Every profession has words that they use often. Knowing the meaning of those words will help to ensure that you understand what you are doing. When you know and understand what you are doing, you can better serve your readers and your clients. Here are some of the most commonly used words and what they mean in the blogging world.

I will break these words down into easily understandable definitions for you to know.

YOUR BLOGGING GLOSSARY

ALTERNATE TEXT: This means a word or a phrase that describes your photo and graphic that you place in your blog post.

ANCHOR TEXT: This is the word or set of words that you highlight in your blog post and link to another website or another blog post. This refers to the text itself. For example, last week I spoke about how I became to be a blogging coach. See how those words are blue? They are my anchor text and will take you to a blog post that I have previously published.

HYPERLINK: This is the clickable content that the anchor text sends you to. It is referring to the link and not to the text itself.

CATEGORY: This is how you organize your blog posts. When someone goes to your blog page on your website, you want them to know what it is that you talk about. The categories will be posted at the top of your blogging page.

COMMENTS: Comments can be found at the bottom of your blog posts. Your readers can leave them for you. You should always reply to the comments of your readers. This is a great place to find what your clients are struggling with and get new ideas for blog posts.

FAVICON: This is the little graphic that will appear when you type in your blog URL into your browser. I have mine set as my logo.

HEADER: This is the part of your website pages that lets your readers know what page they are on. It can include your logo or tagline as well.

KEYWORDS: This can refer to short-tail keywords or long-tail keywords. These are the topics that are most relevant to your ideal reader. The keywords that you pick will help to showcase your expertise in the niche that you choose. You want these keywords to be words that your ideal reader will be using to search for what you talk about.

PAGE TITLE: This is the part of the title that shows up in the search bar when someone goes to that specific page. So for example, www.samanthalaycock.com/blog. Blog is the page title. This is what tells the search engines what your page is about.

META DESCRIPTION: This is the part of your website that describes what a particular page is about. You want to include a keyword in this description so that it will help your SEO and will help the search engines know what your page is about.

NO FOLLOW LINK: When you link back to another website, you can decide if it is a no-follow link. This means that it will not help their SEO in any way.

AFFILIATE LINK: This is a link where you can purchase a product and the blogger will receive money for sending you there. For example, I have an affiliate link for an AMAZING Pinterest course that I have taken. That means that when you purchase this course, I will receive compensation for your purchase.

BACKLINK: This is any link that is on your blog that sends your reader to another page.

BOUNCE RATE: This describes the % of people who look at your blog and then leave. The lower your bounce rate, the better. It means that your readers are staying on your blog longer.

CTA or CALL TO ACTION: At the end of every blog post, you should give your reader a CTA. This means that you are giving them an action to complete. Whether that is to comment on a blog post, to follow you on a specific social media platform, or to sign up for your email list. There are so many options for you to create your CTAs. Just make sure that they are relevant to your reader.

CONTENT CALENDAR: This is your plan for the content you are going to publish to your website. It can include the content that you will also publish to your social media.

EVERGREEN CONTENT: This is content that is always relevant. It isn’t seasonal. You can reuse your evergreen content throughout the year and continue to bring in new readers to your blog.

GUEST BLOG POST: This is where you write a blog post on someone else’s blog. This is a great way to reach a new audience. Make sure that when you choose a blog to write on, that it is somewhere that your ideal reader is going to also be reading.

DOMAIN AUTHORITY: This is a scale from 1-100. The higher your domain authority is, the higher you will rank in search engine searches.

LEAD MAGNET: This is a freebie that you offer to your readers. A lead magnet is a great way to get your ideal readers to sign up for your email list.

NICHE: This is the specific topic that your blog will be about. You want to try and be as narrow as you can be so that you are attracting your ideal reader.

ON-PAGE SEO: This is the actual content that is on your website.

PAGE VIEWS: The number of times someone goes to a page on your website.

SPONSORED POSTS: These are blog posts that bloggers have been paid to write.

This is just a small sample of words that bloggers often use. Knowing the definition of these words will help you to begin to blog better and faster. You will no longer get stumped when you are learning how to blog. Is there a word that you didn’t know?

If you are ready to start your blogging adventure, I still have a few spaces left in Blogology. My 7-week group coaching program that begins on September 6th. Let me help take you from idea to blog. The price of the program will increase by $100 on August 9, 2020.