Your go-to dictionary in affiliate marketing world. Speak the industry's language!
Also known as “Split testing”. This is when you test two or more different variations of creatives, landing pages, campaign settings (time, day, etc) to find the one that earns more money for you.
Any area of a web page that is viewable without the viewer having to use the vertical scroll bar.
The space on a web page reserved for the displaying of advertisements. For banner ads: typically at the top or bottom of a page or if a small advertisement in the right or left column. The most desirable ad is above the fold.
A digital marketplace that facilitates the buying and selling of online advertising space. It allows advertisers to bid in real-time for ad placements across a network of websites or apps, while publishers can offer their ad inventory for sale.
Ad networks connect Advertisers to Websites (Publisher) through an Ad Server delivering advertisements to internet users, which enables targeting, tracking and reporting of impressions.
Computer system which stores maintains and uploads advertising banners for one or more websites. Use of a third party ad server helps establish trust between an advertiser and publisher since the statistics are maintained by an objective third party.
An advertiser is an individual or company that promotes products, services, or brands through various advertising channels to reach and engage with potential customers.
A unique URL assigned to an affiliate by advertiser. Affiliate links are used to track and compensate affiliates for their promotional efforts in driving traffic and sales to the advertiser's website or products.
Affiliate manager provides resources, track performance, and optimize the advertising campaign for success.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where affiliates (individuals or companies) earn commissions by promoting products or services of other businesses.
The APK extension stands for Android Package Kit and is the file format used for installing Android applications.
Once the final user clicks the creative, the content is automatically downloaded without his consent. These offers usually are forbidden.
If you have a RON campaign but you realize you need to stop buying traffic from unprofitable spots, you’ll create a filter – Black List (BL) – containing those “bad” websites/placements.
Bot traffic describes any non-human traffic to a website or an app. The term bot traffic often carries negative feelings, but in reality, bot traffic isn't necessarily good or bad; it all depends on the purpose of the bots.
A dealer's or another potential buyer's bid price is the amount they are willing to spend. Here, media buyers and advertisers decide the highest price they are ready to accept for a specific traffic volume.
A unique code assigned to each click on an affiliate link or advertisement, allowing tracking of user behavior.
The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click through. Calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions (CTR=Clicks/Impression).
Term used to describe the process of getting a web visitor to accept an offer or become a paying customer. Advertisers strive for high conversion ratios.
onversions divided by clicks, expressed as a %.
Affiliate is paid only for an action performed by the user on the offer - which can be a sale, lead, subscription, etc.
Affiliate pays to the advertising network for every click you receive from it.
The Advertiser or the affiliate network pays you CPL price every time when the visitor sent by you fills a form with personal data – e-mail, name, phone, etc.
A pricing model where the cost is calculated per thousand impressions of an ad. If the CPM rate is $1, it means you pay $1 each time your ad is viewed 1,000 times.
A payment model where you earn a commission only when a visitor referred through your affiliate link makes a purchase.
A pricing model where you pay each time a user views your ad, such as a landing page, often used for pop traffic or redirect traffic.
A term for various promotional tools to draw user interest. These can be banners, landing pages, emails, short videos, and other formats.
When launching a paid advertising campaign, you can set a daily spending limit. Once this limit is hit, the campaign stops and restarts the next day. This helps new media buyers manage their budget. Always use it for new campaigns!
Allows you to target specific days and times for your ad campaigns. However, most affiliates initially run their campaigns 24/7 for a week or two to gather data. Once enough data is collected, they begin optimizing with dayparting to focus on the most effective hours and days. If you plan to use dayparting, always ensure you're using a tracker to make data-driven decisions.
Systems that enable advertisers and media buyers to manage multiple ad exchanges through a single interface.Not recommended for new media buyers due to their complexity.
Refers to a subscription process where the subscriber must confirm their interest in the subscription. This typically results in higher-quality leads, as users explicitly indicate their interest in the offer. The process flow:
1. 1st Confirmation: The user submits their personal details.
2. 2nd Confirmation: The user clicks a link sent via email to finalize their
subscription.
3. Subscription: The user is officially subscribed.
Essential for media buyers! Most traffic sources provide a variety of tracking tokens (macros) that can be incorporated into your offer's link. This allows you to collect comprehensive data, including information such as the user's country, city, operating system, OS version, device type, and browser used.
Earnings Per Click (EPC) is one of the most important metrics in affiliate marketing. It means how much money you can earn from every 100 clicks on your ad. How to calculate it? Take your total earnings for a campaign (let’s say $240), divide this amount by the number of clicks received (let’s say 1200 clicks), and multiply by 100. 240/1200=0.2*100=20. In our example, EPC is 20 or in other words, we will receive $20 for every 100 clicks.
A "fired pixel" in affiliate marketing means that a Click ID has been created. This Click ID tracks what users do. A pixel can also fire when a conversion happens, like when someone signs up, makes a purchase, or subscribes. For more information, check the Click ID section.
Frequency capping controls how many times a user sees the same ad within a certain time frame, usually 24 hours. For example, if your frequency cap is set to 1/24, the ad will be shown only once to that user in 24 hours. If it's set to 3/24, the ad will be shown three times during the same period.
The flow refers to the steps a user takes to complete an offer and achieve a conversion. For example, the flow may end when the user downloads an app, clicks the "agree" button in the terms and conditions, or finishes the app tutorial.
An impression occurs each time a visitor views an ad on a website.
In-house offers are those that are owned by an advertiser or an affiliate network.
Incentive traffic refers to visitors who receive rewards for engaging with an offer. These rewards can include money, free items, coupons, or other incentives. Typically, affiliate networks are not fond of incentive traffic.
Geotargeting is the practice of targeting users based on their geographic location, including country, state, and city. For example, if you target Western European GEOs, you are focusing on countries in Western Europe.
