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Absolute Unique Visitors

The number of unique individuals who came to your site in a given time
period.
e.g. If John comes to your site 20 times in a week, he still only counts as a single
unique visitor.
This statistic is important because it tells you your reach, or the total size of
the audience coming to your site.

301 Redirect

Search engine friendly manner to redirect a website address (URL) to another
one.

Accessibility

Accessibility encompasses the recommendations and best practices to ensure
the web is accessible to all, including people with disabilities.
Add on sales: Products or services that complement a sale. This includes meeting and
conference rooms, restaurant, packed meals, gift vouchers, and visitor
sightseeing tours.

Affiliated Online Booking
Networks

Analytics

See Website analytics and tracking.

ATDW

See Australian Tourism Data Warehouse.

Augmented Reality

Realtime direct viewing of a location with computer enhanced augmentation. Particularly useful for tourists wanting information on their current location and view.

Australian Tourism Data
Warehouse (ATDW)

The ATDW is the only government recognised nation-wide distribution
facility for Australian tourism content www.atdw.com.au.

Back Office

Includes functions such as accounting, finance, and housekeeping.

Backlink

See Inbound link.

Backup

Saving your website's and computer's content in order to be able to recover it.

Bandwidth

A measure of capacity, referring to the amount of data which is can be transferred simultaneously across an internet connection: the wider the bandwidth, the larger the carrying capacity and faster uploads and downloads.

Blog

Website built in the format of an online diary. Blogs are very popular and are
used by many businesses as a form of online marketing.

Bots

See Robots.

Bookmark

Your web browser will allow you to “Bookmark” or “Add to Favourites” web pages, so that you can easily access them at another time without having to retype the URL.

Cache

Copies of previously accessed web pages and related files are stored, in a cache, either on your computer or on computers operated by an ISP (Internet Service Provider). On subsequent visits to these web pages the files are retrieved from the cache rather than downloaded from the web server again. This reduces the time taken to deliver the web page to you.

Cascading Style Sheets

A programming language used to define the style (such as font, size, colour,
spacing, etc.) of web documents. It is recommended by the WC3 (World Wide
Web Consortium).

Channel / Distribution
Channel:

A means for operators to distribute their product to a wide customer base
(e.g. through an affiliated online booking network).
See also Channel manager.

Channel Manager

A web-based system used when an operator is linked to a number of
distribution channels (such as last minute booking sites). The channel
manager software automatically u
pdates room inventory or tour numbers to
ensure there is no overbooking

CMS

See Content management system.

Code

The background code that runs a website. As well as HTML and XHTML, this
can include, CSS, JavaScript, ASP, PHP, JSP, Coldfusion, and more.

Content Management System

System that allows a website owner to edit their content without requiring
any knowledge of web programming. Also known as CMS.

Cookies

Information sent from a website to your computer's hard disk with the main purpose of identifying you and your computer, and possibly preparing customised web pages for you. Cookies can contain information such as user preferences or registration information.

Crawler

See Robots.

Creative Commons Licence

Flexible media licencing designed to facilitate and encourage more versatility
and flexibility in copyright.

CRO

Conversion Rate Optimisation. Optimising the content of your website to
transform a prospect into a guest.

CSS

See Cascading style sheets.

Database

A structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer or on a server. Content management systems save website's content in a database.

Data Import / Export

The ability to input or output a file of data to or from another system (e.g.
from an online booking system to Excel).

Database

Structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer or on a
server. Content management systems save website’s content in a database.

Description Tag

The description META tag is used to write a short description that is should
be unique to each webpage. Essential for S.E.O.

Directory

Directories are websites built from submissions made by website owners, and
generally arrange site listings hierarchically.

Distribution Channel

See Channel / distribution channel.

Distribution Commission

Fee a third party charges for bringing the consumer to your product. This
third party is usually a travel agent, wholesaler or inbound tour operator.

DMOZ

See Open directory project.

Domain Name

A domain name (like mytrendyhotel.com.au) is the address used to find you
on the Internet. Domains are hierarchical, and lower-level domains often refer
to particular websites within a top-level domain. The most significant part of
the address comes at the end - typical top-level domains are .com, .com.au ,
.net, .edu, .gov, .org.

