As you explore this website and think deeply about your new adventure into the world of Internet Business, you will encounter many unfamiliar terms. You may have many questions about their meanings.

Naturally, with the prominence of the Internet over the last 20 years and the prevalence of devices that everyone owns – mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, etc. – a new language has emerged, which can sometimes be baffling. In this concise article, I will explain the most common in layman’s terms so that you can begin to grasp the ideas and bring them to mind as you read other articles on First-Hand-Life.

Note: To make finding these terms easier, please click on or tap the blue link in the Table of Contents to take you directly to the word/phrase you want to check.

Platform

You will come across this word a great deal. A platform is a space, website or service on the internet. As in theatre, it is an easily visible and accessible foundation and centre of attention for a performance. Platforms allow internet users to work and take action. There are many different platforms, e.g. Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) Platforms, technical, and marketplace platforms (Amazon, Craigslist, Etsy, etc.)

Keyword/Keyword research

Keywords are now essential for any writing that appears on the internet. This is because they simplify topics so that the automated robots (Search Engines) that crawl around all the millions of websites today can understand them. You must learn how to choose and use them so that the robots will recommend that your articles appear in the search lists at the head of the line. If you’ve ever written a summary, you will understand how crucial keywords are to making a good one. Well, now keyword usage and research have become a whole science.

Entrepreneurship or Netpreneurship

The Internet is a system of interconnected networks that makes it possible for the global population all over the world to communicate and access information through numerous business, academic, governmental and private networks. An entrepreneur or entrepreneur (internet abbreviated) is a business owner who conducts their business exclusively on the internet, not from a physical location like a shop or office. Entrepreneurs must take calculated risks to launch their companies and may use several business models to provide products and services.

Ecosystem

This is not strictly speaking a business or technology term, but environmental. In this context, it means a complex network or interconnected system. In the environment, we can find a biological community of organisms that interact in their special environment, e.g., marine ecosystem. Wealthy Affiliate, the perfect platform for you to start your Entrepreneurial journey, is truly an ecosystem.

Domain

A domain is a word that has been borrowed by the Internet community to mean the unique Internet address of your website or email. It is usually an easy-to-remember, unique address where your customers or audience can always find you and your business. A good example is my website address here: https://first-hand-life.com. Domains usually start with https:// and end with .com/.net/.org and others. Your domain ensures that your website is easily accessed and is a vital component of your digital ID. In a way, it is your digital real estate.

Hosting

This is a special service that connects you safely to the Internet. As you can imagine, with so many Internet users (2024-5.3 billion) it is improtant to have a professional team of experts looking after your website and monitoring it for any threats or dangers. Wealthy Affiliate offers a world-class hosting service for all your website and email needs.

Site Support or Help Desk

With this complex network we work on daily, sometimes technical problems crop up. It is, therefore, essential to have expert technicians on call to ensure that your website is up and running so that you don’t lose any customers or visitors. Wealthy Affiliate has such a magnificent team on call 24/7 wherever you are in the world.

Traffic

Another common term coined by the Internet to mean website visitors. Imagine that anyone with a digital device can easily access the Internet anywhere. They may search Google, Bing, or Yahoo for something and may find your website and visit it. The more visitors you get to your website, the more successful and lucrative it will be. So, attracting visitors (traffic) is the first task. Develop your website and tailor what you write to suit your target audience, i.e., people with the same passion as yours.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engines are robots that crawl around websites and monitor people’s search topics and desires. As I mentioned above, you must follow the rules made by Google, Yahoo and Bing – the three main Search Engines – so that they will favour your articles and reviews as credible, well-written and authoritative and put them on the first page of the search results. This will drive traffic to your website and form your loyal audience or fans. We need to create our content so that we can optimize the reactions of search engines.

Content Creation

A famous phrase – ‘Content is King’ – has become popular in the last few years. Everything you create – articles (sometimes known as posts), reviews, product descriptions, case studies, etc. – to stimulate your target audience. There are several ways to make this creation efficient and excellent, such as templates, grammar and originality checkers, etc. This will be your main task as you launch your website. You are going to become a professional Content Creator very quickly.

Monetization

Once you have created your content and filled your website pages for your audience to feast on, you will choose which way to make money from all your hard work and creativity. There are many ways to do this: Affiliate Marketing – helping a. company to promote their products/services and making a commission for your efforts; e-commerce – this is an online shop from which you can sell your products directly; digital products – ebooks, music, online courses, video games, etc. You will explore these methods, see which feels comfortable for you, and then learn how to add them to your website.

Niche

Another borrowed word. A niche market is a market you build your website and monetization preferences around. For example, my niche on this site is introducing and educating people to start their own Internet Business and live the life they’ve always dreamed of, doing what they want and making an income from it.

Email addresses + Passwords

On the Internet, you will often be asked to become a member of a website or network by providing your email address and a password. You can get an email address easily at no cost from any of the big public providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. This will provide you with an inbox where you can receive emails from other people and also the function of sending emails. This is so convenient for any business—instant messaging. When joining a website, you will be asked to create a password to secure your account – no one can enter it unless they know your secret password. Usually, passwords should be quite long and made up of letters (upper and lower case), numbers and perhaps a special symbol like * or #. It is really important that when you create a password, you make a note of it because you will need it to enter your account next time. It’s a little like a bank account – you need a secret entry method so everything is safe.

Webinar

A webinar is an online seminar. In other words, a class or training session takes place online, not in person. Wealthy Affiliate training is done mostly through live videos where you can participate and contribute by typing comments/questions near the screen.

Dashboard

When you join a website as a member, you will probably have your own website page where you can see everything clearly. The Wealthy Affiliate Dashboard is like a control centre where everything is at your fingertips. It is also private to you. Just like a car or boat has a dashboard, websites/services have one.

Browser

A software program used to locate and display information on the internet. Browsing means casually looking through website pages on the internet, just like we may browse in a bookshop or library. Browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge are used to help you access websites on the internet.

Niche Market

A small, specialised market or segment of a market for a particular product or service. It has its own particular requirements, customers and products.

Sustainable Growth

The maximum growth rate a company can sustain without increasing financial investment or leverage. In other words, self-sustaining – it pays for itself.

Indexing websites and articles

Website indexing is one of the first steps (after robot crawling) in the process of how web pages are ranked and served as search engine results. In other words, your website appears on Google, Bing or Yahoo, which is your first target. Then, getting quality articles and posts indexed is the next stage so that they appear in the search results to offer solutions and information for visitors: target – getting on Page 1 of the results for that topic/enquiry.

I’ll be adding more terms and common words as time passes, so please come back to this page to check their meanings or ask me to add the words you find difficult in the comments below.