Glossary

Banner - A banner is an advertisement in the form of a graphic image that typically runs across a Web page or is positioned in a margin or other space reserved for ads.

Button - A graphical image, usually in the shape of a square, used as an advertisement on a Web site.

Click-through - The number of times an ad is clicked; when a user clicks on an ad that is linked to another page and that page downloads on to the user's browser.

Click-through rate (CTR) - The percentage of times the ad is clicked on divided by the total number of times an ad is viewed.

Cost-per-click (CPC) - A media term used to describe the cost per single click-through of an ad to a client's Web site.

Cost-per-thousand (CPM) - Is a media term used to describe the cost-per-thousand ad impressions. CPM is a standard pricing model on the Web.

CPM - CPM is the cost per thousand for a particular site. A web site that charges $7.500 per banner and guarantees 300,000 impressions has a CPM of $25 ($7.500 divided by 300) and a $50 CPM for 200,000 ad impressions would cost an advertiser $10,000. The "M" stands for the Latin mille, meaning one thousand.

Counter - A program that a web site uses to count the number of visits to a web page.

Directory - Listing of web sites organized into categories. Hieros Gamos is a directory.

Dynamic Rotation (Dynamic Delivery) - Ads delivered on a rotating basis, allowing different users to see different ads on a given page and for an ad to appear on more than one page. Ads can also be dynamically rotated through a particular section of a site, or can be called up as part of a keyword search.

Hit - A line that is recorded in a log file when something is requested of a web server. For example, if someone goes to a web page that has five graphics, six hits will be recorded in the log file: one hit for the HTML page and one for each of the graphics. Hits are considered an inaccurate way to measure traffic and are no longer used by savvy advertisers.

Home Page (Main Page) - Designated as the main point of entry of a Web site: it is the starting point when a browser first connects to the Internet.

Impressions (Ad Impression or Page Impression) - The number of times an ad is delivered. When an advertiser buys advertising on a CPM basis, the advertiser is paying for every 1,000 impressions that the site can deliver. Different sites measure an impression differently. Some sites count an impression when an ad is requested, others only when an ad is fully downloaded.

Inventory - The number of ad impressions available for sale on a Web site. Ad inventory is determined by the number of ads on a page, the number of pages containing ad space and the number of page requests.

Page Views - Number of times a user request 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 (often done to speed browsing).

Rate Card - The general advertising pricelist. Rate Cards are published by sites that accept advertising. They include prices of banners, sponsorships and other types of ad products.

Rotation (or Dynamic Delivery) - Ads delivered on a rotating basis, allowing different users to see different ads on a given page and for an ad to appear on more than one page. Ads can also be dynamically rotated through a particular section of a site, or can be called up as part of a keyword search.

Run-of-category (ROC) - A run-of-category ad is placed to rotate on ad spaces within a category.

Run-of-site (ROS) - A run-of-site ad is placed to rotate on all non featured ad spaces on a site.

Site traffic - The amount of activity on a web site. This is usually measured in page views or visitors.

Sponsorship - Sponsorships are increasing in popularity on the Internet. A sponsorship is when an advertiser 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 and buttons on the site.

Targeting - The ability to deliver the most appropriate ad to a user primarily through content, demographic profiling or browser targeting. Advanced targeting techniques consider users' behavior and predict behavior based on user affinities and similarities to other users.

Timed Ads - Ads that rotate at timed intervals while a user is on a particular page. Commonly used to refresh ads in chat or discussion areas of a site, where the users are viewing a single chat window for an extended period of time and not making multiple page requests.

Traffic - The number of page views reported by a site from its log files, generally on a monthly basis. Traffic can be reported for the entire site or for sections, channels or most requested pages. Site traffic can be audited by third-party companies to authenticate numbers.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator; an address that a browser uses to find and display a web site.

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.