Of course as important as images are to communicating with your audience; Websites are not generally ranked by humans and so they can only translate the nuance of images to search crawlers when you provide the context. Complex algorithmic hydras called search crawlers scour the internet, indexing content and images to best present their search engines with an interpretation of which websites are relevant to any given search terms, and which websites are simply noise. When you or your developer optimize your website you are communicating to search crawlers that your site content is a resource worth their attention. You are speaking their language.

In this post we will focus on one of the most often overlooked SEO opportunities: Image Optimization.

With the proliferation of image search functions across major search providers such as Google and Bing optimizing your images has never been more important to the success of your website. Only a handful of years ago image optimization was little more than an afterthought for most developers who would name website images 1a.JPG, leftcorner.GIF, and so on according to how they were trained to build a site. What’s more, website owners and operators often found themselves publishing images under the file names that their digital cameras have assigned but with titles like DS13668.JPG search engines can tell nothing about the subject of such a photo.

By optimizing your website images and photos you allow search engines to identify the content of your graphics and add value to the pages they appear on.

How to Optimize Website Images for Search.

There are a number of ways that you can optimize your photos for improved search engine results.
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1. What’s in a File Name?

   Your picture may be worth a thousand words but the search crawler is only interested in a few of them. Begin by naming your images appropriately. For example, if you have published an article on the world’s best apple pie and used a corresponding photo then an appropriate name for such a photo might be worlds-best-apple-pie.JPG. Likewise, if we were to publish a post about web design and development in Victoria, BC — our home town — and include a photo of our beautiful harbor we might title such an image victoria-bc-harbor.JPG.

   When appropriate, use the same terms that you are targeting within the body of your page or post to maximize your search engine optimization, but avoid going overboard with inappropriate terms on your images. There is evidence that cramming too many repetitive keywords into a page, post or even your images can be detrimental to your ranking. Keep it relevant, keep it concise and keep it natural.

2. Alt Text Lives

   Alt or ‘attribute’ text is useful beyond simply helping to optimize your website for searchability, it also improves accessibility for disabled users. As with the file name keep your Alt Text concise and well targeted, avoid peripheral keywords and terms — focus on the overall terms that you are trying to master with your page or post.

3. Title Your Images

   An opportunity to be more descriptive than the file name or Alt Text, image titles are what appear when you hover your mouse cursor over an image for a moment and a piece of text appears. Go ahead, hover your cursor over the WordPress logo below. These titles come in all sizes but once again it is best to limit the scope of your image title to the key terms and words associated with your image and content.

Websites that take advantage of the WordPress platform have tools built in for just this sort of image optimization. By using the image functions and applying your keywords to these (Name, Alt, Title and even the Description) fields you will be well on your way to an improved search ranking and ultimately increase your website traffic and audience.

You spend hours perfecting the tone, optimization and temperament of your website content — your images deserve the same attention. In the ultra competitive world of keywords and search terms a search optimized website must stay on trend by giving search crawlers what they are looking for, and what they are looking for is both content and context. By telling crawlers and their search engines about your images, by providing this context, you are ensuring that the work you put in today provides a payoff tomorrow and for a long time to come.

Related Topic

There are any number of tricks and trade secrets that expert to novice search engine optimizers employ. To learn more, check out our article on building your website with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind.

What is Creativity?

Anything to anyone.

There are many flavors of creativity — arguably, any action one undertakes can have a creative twist. From when you tie your shoelaces in the morning until you crawl into bed at night your day is filled with opportunities for creativity. Today like never before artistic creativity and business are intertwined. Art for gains sake is a thriving business model where traditional and analytical thinkers now find value in the musings of creative providers.

For the purpose of this piece we’ll be focusing on our industry, in particular web design, but please draw whatever similarities between our condition and your own that you may.

It’s Here: Creative Block.

It sets in like a beast of a dog guarding a gnarly old bone.

Let’s step into the hypothetical. Your a designer or developer — you have your methods. Tried and tested strategies that work for you. Perhaps you find that you perform best at night in the place that lay between wakefulness and a dream state, or perhaps you thrive surrounded by the bustle of activity in busy daytime coffee shops. Maybe you find creative inspiration in the work of others or deliver your most satisfying work with a full belly. Whatever the root of your creative inspiration let’s assume for the moment that you’ve attended that well, drawn deep and come up dry.

The well is not actually dry, we need only to fix the bucket.

Where some find themselves toiling in uncertainty, perhaps with some modicum of self-doubt, others take a more pragmatic outlook considering themselves temporarily bankrupt of their creative currency. In these circumstance it is best to avoid making it more than it is. Creative block is no one thing, it has no one precursor nor does it act maliciously. You have not lost it, you are simply having trouble accessing it. Like the common cold, creative block simply is. Unlike the common cold, there is a cure.

