Computer Games Dictionary - H

Hacker
1. A term that first started being used in the 1960s and was used to describe a programmer or someone who hacked out computer code, later the term evolved to an individual who had an advanced understanding of computers, networking, programming, and/or hardware but did not have any malicious intents.
Today, a hacker is often associated with an individual who illegally breaks into other computer systems to damage and/or steal information. Some users today who consider themselves leet may refer to themselves as haxors or h4x0rs. However, often these types of users are nothing more than script kiddies.
Although the media and most people think of hackers as malicious or evil, the majority of hackers are people who are curious about how computer, networks, and/or programs work and are often simply exploring and learning.
2. In computer online gaming a hacker is a term often associated with a gamer who is cheating.

Alias
Also known as a nick or handle, an alias is an alternative name for a computer, object, person, group, or user. Usually used to replace long names or to keep your own name private.

Hardcore
When referring to games, hardcore is a player with above average skills and abilities and/or a player who plays a lot and is able to achieve more than a person who does not play as much. Hardcore may also refer to the game type played, for example, in a MMORPG game a PvP server is often considered more hardcore than a non-PvP server.

Hehe
Slang often used in chat communications to indicate something was funny. Hehe Is supposed to represent someone laughing / giggling.

Ping
In computer gaming, a ping, also known as a high ping or low ping, is a measurement of how fast the connection to the game server the player has. For example, a player with a low 50 ping is going to have a better game experience than a player with a high 250 ping. To help with server response times some game servers may only accept users who have a low ping.

HP
1. Short for Hewlett Packard.
2. Short for Hit Points, HP is the total amount of hits it would take to defeat an opponent in an RPG.

HUD
Short for Heads Up Display, HUD is any type of display that displays over the top of another display. For example, when referring to a computer game a HUD displays important information such as the players life, available or selected weapons or other abilities, maps, etc.

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Game Definitions - G

G2G
Shorthand for Got to Go or Good to Go, G2G also abbreviated as GTG and is a term often used in chat communications and computer gaming.

Game
Warcraft gameA type of computer software that has been designed to entertain and/or educate an individual. Today, computer gaming is a big business and there are millions of different types of computer games that are enjoyed by people of all ages.

Game control adapter - game port
More commonly known as a game port, the game control adapter is a port found on IBM and IBM compatible computers. The game port allows users to connect such devices as joysticks, game pads, steering wheels and various other devices that allows additional functionality to the computer.

Paddle
1. More commonly known as a game paddle or gamepad, a paddle is an input device commonly used with games that may contain various buttons used to steer and utilize different options in a game. The majority of console game systems utilize a paddle for control.
2. The term paddle may also be used to describe various handheld devices that are capable of controlling a function on a computer or electronic device.

Gamespy
Large gaming network that contains information, reviews, and files for games as well as a network that connects various games together online.

Gank
Another commonly used term to describe a player who is PKing other players. Often ganking is associated with a higher level player killing lower level player, for example, a level 60 player killing a 36 level player, which often requires little or no effort and simply grief's the player being killed.

GG
Shorthand used in game play that is short for Good Game. This tells other individuals who are playing the game or just finished a game that the game played was a good game.

Ghosting
1. Term used to describe a shadowing effect on any moving images on a screen. This type of issue can occur if you are using an older monitor, have a software setting enabled that causes this effect, or system resources are low.
2. A description of a person who has gone offline yet is still appearing as though they are still logged in.
3. A term used to describe a type of cheating in online games where players that have died tell other players that are still alive where other players in the game are.
4. Another method of describing a LCD or flat-panel display with a slow response time.
5. Using Norton's Ghost program, the act of ghosting is the method of copying the complete hard disk drive contents to another media such as a CD or network drive. Once ghosted, this image can quickly be distributed over several computers.
This is commonly done in a corporate environment where the same operating system and corporate software needs to be installed on several computers quickly.

Gib
1. Also known as gibbage, a gib is a game term coined by Adrian Carmack of Id software and is used to describe one or more fragments of another player's body when they are killed by a large weapon such as a rocket launcher.
2. A Gib is short for Gibibit.
3. A GiB is short for Gibibyte.

GM
1. Short for Game Masters, GM's are real people who help run, maintain, and assist other players in online games.
2. Shorthand for Good Morning, GM is often used in chat rooms to greet users in the morning.
3. GM can also be short for Good Manner(s) and is sometimes used in computer games and chat rooms.

Gold
1. A precious metal that is used in computing because it is a good electrical and thermal conductor.
2. A color commonly yellow that represents the color of the precious metal gold.
3. More commonly known as Gone Gold or Going Gold, this term is used to describe a software program that has finished its development stage and is now in the process of being manufactured to be released to the general public.
4. Gold is also a form of money used in a lot of computer games to purchase game goods. Often games that have gold will also have copper, silver, and/or other precious metals for different denominations of money.

