Roter Faden ยท Glossary
IT, marketing and business glossary
Clear explanations of words you encounter in digital projects and everyday business. Each article includes examples, common mistakes and a next step you can take yourself.
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- Projects and processesA/B testing
Learn how to plan an A/B test, assign variants fairly, choose meaningful measures and interpret uncertainty before declaring a new version the winner.
- IT and digitalisationAPI
Understand APIs without programming: what they enable, how they differ from integrations, and which questions matter before connecting business tools.
- IT and digitalisationArtificial intelligence
Understand AI beyond the label: suitable tasks, reliable evaluation, information handling and the human decisions needed for useful everyday business use.
- IT and digitalisationAutomation
Learn when automation helps, how triggers and exceptions work, and how to test a reliable process without hiding mistakes behind faster software.
- SEO and visibilityBacklink
Learn what a backlink is, why context matters and how to assess incoming links without treating volume, purchased placements or tool scores as proof.
- Marketing and customersBrand
A brand is more than a logo. Learn how recognition, promises and everyday experiences shape a business's identity, with a practical small-shop example.
- Marketing and customersBranding
See what branding includes beyond a logo, how to plan a practical identity, and how to carry it through messages, materials and customer experiences.
- Business fundamentalsBreak-even
Learn how break-even analysis connects prices, variable costs and fixed costs, with a clear example and practical checks for small businesses.
- Business fundamentalsBusiness administration
Understand how business administration connects customers, operations, people and money, and use simple questions to make everyday decisions clearer.
- Business fundamentalsBusiness model
Understand how a business model connects customers, value, delivery, revenue and costs. Test the important assumptions before expanding an offer.
- Marketing and customersCall to action
Understand calls to action and write clearer prompts for your website, with practical examples, common mistakes and a simple test of what visitors expect.
- SEO and visibilityCanonical
Understand canonical URLs, distinguish them from redirects and noindex, and keep duplicate-page signals consistent without merging unrelated content.
- Business fundamentalsCash flow
Understand cash flow, distinguish it from profit and bank balances, and build a useful view of operating, investing and financing movements.
- Projects and processesChange management
Learn how to support a change in everyday work through clear roles, useful participation, practice and follow-up, with a realistic small-business example.
- IT and digitalisationCloud computing
Understand cloud computing through everyday business use, including service models, access, recovery, costs and questions to ask before moving work.
- IT and digitalisationCMS
Understand what a CMS does, how editors and permissions work, and which practical checks help you choose a maintainable website publishing system.
- Business fundamentalsCompetitive advantage
Learn what makes a difference a competitive advantage, how customer needs and operating choices connect, and why advantages need evidence and upkeep.
- SEO and visibilityContent audit
Learn how to inventory website content, assess usefulness and accuracy, and turn a content audit into clear decisions with owners and priorities.
- Marketing and customersContent marketing
Understand content marketing through real customer questions. Choose helpful formats, connect them with your offer and review usefulness beyond page views.
- Business fundamentalsContribution margin
Understand contribution margin per sale, its difference from profit, and how it helps compare offers, discounts and limited business capacity.
- Marketing and customersConversion
Understand conversions beyond purchases. Define meaningful actions, distinguish attempts from completion, and check whether recorded events reflect real outcomes.
- Marketing and customersConversion rate
Calculate conversion rate with the right denominator. Understand percentage points, small samples, changing audiences and why a higher rate is not the whole result.
- Business fundamentalsCost-benefit analysis
Understand cost-benefit analysis, define a fair comparison, and examine expected benefits, whole-life costs and uncertainty with a clear example.
- SEO and visibilityCrawling
Understand crawling, distinguish it from indexing and check how search engines reach your pages. Find practical causes of missing or inaccessible content.
- IT and digitalisationCRM
Understand CRM, useful customer records and follow-up routines. Learn how to choose a manageable scope, avoid clutter and connect sales with service.
- Marketing and customersCustomer journey
Map a customer journey from the first need through use and follow-up. Separate evidence from assumptions and find obstacles between individual contacts.
- Business fundamentalsCustomer value
Understand customer value through needs, practical outcomes and the effort of using an offer. Learn how to investigate value without assuming every feature helps.
- IT and digitalisationData integration
Learn how data integration connects systems, resolves conflicting records and supports reliable work, with a practical example and a focused checklist.
- IT and digitalisationDatabase
Understand databases through a practical business example, including records, identifiers, data quality, access and the difference from a spreadsheet.
- IT and digitalisationDigital transformation
Understand digital transformation beyond buying software. Learn how business goals, customer value, roles and staged changes fit together in practice.
- IT and digitalisationDigitalisation
Understand digitalisation, choose a useful first process, and assess tools, data and teamwork through a practical small-business example and checklist.
- IT and digitalisationDocument management system
Learn how a DMS organises documents, versions, access and review. Use a practical example to assess search, responsibility, exports and ongoing effort.
