Address Bar
The white bar near the top of your computer screen where you type in the website address that you wish to visit.

Backlinks
Links from other websites to yours. Used to increase a site's popularity with search engines and to get more people to visit your site.

Blog
An online journal and popular way of sharing your thoughts with the world.

Broadband
An internet connection that provides greater speed.

Browser Window
The screen that displays an internet window on your computer.

Cache
Your computer memorises what you do in its cache, so the next time you do the same thing it happens quicker.

CMS
Content Management System - a website that is database driven and enables the user to make changes to the website without knowing coding.

Cookie
Information some websites store on your computer when you visit them to ensure their website loads quickly next visit. Another use is to track visitors to see what they view most.

Database Driven
A normal static website has the information you see is on the page itself. On a database driven website, information is stored and drawn from the database then displayed on the page and cross-referenced.

Domain
The unique name of your website.

Domain Registration
You need to register your unique domain name. Normally only valid for one or two years it has to be renewed to continue using it.

Downloading
Transfering information from a website or server to your computer. Collecting email is a download, as is installing a software programme directly from the internet.

Email
The internet equivalent to mail.

GIF
A file used for animated graphics and line-drawn images (as opposed to photographs).

Hosting
For you to have an email address or a website a hosting companies provide a domain address, information storage space and bandwidth to accommodate the flow of information taking place on your behalf.

HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language used to create websites. A website created in pure html is a static website and stores no data.

IE
Internet Explorer. The most commonly used internet browser in use.

IP Address
Internet Protocol. The IP address refers to the actual number that a domain name translates to. The IP number is the real address.

ISP
Internet Service Provider. The organisation that provides you with internet access.

JPG
A file used for images, especially photographs. Images used on websites work best as jpg or gif.

Key Word
A term that refers to the main subjects of your web pages in relation to how people would phrase them when searching for your products.

Link
A coded area on a web page that once clicked will take you to another web page or website or to download documents or programmes.

Mailserver
A computer that distributes email.

Meta Tag
Located in the head of an html web page to provide information about a page title, keywords and description for search engines and browsers.

Optimise
How the page code and content is structured for search engines (a well optimised website is search engine friendly). Whereas an optimised graphic has been compressed to allow the image to load quickly on a website.

PPC
Pay Per Click advertising space on say Google's website. You pay a small amount each time someone clicks on your advert link taking them to your website.

Ranking
Where a website appears in search engine results is its ranking. The more relevant content the higher its ranking.

Reciprocal Links
Websites linking back and forth with each other hoping to increase their ranking.

Search Engine
A programme that stores and arranges the various resources available on the internet, used on a website to find other websites.

Search Engine Friendly
A website search engines can easily find all the links on and which search engines like because it is properly optimised.

SEO
Search Engine Optimisation. The practice of tweaking website coding and content to achieve the highest possible search engine ranking.

Server
A computer used to provide a storage area for websites and emails, provided by hosting companies with permanent connections to the internet. Without a server, your website would not be viewable to the world.

Sitemap
An index to all the content on a website to help people find what they are looking for on your website and help search engines find your links.

Spam
Junkmail sent out in bulk with no regard as to whether you want to receive it.

Traffic
The number of visitors to a website.

Trojan Horse
A malicious code posing as something desirable, it infects a computer by getting the user to activate it to performs a function that the user wants - like install software or show a picture. Trojan horses can erase files or enable someone else to access your private information.

Upload
For a website to be visible it has to be put on the server that is hosting it. This process is called uploading because you are literally loading your pages and pictures onto the server.

URL
Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is a website address that has all the information for finding the exact location attached to it.

Virus
A computer programme that reproduces itself and that is frequently malicious.

Worm
A malicious code that looks for security loopholes and uses that to replicate itself. Where a virus uses a host file to spread, a worm is imbedded in an actual document, like a Word or Excel document.

www
World Wide Web, another name for the internet.