Grats
Shorthand for congratulations, grats or gratz is used in chat conversations and online games as a way of congratulating someone about something they've accomplished.

Rocket jumping
In computer games such as Quake, rocket jumping is a technique where the player fires a rocket using their rocket launcher at the ground, wall, jump pad, or other surface and at the same time jumps causing the player to travel a greater distance. This is a great tactic to get to a higher position, to escape another player, and/or get to another spot faster. Because you take damage and this is part of the game this is not considered cheating.
In addition to rocket jumping there is a similar tactic called grenade jumping, where the player places a grenade at their feet or below a vehicle to propel themselves or an object into the air.

Griefer
Any person who intentionally causes other people on the Internet or in games grief or other problems.

Grind
A term used by game players to describe the process required to increase a game characters level or overall experience. It's often referred to as the grind because of the tedious task of doing something over and over again and/or because the process starts to become no fun and more like work instead of a game.

Group
In general refers to a collection of two or more people that are put together and labeled. For example, in the case of computers a collection of individuals who work for the customer service department may be assigned the workgroup group name: cs, and be given excusive rights or privileges to programs and/or files they need to have access to.

Guild
A group of people in an online game that work together in defeating creatures or other mobs that cannot be done alone. Unlike a party a guild is a permanent group and can contain several hundred members. Many online games now support guild chat, which allows any guild member to easily talk to all guild members currently logged in and is usually a much easier method to find help or find something to do.

Gunbound
A popular multiplayer game developed in Korea and played around the world that is similar to Scorched Earth or Worms.

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Games Appendix - F

FFA
Short for Free For All, FFA is a term used to describe a type of game play where everyone is against everyone.

FFS
1. When talking about computer hard disk drives FFS is short for freefall sensor and is a technology found in Fujitsu hard disk drives to help protect the hard disk drive when it is dropped. The technology works by moving the read/write head within the hard disk drive up a ramp to prevent it crashing against the magnetic medium.
2. Short for For F*(% Sakes, FFS is slang commonly used in gaming and chat communications.

Flight simulator
First demonstrated as a 3-D demo in 1975, today when referring to computers, a flight simulator is a type of computer game that simulates the environment of a pilot in control of a flying machine.


FMCDH
Shorthand for from my cold dead hands, FMCDH is sometimes used in chat and online gaming as a way of letting someone know the only way they'll be able to get something is if they kill them first.

FPS
1. Short for Frames Per Second, FPS is a measurement of the speed or performance of a game and/or computer system. Generally, a user who has a higher FPS will be capable of performing better. Often many games today have a command or keyboard shortcut key that will display the frames per second you're getting. However, there are also other third-party programs such as Fraps and other benchmarking programs that will also display the frames per second you're getting.
2. Also known as a point-and-shoot game, FPS is short for First Person Shooter and is a description of a game where the player sees only the weapon of the character and shoots other characters or players. First Person Shooter games became widely popular with the release of Doom in 1993.

Frame

1. Edge or border that resembles a border of frame you may find on a picture. Frames are often used in word processing and graphic arts to help focus the viewer's attention.
2. In data or network communications, a frame is a block of data that begins with a header to indicate the beginning of the block of data and a trailer to indicate the ending of the data.
3. With the Internet, a frame is a movable or non-movable portion of a web page to help make the navigation easier. Many users do not like frames because of various issues such as printing a page, book marking a page with the relevant information and not a separate frame, etc...
4. A frame is a single still image frame displayed by the computer, video hardware or software application. Also see FPS and frame rate.

Fraps
Computer software program that enables users to record movies of other programs such as a computer game, display how many frames per second you're getting, and capture screen shots.

FTL and FTW
1. Shorthand for For The Win, FTW is often using in gaming and gaming related definitions to indicate a user's win. The complete opposite to FTW would be FTL, which is short for For The Loss.
2. Shorthand for f*** the world.

FU

Short for Fu** you, FU is a abbreviation of swearword used in chat, online games, and other online communications.

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Games Definitions - D

DD
Shorthand for Don't Die, DD is a term often used in chat communications and computer gaming.

DDR
1. Short for Double Data Rate, DDR is a type of memory that utilizes both the rising and falling edge of the system clock that has the potential of doubling the speed of the memory. Today, the DDR technology can be found in high end Video Cards as well as computer memory such as DDR-SDRAM.
2. Short for Dial-on-Demand Routing, DDR was developed by Cisco and is a new routing technique that uses existing telephone lines to help form a WAN.
3. DDR is also short for Dance Dance Revolution. A popular arcade and console game where users must dance on a pad in conjunction with what is being displayed on the screen.

Deathmatch
Type of first person shooter game where the players win by obtaining the most frags. Often deathmatch is abbreviated as DM or TDM for Team DeathMatch.

