Online Business / Hosting: Most Popular Articles

Web Hosting Under \$10
Low cost shared Web hosting providers that are good options for a business website.

Find the Best Web Hosting
5 steps to find a Web hosting provider that perfectly suits the needs of your online business

Contextual Ads w/ AdWords
How to run a contextually relevant, keyword targeting ad campaign on search and content sites using Google AdWords.

6 Easy Ways to Monetize a Site
Ad networks and affiliate programs that are easy to get started and use so you can monetize your blog or website quickly.

Hiring a Web Designer
Step-by-step guide to hiring the best possible Web designer for your budget.

60+ Ad and Affiliate Programs
List of Advertising Networks and Affiliate Programs

Affiliate Marketing Basics
Affiliate marketing is the business of marketing a product or service for someone else, then getting paid if visitors complete an action like fill out a form or actually purchases the product. Here are the top ten tips for successful affiliate marketing.

eBay Search Tips & Tricks
Tips & tricks for mastering eBay's search engine so you can find stuff.

Top 10 Web Design Job Boards
Places where people can post Requests for Proposals/Quote (RFP), or where freelance Web designer can find job.

AdWords Getting Started
Google AdWords is an extensive advertising program that offers targeted campaigns shown across Google's network of sites and its millions of partner websites that display AdSense. AdWords' ability to deliver contextually relevant ads, its ease of use, and extensive reach make it a powerful marketing tool for any business.

Google AdWords
Best practices for buying contextually relevant online advertising via Google AdWords.

Website Monitoring Services
Top site monitoring services that alert you when your website goes down. Some also provide uptime and response time tracking and reporting.

Ecommerce
Commercial transactions conducted over the Internet, such as the selling and buying of goods and services online.

AdWords Ad Formats
Advertising formats supported by Google AdWords include text ads, image and video ads, and mobile ads.

Amazon Associates
How to use the many tools and options available in Amazon.com's affiliate program.

AdWords Website Placement
How to buy text or banner ads on specific websites in the Google Content Network.

5 Web Design RFP Essentials
How to Write an Effective Request for Proposal (RFP)

AdWords Local
AdWords also allows you to target ads to a local audience and have your business listing appear in Google Maps searches.

5 Effective Web Writing Tips
Writing great Web copy means it's easy-to-read and scannable.

AdWords TV, Print, Radio Ads
Google's AdWords is experimenting with selling ad space in traditional media like print (newspapers, magazines), television, and radio.

Blog
Definition of weblogs or blogs. Blogs are a journal-like website that displays its entries in reverse chronological order.

Geo-targeting
The ability to target ads at users based on their geographic location. The targeting can be based on country, state, city, or postal code. Geo-targeting is an important tool for local small businesses that wants to run focused, cost-effective ad campaigns.

MFP
Definition of MFP -- multi-function printer.

RSS
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication

Stickiness
Measurement of how long visitors stay on a website. The most sticky websites usually feature highly compelling content and popular interactive elements.

Animated Ad
A graphical ad with movement, usually generated by an interactive Java applet, flash or an animated GIF file.

Drop Shipping
Retail business model where the Internet merchant does not keep an inventory of goods. The merchant will accept product orders from customers and forward those orders to a distributor or manufacturer, who will ship the product directly to the end customer.

Web Design Contract Essentials
6 essential clauses in a Web design contract

Test for Maximum Ad Revenue
Test your ad placement, design and partner programs to maximize revenue.

Expandable Banner Ad
A banner ad that expands in size after a user clicks on it or hovers the mouse cursor over the banner.

Contributor Profiles
Profiles of contributors to the About.com Online Business / Hosting guide site.

Online Advertising Terms
Glossary of Essential Online Advertising Terms

CPM (Cost Per Mille)
How much it costs an advertiser to show an ad 1,000 times. A $100 CPM means the advertiser paid $100 per every 1,000 times his ad appears on a website. CPM is the most common measurement of online advertising costs. Also known as cost per thousand (Mille is Latin for one thousand).

How to Write a Web Design RFP
Step-by-step guide to hiring the best possible Web designer for your budget.

Registrar
A company that registers, sells, and manages domain names.

Keyword
A word or phrase users type into search engines in order to find relevant information.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
A commonly used protocol for securing the transmission of confidential data (such as credit card numbers) through the Internet.