Curing Creative Block.

First you think about it. Then you forget it. Then it hits you.

You’ve been retained for your creative disposition – those who have invested in your expertise may not be so forgiving when you find it fleeting. If creativity pays your bills and puts food on your table it is of the utmost importance that you master a technique for dealing with creative block effectively. This is a method tried, tested and true for your consideration;

1. Explore the nuances, get to know every aspect of your project.

Creatives often rely heavily on epiphanies. A sort of cosmic gift that allows them to pluck points of inspiration from the air like so many bubbles floating on the wind. While embracing this ability may serve you well when such epiphanies are plentiful there are times when they are less abundant and it is in these times of creative block that require the most focus. Explore the nuances of the project: Goals, ideal outcomes, expectations, assumptions, risks, and otherwise. Get to know the project intimately and with a fervor of attention that you usually reserve for those works that captivate you most. It is easy to think about something once the creative spark has set a wild fire, you must be a professional and focus proactively when that spark is absent. Curing creative block requires structure.

2. Forget it. That’s right, forget all about it.

Put it out of your mind, and whats-more put the angst associated with your deadline, with delivering on expectations and with your livelihood out of mind as well. Consider some mindless entertainment (TV, Movies, Music, Outdoor Activities) or perhaps take a nap. It is important not to distract yourself to the point of becoming inspired by that same distraction so avoid setting your focus on other work tasks while working through the creative block. Consider revisiting those circumstances that have provided you with your best work in the past but do not force the issue. If you are serious about curing your creative block then this is the time to forget all about it.

3. Allow it to Come to You.

Letting go is an exercise in realizing inspiration.

When your mind is clear of angst and free to perform your creativity will return. Clearing your mind of preconceived notions, allowing for your creativity to resurface unforced will provide you with the jumping off point that you’ve been waiting for. When it comes you will know. It wont come forced, but if you provide the proper circumstances and if you open your mind to possibilities (Quiet thought, day dreaming, conversation pertaining to the project or otherwise) having already carefully considered the goals previously you will feel it return.

It is that intoxicating and familiar rush of a brilliant idea that a creative individual thrives on. Allowing for that idea to enter your mind unforced is the key to moving past your own creative block.

Some other specific techniques that may help with your creative block are;

• Explore the work of others. Don’t fear being derivative. Take something and make it your own.
• Explore nature for inspiration.
• Revisit some of your previous creative work. Look for ways you would have done it different then use that as a jumping-off point for your new tasks.

Some of our Readers have also found success in;

• Exercise, Yoga, Stretching
• Switching the type of task you are working on (example: from design to writing)
• Take a short break and try again
• Bouncing ideas off another person
• Take a Vacation

Do you have your own methods of curing creative block? We’d love for you to share them below!

Stepping in to design and develop a much needed reboot of the brand and web presence for this storied organization, the iDreamDigital team was excited to extend our relationship with the British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA), members of which sit on the PCC board beside other Vancouver and Victoria-based industry leaders, to this latest web project.

The Public Construction Council of British Columbia’s main function is to provide a forum where industry-specific issues can be discussed constructively for both the public and private stakeholders. Moreover, the PCC provides construction vendors with a number of preformed bid documents and guidelines.

Requirements of this project included a secure portal for council stakeholders where they can review meeting minutes and news, submit links and manage their council accounts. Functionality was also created for the general public that allows for registration with the website allowing access to a number of secure documents and forms.

The website was developed on the WordPress platform using a number of custom built pieces to fill in the functional requirements of the project.

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Check out the website then let us know what you think in the comments on this post!

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Serving Vancouver, Victoria and all of BC.

The Public Construction Council of British Columbia is based in Victoria, BC, and made up of a diverse cross-section of education and industry leaders.

We are proud to have completed this project for this provincial government-mandated and not-for-profit organization who’s stakeholders include administrators and representatives of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Simon Frasier University (SFU), the University of Victoria (UVic), the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Vancouver Island University (VIU), the Government of British Columbia, BC Hydro, the British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA), Partnerships British Columbia (PBC), BC Housing, Vancouver Coastal Health and the Surety Association of Canada.

Thanks for your help!

Welcome to the final round of the Nova Ultimate All-in-One WordPress Theme thumbnail selection. The Theme Nova and iDreamDigital teams studied the responses to the first round carefully and have taken all opinions to heart. To that end, we’ve come up with this final round of thumbnails for your consideration.

This time, we’d like you to consider which thumbnails most appeal to you aesthetically. These thumbnails are displayed on pages containing many other thumbnails (example below) and so we want to capture not only your imagination, but your attention. Please pick your two favorite thumbnails then tell us why you picked, or did not pick, the ones that you did.

