Thinking to start your own blog and live independently with no stress of money? This is probably a good idea and you may have everything you need. You have read tons of guides and now you are finally ready to start a blog. But do you know all the blogging terms?
One must have a command of the blogging terms if you are thinking of making blogging your career. Although it took me a while to master, here in this blogging glossary guide, you will get the help to learn almost everything.
These terms will help you to become a successful blogger. According to recent studies, it is reported that there are almost 31.7 billion bloggers in 2020. Now we can see the magic of blogging is now becoming rich in history due to its beneficial results.
With this estimation, it is clear that blogging will become even more competitive in the coming year. You might be competing with personal bloggers, affiliate marketers, professional bloggers, media bloggers, microbloggers, and reverse bloggers.
So, you must empower yourself with the required knowledge of important blogging terms. Here are some of the best blogging terms, which I share below in alphabetical order:
Blogging Glossary
A/B Testing:
It is about selecting the right content by comparing the two. If you do compare any of the two contents with each other, it would result in a content which is the perfect one or which would be a perfect match for your audience. This tool is mostly used in email marketing. Through this, one can also find out a different email subject. A/B testing is somehow a better way to choose the perfect content for your blogging.
Above the Fold:
Above the fold is that part of your blogging, which is showing on the top of your web page or website when the first page loads.
AdSense:
AdSense is about the ads that are running on your blogs. These ads will pay you and as a result, you can monetize your blog. The AdSense is actually designed for bloggers and writers. This program is proved out to be very beneficial for the bloggers as well as the brands who are reading this.
Through ads, a blogger can easily earn money if any of the readers touches the ad and go to the website. The ones who act as advertisers usually connect google the means of PPC or CPM and as a result, Google shares the information as a percentage to the publishers, which are bloggers. Therefore, AdSense is very important to understand while you start your blogging.
Affiliate:
Affiliate bloggers are actually those who take aid from affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is very important for the promotion of the brands as well as for your blogs. Affiliate marketers usually work to gain a commission and as a result, they promote their products or services to the respective audience. It is one of the highest paying methods in blogging.
Alexa Rank:
Alexa rank is the type of rank, which is used to search out the popularity of a blogger on the Internet. This is calculated by different methodologies. The most important of which is proprietary methodology. It is a combination of estimating the blog traffic along with the engagement of the visitors on the web page. Alexa rank is very helpful in data retrieving from multiple websites. It is not like others going systems rather it is a better one and is used by almost all of the websites.
Analytics:
Analytics is that tactic to analyses the performance of your blog. Like you can figure out how many readers are reading and going through your content, or are you serving them in a better manner or not? The one, which is considered as a leader of analytics, is the Google marketing platform. Google’s marketing platform is actually powered by Google Analytics. It provides bloggers with help in order to measure and figure out their performances as blogging.
Anonoblog:
It is the type of blog, which is run by the anonymous author. It is also known as the Ghost blog.
Atom:
It is also known as the automatic feed format. It is used as an alternative by various RSS feeds.
Audience:
These readers do visit the blog post on a daily basis and are frequent readers.
Audio Blog:
An audio blog is all about the audio clips and the voice recordings that are being used for blogging purposes. In this type of blog, usually, the audio clips are present to engage the audience.
Auto Casting:
Auto casting is a form of podcasting which takes a part in audio versions. Like you have to change your written blog into the audio version. This can be done directly from the RSS feeds.
Automate:
It is the process of automating any task through online means. It can be done with the help of different apps like WordPress or through any manual actions.
Avatar:
An avatar is a graphic image or picture that represents a user. This graphic picture is used to represent whether the blogger is online or not. Avatar can also appear at the bottom of each blog on your web page.
B-listless:
If anyone of the bloggers does not go with the flow or if it becomes apathetic towards anyone of the new content. It is the indication that the blogger is losing interest in the email list.
Backlink:
Backlink is usually used by other websites to point out and mark your blog post. Backlink usually takes a reader from one post to another. The information is interlinked with each other to benefit the audience.
Best of Blogs:
It is a competition, which is considered the largest one in the blogging field. This competition is held internationally and is accompanied by a German broadcaster.
Beta-reader:
It is an early test reader that actually marks your content and gives feedback about the quality of your content. In addition, about how you are going with your blogging!