Download

The transfer of files from a remote machine such as a web server operated by an ISP, to your computer.

Back to top

e-Business

Electronic Business encompasses communicating with customers and suppliers via email, researching and ordering products and services online, providing information about and selling your own products and services via your website, and utilising online banking.

e-Commerce

Electronic Commerce is conducting business electronically, including the process of buying, selling, transferring money and customer service via the Internet and can potentially include design, production and company operations.

e-Enabled

Refers to having the capacity for customers to access your products and services, and interact with you from enquiry through to payment, via the Internet

e-Marketing

Using technology such as email and the Internet, plus a wide variety of options and tools, to conduct your marketing activities and achieve your marketing objectives.

e-Mail

Electronic Mail was one of the first major uses of the Internet and today is a daily business tool. Email is the process of sending and receiving communications via the internet.

Facebook

An extremely well known social networking site, located at www.facebook.com.

Firewall

A device or application on your computer which inspects all incoming and outgoing traffic and either permits or denies it, based on a set of rules.

Flash

Technology used on websites that allows for image animation. Not search
engine friendly or mobile stable.

Flickr

Forum

Online discussion spaces in which anyone can participate.

Frames

An old and non-search engine friendly manner of programming a website in
HTML. Some sites have pages that are made up of multiple HTML pages.
Typically the navigation will be on one page and the content on another.

FTP

Stands for "File Transfer Protocol". A protocol, or program, used to transfer
files from your computer to your server on the Internet.

FrontPage

A web page authoring tool developed by Microsoft®.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

A set of rules for exchanging or transferring data from one computer to another via a network or the Internet. 

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)

A standard file format for images that is used to display graphics and
illustrations on the Internet. It allows transparent backgrounds.

GB (Gigabyte)

A generalised term referring to storage capacity or file size equating to roughly 1 billion bytes of information.

Google

The most used and popular Internet search engine www.google.com.au.

Google AdSense

Contextual advertising by Google. Website publishers earn a portion of the
advertising revenue for placing Google sponsored links (ads) on their site
http://adsense.google.com.

Google AdWords

The Pay Per Click advertising program offered by Google
http://adwords.google.com.

Google Alerts

Handy tool offered by Google that allows the user to subscribe to any keyword
or keyphrase and receive a daily/weekly email listing of all web pages on which the
keyword (keyphrases) was (were) mentioned www.google.com/alerts.

Google Analytics

Tool by Google that provides statistics about the visitation to a user's website
http://analytics.google.com.
See also Website tracking and analytics.

Google Maps

Interactive maps http://maps.google.com.

GPS

Global Positioning System enabling the defining and waymarking of locations (eg hotels, attractions, trek itineraries etc)

Hard Drive

Component of a computer that stores all the files and data. External hard
drives are used to backup the contents of the computer's built in hard drive.

Headings

A symbol used in HTML to inform browsers that the text displayed is a
heading and not plain text. The look and feel of the text in the headings can
be set using CSS.

Hoax

An attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real.
Hoaxes are generally sent via email.

Homepage

The main page of a website. Generally called index.html.

Host

A third-party company that provides a server (customised computer that is on
24/7) to host your website and its files.

HTML

Stands for "Hypertext Markup Language". The coding language that all
websites use to exist on the Internet.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are links assigned to words and therefore make these words
clickable and will direct the user to another document.

Impression

Relates to Pay Per Click. A single display of an online advertisement.

Inbound Link

Links that direct users to another website. When a user arrives on a site from
another site, the hyperlink they clicked on is an inbound link to your website.
You need a reasonable amount of great quality inbound links to increase your
search engine rankings.

Information Architecture

Refers to the way in which a website is organised - the structure, the content, the labelling of information, as well as the design of the navigation and search system - all aimed at helping visitors to your website to find information and complete their reason for visiting your website.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is any creation by human intellect that is unique and has some value in the marketplace, for example:

• an idea
• invention 
• expression or literary creation, including logos and presentations
• unique name 
• business method or industrial process 
• computer program.

For more information visit IP Australia.

Internet

The Internet is a network of computer networks, which anyone can access and
participate in using a web-enabled computer.

Intranet

A private computer network which uses Internet protocols to securely share information relevant to its subscribers/consumers.

