Online Marketing Cheat Sheet

for Women Building Businesses

Online marketing has its own language.

The first time I met with an online marketing coach – someone young enough for me to have given birth to – he kept referring to my “funnel.” Trying to figure out what a kitchen gadget had to do with marketing, I finally stopped him to ask what it was, and he laughed.

From then on, he acted as if I was out of touch. I wasn’t: I knew the concept, once he explained it to me. I had just never been in the space with the bro-marketers of the time who coined the phrase.

Most marketing concepts stand the test of time. It’s just the terms that change. So if you’ve ever sat in a webinar, or read a post on Threads, and thought “Wait, what’s a funnel?” this is for you.

Here are 10 core terms explained in plain English, so you can follow the conversation (and make better decisions) without feeling talked down to.

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1. Funnel

What it means:
A “funnel” is the path someone takes from first finding you to becoming a client. For example: social media post → free download → email series → consult → paid service. The path is shaped like a funnel. It’s wide at the top, with lots of prospects who are just becoming aware of you. At each step the group gets smaller until you get to the smallest group at the bottom: paying clients.

Why it matters:
Once you see your funnel as a simple step-by-step path, it’s easier to spot what’s missing or where people are dropping off. Often, that’ll be intentional: you don’t want to waste marketing resources on people who aren’t a good fit for your services.

2. Landing Page

What it means:
A landing page is a single, focused web page with one main goal, usually to get someone to take a specific action, such as signing up for your newsletter. It can also feature a downloadable file, in exchange for someone’s email, or it can be a sales page for a product or service.

A landing page is often part of your website, but it doesn’t have to be. It shouldn’t distract with other links; you work to get people here, and you don’t want them to leave before they take action. This is why I generally advise leaving your navigation menu (along with any other unnecessary links) off your landing page.

Why it matters:
If you’re promoting a free resource, a workshop, or a specific service, a landing page works better than sending people to your home page, where there’s no clear call-to-action on what they should do next.

3. Lead Magnet

What it means:
A lead magnet is a free resource you offer, like a guide, checklist, quiz, or template, in exchange for someone’s email address.

Why it matters:
It gives potential clients a low-risk way to learn from you and lets you stay in touch with them via email instead of hoping they remember you from social media. (Your #1 goal with social media marketing should be to get potential clients off social media and into your world, either in person or via their contact information.)

4. Opt-In

What it means:
To “opt in” is to give permission to receive emails from you. An opt-in form is the little box where someone enters their name and email.

Why it matters:
You can’t just add people to your list because you have their email; they need to choose to hear from you. That keeps you legal and builds trust.

5. Email List

What it means:
Your email list is the group of people who have opted in to hear from you. It’s usually stored inside your email marketing platform (like MailerLite, ConvertKit, etc.) but you can start with something as simple as a list inside Google Sheets.

Why it matters:
You “own” this audience in a way you don’t own social media followers. If Instagram or Threads disappeared tomorrow, your email list would still be there. With email marketing, you control how and when you contact your list. Marketing studies have shown that for every $1 you spend in email marketing, typically you’ll get $36 in return. (That’s far more cost effective than, say, Meta ads, which has an oft-stated goal of making $2.50 for every $1 spent.)

6. Copy

What it means:
If you’ve spent any time in publishing or advertising, you’ve probably heard this term before. In marketing, “copy” just means the words you use, on your website, in emails, on landing pages, in ads. It has nothing to do with copy/paste. A “copywriter”‘ is someone who writes ad or marketing copy.

Why it matters:
Good copy speaks directly to your ideal client, in language they’d actually use. It’s one of the biggest factors in whether someone feels, “She gets me.”

7. Pixel

What it means:

“Pixel” has two different meanings in the online world. Pixels are the smallest unit in a digital display; millions of pixels make up an image or video on a device’s screen. Each pixel combines red, green, and blue lights to create the colors we see. When referencing the resolution of a display or image, numbers like 1920 x 1080 refer to the width and height, in pixels.

In online marketing-speak, a pixel is also a small piece of tracking code (from Meta, Google, etc.) that you add to your website. It tracks what your visitors do on your site.

Why it matters:
Without tracking pixels, you’re basically working blind: you don’t know where people come to your website from, and you don’t know what pages they visit or what buttons they click while they’re there. Without this information, it’s impossible to make data-driven improvements to your marketing strategy over time.

And if you run ads that send people to your website, having your pixel installed from the beginning gives the platforms data to work with, which usually makes your ads more effective and less expensive over time.

8. CTA (Call to Action)

What it means:
A CTA is simply what you ask someone to do next — “Book a consult,” “Download the guide,” “Join the list,” “Buy now.”

Why it matters:
Every page, email, and post should have a clear CTA. If you don’t tell people what to do next, most of them will do nothing.

9. Conversion

What it means:
A conversion is when someone takes the action you wanted: they opt in, book a call, or buy. “Conversion rate” is the percentage of people who do that out of everyone who saw the page.

Why it matters:
Looking at conversions helps you decide what to tweak. Sometimes you don’t need more traffic; you just need your existing visitors to convert a little better. In these cases, we look at the overall design of the page, images, headlines, and finally, your copy.

10. Organic vs. Paid Traffic

What it means:

Organic traffic: people who find you naturally (search, social posts, referrals).

Paid traffic: people who find you through ads you paid for.

Why it matters:
Both can work. Organic is slower but free; paid is faster but requires a strategy and budget. Knowing the difference helps you plan realistically.