Biblioblogosphere:
It is related to the reference, which is given to multiple niches. For example, librarian blogging is a Biblio blogosphere.
Blog:
A blog, or weblog, is an online journal, diary, or serial published by a person or group of people. It encompasses regular updates on the web page that develops the interest among the audience and keeps them engaged with your content. It can be in an informal style or it could also be a conversation style. Blogs are typically used by individuals or peer groups but are occasionally used by companies or organizations as well.
Blog Carnival:
A blog carnival is related to the other links of the blog. These bloggers might be covering a specific topic and usually act acts as contributors to websites.
Blog Client:
The software helps you to publish the new content on your web page. Through this, you can post multiple engaging pieces of content for your audience.
Blog Footer:
It is present at the bottom of the blog, which is used to add up different navigation links on your web page.
Blogging:
Blogging is the act of writing in one’s blog. To blog something is to write about something in one’s blog. This sometimes involves linking to something the author finds interesting on the internet.
Blog Hopping:
Blog-hopping is a term, which is used for readers who uses the links that are displayed within the blog post.
Blogroll:
A blogroll is a list of links to various blogs or news sites. Often a blogroll is “rolled” by a service that tracks updates (using feeds) to each site in the list, and provides the list in a form that aggregates update information.
Blog Site:
The web location (URL) of your blog.
Bounce Rate:
According to Google, a bounce is a single-page session on your website. In other words, it is the percentage of people who viewed one page before leaving your blog. The bounce rate is a web analytics measure that tracks the behavior of visitors on a website or a page within a website. The bounce rate is one of the most important metrics you can keep an eye on in Google Analytics because it indicates how engaged your readers are.
Call to Action:
Call to action is also known as CTA, it is the action that is made by the readers and is actually relevant to the topic. The readers are given access by the bloggers.
CAPTCHA:
Short for ‘Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart’ this is a challenge-response test that’s commonly used by bloggers and on websites of all kinds to determine if a user wants to access information is a human or a bot.
Category:
Each post in WordPress is filed under a category. Thoughtful categorization allows posts to be grouped with others of similar content and aids in the navigation of a site.
Clickbait:
This is a headline, which is misleading. This is used in order to share the content in an increased manner. It is a tricky technique though.
Click-Through Rate:
It is the percentage of the people who clicks on the ads and promotion that are showing on different blog posts. It determines the success of your blogging posts. Click through rate depend upon different factors like channel, industry, creative type, and targeting.
Collaborative Blog:
It is the type of blog where multiple bloggers are present to share their thoughts on a single topic or any sort of particular issue.
Content Marketing:
Content marketing is usually used as a business with the help of customers. The content is designed with a high quality of efforts and is used to engage the interest of the readers. Content marketing is very useful for sales purposes. One can use this in order to monetize its blog also. Content marketing is a unique relationship between the customers and the blogger itself. You can check out different content marketing strategies to develop a unique one.
Content Management System:
A Content Management System, or CMS, is software for facilitating the maintenance of content, but not design, on a web site. A blogging tool is an example of a Content Management System.
Content Upgrade:
It usually works for the beneficence of the readers. The readers get the incentives related to any service provided by the blogger, in return to which they have to sign up by their email address. Content upgrade usually works with the free course, template, worksheet, or any other sort of downloaded asset for Infographics.
Conversion Rate:
The percentage of the visitors works for the conversion of particular success. One of the examples of conversion rate could be the number of visitors who sign up and adds up in the email list to get the incentive.
Cost Per Click:
It is also known as CPC. It is the weight of the amount that you spend by clicking on any of the advertisements. It could be on the platform of any social media like Google or Facebook.
CSS:
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a W3C open standards programming language for specifying how a web page is presented. It allows web site designers to create formatting and layout for a web site independently of its content.
Curated Content:
It is actually the content that is picked up by hand. It really adds value because all the information gathered in it unique and not common on the search engine.
Dark blog:
It is the blog that is not accessible to the public, which means that the public will not be able to reach that blog easily.
Dashboard:
It is usually like the home-based area where all of your “behind the scene” sort of things is running. This is the place where you almost all of your tasks like uploading any kind of blog or making some sort of changes on your website do occur.