Inventory

Details of rooms, vehicles, tour places or venues stored in by the database in
an online booking system. Details will include, for each date, total places
available, number of places sold etc. Inventory will be kept up to date
automatically and inventory reports can be requested at any time.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

A digital service that provides fast data transmission over the existing copper telephone wiring system, requiring a modem and 'dial up' access. It preceded ADSL.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)

A company which provides access to the Internet. For a fee, the service provider gives you a software package, username, password and if in a dial-up area an access phone number.

JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

A standard file format for images that is extremely well suited to display
photographic images on the Internet.

K

 KB (Kilobyte)

Generalised term referring to storage capacity or file size equating to roughly 1,000 bytes of information.

Keyphrase

A combination of keywords used to find pages when conducting a search.

Keyword

A word used to find pages when conducting a search.

Keyword META tag

Keywords META tags were used to tell search engines what each web page
was about. They are not used anymore as search engines can now read the
content of websites.

Keyword Research / Analysis:

Researching the most relevant and popular keywords for a given site so that
the website has better chances of ranking on search engines.

Keyword Spamming

Deliberate repetition of keywords in a page by using invisible or tiny text to
increase keyword density. Search engines ban this practice.

LAN (Local Area Network)

A localised area of interconnected computers, such as an office, a home or a group of buildings, contained within close proximity to one another.

Link Farms

Websites that are created and maintained solely for the purpose of
constructing links between member sites. You should avoid listing your
website on these sites as it could result in your website being banned by
search engines.

Link Popularity

Search engines often use link popularity as part of their ranking criterion. Link
popularity is the measurement of the number of other websites that include a
link to your website on theirs. Each search engine, depending on their specific
algorithms, determines it differently.

Links Analysis

Measure of the relevance of the set of links pointing to a given site.

Local Business Centre

(Google tool) Tool developed by Google to allow business owners to list their business and
make them appear on Google maps.

Link Popularity

Search engines often use link popularity as part of their ranking criterion. Link popularity is the measurement of the number of other wesites that include a link to your website. Each search engine, depending on their specific algorithms, determines it differently.

 MB (Megabyte)

Generalised term referring to storage capacity or file size equating to roughly 1 million bytes of information.

Markup

See Code.

META tag

An HTML symbol located in the header section of a web page which offers
information to search engines. There are 3 types of META tags: title tag (very
important to search engines), Description tag and Keyword tag.

MSN

Microsoft's search engine. In Australia the address is www.ninemsn.com.au.

MySQL

Structured Query Language. Type of database that is open source and free to use.

MSN

Microsoft's search engine. The URL for Australia is www.ninemsn.com.au.

Multimedia

Files that combine media, like text and graphics, or graphics, sound and animation, or text and video.

MySpace

A popular social networking site. Located at www.myspace.com.

Navigation

Navigation on your website aids the visitor’s movement from one web page to another web page, or from one section to the next.

Newsletter

Type of email marketing that consists of sending a newsletter to contacts via
email.

NTX (Northern Territory Tourism Exhange)

Platform within the TXA for NT Accredited product

Network

Computers, which are linked together, enabling communication with one another as well as sharing of resources such as printers.

Newsletter

A type of email marketing where a periodic publication is distributed via email to those whom have subscribed to it. The purpose of a newsletter is to provide highly specialised information to a highly targeted audience.

OBS

See Online booking system.

ODP

See Open directory project.

Online Booking System

A web-based booking system (i.e. connected to the Internet or on your
website) which performs booking functions in one of two ways using the
operator’s website or a 3rd party website.

Online Distributor

Tourism entity or business whose objective is to represent many individual
tourism businesses on their website, shop front, and/or database.

Online Marketing

See e-marketing.

Open Directory Project

The largest human edited directory on the Internet. The Open directory
provides listings for free but only for qualified sites and because editors are
volunteers, wait times can be lengthy www.dmoz.org.

Open Source

Refers to computer programs whose source code is freely available for use or
modification.

Operating System (O/S)

A very important component of your computer, this program assists with starting your computer then manages the sharing of your computer's resources such as internal memory or hardware, between computer programs, enabling all the programs that are open to perform.

Optimisation

See Search engine optimisation.

