PPC, CPC, SEO… to the untrained eye, digital marketing terms can look like alphabet soup. Many of them sound similar, and they can get confusing in a hurry. 

That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide to common digital marketing terms and acronyms. Armed with this know-how, your flooring business will be getting the most out of your digital marketing efforts in no time.

Let’s dive right in!

Analytics

“Analytics” is simply a fancy name for website or ad metrics. Analytics can mean anything from how many clicks your site is getting on Google to how well your ads are doing on Facebook. Digital marketers analyze analytics trends in order to better optimize marketing decisions. 

Sometimes, when digital marketers talk about “analytics”, they’re specifically referring to Google Analytics—a program that tracks your website’s performance across Google platforms.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of a website’s visitors who navigate away from that website (or “bounce”) after viewing just a single page. Obviously, you want to aim for a lower bounce rate, which indicates that people are engaging with your content and spending more time on your website.

CTA (Call to Action)

A call to action is anything that encourages a user to enter your sales funnel. In the digital marketing world, this usually translates to a button, image, or link that, when clicked on, will move a user further towards a conversion. 

Good CTAs lead to higher click-through rates and generate more leads. Examples of CTAs include “Subscribe Now,” “Download Now,” or “Shop Now”—things like that.

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

Click-through rate refers to the percentage of your audience that “clicks through” from one part of your website to another. CTR is commonly used to measure the success of online advertising campaigns. For example, if an online advertisement receives five clicks for every 100 impressions, its CTR is 5%.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate refers to the percentage of users who complete a desired action—such as filling out their contact information on a form or purchasing from your company. Whatever your objective, you want to strive for a high conversion rate. 

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

Conversion Rate Optimization is the process of improving your website’s conversion rate. This can translate to anything from improving a web page’s usability to changing sales language, or anything in between. CRO involves creating a better experience for your website visitors so they are more likely to be converted into customers.

CPC (Cost Per Click)

CPC, or cost per click, refers to the amount of money you spend on an advertising campaign in order to receive a single click. Essentially, it’s a way to measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign. For example, if you spend $1,000 on a Google Ads campaign that generates 1,000 clicks, your CPC would be $1. 

CPL (Cost Per Lead)

CPL, or cost per lead, refers to the amount of money you spend in order to receive a single lead. This is another way to measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign. For example, if you spend $1,000 on a Facebook Ads campaign that generates 100 leads, your CPL would be $10.

CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)

CPM, or cost per thousand impressions, is a pricing structure for digital advertising campaigns. In CPM campaigns, advertisers pay based on how many users have viewed their ad—rather than how many users have actually clicked on their ad. This is what sets CPM apart from a PPC, or “pay per click” campaign.

In a CPM pricing structure, advertisers are charged a specified amount of money for every 1,000 times their ad is shown on a web page. For example: if an ad campaign has a CPM of $5, the advertiser would be charged $5 for every 1,000 people that scroll past the ad—regardless of how many people actually click on it.

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

CAC, or customer acquisition cost, is the amount of money it costs to generate a new customer for your business. For example: if you spend $5,000 on digital advertisements over the course of a month, and those ads generate 100 new customers, your CAC is $50 per customer.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM, or customer relationship management, refers to a special category of software programs. These programs help businesses track everything they do with existing and potential customers—advertisements, emails, phone calls, contact info, everything. Think of CRMs as all-purpose business software programs. 

And you’ve probably heard of some of them already. Notable CRM examples include Salesforce, Hubspot, and Marketo.

Engagement Rate

Engagement rate is a social media-specific metric that denotes the amount of interaction (likes, shares, comments, etc.) that a post receives. Obviously, flooring businesses should strive for high engagement rates on their posts.

Impressions

An impression occurs when an ad is been displayed on a webpage. A user does not have to click on or even read through that ad for it to be considered an impression.

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

KPIs, or key performance indicators, are measurements that businesses use to evaluate success. Marketers look at KPIs to track their progress towards meeting goals. Examples of marketing KPIs are metrics such as CPC (cost per click), customer acquisition cost (CAC), or cost per lead (CPL). 

You probably use KPIs in your flooring business already! Maybe your KPIs are things like referrals, leads, or sales. Whatever they are, they indicate the performance of key metrics.

Keywords

A keyword is a word or phrase that’s entered into Google or Bing to trigger a search. For example, if you search the phrase “fake wood flooring” in Google, your keyword is—that’s right—“fake wood flooring”. When a business engages in SEO (search engine optimization), that business optimizes their content to rank highly in search engine results for their chosen keyword or keywords. 

Landing Page

A landing page is a specific page on a business’s website that users “land” on when they click on an ad or search result. Usually, landing pages are built to bring users further into the sales funnel. Advertisements should be linked to specific landing pages that are relevant to that ad offering. Often, landing pages contain contact forms, calls to action, and other tools used to convert users into leads.

LBA (Location-Based Advertising)

LBA, or location-based advertising, is a specific type of advertising that’s focused on a user’s location. If you use LBA, your advertisements will only appear to users within the location you specify. This is especially important for local businesses—such as flooring stores—who serve a specific geographic area.

PPC (Pay Per Click)

PPC, or pay per click, is a pricing structure in which advertisers pay a certain amount of money every time their ad is clicked. Google Ads budgets, for instance, operate on a PPC basis.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing a webpage so that it ranks highly in search engine results for a specific keyword or set of keywords. The goal of SEO is to increase both the quantity and quality of traffic that your website receives through organic search results, rather than PPC search results.

Conclusion

We hope this guide to the ABCs of digital marketing terms has been useful! Remember: digital marketing can be stressful, but we're here to help. If you want to get serious about digital marketing for your flooring business, schedule a meeting today.