Theme Nova is revolutionizing how users manage their WordPress themes. With the imminent launch of their premier theme, Nova One – a premium all-in-one ultra flexible WordPress theme, we’re helping Theme Nova pick some of their sales peripherals. First up: The thumbnail.

This thumbnail appears along side other theme thumbnails — it is the initial representation of the theme. The options include images that focus on the Theme Nova brand, the Nova One theme name and the flexibility of the WordPress theme in highlighting that it is an All-in-One template.

Your mission is to pick up to three of the options above. Help us source which thumbnail is the most appealing to someone seeking out their own ultra flexible WordPress templates for their website. Pick with your heart, with your brain, or anyplace in between (your nose?). No answer is right or wrong, we want your opinion. Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have something to add!

First Impressions

As with many things, it begins with a first impression.

Once a website is built and launched, optimizing that website for search is undeniably valuable. With SEO the adage of better late than never is always apt. Still, developing the website from the ground up with it’s Search Engine Optimization Strategy in mind is ideal. Think of it as putting your best foot forward. We all know that in business or life making a good first impression is a strong step towards a successful relationship. Making a quality first impression with search crawlers can be an equally important step towards a successful SEO strategy.

Of course, all that is done wrong in the beginning can be undone later but at a cost. You can avoid spending additional time, money and resources on your Search Engine Optimization by ensuring that you and your developer follow a few key steps when developing your new website.

Involve a Developer Who Understands SEO

If you don’t understand the game and it’s rules, then how will you play?

There is no denying that SEO is a sort of digital alchemy where novice to expert Developers mix science with educated guesses, seeking ever higher rankings. Indeed, not every web design or development studio has extensive experience in Search Engine Optimization which is why the key is to commission a developer that can demonstrate success in the field. Request an example or two where your developer has, or has helped their client to, climb to the first page of Google and Bing.

You need not hire a SEO-centric developer but your developer should be familiar with the intricacies and nuances of SEO. Ask your developer what their own key search terms are (excluding the words used in their own URL as those are the easiest to rank for), then search those terms yourself. Have they achieved a first-page ranking for their own search terms?

Search Optimized, by Design

Any developer worth their salt will consider the optimization of your website throughout the design process.

As your designer works their way through their creative process it is important that they consider how each element of your website will interact with search engines. Some of the key features or methods your designer should implement when appropriate are:

• Machine-readable Navigation (CSS, XHTML, etc.) and Graphic Content (Cufon – a function that replaces traditional web text with smooth machine-readable graphical text).
• Well-Structured Architecture (For example: Cars > Sports Cars > Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin).
• Heading Design (H1, H2, H3).
• Cufon Content Pieces Containing Key Words That You Would Like to Rank For.
• Image Search Optimization
• Avoid Overly Repetitive Content.
• Where Appropriate (such as in Blogs) Feature Date and Time Stamps.
• Consider Using an SEO-Friendly Platform (WordPress).

Your website design should be user-friendly to more than your users, it should be friendly to search engine crawlers, allowing it to be easily indexed.

Functional Search Engine Optimization (fSEO)

Take advantage of the content you already create.

Now that your website has been conceptualized with it’s search optimization in mind it is time to consider how you might further impress upon search engines that your website is not only relevant but regularly updated. Work with your developer to identify processes within your day-to-day that already or can potentially produce date-stamped content for your website.

For example, do you publish news or events to your website? Do you add products to your store regularly, or utilize social media to spread awareness for your brand or products? Do your day-to-day activities produce photos, videos or other visuals? Do you use a ticket system, email or a growing FAQ for customer support? Talk to your developer about how your business operates and identify processes that already do, or could easily, create valuable content.

Your Developer, if properly versed in Functional Search Engine Optimization (fSEO), can help you to take advantage of these existing processes of content creation to automate your website in such a way that search engines will identify you as an active and regularly updated resource without adding to your workload.

Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A game of musical chairs in which the music rarely stops.

Search Engine Crawlers are automated pieces of functionality that crawl the web on behalf of Search Operators identifying quality, timely, and authoritative content on websites using a number of tools and variables. These variables are as varied as they are plentiful which is to say they are very varying and plenty plentiful. Some key traditional elements of Search Engine Optimization include:

• Your Domain Name (When your website address includes some or all of your search terms you have a head start on your competition who are not so fortunate).
• Link Building (Linking to well ranked websites, having websites link to you).
• Content Creation (Creating unique content relevant to, and including, your key search terms).
• Your Social Media Presence.
• Search Engine Submissions (Website, Location/Map, etc).

While not all sites are blessed with Top-level Domain (TLD) names, link building and content creation are two key areas your web developer can provide you with suggestions as to optimizing your new website for search ranking.

Beware of Shortcuts

Black-hat operators promise the moon but more often than not leave you banned from Google, Bing and others with a tedious path back to relevance which you will walk alone.