Demo
1. A software file that enables a user the ability to try a service, software program, software game, or software utility before purchasing it or signing up. Although demos are often available as demo disks, many demos today are downloaded from the Internet for free.
2. In addition, when referring to a game, demo mode refers to a mode that demonstrates the computer game without requiring any interaction from a human player.

DIN
1. When referring to a connector, DIN is a type of connector that conforms to a standard defined by the DIN group. Computer keyboards, computer mice, network routers, video appliances, and Apple serial devices are a few examples of hardware devices that may use a DIN style of connector.
2. Short for Deutsche Institut fuer Normung, DIN is a German standardization group.
3. Shorthand for Do It Now, DIN is commonly used in chat rooms and online gaming.

Ding
Gaming term used to signify the user has just increased one or more levels. This term is often seen in MMORPG games such as EverQuest.

Microsoft DirectX
DirectX ABCs
Current available version = 9.0c
Windows Vista users = 10
First released in 1995, DirectX is a set of APIs (Application Program Interface) developed by Microsoft to allow all programs to write instructions for hardware without knowing exactly what hardware is within the computer. Games which include DirectX, will have the capability of utilizing multimedia and graphics accelerator features more efficiently.
The original releases of Windows 95 did not ship with DirectX; Windows 95 OSR2 however did included DirectX 2.0. To see which version of windows you are using, see our page Information about determining Windows Versions.
Windows NT shipped with DirectX 2.0. Upgrading to Service Pack 3 or higher will install DirectX 3.0. However, there are no higher versions of DirectX available for Windows NT. Installing Service Pack 4 or higher will install later versions of DirectPlay, however.
The latest version of DirectX can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/directx.

DKP
Short for Dragon Kill Points, DKP is a point system that originated in the online game EverQuest and today used in many other MMORPGs that helps players distribute the loot obtained from creatures that require a large party of players (often 10 or more). For each player that participates in killing a large creature or other large mob the player earns points, often based on the difficulty and amount of players participating. These points are often kept track of by the guild leader and can then be used for loot the creature drops, the player that has participated the most will have the most points and be entitled to the rare or otherwise valuable loot first.
Each game and guild has their own method of obtaining and keeping track of DKP. When joining a guild in an online game it is best that you talk with the guild leader and/or visit their personal page for additional information about how they manage the guild DKP.

Dmg
Short for damage, dmg is a term often used in gaming as an indication of how much damage was inflicted on a person or thing in the game or how much potential damage an item in the game is capable of inflicting.

DND
1. Shorthand for Do Not Disturb, DND is a common tag or extension added to users name or alias to let other users or players know that person does not wish to be disturbed either because he or she is away or because they are busy.
2. More commonly known as D&D, DnD is short for Dungeons and Dragons and is a role playing game where players play with a number of different characters in an imaginary world. Each player has the ability to choose their own character, each with a selection of different attribute points. The player navigates the world and interacts with the environment by rolling a number of different dice to determine their moves and actions. D&D is played by millions of people around the world and today many of the computers RPG and MMORPG games are based on many of the same ideas of this popular game.

DOT
1. Single pixel on a matrix display.
2. Single small dot on a dot matrix printer print out.
3. Period separating related pieces of information on the Internet such as www.computerhope.com.
4. In a RPG or MMORPG a DOT is short for Damage Over Time and is a type of spell or other damage that causes a player or creature in a game harm for a short period of a time. For example, a player hit by a poison spell could be poisoned for several seconds unless they are cured.

Dupe
In computer games dupe or duping often refers to act of a player tricking the game and generating a duplicate of another item. For example, a player may use a duping technique to make a duplicate of a high level weapon or other item in the game. Any type of duplicated item in games is considered cheating and often duping an item and/or owning a duped item can cause your account to be suspended or banned in many online games.
Computer Hope does not give assistance or tell players how to duplicate any items in any online games.

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Games Dictionary - C

Camper
Term often used in computer gaming to describe an individual who remains in one position for a good majority of the game, picking off other players as they come to them. Generally, this position gives that individual an advantage over other players and in many cases, helps defend an item or objective. For example, in the computer game Quake, a player may position himself or herself on a platform with the rail gun, allowing him or her to shoot other players without allowing them the ability to fight back easily. Generally, a player who camps too much is looked down upon by the other players.

Carebear
A derogatory term given to other online game players who only want to take the easy way and/or make the game as non-challenging as possible. For example, when referring to a MMORPG game players may refer to servers that are non-PvP as carebear servers.

Chain mail
1. Also known as a chain letter, a chain mail is a forwarded e-mail sent unbeknown to e-mail contacts containing false information and/or a myth because of sympathy or a scare.
2. When referring to a game or armor, the term chainmail is used to describe a type of armor that is made by connecting a series of small rings together. Chainmail is commonly more protective than ringmail armor.

