Blogging For Beginners: 42 Blogging Terms Explained
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer for more information
Blogging For Beginners Made Easy!
If you’re a new blogger like me, chances are you are overwhelmed with the number of ‘blogging terms’ being used all over the internet by seasoned bloggers.
Before this month, I was totally thrown off by most of those terms that I did not understand but desperately NEEDED to understand.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer for more information.
Granted, I was not completely new to blogging, you can read about my first blogging mishap here. Needless to say, I was still very unfamiliar with many terms (I still am a bit) but, I ‘ve learned a few things so far and I want to share them with you.
I created this post as a go-to blogging for beginners guide for you. Therefore, when you’re browsing and learning everything blog-wise, you have this handy article to help you understand terms that may seem totally confusing.
To simply this massive blogging for beginners guide, which defines important blogging terms even further, I placed them in categories for easier reading. Also, If you find this blogging for beginners guide helpful, please share it!
Also, If you find this blogging for beginners guide helpful, please share it!
Website/Blog
WordPress- This is a free website and blog content management system. There are two options to using WordPress for your blog, they are:
1. WordPress.com– This is a commercial site where you can host your own website/blog for free, but with some limitations in terms of monetization.
2. WordPress.org– This is a commercial site where you have to pay for your website/blog hosting, usually less than $5 monthly. You have a lot more control over what you can do with your blog/website with wordpress.org.
3. Squarespace– A blogging platform that you can use to create websites or blogs.
4. Blogger– This is Goggle’s free tool for creating blogs. If you start a blog with ‘Blogger’ you will receive a domain name with the extension ‘blogspot.com’. It will look like this mynewblog.blogspot.com. You will also have limitations to making money from a blog hosted on blogger.
5. Website– This is a collection of web pages.
6. Blog– According to this website, A blog is basically a weblog that a blogger makes use for chronological listing of blog posts. A blog has the most recent content shown first followed by the previously updated content.
7. Page– These are static pages. They don’t change unless they are edited. Some examples of pages would are About, Services, Contact, Terms of Service etc.
8. Post– According to WPBeginner, Posts are content entries listed in reverse chronological order on your blog’s home page.
9. Plugin– According to WP Beginner, 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.
10. Theme– This is a website/blog design that allows you to customize the look of your website/blog.
11. Child Theme– A child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality and styling of another theme, called the parent theme. According to WP Beginner, Child themes are often used when you want to customize or tweak an existing WordPress theme without losing the ability to upgrade that theme.
12. Parent Theme– According to this website, A parent theme in WordPress is a theme that is declared parent by another theme, child theme. The parent/child theme functionality allows users to easily upgrade their themes without worrying about losing any custom styling that they have added to their site.
13. Static Page– According to Cyberchimp.com, A static front page is a customized Page that displays static content. It can be customized to direct people to featured content, or highlight posts, articles, categories, or contributors.
14. Logo– A Logo is a design symbolizing your business or brand. It is a design that typically used in letterheads, advertising material, that makes you or your business easily recognizable. In simpler terms, it is usually an image which includes your blog name!
15. Domain name– This is your online address. It is what your website/blog visitors will use to find you easily. For example, my domain name is www.sheblogsaboutjobs.com
Email Sign Ups
16. Opt In– This is a short form that allowers users to sign up for something such as an e-newsletter or coupon in exchange for their email address. The business/website/blog can then send you emails from then on.
17. Opt-In Freebie– This is a free gift that you give to users in exchange for their email address. This is usually a coupon code or a free e-book.
18. Email List– According to this website, a mailing list is a list of people who subscribe to a periodic mailing distribution on a particular topic.
19. Subscriber– This is a person who signs up for your periodical mailing list and receives emails from you on a regular basis.
20. Lead Magnet– According to this website, This is an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information. The goal of the Lead Magnet is to maximize the number of targeted leads you are getting for an offer.
