The Art Gallery Hub
{ Converting web visitors into seasoned collectors
How to spread your site's images as bait to catch more traffic
Do you have any idea how many images your site counts? Pictures, illustrations, graphics, the complete mix? First on your mind: your artists' works of course. But what about your catalogues' covers? Or your editions? Plus your gallery logo or your association logo? Think interior views too, route plans or even head shots. Not too bad for a quick scan isn't it?
Now, imagine every single image generating extra traffic
Without any special effort. No extra investment. No heavy search engine marketing or pay per click advertising. Nothing fancy or expensive. The only thing you have to do is feed the spiders' hunger for images by preparing the bait.
All major browsers offer image search as an extra feature
Next to shopping, news, etc. it may become (or it is already) the most popular form of searching the web. Studies show a neat shift. In fact, image search is the fastest growing of all and makes organic search for an art gallery and the artists represented look almost obsolete.
Surprised again?
Not really I hope. Because art enthusiasts, collectors and arts professionals alike have already discovered this fast track of informing themselves about galleries and their artists. They let image search discover the connections they are looking for: artist, work, gallery. Straight to the essence.
Where do you put out the bait?
Well, think about a Russian doll. It is nicely hidden as an "alt" attribute ("alt" from "alternative") in a line of text nested in the site's source code. More precisely in the image reference string generated automatically whenever images are inserted on your web pages.
Let's go in step by step.
Where do you find the "alt" attribute?
- Select a page where you display images of your artists' works.
- Look up the source code of the page (if you don't know how to do this, see the 'Take me there' section at
the bottom of the article first)
- Scroll through the *body* section of the code. The "alt" attribute is nested in an image reference
string that reads like (or similar):
[Emphasis mine]
href="images1/image-xx.jpg" rel="image box" title="My Gallery site" img name="My Gallery Site" Align=Top src="./images1/image-xx.jpg" alt= "Here comes your text about the image" width="xx" height="xx" title= “ “
What's next now that you have located the attribute?
Do you feel at ease with html coding and do you have access to the source code? Great, because you are even more in control over your gallery site's visibility. Completing the "alt" text really is a piece of cake. (Don't forget to refresh, save and upload the file you have altered.)
Otherwise write down the exact text you want to insert per image and ask your programmer or web design firm to copy/paste it in the empty tag.
Before you start writing
You have to remember that the "alt" text is the line of text the spiders will display together with the image and your URL on the results page. What information do you want to offer to people who look up images only? Easy enough to imagine that it needs some extra attention and careful thought.
Rule of thumb number one: get the attention
Keep in mind that people who search for images only, see the results as isolated images, out of your gallery site's context. The image and first words of text function as the sole attractors to get people to click.
There's no limit in length neither special characters to avoid. But browser s only display the "alt" text partly, limited to the first 124 characters. So be sure your text describes what you want to convey to the viewer.
A few tips to start right away
- First, be sure to tag at least all the artists' works you display.
- The absolute minimum of information in the tag should contain: the artist's name, the title of the work, and the legal copyright information about the photographer.
- No obligation to add the name of your gallery because the results include your URL. However, do it, preceded by 'Courtesy of'.
- Because there's a limited amount of characters displayed be sure to list the most important information first.
- Don't waist important estate by describing the picture or adding dimensions, techniques, etc. This information belongs in the caption of the picture.
Make it a habit from now on
The easiest way to get familiar with the "alt" attribute is to prepare the texts that come with every new image as soon as you plan to insert them on your site.
Your guideline should be that all relevant graphical elements of your site have their counterpart in text. Be it basic info.
Later on, you can refine the opportunities the "alt" attribute offers by concentrating in detail on their content and other components of the image string. We will come back to the "alt" attribute and its opportunities in a next article on how to optimize your web images.
Take me there
- Even if you don't program your site yourself, the first thing to do is to look up the source code and check if the "alt" attributes have been complemented. A lot of programmers still omit to do so.
- To look up the source code of your gallery's site (for the most popular browsers):
Window users
Firefox = control key + u
Opera = control key + u
Internet Explorer = right-click the back ground or text. Click 'View Source'.Mac users
Safari = alt key + apple + u
Firefox = apple + u - Each webpage is composed of two major parts: a 'head' and a 'body' section. The body section is marked by the tags.
- The code of the image reference line in the body section will look mostly like:
href="images1/image-xx.jpg" rel="image box" title="My Ga llery site" img name="My Gallery Site" Align=Top src="./images1/image-xx.jpg" alt= "Here comes your text about the image" width="xx" height="xx" title= “ “
- If your programmer omitted to complete, the "alt" tag will look as alt= " "
- You can't alter the source code in 'look up' mode. To work on the code you need access to your source code via your web design program.
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