Word List

These words can be slippery. Here’s how we write them.

• add-on (noun, adjective), add on (verb)
• back end (noun), back-end (adjective)
• beta
• checkbox
• coworker
• double-click
• drop-down (noun, adjective), drop down (verb)
• e-commerce (the industry)
• ePub
• email (never hyphenate, never capitalize unless it begins a sentence)
  • To name
  • From name
  • Reply-to name
  • Subject line
  • Cc, Bcc
• emoji (singular and plural)
• front end (noun), front-end (adjective)
• geolocation
• hashtag
• homepage
• integrate
• internet (never capitalize unless it begins a sentence)
• login (noun, adjective), log in (verb)
• Like (the social media activity)
• OK
• online (never capitalize unless it begins a sentence)
• opt-in (noun, adjective)
, opt in (verb)
• pop-up (noun, adjective), pop up (verb)
• signup (noun, adjective), sign up (verb)
• sync
• tweet, retweet
• username
• URL
• website
• WiFi

A word on “white label”

The phrase “white label” is one of the trickiest terms to grasp for a lot of Vendastians. As a noun, it is two separate words. As an adjective modifying a noun, it is hyphenated. It is never written as one word without a hyphen.

• CORRECT: We support white labeling for vendor products.
• CORRECT: Vendasta offers a white-label platform.
• NOT CORRECT: Vendasta offers a whitelabel platform.
• NOT CORRECT: Vendasta offers a white label platform.

Now you’re probably wondering…even though “white-label” is grammatically correct, what if more people search for “white label”? How does this conversation relate to search engine optimization?

Don’t worry. Our in-house SEO specialist, Jubaer, dove deep into this topic and discovered that it doesn’t make a difference. According to Nick Eubanks, Matthew Barby, and Ian Howells—three of the biggest names in SEO—Google is smart enough to match these terms as synonyms. The only thing that would change is the intent based on context, but that has no relation to whether it’s hyphenated or not. So relax and go with the grammatically correct version.

Words to avoid

• automagical (we used to say this a lot, and we’re embarrassed about it)
• synergy, incentivize, or other fluffy corporate terms
• internets, interwebs, or any other variation of the word “internet”
• ninja, rockstar, wizard, unicorn (unless referring to a literal ninja, rockstar, wizard, or unicorn)
• young, old, elderly, or any other word describing a person’s age
• crushing it, killing it
• crazy, insane, or similar words to describe people