Online marketing glossary

"Above the fold"
Refers to banner ads that can be seen by the user without scrolling down the webpage. It's not a fixed line, though, because a user's monitor size and resolution can vary.
"Below the fold"
Refers to banner ads that can only be seen if a user scrolls down the webpage. It's not a fixed line, though, because a user's monitor size and resolution can vary.
Ad network
A company that aggregates available ad space across a large number of websites and sells it to the advertiser. There are many types of ad networks, from the very large to those targeted on a particular audience.
Ad server
A program that manages the delivery of ad banners for a web site or advertising network.
Ad space
The location on a webpage where a banner advertisement can be placed.
Ad Specs
See 'creative specs'.
Banner ad
A graphical advertisement that appears on a web page or email newsletter. When clicked, a user is brought to the advertiser's website.
Behavioral targeting
A strategy that determines which banner ad to show a user based on that user's observed behavior (such as the pages they've visited or searches they've made). By making the ad more relevant to the user, behavior targeting tries to improve the performance of that ad.
Click-through
When a user clicks on an advertisement and follows it through to the resulting webpage.
Contextual targeting
A strategy that determines which banner ad to show based on the content (text) on that webpage.
CPA (Cost per action)
Cost of advertising based on a user taking a particular action (such as a purchase, download, or sign up) in response to a banner ad.
CPC (Cost per click)
Cost of advertising based on the number of clicks your banner ad received.
CPM (Cost per thousand)
The cost associated with 1,000 views of your banner ad. For example, if a publisher charges a $10 CPM and there were 10,000 views, the cost of your ad is $100.
Creative specs
Guidelines for the type of advertising that a certain publisher will accept. For example, their ad specs might say they accept banner ads that are certain sizes or file types. adcherry helps make it easier for you to find creative specs by linking you directly to them (when they're available online) from our ad listings directory.
Creative
As a noun, refers to the actual banner advertisement.
Demographic targeting
A strategy that determines which banner ad to show a user based on attributes of the audience such as age, gender, income, etc.
Display ad
See 'banner ad'.
Frequency
The number of times a banner ad is shown to the same user in a single session or time period.
Geotargeting
Choosing what banner ad to show based on a user's location.
Impression
A measure of the number of times a banner ad is served to a users' web browsers.
Insertion order
A purchase order between the company buying ad space and the company selling it.
Inventory
The number of ads available for sale on a website.
Leaderboard
A wide banner ad often seen at the very top or bottom of a webpage. It measures 728 pixels wide by 90 pixels tall.
Rate card
A list of the prices of advertising available at a given website or ad network.
Reach
The total number of unique users who will be served a given banner ad.
Run of Network (RON)
When an ad network shows your banner ad across its network of websites based on what space is available. Usually less expensive than 'premium' ad space on those websites.
Run of Site (ROS)
When a website shows your banner ad across its entire site. Run of Site may be less expensive than choosing only to run your ad on a certain section of the website.
Skyscraper
A banner size that's tall and thin, often seen along the left or right hand side of a webpage. It could measure either 120x600 or 160x600 pixels.
Wide skyscraper
A tall banner ad that is 160 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall