Glossary of Common Blogging Terms and their Definitions
Above the Fold- The content on a blog that appears without having to scroll down in the open window.
Analytics- Data that comes from reports on website visitors, social media, paid advertising, etc., analyzing trends, and creating insights to help make better marketing decisions for your blog.
Backlink- A link one website gets from another website.
Blog Niche- The topic or area of interest your blog focuses on. (Ex: Personal Development, Mindfulness, Writing, etc.)
Blog Post- A single piece of content (article) which usually contains at a minimum a headline and some text.
Blogger Outreach- Seeking out and developing relationships and working with other bloggers to gain more visibility and influence, promote your products/services, and have lasting brand ambassadors for your blog.
Bounce Rate- The percentage of people who land on a page on your website and leave directly without clicking or navigating to another page on your site.
Breadcrumb- A display of parent link leading to current page or post allowing users to keep track of their location within a website.
Call to Action- Some type of web link such as text link, button, image, etc. that you use to encourage blog visitors to go to a landing page and become a new lead. (Ex: Subscribe Here, or Download Now)
Connections- List of influential and fellow bloggers in your niche that you work towards developing relationships with.
Cpanel- The backend administrative area of webhost.
CSS- Otherwise known as Cascading Style Sheets. The code behind your website that gives it it’s style and things like fonts, colors, and backgrounds. Also responsible for allowing websites to be responsive to various screen sizes and device types.
Ebook- Longer form content going in-depth on a topic of choice used to educate, inform, and generate leads and/or sales. Can vary in size from a few to many dozen thousand words. Length isn’t as important as giving actionable, usable advise and content.
Favicon- An image that is displayed next to the bookmark and in the URL in the address bar or the web browser.
Form- Area where your page visitors have a chance to fill out information such as Name and Email in exchange for an offer.
Guest post- Content that you create for another person’s blog or website. A great way to build relationships, authority, and influence for yourself and your blog.
HTML- Short for Hypertext Markup Language. The language used to write web pages.
Hyperlink- A link to another website or web page.
Keyword- The phrase or word that gets indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. Best practices for choosing keywords include finding those with a high search volume and lower competition. Using a free tool like Google Adwords Keyword Planner can be useful.
Landing page- A page on website that contains a form used to encourage visitors to become a lead and join your email list in exchange for a free offer.
Lead- A person or business that shows interest in your product or service and signs up for your email list.
List- A database of names or emails of people or businesses who have interest in your product or service in some way. Used to build influence, relationships, and promote products or services to.
Networking- Connecting and interacting with other people to exchange information, create contacts, and help further each other’s objectives.
Offer- Offers exist to help gain leads to your blog and business. They include things like ebooks, webinars, white papers, checklists, courses, etc.
Permalink- The specific link for a blog post or article.
Pillar Post or Article- An epic and comprehensive blog post that goes above and beyond to explain something in the greatest detail and way possible. An article that covers a main theme or topic of your blog in-depth.
Plugin- A piece of software that contains a group of functions and can be added to Wordpress to enhance or make easier certain aspects of your website. They are written in PHP language and can be found from the Wordpress dashboard.
Publish- To post an article or page onto the internet. ( i.e. ship)
SEO- Search Engine Optimisation. The process of improving where a webpage or article appears in search engine results. SEO covers a wide range of details like keywords, title tags, image tags, and inbound links and others. Search engines also look for elements such as site structure, design, visitor behavior, and more to determine where your content should rank.
Sidebar- The side of website that displays widgets.
Ship- Otherwise known as publish. To post an article without overthinking it. (i.e. just ship it)
Social Proof- The psychological phenomenon force that influences you based on how others respond or act in a given situation. For blogging, social proof can come as testimonials on your website that show what other people think of your products and/or service. If other people like, enjoy it, and share it, it must be good.
Tag- A word or phrase attached to your article that makes it easier to find.
Tag Cloud- Cluster of all tagged words on a website where font words are larger for most popular tags.
Target Audience- The specific group of people you focus your blogging efforts towards.
Theme- A theme is a custom pre-built design for a website. There are thousands of free and premium themes built for Wordpress.
Thought Leader- The go-to people subject matter experts in their respective fields. Trusted sources who educate and inspire their followers to replicate their success.
Troll- Someone who comments rude or hurtful statements on your blog. (i.e. pay no attention to the troll)
User Experience (UX)- The overall experience a user has with your blog, brand, products, services, etc.
Vlog- To post a video as a blog post.
Widget- A place to put various code, text, images in sidebar.
XML Sitemap- A file on your web server that lists all the URL’s in the structure of your website. It allows search engines to easily crawl and index your site in a more intelligent manner.