21. Content Upgrade – According to this website, A content upgrade is simply bonus content that people can get access to in exchange for their email address. Unlike traditional “site-wide” lead magnets, however, content upgrades are unique to the specific content that people are already reading or listening to on your site.
Analytics
22. Bounce Rate– This is the percentage of visitors to a particular website/blog who navigate away from the website/blog after viewing only one page.
23. Google Analytics– This is free web analysis service offered by G, that tracks your and records your blog/website traffic.
24. Click Through Rate (CTR)– According to Google, CTR is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown. For example, if you receive 4 clicks on the ads displayed on your website and you get 1000 impression, then your click through rate is 4 clicks /1000 impressions= 0.4%. You CTR is 0.4%-
25. Page Views– According to Google a page view is defined as a view of a page on your site.
26. Traffic– This is the number of visitors and visits a website receives.
Keywords
27. Keyword– A keyword is a word or phrase that describes the contents of a blog post or other piece of content.
28. Long Tail Keyword– Those are keywords that are very specific to what you are wiring about or selling. An example would be ‘How to get traffic using Pinterest Group Boards‘. Long tail keywords target very specific, smaller groups of people online.
29. Short Tail keyword– Those are keywords are more general and target larger groups of people. An example is ‘How to get traffic online’
Blogging For Beginners: Monetization Terms Explained
30. Monetization– This is the process of converting a non-revenue generating asset, such as a blog, into a source of revenue. This will be done by adding affiliate links, products, and services for sale or using ad networks on your blog or website.
31. Ad networks– This is a company that connects advertisers to web sites/blogs that are interested in hosting advertisements.
32. Affiliate programs– According to HostGator, this is a marketing program where you can receive commissions for helping a parent company generate.
33. Affiliate– This is a person or company who partners with a parent company to promote the parent company’s products/service for a commission.
34. Affiliate link– This is a specific URL that contains a unique affiliate ID or username. This is a way of helping advertisers and record the traffic and sales you send their way.
Blogging For Beginners: Random Blogging Terms explained
35. Above The Fold– This the portion of a web page that is immediately visible in a browser window when the web page first loads.
36. Below the fold– This is the portion of the web page that you see only after you begin scrolling down the web page
37. Self Hosting– This means that you have your website/blog under your control. You usually have to pay a monthly fee (usually less than $5) for this privilege.
38. Free Hosting– This means that you do not have as much control over your blog/website. Usually, you are not required to pay a monthly fee.
49. Stock Photos– Those are professional photos that are used on a royalty-free basis. They are usually used for commercial purposes.
40. Pinterest Group Board– According to this website, a Pinterest group board works like a regular Pinterest board. The only difference is that, along with the board creator, other people are also allowed to pin.
41. Guest Blogging (or posting)– This is creating content and publishing it on another person’s website. The main of this is to build your online reputation and get traffic to your website.
42. Tagline– This is like the slogan for your brand which serves to clarify the purpose of your blog or website. For example, my tagline is ‘Gaining Freedom With Online Income’
Blogging for beginners can become very overwhelming. Therefore, feel free to leave blogging terms and their explanations down below if you think I missed any. This will be greatly appreciated!
Also, please let me know if this blogging for beginners guide was helpful to you!
Learning Material That I Highly Recommend
Pinteresting Strategies: This e-book helped me increase my page views drastically. My blog went from 12,000 page views to 56,000 page views in a few months!
Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing: This course is a must for anyone interested in making money online through affiliate marketing. I’ve learned so much about affiliate marketing just from this course and I have been able to grow my blog’s income from $1700 to $3000 exactly 1 month after getting the e-course and implementing some of its strategies.
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche: This e-course walks you through absolutely everything you need to know about succeeding on Pinterest. It’s super in depth and will teach you some amazing Pinterest strategies that you won’t find anywhere else. This course is especially great for helping you create the best pins which in return, help you get loads of traffic from Pinterest.
