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B2B (Business to Business)
This term refers to the relationship between businesses that only offer goods or services to other businesses, and not to private customers or individuals. While business-to-business activity exists both online and offline, the acronym B2B has primarily been used to describe the online variety. (see also B2C)

B2C (Business to Consumer)
Refers to a business that offers goods or services directly to the private consumer, and not to businesses. A business to consumer merchant is usually a retail based type of business that only provides services or products directly to the individual. (see also B2B)

backend (also back end or back-end)
A highly profitable product that is sold to customers who have already purchased the lead product. Backending is also extremely profitable because it builds on the relationship you have already established with your customers.

bandwidth
A term used to describe the amount or capacity of data transferring through a communications channel. The amount of bandwidth often determines the speed at which a website functions when the user clicks on links. This is often expressed in kilobits per second (kbps).

banner ad (also called banner)
Banner ads are messages embedded in a website that link to an advertiser. The ad content of the banner can include text, images, or animation. Banner ads were originally valued and sold based on the number of impressions they generated, but banners are now valued-based depending on how many click-throughs they generate. A traditional, full-size banner ad is 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall. There are nine standard banner ad sizes and shapes, including the horizontal banner and vertical-style “Skyscraper” banner ads.

banner blindess
The tendency of web visitors to ignore banner ads, even when the ads contain information visitors are actively looking for.

banner exchange
A method in which advertisers work together and allow each other to place their banner ad at the top of the other's website. Often, this involves a network where participating sites display banner ads in exchange for credits which are converted using a predetermined exchange rate into ads to be displayed on other sites.

barter
To exchange goods or services directly without the use of money.

basic resell rights
These are granted when you obtain the right to resell something. However, the customers purchasing it from you do not have the ability to resell it at that point.

beta testing
Beta testing is the last test stage before a new (or improved) product is commercially released. Beta tests are usually done by people who make up the intended market for the product -- for example, you might conduct a beta test of your website’s checkout process by asking select customers to test it out, and monitoring how well it works for them.

black hat
Black hat tactics are unethical search engine optimization techniques. They have been denounced by search engines, and if you are caught using any of these black hat tactics you will be penalized. In fact, your site can get permanently banned from organic search results. The three most common black hat techniques are:
• Keyword stuffing: Excessive repetition of a keyword or keyword phrase, to the point that it detracts from the readability and usability of your web page.
• Invisible text: Setting the font and background colors of a web page to the same value so that the text is visible to search engine spiders for indexing, but not to humans who might notice that the invisible text is irrelevant.
• Doorway pages: Doorway pages are set up solely to get a high organic search engine ranking for certain keywords. Typically there is little to no content on a doorway page, and often they are not linked to the rest of the site.

blacklist
A blacklist is a list of the domains or IP addresses of email senders suspected to be spammers. Blacklists are maintained by ISPs and spam-fighting organizations. Blacklisted email senders will find that they have been automatically filtered right out of the email process -- their emails won’t even appear in the “bulk” or “junk” email folders. If your name or domain is put on a blacklist, it is very difficult to get it removed, so it’s important to follow these legitimate email marketer guidelines:
• Use a confirmed opt-in system for collecting email addresses
• Include an unsubscribe link in every email you send
• Do not send materials to people on your list that don’t reflect your established relationship. Don’t, for example, send marketing information about your dog training business to the people who signed up for free patterns on your knitting website

blind link
An ad or link that does not reveal its source or tell the person who clicks on it where it might lead. This is sometimes considered deceptive in the internet marketing world, but it is still used.

blind traffic
Traffic that is generated to any given website as a result of people clicking on blind links. This means that people are clicking on a link (URL) that they are not sure where it will lead.

blog
Blogs, known for a brief time as “web logs,” are regularly-updated online journals intended for general public consumption. Blogs are an excellent vehicle for promotion because of how frequently they are updated -- regular doses of fresh content are good for attracting both search engine spiders and human readers. One of the biggest advantages of a blog over a webpage is a blog’s capacity for creating conversations between you and your customers. Webpage communication all goes one way, from the writer to the reader. Blog communication goes back and forth, with readers responding to the blogger’s postings, and bloggers responding to reader’s comments.

blogger
1) A person who publishes content on the web using a blog
2) A blog service powered by Google, blogger.com

blogosphere
The community of blogs and everything else related to them. The blogosphere consists of everything that has to do with blogs, such as posts, comments, and its users. The blogosphere is given importance for its potential for indicating public behavior and sentiment. Marketing agencies, media groups, and even government bodies now try to tap into the blogosphere when performing company research.

blogroll
A section of a blog page that contains a list of links to recommended blog sites.

bookmarking
The process of marking a website in your browser with the intention of visiting it again. The term "bookmarking" is also used when in reference to a social bookmarking site, where people post and share their favorite websites with one another.

bounce back
A bounce back is the email equivalent of “Return to Sender: Address Unknown.” If your email bounces back, that means it never appeared in your intended recipient’s inbox. This can be either a “hard” bounce back or a “soft” bounce back. A hard bounce means the email address is permanently unavailable, and a soft bounce means that it’s temporarily unavailable.

bounce rate
1) In web analytics, the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing a single page. In web analytics, bounce rate is a popular metric used to describe the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a particular web page. A high bounce rate may indicate a page that is viewed as unhelpful or unappealing. Or it may indicate a relevance problem between the page and its traffic sources.
2) In email marketing, the percentage of emails in a campaign that are undeliverable. (see also bounce back))

branding
A highly or widely recognized brand image. Branding brings recognition and exposure to businesses. Examples: Coca Cola or Apple.

brick and mortar business (also called B&M business)
A brick and mortar business is one that does not have an online presence, just a physical one. Brick and mortar businesses are built on face-to-face customer service, and almost always have a physical building for operations. (see also click and mortar business)

burstable bandwidth
A hosting option that allows sites to use the available network capacity to handle periods of peak usage. Branding brings recognition and exposure to businesses. Examples: Coca Cola or Apple.

business hosting
Web hosting geared towards the mission-critical functions demanded by business-class customers. In addition to the standard features (storage, bandwidth, etc.) business hosting focuses on issues such as reliability (uptime, monitoring, backups) and support (true 24/7 help via phone, email and/or IM).

button ad
A graphical advertising unit, smaller than a banner ad. Button ads come in a variety of sizes. Whereas banners are often placed at the top or bottom of a page, buttons are often placed towards the middle of a page on the left or right sides.

button exchange
Network where participating sites display button ads in exchange for credits which are converted using a predetermined exchange rate into ads to be displayed on other sites. Button exchanges are similar to banner exchanges in all ways except for the smaller size of the graphical ads. Button exchanges generally lack the large-scale membership numbers of their banner counterparts.

buzzword
A trendy word or phrase that is used more to impress than explain. A buzzword may be a newly-coined word or an old word used in a new way. Buzzwords are part of the fashion of a living language, more about style than substance.