Deep linking:
This is used for the encouragement of the bloggers. The blog post is shown on the other relevant pages, to engage and increase the traffic of the audience.
Direct traffic:
It is the amount of people that are trying to reach your web page by the means of URL. The URL can be directly typed in the navigation bar or the search bar.
Domain Name:
Domain name is the web address of your blog it is that address which the visitors use in order to access your webpage easily. People always use clever names as per their domain name for the attraction of visitors. You can get ideas of different domain names by the best domain name generators.
Engagement:
It is the interest of the audience that they are showing their blog posts. The interest could be seen through the amount of comments, likes, and retweets.
Event blogging:
It is related to the blogging, which is used to blog about the events that are upcoming in the market.
Follow/ Unfollow:
A technique is used to increase and boost up your followers. For example, you can send anyone to follow requests randomly and as a result, they would follow you back and you can get an increase in your follower’s list. It is a tricky technique though.
Followers:
Followers are those people who subscribe to your web pages at follow up the content that you are posting on your websites. The followers could be on any social media platform like Twitter or Instagram.
Flame War:
It is a type of attack or personal argument thing. These arguments are running in the comments section of any blog.
Gravatar:
The image that follows you from blog to blog (usually when you post a comment or write a guest blog post), appearing beside your name. You can set your Gravatar here.
Hosting Provider:
Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet.
Hyperlink:
A link from a hypertext document to another location, activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image.
HTML:
HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML describes the structure of a Web page. HTML consists of a series of elements. HTML elements tell the browser how to display the content.
Infographic:
An infographic is a collection of imagery, charts, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic. As in the example below, infographics use striking, engaging visuals to communicate information quickly and clearly.
IP Address:
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two main functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.
Keyword Research:
Keyword research is the process by which you research popular search terms people type into search engines like Google, and include them strategically in your content so that your content appears higher on a search engine results page (SERP).
Listicle:
In journalism and blogging, a listicle is a short-form of writing that uses a list as its thematic structure, but is fleshed out with sufficient copy to be published as an article.
Meta:
The description (HTML tag) that’s used to describe the content of a blog post or page to search engines.
Newsletter:
An email-based delivery of content that’s sent out periodically to the subscribers of a blog.
Niche Market:
A small, specialized market for a particular product or service.
Open Source:
Denoting software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.
Opt-in:
An incentive (like a content upgrade or lead magnet) that’s offered to readers who opt-in to receiving email updates about your blog.
Page:
A static page on a blog or website that does not update automatically. Pages are different than blog posts in that they’re not added to your RSS feed when a new one is published.
Permalink:
A permanent static hyperlink to a particular web page or entry in a blog.
PHP:
PHP is a server-side scripting language. that is used to develop Static websites or Dynamic websites or Web applications. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor, that earlier stood for Personal Home Pages. PHP scripts can only be interpreted on a server that has PHP installed
Pillar Content:
Content that’s created to be extremely informative, specifically designed to provide value for the reader, and also to rank highly in the search engines. It’s usually long-form and has long-term appeal to readers. My ultimate guide about how to start a blog is a great example of this.
Ping:
Ping is a computer network administration software utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network.
Pingback:
An automatic notification sent when a link has been created to a person’s blog post from an external website, allowing a reciprocal link to that website to be created.
Plugin:
A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress.
Referral Traffic:
Referral traffic is Google’s method of reporting visits that came to your site from sources outside of its search engine. When someone clicks on a hyperlink to go to a new page on a different website, Analytics tracks the click as a referral visit to the second site.
RSS Feed:
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It refers to files easily read by a computer called XML files that automatically update information. This information is fetched by a user’s RSS feed reader that converts the files into the latest updates from websites in an easy to read format.
SAHM:
SAHM is an acronym for a stay-at-home mom. The term is often used in online mom groups and on parenting websites to describe the mother’s role in the household. Traditionally, SAHM refers to a wife staying at home with the kids while her husband works to financially support the family.
Self-hosted Blog:
A self-hosted blog is one that resides on your own server. Most people, however, pay a third-party to host their blog, which opens them to all the benefits of a self-hosted blog. Sites like HostGator and Bluehost are among some of the popular companies that provide hosting services.
SEO:
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.
Sidebar:
A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or anywhere in the theme.