Outbound Link

A link to a site outside of your own.Pages with too many outbound links are often ignored by search engines.

Page Rank

A numerical rating of a site developed by Google as part of its algorithms for
determining search engine listings.

Page Views

A website statistics measure that lets you know you how many pages of your
site are viewed in a given period.
If John comes to your site 20 times in a week, viewing 3 pages each time, John's
visits count as 60 page views.
Page views are an indication of just how interested people are in your site. A
high ratio of page views to visits likely means an interested audience.

Pay Per Click

A form of e-marketing in which the advertiser has typically a small textual ad
on a search engine site and pays only if a user clicks on the link in the ad.

PDF (Portable Document Format)

PDF captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing and word processing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended. To view a file in PDF format, you need Adobe® Reader®.

Phishing

Attempts (generally conducted via email) to fraudulently acquire sensitive
information such as logins, passwords, and credit card details.

Photobucket

A well known photo sharing site www.photobucket.com.

PHP

A freely available programming language used to create dynamic webpages

Picasa Web Albums

A well known photo sharing site http://picasaweb.google.com.

Pixel

Single point of a graphic image. Pixel stands for picture element.

Plugin

A program that allows a web browser to display a wider range of content than was originally intended, for example, the Flash plugin allows web browsers to display Flash content.

PNG

Portable Network graphics. A relatively new standard file format that is suited to display photos, graphics
and illustrations on a website.

Podcast

Digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar (such as interview) made
available online.

Point of Sale

Refers to the hardware and software used to allow a monetary transaction to
occur.

POS

See Point of sale.

PPC

See Pay Per Click.

Processor / Central Processing Unit (CPU)

A pivotal component of your computer, it can be described as “the brain” which processes all information, allowing computer programs to run.

Q

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM allows programs to access the hard disk and execute tasks, therefore if you do not have enough RAM on your computer, programs will not run efficiently, causing the computer to operate slowly.

Real-time Booking

An online booking that is performed immediately (e.g. payment and
confirmation occur while you wait).

Reciprocal Link

An exchange of links between two sites. This technique is used to improve
your search engine rankings but you have to be careful to only exchange links
with websites that are relevant to your audience otherwise both websites risk
being penalised by search engines.

Remote Hosting

Having your online booking system and other software systems running on
the vendor’s server at the vendor’s location.

Resolution

A measurement of the quality of an image based on the number of pixels that
make up the image. For web images, a resolution of 72 PPI (pixels per inch
square also called DPI for dots per inch square) is the norm.

Robots

Software programs used by search engines to crawl websites, store their
addresses, and index the keywords and text of pages. Also referred to as
spiders or crawlers.

Search Engine

A search engine is a database system designed to index and categorise
Internet addresses, otherwise known as URLs (for example,
www.mybeachholiday.com).

Search Engine Marketing

A form of marketing that allows promoting products or services on the
Internet through management of information presented by search engines
and directories. Example: Pay Per Click.

Search Engine Optimisation

Techniques used to improve a webpage's results in a search. You do not need
to pay the search engines for this.

Search Ranking

A numerical rating, of a website, developed by Google as part of its algorithms for determining search engine listings.

Secure Payment Page

Credit card details are entered by the customer on a secure payment page. A
secure page receives and sends information to the bank in encrypted form (so
it cannot be read by 3rd parties). The credit card information is never sent to
the operator’s computer.

Secure Socket Layer

See SSL.

SEM

See Search engine marketing.

SEO

See Search engine optimisation.

SERP

Stands for "Search Engine Results Page", the page of site listings that a search
engine returns in response to a user’s entry of a search query.

Server

Customised computers that process requests for data, e-mail, file transfers,
and other network services from other computers.

Social Media

The various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the
construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio.

Social Networking

Form of communication that users do using social medias. Most popular networks at the moment are Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, LinkedIn but there are countless more.

Spam

Unsolicited e-mail or content on the Internet.

Spiders

See Robots.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

An SSL certificate is an electronic key that will ensure an online transaction is
secure.

Back to top

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)

The two primary sets of rules that establish a connection between two computers, so they can exchange or transmit data over the Internet.

Tag

Symbol used in HTML to identify the type, structure, and format of a
webpage's element.

Third (3rd) Party Online Booking Networks

See Affiliated online booking networks.

