opt MAGAZINE

The Best Resource for Eyecare Professionals

Industry Links

FRIENDS OF OPT
Link Description
feaind.com FEA Industries is an independent wholesale optical laboratory located in beautiful downtown Morton, PA. They are a fourth-generation family owned optical lab. The company has really grown exponentially, now operating out of a three building facility.
serenityHEV.com serenityHEV™ offers a Clear Lens with Blue Light Protection. We are wired to a media-rich, networked world of infinite possibility. Visually connected to computers, tablets, phones and games – peering into an abyss of high-energy visible [HEV] artificial BLUE LIGHT for hours can disrupt your entire system; your eyes, neck and back, circadian rhythms, serotonin levels and overall health. serenityHEV™ helps reduce these negative effects on you and your body.
nuanceRT.com nuanceRT™ – RT being Rapid Tint, clever, I know – is a brand new lens product. There are plenty of other options out there when it comes to a self-tinting lens, but they’re all very, very similar. The difference with nuanceRT™ is that they turn clear in about half the time of other leading photochromic lenses.
eagleLenses.com Quality and Precision you can see…
Any frame. Any color. Any Material. EAGLE™ Lenses let you customize your entire eyewear experience.
independenceAR.com Independence® Coatings are designed to make your lenses perform their best. Not only does Independence® make you your lenses look better, but your lenses will last longer and perform better. The quality of Independence® Coatings is unparalleled – that’s why each one comes with a lifetime warranty.
optiboard.com The premier online community for eyecare professionals
camberRewards.com Camber™ Rewards has been designed to make it easy for you to use Eagle™ Camber™ Lenses as your progressive lens of choice. Through a partnership with Norwood Device & Diagnostics and Younger Optics, we have created a program where everyone comes out a winner.
norwoodvision.com Norwood is a full service, one-stop shop for all of your exam and dispensing needs. Whether a full lane, an independent piece of equipment, edging accessories, etc., Norwood can deliver.
eyenavision.com Eyenavision, Inc. is a recognized leader of innovation in the optical industry. We develop and provide cutting edge products that simplify the lives of eye care professionals and their valued customers. They are also the makers of CHEMISTRIE™
bluTechLenses.com You only get one set of eyes. And BluTech Lenses from Eye Solutions Technologies are the only lenses you’ll ever need for a lifetime of improved contrast, acuity, depth and color perception. Committed to the lifelong preservation of your vision, BluTech Lenses specializes in bringing revolutionary science-based technology to those demanding the ultimate in visual performance, comfort, and safety.
salus.edu Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry has an unparalleled legacy in the education of competent and compassionate Doctors of Optometry.
uPike.edu A new, state-of-the-art optometry college at The University of Pikeville. Mission: We are practitioners of the healing arts defining the standard for excellence in optometric education and vision care. Our graduates apply their unparalleled knowledge of clinical care and vision science in a cultural environment of faith, social justice and human dignity of Appalachia and rural America.
camberLens.com Camber Technology combines complex curves on both surfaces of the lens to provide excellent vision correction. The unique, continuously changing surface curvature of the specially designed lens blank allows expanded reading zones with improved peripheral vision.
corning.com Corning is a leading supplier of customer-driven solutions and technologically advanced materials for ophthalmic market. Leveraging our revolutionary invention of the glass photochromic lens in the 1960s, we use our many years of experience in the ophthalmic field to propose a very extensive range of solutions for ophthalmic applications.
optivision.com Freeform/Digital and Conventional Surfacing, Edging, Remote Online Rx ordering, Online Tracing, Online Job Status, Inventory, Reports, Accounting, and more. For 30+ years Optivision has provided the best tools for any size wholesale or retail optical lab. One of the last completely independent and 100% U.S.-owned and -controlled LMS providers, and not it bed w/ any lens manufacturer or equipment provider,Optivision is the most user-friendly, feature-rich, and affordable Lab Software… anywhere.
 