Class
1. Term used in object-oriented programming to refer to a set of related objects that share common characteristics. Classes and the ability to create new classes are what make object-oriented programming a powerful and flexible programming model.
2. When referring to a game, a class is a type of character based off abilities. For example, warrior and mage are both examples of game classes, a warrior is often strong can withstand a lot of damage but doesn't often deal much damage. A mage class is the complete opposite, a class that can often deal a lot of damage but can't take much.

Con
1. A MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows reserved word.
2. When referring to games con is short for consider and is an ability or command used to find out additional information about the targeted creature or player. For example in the MMORPG game EverQuest a player can type: /con to find out additional information about the target.
3. Another term used to describe a type of deception or trick. For example, phishing is a type of con that often deceives the user to give away their log in information.
4. Any type of negative feedback or lack of features of a product.
5. Short for conference, con is used as an abbreviation when describing a conference or other get together. For example, DEF CON is an example of where this term is used.

Credits
In general, refers to a listing of all the people who helped develop and brought a product to the public. For example, after a computer game has been completed, it may list the credits of all the people who helped develop, design, test and bring the game to the public.

CS
1. When referring to disk drives such as a hard disk drive or CD-ROM drive CS is short for Cable select.
2. Short for Customer Service.
3. Abbreviation used for Computer Science.
4. Frequent abbreviation used to describe the Half-Life mod Counter-Strike.
5. Short for Code Segment.

CTF
Short for Capture The Flag, CTF is a type of game played in first person shooter (FPS) games where a user must get to an enemy's base, grab their flag and bring it back to their base's flag without dying. The team with the most flag captures wins the game.

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Games Dictionary - B

B4N
Shorthand for Bye for Now, B4N or BFN is commonly used in chat rooms and online games to let users know that they must leave but will likely be back.

Ban
To prohibit or deny access. For example, a user may be banned from a chat server because he or she has disobeyed the rules or may be banned from a server or game for cheating.

Battle.net
Service run and maintained by Blizzard that enables users to play online freely with other Blizzard game players. Examples of games that utilize this service are StarCraft series, WarCraft 3, and Diablo series. Battle.net utilizes network ports 4000 and 6112 through 6119. The official Battle.net web page can be found at: http://www.battle.net/

BBIAB
Shorthand for Be Back In A Bit, BBIAB is commonly used in chat to let others know that you are leaving but will return shortly. Users also often use BBIAF, which is short for Be Back In A Few.

BBL
Shorthand for Be Back Later, BBL is a chat and game term used to tell other users that you will be back to chat or play at a later time.

Benchmark
Test used to measure or judge the performance of a hardware peripheral, software or the overall computer. These tests can be used to help compare how well a product may do against other products. Generally, the higher the benchmark the faster the component, software or overall computer is.

Beta
A program that has not yet been introduced to the public but is being released to a select few to test, examine and report problems they may experience so that those errors can be fixed before the final release. This type of product should never be purchased.

Often there are two types of beta testing, open beta and closed beta. Open beta refers to a type of beta testing that is open to any user. Closed beta refers to a type of beta testing that is only available to a select few individuals or to company individuals.

BF
BF is commonly used as an abbreviation for the computer EA game Battlefield. This term is also often used when describing what BF version, ie: BF1942 to describe Battlefield 1942, the initial release of Battlefield and BF2 to describe Battlefield 2, and/or BF2142 to describe Battlefield 2142.

Bind
1. In computer programming, to bind is to make an association between two or more programming objects for a specified amount of time.
2. In computer networking bind is used to allow a resource to be sent or received. For example, one may bind a request to TCP/IP indicating that it is ready to receive and or send information.
3. In IBM's System Network Architecture, to bind is to setup a session between two logical units or network end points prior to communicating.
4. When referring to the computer keyboard and/or gaming binding refers to assigning an action to a single key. For example, binding the space bar to shoot a gun in a game.
5. BIND is also short for Berkeley Internet Name Domain and is a popular name (DNS) server software originally designed for BSD.

Boosting
In computer gamming boosting is the method that allows a player to look over a high object or jump onto a higher object by jumping on another players back who is crouched down. Although this is part of the game many players consider this type of playing cheating.

Bots
1. Short for robots, a bot is a fictitious character, programmed character or a piece of software designed to mimic a real character or player.
2. A bot may also be a software program designed to do a specific task such as gather a listing of web sites with the latest news.
3. Shorthand for Back On Topic, BOT is commonly used in chat rooms and other text message communications.

BRB
Shorthand for Be Right Back, BRB is commonly used in chat rooms to let someone know that you are stepping away from the computer, but will return in a quick few minutes.

Buff
In computer games a buff often refers to a bonus that is given to a game character that extends his or her ability. Often a buff is gained from an in-game item, from another players ability, and/or a spell. For example, in the MMORPG game EverQuest a popular buff is the SoW (Spirit of Wolf) buff that increased the movement speed of your character.

