Luminate Publisher Blog

Tips for Good Alt Text for Images

Image alt (or alternative) text, will always be important because it tells computer algorithms what is in the image. While technology has advanced computers still can’t identify what is in an image. By following these few points, not only will it improve your organic search results, it will also give users a better experience and provide information to bring Luminate apps to life on your site.

Here are some tips from About.com & Gawds.org: 

• If an image contains text, replicate the text in full
  • For charts and graphs try to summarize the trend
  • For custom bullets use CSS
• Alt text should repeat text in the image
  • Keep the text short
  • Use your SEO keywords
  • Keep the text meaningful
  • Use blank alt text only for icons and bullets
  • Make your alt text readable
• Ask yourself – with no images, does the alt text makes sense on what the website is displaying? 
  • This is incase images don’t load for some users with slow connections

Resources

http://webdesign.about.com/od/accessibility/a/great_alt_text.htm

http://webdesign.about.com/od/accessibility/qt/tipalttext.htm

http://www.gawds.org/show.php?contentid=28

 

What the Data is Telling Us

As part of our mission to make digital images interactive, we analyze data related to images. Our analysis reveals a lot of interesting information. On our corporate blog, we recently reported on two of the key trends that emerged from our data. 

 

One - Images have more digital shelf life than you think

Two - Developing countries more likely to share, but Americans & Europeans more likely to follow a shared link

 

 

App of the Month - Products in the Picture

The app that started it all, Products in the Picture, is the lucky app of the month. This image app is a one of a kind opportunity to connect consumers with relevant products captured in pictures on the web. Now when a consumer sees a pair of earrings they like in a Luminate enabled image, they do not need to run a web search to purchase them. All they need to do is mouse over the Luminate enabled image, the Products in the Picture app will automatically open and showcase a similar set of earrings from one of Luminate’s thousand merchants. One click and the consumer can purchase the earrings.

I love this app as it let’s me find jeans similar to what my friend in Amsterdam is wearing while I am viewing pictures of her on her husband’s travel blog. If I click on the jeans showcased in the app, it directs me to the site selling the jeans. And since I’m on her husband’s site, he gets paid. It is a win win for all.

If you do not have this app already, check it out through the Publisher Dashboard.

Happy Apping! 

OPA Summit Learnings - Archived Videos

Last week OPA released the archived sessions from their OPA Summit on February 1st-3rd, 2012. You can find the sessions at http://www.prolibraries.com/opa/registration/event.

There is a lot of great content and a total of sixteen sessions to watch. If you would like to focus on a few good ones, here are the ones you shouldn’t miss:

State of the Economy: The Next Ten Years
February 1st, 2012
Mark Zandi - Chief Economist - Moody Analytics

The Once and Future Content Consumer: Who Will Our Consumers Be in the Coming Decade?
February 1st, 2012
Peter Fancese - Demographic Trends Analyst - Francese, LLC

Digital Marketing: The Way Ahead
February 2nd, 2012
Rishad Tobaccowala - Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer - VivaKi

Tech Start-Up Spotlight: Three New Companies Shine
February 2nd, 2012
Chas Edwards - CRO - Luminate & others

Panel Discussion: Paid Content Comes of Age. What’s Next?
February 3rd, 2012
Representatives from the New York Times, LinkedIn, Financial Times, & Castanea Partners

It was exciting to see our own Chas Edwards on stage at the event. If you would like to focus on Chas’s presentation, please visit http://www.prolibraries.com/opa/registration/session9 and you can forward ahead to his section (minute 11).

Happy Reading! 

 

Publishing Trends - Learnings from OPA's 10th Annual Summit

Last week, Luminate CRO Chas Edwards attended and spoke at the Online Publisher Associations (OPA) Summit. This event brings together the top publishers across all different verticals to discuss industry trends and learnings. 

Below are a few interesting tweets along with additional resources for your reference.  

 

Zandi from Moody's says '12 will be better than '11, and '13 better than '12 at #OPASUMMIT10 (Peter Naylor)

"The demand for online content is literally limitless" - Peter Francese, MetLife Mature Market Institute #OPASummit10  (Pam Horan)

 Huge audience for publications - “There are 65 million American grandparents” Peter Francese, MetLife Mature Market Institute #OPASummit10 (Pam Horan)

#opasummit10 Chas Edwards of Luminate: 10 percent of all photos taken by mankind were taken in the last 12 months. #whoa (Rob King)

Day 1 Recap - Global Changes Impacting the Publishing Industry

Day 2 Recap - Marketing & Branded Content

Day 3 Recap - Paid Content Models

ChasNote Recap - Online Publishers’ OPA Summit 2012

Tweets from Online Publishers Association 10th Annual Summit