Sitemap:
A site map (or sitemap) is a list of pages of a web site. It usually depicts the parent-sibling relationship between pages in a website, showing how subpages might be arranged underneath their parent groupings.
Slug:
The portion of a permalink (URL) starting after .com/.
Social Proof:
A psychological phenomenon where people assume that a blog post is more popular (or more accurate) based on the number of social shares, comments or other engagement the article appears to have.
Spam:
The term “spam” is internet slang that refers to unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or unsolicited bulk email (UBE). Some people refer to this kind of communication as junk email to equate it with the paper junk mail that comes through the US Mail.
Split Testing:
Split testing (also referred to as A/B testing or multivariate testing) is a method of conducting controlled, randomized experiments with the goal of improving a website metric, such as clicks, form completions, or purchases. The tester waits for a statistically significant difference in behavior to emerge.
Sponsored Post:
A sponsored post, also known as a promoted post, is a post to any community-driven notification-oriented website which is explicitly sponsored as an advertisement by a particular company in order to draw a large amount of popularity through user promotion and moderation to the most active or most viewed page on the website.
Subscriber:
A person who’s signed up for your email newsletter and wants to be updated when a new blog post is published.
Tag:
Tags are words that are used to categorize & classify a blog post based on the overarching themes it covers, behind the scenes in your CMS.
Tagline:
The slogan used by blog owners to describe the purpose of their site. My tagline is, Authentic blogging advice.
Tailwind:
Tailwind is a marketing tool for Pinterest (and recently Instagram) that allows users to manage their Pinterest account from a centralized platform, saving Pinners time and helping to increase their reach.
Theme (WordPress):
The WordPress theme is comprised of the CSS code that controls the visual appearance of your blog.
Traffic:
Website traffic refers to web users who visit a website. Web traffic is measured in visits, sometimes called “sessions,” and is a common way to measure an online business effectiveness at attracting an audience.
Unique Visitor:
Unique visitor is a term used in Web analytics to refer to a person who visits a site at least once within the reporting period. Each visitor to the site is only counted once during the reporting period, so if the same IP address accesses the site many times, it still only counts as one visitor.
User Intent:
User intent. As its name implies, user intent tells us what a user is looking for when conducting a search query via a search engine. User intent takes into consideration the keywords used in search queries, but goes beyond them, trying to understand the context and the intention behind those words.
Viral:
Content like videos, memes or blog posts that get extremely popular in a very short timeframe, but this fame is often short-lived. A viral post is something that has been shared, copied and spread across all social platforms. On Facebook in particular, going viral means that a post has generated a great deal of attention in the form of a high number of likes, shares, and comments.
Virtual Assistant:
A virtual assistant is an independent contractor who provides administrative services to clients while operating outside of the client’s office. A virtual assistant typically operates from a home office but can access the necessary planning documents, such as shared calendars, remotely.
Webinar:
Typically, a live video seminar or workshop that’s conducted online using tools like Zoom or Google Hangouts.
Web Server:
A web server is a program that uses HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to serve the files that form web pages. A web server can contain one or more websites, and it’s what keeps your blog online.
Widgets:
Blogging tools that are provided out of the box by WordPress and can add functionality to the sidebar, header or footer menu of your blog.
WordPress:
WordPress is a free content management system used to build and maintain websites. Its ease of use and unique blogging features have helped it become the most popular blogging tool on the web.
WYSIWYG:
Short for What You See Is What You Get. Most great WordPress themes today function this way, which allows bloggers to post new content and publish pages without writing any code, known as posting in WYSIWYG mode.
XML:
XML or Extensible Markup Language is extremely useful in describing, sharing and transmitting technical data about your blog across the Internet.
Yoast:
A popular WordPress plugin used by bloggers to improve their SEO. The plugin has become an essential tool in the blogger’s arsenal because of its ability to simplify SEO, set up great titles, write good meta descriptions and more.
Final Thoughts on Blogging Terms (Glossary) to Know
These are some of the basic blogging terms that one must know about. As a beginner, if you have this knowledge you won’t go wrong with making money through a blog. Now that we’ve made it through all of the key blogging terms you’ll need to know—head over to my ultimate guide to starting a blog and keep your progress going.
Blogging Articles to Read
Beginning Blogger’s Blogging Checklist