THE 800 POUND GORILLAS
Link Description
google.com The starting place for most everything you and your customers and patients do online, with more than 100 billion searches each month. For tips on boosting your presence, you can go right to the source at google.com/business.
facebook.com Facebook remains the world’s online social hub. That’s as true for vision care folks as anyone else: We know of several dozen Facebook groups and forums dedicated to our industry from the biggest ODs on Facebook, to regional groups, to social-media adjuncts to popular industry websites.
youtube.com Why do you want (need) to be on the world’s No. 3 website? YouTube — affiliated with Google — offers everything from free advertising (shoot and upload your own commercials) and video blogs to inspiring career advice via TED Talks.
 

INDUSTRY SITES TO DRIVE TRAFFIC
Link Description
allaboutvision.com This site usually turns up in the first page of results for such queries as “Lasik surgery cost” or “buying contact lenses.” Register at allaboutvision.com/ecp/register
iristocracy.com Iristocracy helps people shop for fine eye-wear online, but it won’t sell them the lenses. Instead, the chosen frame is shipped to participating ECPs with the idea that people will actually visit that eye doc to get an in-person eye exam and the right lenses for their prescription.
thinkaboutyoureyes.com A partnership between The Vision Council and the American Optometric Association, this site has one goal: to get people to have an eye exam every year.
 

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE FROM THE INDUSTRY
Link Description
aoa.org The American Optometric Association site is a good jumping-off spot for resources including public policy updates, staff training and the new Measures and Outcomes Registry for Eyecare, which analyzes clinical outcomes and integrates electronic health records data (which can help you get reimbursed from Medicare, for example).
dailyoptician.com A stylish collection of blogs by opticians and brand reps from around the country.
luxuryeyewearforum.com Resources for designoriented optical pros, from new high-end frames to career opportunities.
theopticalvisionsite.com An eclectic and useful blog from longtime industry pros Cathy Ives and Shirley Platzer-Stocks. From infographics to marketing trends to a lot of just-plainfun posts, it’s a destination for ideas and resources without non-optical distractions.
opticalvisionresources.com A sister site to theopticalvisionsite.com that features new products.
thevisioncouncil.org The Vision Council’s website serves as “the global voice for vision care products and services.” The site’s public face has timely topical resources including the annual digital eyestrain report, but your member login gets you to the good stuff including research on market segments and consumer behavior; updates on federal regulations and legislation; and even a model social media policy.
 

FASHION CENTRAL
Link Description
eyecessorize.com This consumer-oriented site from The Vision Council is a good spot to track style trends, as well as local news coverage of what’s hot in eyewear. Send its links to your own local media and suggest yourself as a source for a report on the season’s hottest new looks.
eyestylist.com Exquisite new frames, profiles of great eyewear boutiques, a designer of the month and lots more: You can travel the world via fine eyewear and fashion via this site from INVISION contributor Clodagh Norton and Joan Grady.
highsnobiety.com This online men’s lifestyle mag specializes in sneakers, but it’s a good spot to see leading-edge urban cultural trends of all kinds.
pinterest.com Show off your new frames. Get decor and design ideas. You can even have private boards: for example, use one to save photos of products you want to check out at your next trade show.
instagram.com Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.
 

FOR YOUR EYECARE BUSINESS
Link Description
ecpuniversity.com Practice fundamentals, optical basics and beyond: Whatever your staff training needs, ECPU from Essilor is a good source for boosting staff confidence and skills, with distance, in-person and online learning opportunities for all staff roles and experience levels.
excelod.com The AOA’s career- and business-building site offers services including education loans, practice financing, payments processing, HIPAA compliance tools and a lot more.
eyemedinfocus.com Billed as “one-stop shopping for everything EyeMed,” this site from the vision benefits provider has an online provider manual, marketing tools, printable patient information sheets, training resources and more.
newgradoptometry.com Just getting started with your optometric career? Look here for a wide range of news and views for people in (or just out of) optometry school.
optiboard.com If you’re not on Facebook and want to participate in a community, this is the place to go.
practiceprinciples.net Optometric practice management blog.
vspglobal.com SP has a big portfolio of online resources, from support for its Eyefinity practice management and EHR software to the Premiere program that helps connect members to providers.
 