- IT and digitalisationDomain
Understand domains, website addresses and email connections. Learn what to check about naming, account control, renewal and changes of provider.
- IT and digitalisationERP
Learn what ERP connects, why shared records matter, and how to assess requirements, migration, costs and everyday exceptions before implementation.
- Business fundamentalsFixed costs
Understand fixed costs, distinguish them from variable and avoidable costs, and review the commitments behind a small business's capacity.
- Projects and processesFunctional specification
Understand what a functional specification should explain, how it relates to requirements and how clear scenarios help teams build and accept the solution.
- SEO and visibilityHreflang
Understand hreflang, map equivalent language pages and check reciprocal links, canonical choices and translation updates without promising rankings.
- Projects and processesHypothesis
Learn to write a testable hypothesis, distinguish observations from explanations and choose evidence that can challenge an idea before you commit more work.
- Marketing and customersInbound marketing
Understand inbound marketing as a route from useful discovery to a suitable enquiry. Learn how content, contact and follow-up work together in practice.
- SEO and visibilityIndexing
Understand search indexing, interpret missing pages and check intentional exclusions. Learn how to investigate access, duplicates and useful content together.
- SEO and visibilityInternal linking
Understand internal linking, choose meaningful destinations and write helpful link text. Build clear paths for readers and keep important pages connected.
- IT and digitalisationIT
Understand what IT includes, how business systems depend on each other, and which practical questions help a small team manage technology reliably.
- Business fundamentalsKey performance indicator
Learn what makes a measure a KPI, connect indicators to goals, and avoid misleading definitions, weak comparisons and unintended incentives.
- SEO and visibilityKeyword
Learn what keywords mean, how to research real customer language and how to organise useful pages without stuffing phrases or chasing volume alone.
- Projects and processesKnowledge management
Learn how a small team can preserve useful know-how, find reliable guidance and keep it current through clear ownership, practical examples and everyday use.
- Marketing and customersLanding page
Learn how to plan a landing page around a real visitor task, connect the offer with the next step and check the complete journey using a practical example.
- Marketing and customersLead
Understand what a lead represents, how it differs from a customer, and how to assess suitability, record context and respond without confusing interest with intent.
- Business fundamentalsLiquidity
Understand liquidity, distinguish it from profit and assets, and see how a time-based cash forecast reveals gaps that monthly totals can hide.
- SEO and visibilityLocal SEO
Learn how local SEO connects business information, useful location pages and customer trust, with a practical check for shops and service businesses.
- IT and digitalisationLow-code
Understand low-code development, where custom code still matters, and how to evaluate data, permissions, testing and maintenance for a business app.
- Business fundamentalsManagement control
Understand management control, distinguish plans from forecasts, and use a simple review routine to turn business information into useful action.
- Marketing and customersMarketing
Understand what marketing includes, how it differs from advertising, and how a small business can choose useful actions and judge their results.
- Marketing and customersMarketing mix
Understand the marketing mix through product, price, access and communication. Use a practical example to spot contradictions and improve a complete offer.
- Marketing and customersMarketing strategy
Build a marketing strategy around a clear objective, audience and offer. Learn how to connect choices with resources, useful measures and review points.
- SEO and visibilityMeta description
Understand meta descriptions, write accurate page previews and check their fit with titles and content. Learn why displayed search snippets can differ.
- Projects and processesMinimum viable product
Understand how to define an MVP around a real customer task, choose what to leave out and use evidence from early use without claiming the idea is proven.
- Marketing and customersNewsletter
Understand what a newsletter does, how to plan worthwhile issues and which measures help you improve an email programme without chasing empty clicks.
- IT and digitalisationNo-code
Learn where no-code fits, how to test a visual solution and what to check about permissions, data, platform limits and ownership before everyday use.
- SEO and visibilityOn-page SEO
Understand on-page SEO through clear content, helpful headings, useful links and a practical review of the pages that matter to your business.
- Business fundamentalsOpportunity cost
Understand opportunity cost, value scarce time and capacity, and avoid confusing forgone alternatives with cash payments or past spending.
- Marketing and customersPerformance marketing
Learn how performance marketing links campaigns to defined outcomes, checks costs and lead quality, and handles the limits of attribution and measurement.
- Marketing and customersPositioning
Understand positioning through customers, alternatives and credible differences. Build a useful statement and test whether your actual offer supports it.
- Projects and processesPrioritisation
Learn to prioritise tasks and projects by purpose, consequences, effort and uncertainty, with a practical way to make tradeoffs visible and review decisions.
- Projects and processesProcess improvement
Learn how to identify process problems, investigate causes and test focused changes while protecting quality and the people doing the work.
- Projects and processesProcess management
Understand process management, describe repeated work, and clarify handovers, ownership and improvement across everyday business activities.
- Business fundamentalsProfitability
Understand profitability ratios, distinguish margins from returns on capital, and assess results without confusing profit with available cash.
