SEO: Alt Text DIY

We know we aren’t breaking new ground when we tell you that SEO stands for “search engine optimization.”

But did you know that, on average, there are over 40,000 Google searches per second (3.5 billion per day!) and a little extra intention — utilizing mindful metadata tools like Alt Text and Meta Descriptions — can allow you to use that expansive number of searches to your advantage.

While we increasingly rely on digital data, being inclusive with our content can immensely improve search engine performance, which ultimately leads to accuracy and outreach.

Alt Text = Alternative Text Attribute

Alt Text is an HTML attribute that gets attached to an image in order to provide a text alternative/description for user accessibility and is also crucial for image SEO. Alt text assists search engines to understand the context of an image.

An important thing to remember when building attributes is that alt text accompanies images in Google image search, which helps users understand the image and improves your chances of getting more visitors.

movie poster of road rage killer in hazmat suit holding poison

You could simply use “movie” for this image. However, to provide more beneficial content for both business and consumer, we should describe the image as if someone were unable to see it.

Your chosen text should be thorough, yet concise – typically 120 characters or less.

When building the html for alt text, Img Src = image source, and the information within the quotation marks is the title of the image. For our purposes, this is labeled the title of the movie.

Okay alt text: alt=”movie”>
Better alt text: alt=”cover art for horror movie”>
Best alt text: alt=”movie poster of road rage killer in hazmat suit holding poison”>

Put it all together and it looks like this: <img src=”/tailgate.jpeg” alt=”movie poster of road rage killer in hazmat suit holding poison” />

The great news is: Website platforms that allow you to add images (i.e.: Amazon, WordPress, HubSpot, etc.) have simple tools for you to add alt text to images without having to build html into your web code or prior to uploading your images.

The first step is becoming familiar with the tools and functions of your specific platform to utilize these built-in capabilities.

If you are planning to add metadata to an image before uploading, it can be implemented at the time you save an image to your drive; therefore, image metadata will consistently be carried to whichever platform you choose. (Baked in, as it were!)

This can be achieved by a couple of methods:

Adding ALT text to image metadata on your PC (no special software required – free!)
Adding ALT text to image metadata using Adobe Bridge (subscription required)

Stay tuned to our blog for more tips and tricks to implement alt text and metadata in industry-leading ways to digital platforms!

And, as always, if you want to talk it out, send us a line at studios@ds.aent.com.

Sell It, Don’t Tell It

You’re on the couch, at the end of some kind of quasi-soul crushing week that has left you in a state of agitation. You pick up the remote and fire up your favorite app. Destination: Complete and Utter Escape. You’re seeking a cheesy rom-com guilty-pleasure (that you would never admit to having watched) — and you need it STAT!

You browse the rows upon rows of tantalizing movie posters, expanding those that show promise (or that you haven’t already watched). Your eyes stop at the attractive couple on the artwork for a new indie film called The Love Errand. Okay, you think…and you pause to skim the text that will guide your journey’s next step.

And you read: “Gina, a secretary who is also a single mom, is angry when her boss, David, asks her to run an errand that takes her to a sketchy part of town when she is supposed to be at her son’s school but ends up finding love with a shopkeeper at a bookstore.”

…and you return to the main menu with a shudder.

The above (entirely fictitious) example meets the “250 characters-including-spaces” long synopsis limit. And that is the only thing it is doing right. But stay tuned, rom-com fan and savvy marketer…help is on the way:

An effective synopsis that fits within common character-count restrictions is the goal…and fortunately, with a sense of imagination, a thorough knowledge of the content, and thesaurus.com, there are a few basic rules to go from ‘meh’ to “yeah!”

Don’t include character names. No one cares about fictitious characters and they eat up valuable story-telling space. (Exception: your documentary. For sure include the name of a notable subject!)
Sell It – Don’t Tell It! (As they say in the biz) You want to intrigue the audience so that they feel that little spark of “wonder what happens next” and dive into the super amazing trailer you created.
Be judicious with adjectives. Don’t overdo it, quantity-wise — and use words that will appeal to the genre’s target audience. Again, the ‘synonyms’ function in Microsoft Word is your friend…you can whittle away quite a bit of character count by choosing wisely here.

Easy-peasy!

Now, let’s rewind…to that moment when The Love Errand was still under consideration. You click and read:

“A single mom, working for a top publisher, finds herself in a race against time…with a daunting list of errands for her demanding boss. Sparks fly when her tasks put her on a collision course with a handsome bookseller with a To-Do list of his own.”

We both know what happens next…

Enjoy your movie! (Your secret’s safe with us.)

For more exciting tips like this, drop us a line…we’ve got a million of ’em. studios@ds.aent.com!

Three Key Steps

“Connect content to consumers” is a marketing team mantra here at Distribution Solutions. And nowhere is that connection to consumers so delightfully direct as it is on digital platforms.

As the digital age pushes forward, Austrian scientist Dr. Florian Kaps endeavors to save the last Polaroid factory, hoping to preserve the art of analog photography…and to encourage people to slow down and reconnect with nostalgic “real” things.

In fact, when it comes to digital platforms, we believe a holistic consideration of creative elements is essential, as it provides the opportunity to formulate a cohesive approach to the assets and messaging used to reach the intended audience for the content.

While each film or episodic property represents unique artistic expression, each follows the same DS process, an evaluation gauntlet designed to assess a title’s strengths and opportunities and to navigate around any challenges to success.

Our marketing focus is upon the three key moments of consumer evaluation, each a step in the short journey that a viewer takes from “browse” to “transact” on a digital platform:

Optimized Key Art. We evaluate art against the competition at large and other similar content to see how it stacks up. Does the title treatment pop? Can a viewer ascertain the genre at a glance, based on imagery? Are we leveraging any emerging (and relevant) trends in the marketplace? In short: we ask ourselves pointed questions, in order to identify and modify key art to ensure it is arresting enough to get someone to want to learn more.
A Supercharged Synopsis. This is where we hook ’em. Sell it don’t tell it, as they say. Our copywriters love a challenge–and one of our favorites is converting a feature-length viewing experience into a precisely worded, dynamic selling tool–in both 140 and 250 character lengths. Our success here prompts a consumer to click the almighty “watch trailer” link, where budding viewing decisions come to blossom (or wither).
A Powerful Trailer. This is it, the big time. We strive for a trailer that leaves the viewer wanting more. The aim is clear story-telling, that hits upon all the key marketing angles (great cast! important director! award wins!) that draw in the target genre audience. Here is where the excitement builds and turns a ‘maybe’ into ‘sold’ as the consumer decides there is no need to look any further.

When it comes to the “Creative Trifecta” as described above, we don’t reserve this approach for just a subset of Distribution Solutions’ label partners. This is a basic deliverable, served up regularly during the course of the collaboration, in order to build the best marketing presences possible on platforms.

Want to learn more about DS and our services? Try us at studios@ds.aent.com today!