Affiliate Network
Affiliate networks are brokers between advertisers and individual websites.

CPC (Cost Per Click)
Advertising pricing model where advertisers pay by the number of times visitors click on an ad. A typical range is 5 cents to $1 per click. Also known as pay-per-click.

Brochureware
Websites created by publishing a company's traditional print marketing materials online. Like a brochure, such websites contain only basic information about the company and does not offer any interactive features.

CMS
Software that facilitates the creation, modification, organization, and publication of content (usually in the form of articles). Examples of CMSs include Wordpress, Movable Type, Joomla!, and Drupal.

Conversion Rate
The rate at which visitors are "converted" from viewing an ad to taking a desirable action on an advertiser's website. The desired action might be buying a product, registering for a membership, opting into a mailing list, or subscribing to an RSS feed.

CPA (Cost Per Action)
Advertising pricing model where advertisers pay only when users completes a specific desired action. The action is usually a sales transaction or a registration.

Dynamic Webpage
A webpage that is created in real time, usually as an interactive response to a visitor's preferences.

Insertion Order
A purchase order that specifies the terms and conditions for a specific online advertising campaign.

Interstitial Ad
An ad page that appears before the user-requested page is displayed. Also known as a splash page or transition ad.

Online Business / Hosting - Articles
An index of Articles for the Online Business / Hosting guide site.

B2C (Business to Consumer)
Commercial activity conducted between a company and an end consumer. B2C is often used to describe the retail part of Ecommerce.

Clickthrough
A clickthrough occurs when a user clicks on an ad and gets successfully redirected to the advertiser's website.

5 Online Marketplaces
Where to Sell Physical Goods Online

About - Online Business / Hosting Buyer's Guide
Find Guide reviews, top picks, and advice you can use before you buy.

RPM (Revenue Per Mille)
The amount of revenue a website generates per thousand page impressions. Also known as revenue per thousand (Mille is Latin for one thousand).

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
One of the most common methods for transferring files online. It is a popular way for webmasters to upload and download files from their Web servers.

B2B (Business to Business)
Commercial activity conducted between two businesses, as opposed to between a business and an end consumer.

CRM
Business tools and strategies used by companies to better attract, service, and retain customers.

Aggregated Content
Content -- such as articles, videos or images -- gathered from various sources and presented on one website.

Banner Ad
Banners are graphical ads that links to an advertiser's website.

Affiliate Marketing
A marketing model where a website (the affiliate) agrees to feature ads for an advertiser in exchange for a commission on the sales generated by such ads. For example, many websites generate sales leads for Amazon.com by displaying Amazon's ad banners. In return, Amazon pays these websites a percentage of the sales revenue generated by the ad banners.

Monetize
The process of converting a website's traffic into money.

Online Business / Hosting - StepBySteps
An index of StepBySteps for the Online Business / Hosting guide site.

Pop-Under Ad
An ad that pops into a separate browser window that remains hidden until the visitor closes his current window.

Exit Page
The page from which a visitor exists a website. A website's most popular exit pages may have problems with usability, bad writing, or technical errors.

Exit Strategy
A plan for making a profitable exit from a business venture. For online businesses, exit strategies often involve the founders selling the company or taking the company public.

Call To Action
Definition of Call To Action (CTA). The portion of ad copy that prompts customers to take a specific action.

GUI (Graphical User Interface)
The graphical front end of a software or website that makes it easier to use.

Front End
User interface that allows a visitor to interact with a website's features.

Spam
Unsolicited advertisements usually in the form of emails, blog comments, or forum postings.

Landing Page
The advertiser's webpage visitors "land" on after they click on an ad. Usually the landing page will have a call to action prompting the user to sign up for a service or purchase a product.

HTML
The primary computer language used to create websites on the World Wide Web.

Referrer
When users visits your website by clicking on a link from another website, that linking website is considered a referrer.

Server
A computer connected to the Internet that is especially designed to host websites and make them accessible online.

Spyware
Software installed on computers (usually without the user's permission) used to track an Internet user's surfing habits.

Floating Ads
An ad that appears on the main browser window and floats across the top of the webpage's normal content.

Search Engine Results Page
Definition of SERP or Search Engine Results Page

Social Networking for Business
Social networking Web sites are not only for teenagers. Business and professionals can benefit from these three social networking sites.