BYOC
Short for Bring Your Own Computer, BYOC is a term used to tell users who may be attending a computer related party to bring their own computers if they wish to participate.

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Computer Virus

Computer virus are human-made software that can affect another computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a copy of itself. The first virus named The Elk Cloner written in 1982 by Rich Skrenta who was a 15-year old high school student. This virus spread to another PC by infecting the floppy diskette that was inserted into the computer. Once a floppy diskette became infected it would infect all other computers that disk was inserted into, each computer that was infected would then infected another diskette inserted into it.

Some viruses are relatively harmless to individuals. They attach themselves to outgoing messages on your e-mail or e-mail themselves to all contacts listed in your address book. The sudden flood of e-mail overwhelms mail servers that causing the system to crash. Another viruses are more destructive and may lie dormant until a certain date. Then they spring to life to do their dirty deeds. Sometimes a strange message appears on your screen, or data and programs may be modified. In the worst case, all the files on your hard drive may be deleted.

Today a computer virus is a software, script, or macro that has been designed to infect, modify, destroy or cause any problems to the computer or software programs. Users can protect themselves and remove any viruses on the computer by installing an antivirus protection program, which is designed to detect, protect, and clean any computer viruses.

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What is DSL

DSL stand for Digital Subscriber Line. DSL provides high speed on already exiting telephone lines and same time you can use internet and as well as your line for phone. In DSL, both ends of connections require the network cards and DSL modems for data communication.

Your DSL connection to the Internet will always on, there is not need to dial your ISP each time to use internet. DSL is much easier to install and provides much faster data transfer rate. Its data transmission speed start from 128 Kbps up to 10 Mbps.

DSL connections are more useful in applications like video conferencing, to run online movies and upload and download heavy files. There are different flavors of DSL like ADSL, R-ADSL, HDSL, SDSL, and VDSL. The ADSL and HDSL are very common in use, the former being more popular for home usage.

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Hard disk troubleshooting

Your hard disk drive, or also called hard disk, is a gigantic diskette in your computer. It is one disk big enough to store you Operating System, games and programs. Without it, your PC is just an empty shell. If you have a problem your hard disk here's troubleshooting steps to solve your problems.

Check Your BIOS
Better beware of older systems with large hard drives. If you have an older motherboard, your BIOS might not recognize hard drives larger than 2.1 GB. Hopefully, your BIOS is EPROM which means although read only (noticed the ROM?) it can be edited by authorized editors. Nearly all newer motherboards support that. All you need to do is to go online, go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and try to download a flash BIOS update. Install it and it should be done.

Are You FAT Enough?
If you have a large capacity hard drive with more than 2.1 GB, you might have a problem. Windows 95 itself will only recognize a partition with not more than 2.1 GB. You need FAT32. With FAT32, you can have one large capacity hard drive without partitioning. You will also save some space with FAT32. In short, larger hard drives require FAT32.

Consider Partitioning
Although you can have one big fat hard drive as one partition, you should consider partitioning as well, if you have a big hare drive. Partitioning is the method of dividing an area on a disk into smaller portions of lesser capacities that can be recognized by the operating system. Picture this: your hard drive is a cake. It is easier to eat a cake divided into pieces than to eat it whole.
Partitioning enables you to achieve greater efficiency and functionality from high-capacity disks (2.1GB or greater). You can create partitions by using FDISK on a system running in MS-DOS mode or by using a third-party disk utility. Remember that after partitioning, all data will be loss so be careful.
You can set aside a small partition for backup purposes. In case you should decided to format, just format the partition you use to store Windows. Your data in the backup partition is still there. But be careful! If you format a FAT32 partition with a FAT16 formatting utility, your partitions with data in it will all be loss! So never install DOS after formatting Windows. Because DOS utilizes FAT16, your FAT32 partition will all be gone.

Access Time or Seek Time?
If you want to buy a hard drive but are confused with the specifications of access time and seek time, remember that the key to the speed of a hard drive is the average access time. This is the time taken to access a single sector to the time when the drive's head reaches the sector. But beware, some ads quote seek time that is not the appropriate measurement. Access time is seek time plus latency (the time it takes for the chosen sector to come around to be positioned under the read/write head)

Speed Not Space
A lot of people are confused between speed and space. If you have a Quantum Fireball with 1.2 GB and a Quantum Bigfoot with 3.5 GB surely you should put the Bigfoot as the master and Fireball as the slave right? Wrong! You should always consider speed as well as space. The Quantum Fireball has a faster access time. A faster hard drive means better performance. Make sure your operating system is store in the faster hard drive. You can use the Bigfoot to store your programs or games which makes not much difference to the speed. With speed hungry programs or games, store them in the faster drive too. You must know what to put where.
The status of the drives is determined by setting small jumpers that are usually located next to the IDE connector on the drive itself.