A landing page is a specific webpage where affiliates direct traffic. It serves as a follow-up to any promises or claims made in the content and acts as the next step for visitors on their journey to becoming customers.
Language targeting means showing ads or content in the user's preferred language. This is based on what language their browser is set to or where they are located. It helps advertisers connect better with their audience by using their native language, leading to higher engagement and more conversions.
A lead is someone who has shown interest in an offer by signing up or registering on a website for more information. Companies reach out to leads to try to turn them into customers.
The maximum budget is the highest amount of money you plan to spend on a campaign. Once this limit is reached, the campaign will stop automatically. You can set this budget alongside a daily budget to control spending over time.
A media buyer is a person who purchases traffic from various sources, such as social media, search engines, or native advertising networks, to promote products or services.
Monetization refers to the methods used to earn money from advertisements.
An offer is a promotion for a service or product. It's any advertising content created by advertisers (the offer owners) and shared by publishers (the traffic owners). Offers are typically displayed on landing pages.
Paid search refers to ads displayed on search engine results pages (like Google, Bing, and Yahoo). You only pay when a user clicks on your ad, which is why this type of traffic is often called PPC (Pay Per Click).
The payment threshold is the minimum amount of commissions you must earn before you can withdraw your money. Different affiliate networks have varying thresholds, but it typically ranges from $50 to $500.
Payout is the amount you earn for each conversion. It can vary based on several factors, including the type of offer, geographic location (GEO), and the market segment (vertical).
A Postback URL is used in affiliate marketing to track conversions. When a user clicks on your ad, a unique Click ID is generated and sent to your affiliate network. Later, when a conversion occurs (like a sale or sign-up), the network sends this Click ID back to your tracking system through an HTTP request. This process allows you to see conversions in your reports. This method is also called server-side tracking or Server-to-Server (S2S) tracking.
PPC is a model where you pay only when someone clicks on your ad. It's a cost-effective way to advertise, as you only incur charges when users show interest by engaging with your ad.
PPL means that an affiliate earns a commission each time they generate a lead. A lead typically involves a user expressing interest, often by signing up or providing contact information.
PPS means that an affiliate earns a commission only when a confirmed sale is made. This model rewards affiliates for driving actual purchases rather than just clicks or leads.
A pre-landing page is a simple page that connects the traffic source you’re using to the offer’s landing page. It helps prepare visitors before they reach the main offer, especially when targeting cold traffic.
This involves focusing on a specific area or section of a chosen website. Typically, there's a lot of competition for these spots.
A proxy is a tool that hides your IP address, letting you send and receive information without showing your real location.
A publisher is someone who sells their traffic to an affiliate network.
Raw clicks are the total number of clicks on your offer link, including clicks made by you when testing the offer or tracker setup.
Real-Time Bidding is when advertisers bid for each ad impression based on factors like placement, category, device, and carrier. Generally, the highest bidder gets the best traffic available.
Redirection is when a URL sends users to a different URL.
A referral fee is a commission given to someone who connects a potential customer with a sale or lead.
A referring domain is the website that brings a unique user to your landing page or offer page.
A referring URL is the specific web address that brings a unique user to your landing or offer page.
Retargeting is a strategy used in affiliate marketing to show ads to users who have already shown interest in your products or services. It helps remind potential customers to complete a purchase or take further action.
ROI measures the success of your campaign. To calculate it, subtract the cost of traffic from the commissions you earned. If the result is positive, your campaign is profitable.
Run Of Network (RON) refers to an ad campaign where your ads are shown across all websites within a traffic source's inventory.
A Single Offer is a marketing promotion tailored for a specific audience segment, such as targeting users in the UK with Vodafone services for iOS devices.
Single Opt-In (SOI) means you earn your commission after a user completes just one action, typically submitting their email address. Many SOI offers are found in dating and sweepstakes categories.
A Smartlink is an offer rotator that includes at least two offers in each vertical and geographic region. It uses an algorithm to optimize and distribute traffic among the available offers.
Supply-Side Platforms (SSP) are online platforms that connect publishers or webmasters with ad exchanges. They help publishers manage their advertising space and maximize revenue by facilitating the sale of their ad inventory.
Targeted marketing is a strategy aimed at promoting a product or service to a specific group of people who are likely to be interested in it. For instance, if you sell dog food or grooming services, you might target dog owners to increase awareness and sales.
A tracking token is a variable created by paid traffic sources to gather specific information about an ad campaign. These tokens are added to offer URLs to help track performance. Using multiple tokens in your tracking software can aid in optimizing your campaigns. If you have questions about tokens, you can reach out to your tracker’s support for assistance.
A tracking platform enables you to monitor paid ad campaigns. These platforms can be either cloud-hosted or self-hosted. New affiliates often prefer cloud-hosted tracking software for its ease of use and accessibility.
A tracking method is the approach used by affiliate programs to monitor and record sales, clicks, or leads generated from advertising efforts.
A tracking URL is a web address that includes a specific code for monitoring purposes. This code allows the tracking of all visitors who arrive at the website, enabling the collection of data on their behavior and interactions.
Refers to the number of users who visit a website, indicating how many times people access the site and engage with its content.
The opposite of the raw click. Here the rule is: 1 user = 1 unique click.
A URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is the address used to access a website. It specifies the location of a resource on the internet, allowing users to visit a specific webpage.
A white-label product is a good or service created by one company that other businesses rebrand and sell as their own. This allows companies to offer products without developing them from scratch.
A whitelist is a list of websites that are known to have high-quality traffic for your offers. These sites are targeted exclusively in your campaign to ensure better results.
Refers to the specific location where ads are placed (like a website,app,or social media)and the origin of the traffic,such as social media or emails. This helps track ad performance and traffic sources.
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