VMPlus Computer and Internet Glossary

A Database is a structured collection of data or records organized for a specific purpose that can be searched. An organized collection of information. Complicated databases link information between multiple tables allowing for analysis of the contained information. An address book is an example basic database.

Direct Response marketing is a strategy that aims to immediately evoke a specific action from the target audience, such as purchasing a product or subscribing to a service. It focuses on encouraging immediate response and can be tracked more easily than indirect marketing. Clicking a button on a webpage that says “Buy Now” is and example of a Direct Response.

An online Discussion Group is a focus group of people who typically communicate via a chat or messaging platform. Businesses owners may use the information or feedback collected from the discussion group to make changes to their product or services.

A Domain Name is a string of text that maps to an alphanumeric IP address, used to access a website from client software. Simply put, a domain name is the text that a user types into a browser window to reach a particular website. Example: The domain name for VMPlus is vmplus.net , pronounced “vmplus dot net”. In this example “net” is the Top-Level Domain (TLD) while “vmplus” is the Second-Level Domain (SLD). The TLD’s of domains that we will frequent are .com, .net, .org, .edu and .gov. Beginning in 2012, a program allowing for potentially hundreds of additional TLD’s was implemented.

Download or “Downloading” is the process of receiving data from a remote system, like a web server, onto your local computer. It's essentially the opposite of uploading, where you send data to a remote server. Downloading usually refers to transferring entire files for storage and later use.