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Keyword Research

Keyword research involves analyzing and using the historical data of keywords used by web surfers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Internet marketing. Every day about 410 million searches are carried out by Internet users in North America to find products / services, to research them or to purchase them. The key aspect of Internet marketing is keyword research. Selecting and using keywords for a website is an art and a science.

Why is it important?
It is important that your customers are able to find your website using keywords most relevant to the business or product. Keyword selection is the first step towards successful Internet Marketing. It is also an area where most business people and marketers go wrong. You may encounter situations where you may achieve high search engine rankings but you may not achieve Internet sales, if you select the wrong keywords. The goal of Internet marketing is not about directing huge traffic to your website but to draw those people who are interested in your products and services. Using keywords that attract your prospective customers will help achieve your marketing objectives even if your traffic is lower. The ultimate aim is to increase your sales and not to attract any web visitors.

Where to start?
As with traditional marketing, the first step in online marketing is to identify your target audience. Then it is to research the keywords that target audience may most likely query the search engines to locate a site like yours. If you choose a keyword that is not used by the people searching for your product, you won't get much Internet sales.

Common Errors
A common error is to initiate website optimization with a set of “gut-feel” keywords. Many websites often come up with keywords, which look relevant to them but the buyers may not use these keywords to search for their products or services. Often the site owners use trade-specific terms, but the customers most likely use generic terms. You need to put yourself into the shoes of your customers while choosing the keywords. Today, several companies offer paid services to actually see the number of times a keyword has been used in a given time period. These services remove the guesswork from Internet marketing and make this type of marketing a science rather than an art.

Its Importance in SEO
The most important aspect of any search engine optimization campaign is the one involving keyword selection. A website can only be optimized for a limited number of keywords. Plus, in search engine optimization there is a time lag before an SEO campaign can start generating results after it is implemented. These two aspects make it very important to choose the right keywords as early as possible. No wonder Keyword research to identify the best keywords is the first step in any search engine optimization program.
Don't optimize your website for only one keyword. Use different keywords that may most frequently be used by your target audience. Initially, this first set of keywords may require judgment based on awareness of your product and your target audience. Once the campaign gets underway, web analytics will be able to identify the keywords that are bringing in the most sales. Sometimes, there are a few unanticipated keywords that turn into real "gems." As much as a marketer can use judgment, a continuous monitoring of the campaign is the best way to “discover” good keywords.
You will have a competitive advantage when your target keywords are popular with your customer base and not known to most of your competitors. The more the number of people targeting a particular keyword for SEO, the tougher it becomes to get results. To put it in another way, it may increase your investment and the time required for search engine optimization. A good Internet marketer will be able to find the best keyword opportunities for Search Engine Optimization given a particular budget.

Its Importance in Pay Per Click Campaigns:
The advantage of Pay Per Click (PPC) over SEO is that it can target an almost unlimited number of keywords to drive traffic to a website. Whenever an unrelated audience clicks on your ad, the cost of that click represents wastage of your marketing budget. In TV advertising, It is like spending on Advertisements at 3am in the morning when hardly anyone is watching television.
Making sure you are bidding on keywords that your target audience is using to search for your products is critical to the success of a pay per click advertising campaign. Also, over time your competition will be focusing on a few keywords for PPC and driving up the bid for those keywords. At some point of time, the cost of the click is no longer providing a good ROI on your marketing investment.
A good Internet marketer will constantly strive to find new keywords with lower bid price to ensure you are getting the most clicks from the target audience for your PPC investment. One advantage of PPC is that unlike SEO any mistakes can be corrected almost instantaneously. The disadvantage is that the market is fast moving and needs continuous monitoring of keywords.
The advantage of Pay per click campaigns is that (after a campaign goes live) continued keyword research along with web analytics can further improve the initial effectiveness of the campaign. Thus, leading to a list of keywords that are most likely to convert a visit into a sale and at cheapest cost. This list of keywords can be key weapon to successfully compete with your competition in the online world.

Conclusions
Keyword research is not about choosing the most frequently used keywords but to select the most popular keywords used by your target audience to find your product. Poorly performed keyword research increases the cost of your marketing campaign by focusing on keywords which are difficult to optimize for SEO or require high bid price for PPC. Also, a poorly performed keyword analysis can cause wastage of your budget by focusing on irrelevant keywords.

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What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be defined as the process of altering the content or structure of your web site so that it ranks higher in the pages of search engine results while a specific key word is being searched. The higher the website gets ranked the greater the probability of the site being visited.

How does Search engines work?
The search engine runs a “spider” through all the web pages traveling through the hyperlinks between the sites and going through the content and collecting information on each page and prepares an index. The spider then returns the information to the search engine. Now, when a particular key word is searched, the search engine displays only those pages which the spider thinks match the key words the most.