Title Tag

Symbol used in HTML to identify the title of a webpage.

Tourism Exchange (TXA)
Australia

The TXA is Australia’s inclusive booking platform.

TripAdvisor

Website that allows users to review and comment about tourism-related
experiences www.tripadvisor.com.

TXA

See Tourism Exchange Australia

TXA Enabled

Tourism Exchange Australia – an online network allowing customers to search
and display the inventory and prices of linked operators via the TXA’s website.

Unique visitors

Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". This suite of letters (e.g.
http://www.mysite.com) is used to specify the address of websites and web
pages.

Usability

Refers to the elegance and clarity with which the interaction with a website is
designed.Refers to an important statistical measurement which is used to determine a website's 'audience' or reach in a given time period. Each individual who visits a website is counted and through the use of cookies it can be dertermined if the individual is a first time visitor (ie. unique visitor), or is making a return visit.

URL (Uniform Resource Locater)

The URL is the Internet address that takes you to a website, or specific page or file within a website, for example, http://en.travelnt.com/search/accommodation.aspx. Broken down, a URL contains:

• the protocol for exchanging information between computers - eg. http://, https:// or ftp://
• the domain name - eg. travelnt.com; and

• the hierarchical name for the file - eg. /search/accommodation.aspx.

Usability

Relates a websites ease of use and is commonly defined as having three core components:

• effectiveness - how well a task can be completed
• efficiency - how easy or quick it is to complete the task, and 
• satisfaction - the user's perception or opinion of the system.

Vendor

The seller or distributor of an online booking system or other software system.

Visits

The number of times people open your site in their browser.
If John comes to your site 20 times in a week, he counts as 20 visits.
A high ratio of visits to visitors means you’ve got a loyal audience.

Virus

A malicious computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer, without the permission or knowledge of the computer user.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A secure private network that uses the internet to transmit data. Only computers with the correct access key will be able to access the network. Benefits of a VPN can include:

• reduced cost of establishing a network as the facilities are shared
• quick expansion of the network to include office and mobile workers
• reduced expenditure as the support and facilities are outsourced. 

WAN (Wide Area Network)

A network of interconnected computers covering a larger geographical area than a LAN.

W3C

See World Wide Web consortium.

Waiting List Management

A booking system can record customers who have requested a booking after
all places have been taken. The system will then alert the operator when a
suitable place becomes available.

Waymarking

Locations noted with GPS , imagery and notes. Useful for tourists needing more lcoal information or touring routes.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 describes a growing trend online towards content made by web users,
rather than traditional publishers. It is an umbrella term used to describe
online technologies that facilitate interaction and exchange of information
online.

Web Developer

Person who knows how to program websites using HTML, CSS and
programming languages such as PHP and ASP.

Web Form

A form displayed on a webpage on which customers can enter their details.

Web Graphic Designer

A graphic designer who specialises in designing web-friendly illustrations and
website layouts. A web graphic designer is not the same profession as a print
graphic designer as web and print graphics have different requirements.

Web Host

See Host.

Web Page

A web page is a single page of a website. A website is made of many web
pages.

Website

Online profile of a company that consists of interrelated web pages.

Website Analytics & Tracking

The use of 3rd party software on a website to track web pages visited, time
spent and functions performed by customers while visiting the website. This is
invaluable to understanding what customers are interested in, and how your
website can be improved.

Website Developer

See Web developer.

Website Hosting

A service provided by an ISP or specialised web hosting company, where your website and its associated files are stored on a dedicated web server. The host company then maintains the connection to the Internet for your website.

White Label

White Label pages are supplier web pages which can be imported and customised by 3rd part websites. eg A supppliers booking page through V3 which can linked to a distrubors website and rebranded to corporate website style.

Wireless

Where data is transferred via radio frequencies rather than wired connections. For example, wireless Internet, mobile telephones, GPS, cordless keyboard and mouse, cordless telephones and satellite television.

World Wide Web Consortium

The group that is steering standards development for the World Wide Web
www.w3c.org.

X

XHTML

A reworking of HTML 4.0.

Yahoo!

A popular search engine. The Australian URL is www.yahoo7.com.au.

YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share
video clips. located at www.youtube.com.