Both fSEO and traditional SEO take time to succeed. Search Engine operators want to provide their viewers with the most appropriate results and as such they look for a track record of reliability from your website. The key advantage in fSEO is that it is efficient. It saves you time and money by taking advantage of processes you already have. Consider the costs and benefits of each, discuss this with your developer then if at all possible: be prepared to execute before your website launches.

If you’ve been following the links in this article you may have noticed that iDreamDigital ranks on the first page of Google for our own key search terms, including Web Design in Victoria as well as Web Development in Victoria and many variations of the two (Victoria web design and development, Victoria web design, Victoria website design, etc). We’ve accomplished this using a combination of the methods above.

Unless it is a natural authority your website will require an on-going SEO or fSEO strategy consisting of some or all of the above. Discuss your expectations with your developer — help them to understand what your goals are. Once a strategy is settled-upon, be prepared for a fight. It’s been said that picking key words is picking a fight and when it comes to your business: you should never pick a fight that you are not prepared to win.

If you’ve followed these key steps and engaged a developer who understands SEO, fSEO, your business and your customers you will find that in time you will conqueror the ranks and that ultimately to the victor go the spoils.

From Dallas to Toronto, Saint John to Vancouver and Victoria — many have struggled through a turbulent 2010 and 2011. Businesses and other organizations have evolved through these difficult times, coming out leaner, meaner and more dedicated to efficient and productive operation than ever before. So what does this mean for your web strategies? Let’s take a look…

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Efficiency is King

In the past many businesses have treated their websites as glorified brochures. For many those days are a thing of the past. Today businesses are looking to streamline customer and employee processes, gaining an advantage over their competition, and cutting down on waste while providing superior customer service at the touch of a screen or click of a mouse.

How can your organization take advantage of this shift? Talk to your web developer — explain your processes and help them to define functions which will minimize your customer and employee workflows while maximizing the end results. Serve your customers from your website with secure semi or fully-automated systems. Put the power into their hands by providing processes which help them to streamline their own engagement with your organization. Make the interactions between your customers and you easier by providing user-friendly functionality at the point of contemplation or sale.

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Drive Traffic to Your Web Pages with Minimal Effort

Odds are you have talked internally or with your web developer about a ‘blog’. A contraction of the term ‘Web Log’, a blog is a content driven web property best integrated from within your website and featuring your branding and standards. The benefits of a blog are numerous but in the past many managers have been reluctant to adopt them for fear of adding to their already stretched workload. Times have changed.

With the advent of countless open-source utilities and tools, blogs have never been easier to manage. The new year provides you the perfect opportunity to discuss your organization’s needs with your web developer once again. They can help you to identify content that is being created by your organization today and provide direction on how you can maximize that content to drive traffic to your interactive web properties tomorrow with little or no additional impact on your day-to-day procedures.

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Be Attentive to Your Audience

Whether your audience is comprised of your customers, your partners, the greater public or all of the above: they demand to be recognized and served. Your web developer should help you to target these individuals, wherever they may be. From Facebook to Twitter, Flickr to mobile devices and main street, automated and efficient processes can be employed which aid you in identifying new markets and audiences as well as better exploiting those you already have.

Providing comprehensive customer service is a must in this new ultra-competitive market. Let your web developer help you to streamline these processes, minimize actions and ultimately serve your customers better while saving you time and money both in the short-term as well as over the long-haul.

It is easy to forget about that or those for which we toil throughout the year. Friends, family, life and liberty, justice, peace and good will — these are the things that are most important and the things for which we work so hard to enjoy.

This month we raise our collective glasses to a wonderful holiday season for everyone, everywhere. Thank you all for your patronage, partnership and kindness. We wish the same to you and yours.

We’ve tailored our holiday hours to best serve you. We will be operating for our regular hours until late in December taking time away from December 23rd through January 2nd for the Holidays.

We have a digital gift for you, a Holiday Icon Pack. We hope you enjoy it!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Holiday season and a Happy New Year,
- The iDreamDigital Team

Applicants must be comfortable and motivated while working on their own. The pay is extremely competitive, well qualified applicants can expect generous compensation.

Job description

We are looking for a Web Developer who can code quickly and complete projects on a deadline.

Your responsibilities

• Write clean, modular, robust code to implement the desired requirements with little or no supervision
• Contribute ideas for making the application better and easier to use

Your qualifications

• Programming languages: PHP, HTML/XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL (ASP would be nice too)
• WordPress experience is a must, development and updating of plugins and themes is a regular occurrence
• 3-5 years of programming experience
• A work style that is extremely detail oriented ability to quickly debug and solve problems.
• Strong communication skills

Send your resume or work samples to frank – at – idreamdigital.com with the subject Job Posting.