- Projects and processesProject management
Understand project management, clarify outcomes and responsibilities, and coordinate tasks, changes and handover in a manageable project.
- Projects and processesProof of concept
Learn to plan a proof of concept with a focused feasibility question, representative conditions and clear criteria, then turn the result into a grounded decision.
- Projects and processesPrototype
Learn how to choose a prototype, test a focused question and interpret observations without confusing a convincing model with a finished or proven product.
- Projects and processesRequirements analysis
Learn how to turn requests into clear requirements, resolve competing needs and define useful acceptance criteria before a project becomes expensive.
- Projects and processesRequirements specification
Create a useful requirements specification with clear scope, priorities, acceptance examples and open questions so suppliers can propose suitable solutions.
- Business fundamentalsReturn on investment
Understand return on investment, check a simple example, and distinguish net return, revenue, invested capital and actual cash movements.
- Projects and processesRoadmap
Create a roadmap that connects goals with the next areas of work, explains dependencies and distinguishes a likely direction from a firm delivery commitment.
- SEO and visibilityRobots.txt
Understand what robots.txt controls, why it cannot protect private pages, and how to check crawler rules before changing your business website.
- IT and digitalisationSaaS
Understand SaaS, who runs the software, what your team still owns, and how to assess subscriptions, integrations, exports and everyday usefulness.
- Business fundamentalsScalability
Understand scalability, identify bottlenecks, and assess whether your offer, operations and technology can handle additional demand reliably.
- SEO and visibilitySearch intent
Learn to interpret search intent, distinguish learning from comparing and buying, and choose content that serves the task behind a search query.
- SEO and visibilitySEO
Understand SEO through practical decisions about content, website access and measurement. Learn where to begin and why rankings cannot be guaranteed.
- SEO and visibilitySERP
Understand a SERP, distinguish result types and examine what searchers see. Use observations to improve relevant pages without treating a snapshot as certainty.
- SEO and visibilitySitemap
Learn what a sitemap does, which pages belong in it and how to check URLs and updates, with a practical example and a clear distinction from navigation.
- Marketing and customersSocial media marketing
Learn how social media marketing combines content, conversations and paid promotion, and how a small team can choose channels and assess useful results.
- Projects and processesStakeholder
Learn how to identify stakeholders, understand their needs and decision roles, and involve affected people without turning every project choice into a vote.
- Marketing and customersStorytelling
Understand storytelling in business: choose a meaningful situation, show decisions and consequences, and keep examples credible without inventing proof.
- Projects and processesStrategy
Understand strategy, distinguish it from goals and plans, and connect deliberate choices with the capabilities and constraints of your business.
- SEO and visibilityStructured data
Understand structured data, choose useful information for your website and check the result with a practical example, common pitfalls and a simple review process.
- Marketing and customersTarget audience
Define a useful target audience through needs, situations and buying decisions. Learn how to avoid stereotypes and test your assumptions in practice.
- SEO and visibilityTechnical SEO
Learn how technical SEO supports discovery, indexing and usability, which website problems deserve attention, and how to brief your technical partner.
- SEO and visibilityTitle tag
Learn what a title tag does, how it differs from a page heading and how to write accurate, distinctive titles that stay consistent with the content.
- Business fundamentalsTotal cost of ownership
Understand total cost of ownership, include setup and running costs, and compare business purchases over a clear and consistent period.
- Marketing and customersTouchpoint
Understand customer touchpoints across messages, places and people. Find the information each encounter must provide and improve the connections between them.
- Projects and processesUsability
Understand usability through real tasks, clear feedback and useful observation. Learn how to find obstacles without confusing attractive design with easy use.
- Projects and processesUser experience
Explore user experience beyond visual design. Learn how expectations, interactions and follow-up shape the experience, and how to find practical improvements.
- Projects and processesValidation
Understand validation, choose evidence that matches your question and distinguish a useful finding from proof that a product or business idea will always work.
- Business fundamentalsValue creation
Understand value creation in products and services, distinguish it from revenue and profit, and find improvements across the complete delivery process.
- Business fundamentalsValue proposition
Learn how to describe a value proposition with a specific audience, meaningful benefit and credible explanation, then test whether customers understand it.
- Business fundamentalsVariable costs
Learn how variable costs respond to activity, choose the right unit, and connect cost per sale with pricing, contribution and business decisions.
- SEO and visibilityWeb analytics
Understand website metrics, meaningful events and measurement limits. Learn how a small business can use web analytics to answer practical questions.
- IT and digitalisationWeb hosting
Understand web hosting, compare support and maintenance responsibilities, and check backups, access and migration before choosing a website provider.
- IT and digitalisationWebsite
Learn what a website includes, how it differs from a domain or homepage, and how to plan useful content, clear navigation and reliable ongoing care.
- IT and digitalisationWorkflow
Understand workflows through a practical example. Learn to define handovers, decisions, exceptions and completion before choosing a digital tool.