Why is SEO necessary?
Most people arrive at a website after conducting a search. Therefore, SEO becomes necessary because your site is unlikely to have any visitors unless it gets shown on the results page, letting people know about its existence.

Good SEO practices
Search engine optimization is not just about having spiders crawling your web site but also about making the viewer spend time on your web site preferring it to several others that also came up in the search.
The SEO process can be started by constructing a nicely structured web site using good design practices. In addition to that, some other ways of making a web site friendlier to search engines are:

Title Tag
The title of your web page is of primary importance to the search engine and it should be precise and brief. Most search engines consider very long titles as spam, so the use of conjunctions and definite articles should be minimized in the title. The company’s name followed by a few words about your services would make an ideal title.

Meta data
Putting keywords in meta data plays a key role in search engine optimization.
However, having an attractive meta tag 'description' is more important as it appears as the description in the search results page. The description should be kept precise, informative and appealing to capture the attention of the visitors thereby motivating them to visit your web site.

Main text
The following points must be kept in mind before writing the content for your web site:
• The site should be free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and should have a readable font with good use of color and graphics.
• The content must be presented in an interesting way to hold the attention of the visitor.
• Paragraphs should be short and crisp and words per line should be around 10 to keep viewers focused on the web site.
Another rule is to adjust your web site’s layout in such a way that more important phrases are found at the beginning of the page as search engines consider words at the beginning of the page to be of greater importance than the ones found towards the end.

Links
The easiest way to get a high page rank is to have several web sites providing a link back to your site. The number of pages linking to your website is considered a recommendation by search engines. Some search engines like Google give more weight to links from popular and respectable sites. This can be done by trading links with other web sites thus earning your web site a higher ranking and adding some traffic to your site.

Once these guidelines are followed the web site should have a both a good layout and decent rankings on search engines. This will help in attracting your target audience and also be helpful in motivating the visitors to perform the actions to help achieve your marketing goals.

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What are immunizations?

Immunizations help protect you or your child from disease. They also help reduce the spread of disease to others and prevent epidemics. Most are given as shots. They are sometimes called vaccines, or vaccinations.

In many cases when you get a vaccine, you get a tiny amount of a weakened or dead form of the organism that causes the disease. This amount is not enough to give you the actual disease. But it is enough to cause your immune system to make antibodies that can recognize and attack the organism if you are ever exposed to it.

Sometimes a vaccine does not completely prevent the disease, but it will make the disease much less serious if you do get it.

Some immunizations are given only one time. Others require several doses over time.

Why should you get immunized?

* Immunizations protect you or your child from dangerous diseases.
* They help reduce the spread of disease to others.
* Getting immunized costs less than getting treated for the diseases that the shots protect you from.
* Vaccines have very few serious side effects.
* They are often needed for entrance into school or day care. And they may be needed for employment or for travel to another country.

If you are a woman who is planning to get pregnant, talk to your doctor about what immunizations you have had and what you may need to protect your baby. And if you live with a pregnant woman, make sure your vaccines are up-to-date.

Traveling to other countries may be another reason to get immunized. Talk with your doctor 6 months before you leave, to see if you need any shots.
What immunizations are recommended for children and adolescents?

Ask your doctor what shots your child should get. The immunization schedule includes vaccines for:

* Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (also known as whooping cough).
* Polio.
* Measles, mumps, and rubella.
* Chickenpox.
* Rotavirus.
* Bacterial meningitis.
* Hepatitis B.
* Hepatitis A.
* Human papillomavirus (HPV).
* Haemophilus influenzae type b disease, or Hib disease. This infection can lead to serious illness in young children, including pneumonia and meningitis.
* Pneumococcal disease. This infection can cause meningitis and other serious illnesses in young children.
* Flu (influenza). This vaccine is not given to children younger than 6 months.

Immunizations start right after birth, and many are given throughout a baby's first 23 months. Booster shots (the later doses of any vaccines that need to be repeated over time) occur throughout life.

Fewer immunizations are needed after age 6. But older children and teens need shots too (such as those for bacterial meningitis and for tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough). Some shots are also given during adulthood (such as a tetanus shot).

It is important to keep a good record Click here to view a form. (What is a PDF document?) , including a list of any reactions to the vaccines. When you enroll your child in day care or school, you may need to show proof of immunizations. Your child may also need the record later in life for college, employment, or travel.

Talk to your doctor if you or your child plans to be in a group living situation, like a college dormitory or summer camp. You may want certain shots, like those for the flu or meningitis.
What vaccines are recommended for adults?

The vaccines you need as an adult Click here to view a form. (What is a PDF document?) depend on your gender, age, lifestyle, travel plans, overall health, and what vaccines you had as a child.

