visit. To enable comparisons among sites, I/PRO uses a 30-minute time-out.