FIND A JOB or EMPLOYEE
Link Description
localeyesite.com Long a go-to source for jobs throughout the optical industry, from practice managers to technicians to insurance coding specialists.
covalentcareers.com A matchmaking service for job seekers and employers, this site asks optometrists and opticians to describe the job they want based on preferences including office culture, experience, hours, goals and location, then scores potential fits on a scale of 0 to 100.
 

MARKETING
Link Description
census.gov This site will tell you the demographics of people living near your business. Married? Single? Income? You’ll be amazed.
ducttapemarketing.com Simple, effective and affordable small business marketing tools and advice. You can buy the manuals or coaching programs or browse the huge article archive for free and subscribe to the free weekly marketing e-newsletter.
nrf.com The National Retail Federation advocates for American shopkeepers of all kinds. Sign up for the daily SmartBrief news bulletins to read retail-related stories from around the country.
damniwish.com “Damn, I Wish I Thought of That” is the brainchild of low-cost and word-of-mouth-marketing guru Andy Sernovitz. His daily blog regularly includes fresh-from-theoven guerrilla marketing success stories to inspire you.
 

WEB DESIGN
Link Description
ecpwebcoach.com Run by Bob Main, who has long experience in the industry, this site recently partnered with Solutionreach to produce content on topics including “How to Grow a Practice through Online Marketing” and “How to Create a Successful Patient Engagement Program.”
eyecarepro.net This company offers services including search engine optimization, Google Ad Words management and customized online marketing resources designed specifically for vision care businesses.
wordpress.com Note the dot-com. WordPress. com is a place to create free websites or blogs, though you can buy premium services as you need them. WordPress.org, by contrast, is software to add a blog to your current website.
 

THINKING VISUALLY
Link Description
adobe.com Adobe’s Creative Cloud gives you the world’s best creative apps — and they’re always up to date — so you can turn your brightest ideas into your greatest work across your desktop and mobile devices. They also offer over 45 million royalty-free, high-quality photos, videos, illustrations, and graphics. You can pay per image or choose a subscription.
istockphoto.com Need an image for a print or online advertising campaign? istockphoto is one of the world’s largest stock photo agencies, with high-quality royalty-free photography available at extremely affordable rates. Buy a package of credits or, if your needs are more frequent, a monthly subscription.
smartshoot.com Chances are you need better photos of your business. They’re often the first step in creating a better website (not to mention a knockout entry for our America’s Finest Optical Retailers contest). Get price quotes from local photographers and videographers from this site.
 

COOL TOOLS
Link Description
evernote.com Evernote lets you capture information from anywhere (product descriptions, business cards, Web links) using whatever device is at hand — your phone, your tablet, your desktop computer — then search for it later from any other device.
fittingbox.com If you’re eager to get into omnichannel marketing, FittingBox has tools for in-store or at-home virtual frame try-on, plus website design and photography of your frame offerings so you can put your entire inventory online.
lensferry.com Offer your customers easy text-message based contact lens reordering that integrates with your practice management software. About 50 practices are using this new tool that started out in New York and California last year and is rolling out nationally.

About OPT Magazine

Content/Accuracy
Everything in the magazine should be accurate, but there’s always the possibility we got something wrong. If you find something that’s not right, please let us know. That being said - I’m a magazine, not a doctor. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice, or assumed to be completely, 100%, definitely correct.
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Unlike most magazines, we definitely endorse everything we run. All of the products you find in this magazine are awesome, and you should definitely buy and/or use them. If we don’t agree with something, we don’t print it.

Published whenever we get around to it.

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