Talk to your doctor about which vaccines you need. Depending on your situation, you may need vaccines for:

* Chickenpox.
* Flu.
* Hepatitis A and/or B.
* Human papillomavirus (HPV).
* Measles, mumps, and rubella.
* Pneumococcal disease.
* Polio.
* Shingles.
* Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis.

What are the side effects of vaccines?

Most side effects from vaccines are minor, if they occur at all. Your doctor will explain the reactions that could occur. They may include:

* Redness, mild swelling, or soreness where the shot was given.
* A slight fever.
* Drowsiness, crankiness, and poor appetite in some babies.
* A mild rash 7 to 14 days after chickenpox or measles-mumps-rubella shots.
* Temporary joint pain after a measles-mumps-rubella shot.

Serious reactions, such as trouble breathing or a fever of 104.5°F (40.3°C) or higher, are rare. If you or your child has an unusual reaction, call your doctor.

It is much more dangerous for a child to risk getting the diseases than it is to risk having a serious reaction to the vaccine.
Can vaccines cause other problems?

Some parents question whether mercury-containing thimerosal (used as a preservative in vaccines) might cause autism. Studies have not found a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. Today, all routine childhood vaccines made for the U.S. market contain either no thimerosal or only trace amounts.

Some people worry that the shot for measles, mumps, and rubella can cause autism in children. This is because symptoms of autism are first noticed around 1 year of age, which is about the same time children get their first shot for measles. But many studies have been done, and no link has been found between this vaccine and autism.
Should you get immunizations to protect yourself from anthrax or smallpox?

It’s scary to think that someone might use the germs that cause diseases like anthrax and smallpox as weapons. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend immunizations for these diseases. And the vaccines are not available to the general public.

The CDC does recommend that certain people be immunized, such as some lab workers, health care workers, and military members.

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What is DNS?

The Domain Name Server or DNS translate the human-readable domain name into machine-readable IP address. It can be considered something similar to a phone book. When you move from one location to another, your name stays the same, but your phone number changes. In order to point your name to the new phone number, you must contact the telephone service provider, so that they assign you the new phone number and update all directory information to reflect you as pointing to this new phone number.

In this way, the IP number can be compared to a phone number: When someone calls http://www.example.com/, your ISP looks at the DNS server, and asks “how do I contact example.com?” The DNS server responds: “It can be found at 198.105.232.4″. As the Internet understands it, this can be considered the phone number for the server, which houses the http://www.example.com web site.

The DNS records for your domain are kept on your hosting server in the place called DNS zone. When you register a domain by means of the control panel, all DNS records are automatically created for you. But in some rare cases, you may need to add custom records to your DNS zone. An example would be, when you want all emails to be processed by an external mail server rather than by the built-in mail system. However, such user intervention requires knowledge of DNS configuration and clear understanding of what is to be done.

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What is Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing in a nutshell is all about using the Internet to make it easier and faster to sell your product and services. A good Internet marketing program involves planning and executing several activities in co-ordination. Internet marketing includes communicating about your business on the web with an appealing, easily navigated and easily understood website. Another goal of Internet marketing is to rank high on the search engines for searches on keywords related to your business. The website is leveraged to communicate the advantages of your products and services, establish credibility and motivate a potential customer to purchase. Internet marketing also involves generating business leads and supporting your direct sales team in shortening the sales cycle. For some businesses, where sales transactions are done on their website, Internet marketing involves attracting customers, monitoring website visitors and converting more of them into paying customers.

How is Internet Marketing done?

• Through a website: A website enables people across the world to find a business. Also a website helps the business to provide information about its products and services. An attractive web-site will help in customer retention, making him come to the website again and again.
• Using email marketing campaigns: A thoughtful email marketing campaign helps to create a life long relationship with customers. Email campaigns are also very useful in strengthening a brand in the mind of people over a long stretch of time.
• Through Search Engine Optimization: Using search engine optimization techniques to get top listings in search results for particular key words i.e. for Organic" or "Pure Searches” is another important internet marketing function.
• Through Pay per click ads: Pay per click is an Internet marketing method used in advertising networks, websites, and search engines. PPC ads are commonly found advertisements found in the search results page of a search engine. The advertiser has to pay a small sum when the ad gets clicked. A successful pay per click search engine campaign involves multiple tasks such as: selecting the most cost-effective keyword phrases, selecting the best PPC programs, writing effective ads, designing and writing effective landing pages.
• Through Banner ads: Banner advertising is another technique used by internet marketers wherein an advertisement is built into a web page. The purpose of the banner ad is to drive traffic to a particular website by connecting them to the advertiser’s web site. The banner ad is shown when a web page refers to the banner during a search.
Web banners, much like traditional commercials are designed to educate buyers about products or services and how they are better than those of the competitors. However, web banners can’t be monitored real time and are not specifically directed at a viewer's interests.

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