How To Brand Your Blog With A Favicon

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If you haven’t created a Favicon for your blog, this post will show you how easy it is!

If you’ve ever been on some of the big name sites and noticed a cool little icon in the address bar, you might have wondered what they’re called.

In todays post, I want to introduce you to Favicons.

Previously I’ve spoken about the importance of creating a Gravatar. Then of all things I discover there is such a thing as a Blavatar! I’m not going to go into what a Blavatar is because its only applicable to wordpress.com sites and I know that as an entrepreneur, you already have a wordpress.org self hosted site :)

So as a WP.org user, basically a Blavatar is a ‘Favorite Icon’ or a Favicon.

What you might not have known is these little 16 x 16 pixel icons are a powerful addition to your online branding.

When I first started researching a ‘go around’ for eliminating the need to pay a web designer to create one, I hit a few of road blocks that I was determined to solve.
Firstly creating one was easy, just google “create favicon” and loads of sites will show up. The problem was that once I created one, every site I went to said something like “After generating a favicon with this tool download and save to the root directory of your site. Then include the following code in the head of your HTML document”. Huh? Did I mention I’m not a techie person!

So after sifting through outdated and manual upload plugin options galore, I found the perfect solution to have you up and running in minutes.

Ok so it might have taken you 10 minutes but in any case, by now you should have your own Favicon.

If I missed anything or you have any other great plugin suggestions, please share them in the comments section below.

Michaelé

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38 thoughts on “How To Brand Your Blog With A Favicon”

    • Hey Susanna,

      It was definitely a question I had for a while.
      I’m always seeing cool things out there on the net but until you know what they’re called, you can’t go and research them.

      Glad you liked the video.

      Michaelé

  3. Michaele,
    Great job on the tutorial. For not being a “techie” person you did a great job of research and playing around to see what worked best. That’s kind of “techie” to me. :-) You make something that really could be a chore look so easy. Thanks.

    • Hey Don,

      Ok, ok, perhaps I do know a tech thing or two lol.

      If I’m making tech stuff look easy then I’ve done my job. I guess I teach the way I like to be taught :)

      Michaelé

  4. Great tutorial and love your new logo at the start of your video!

    I’ve used and like the MaxBlogPress version but have not used this one. One question I have is whether its uploading to where the blog expects to find a favicon (which is the blogs root folder) or if its doing some workaround and uploading it somewhere into wp-contents.

    I know that sounds wordy but basically I want to know if yours stops working if you deactivate the plugin! Due to every single one of these plugins (even the deactivated ones) slowing down page load speeds… and Google punishing sites for poor page load speeds… I’m always looking at what plugins can be installed, used and then uninstalled.

    If I put the faviocon on the server via FTP I would not need the plugin ever again. So it would be nice if the plugin could be used and then removed, however I’m thinking thats doubtful.
    Kimberly

    PS Thanks for the reminder to get busy blogging about more of my favorite MBP plugins. I adore MBP and am currently beta testing one for them!

    • Hey Kim,

      Glad you liked the logo, I still haven’t used it anywhere yet!

      I wouldn’t have a clue if the plugin is uploading to the root folder or not. But if you know the answer to this regarding the MaxBlogPress plugin then, it will be the same place.
      The cbnet Favicon plugin is Forked from MaxBlogPress Favicon plugin version 2.0.9. It’s just a go around for the MBP registration and manual upload.

      Thanks for the info re page load speed as you just reminded me to go and install the W3 Total Cache plugin!

      How cool that you’re beta testing a MBP plugin. Do tell? :)

      Michaelé

      • MBP has a soon to be available “Subscribers Magnet” plugin that I got approved to beta test. A short summary is that you install it, link your auto responder to it, and then use it to very easily put optin prompts in about 8 different places within your site at various times. For example, on someone’s first visit to my blog they see a footer show up encouraging them to subscribe. Also on their THIRD comment, they see a prompt with the optin box encouraging them right in the comment section. There is also a check box right above my comment box that makes it a one-check signup for them to subscribe. There’s also the in-post box and the in-sidebar box (like traditional optin boxes) and several other things. All of it works really slick and the tutorial PDF he has put together so far made it straight forward to configure. Thousand times easier than trying to do it all by hand. Like several of their best ones I’m certain its going to be a paid plugin but its definitely on my “will buy” list. They are a pleasure of a company to work with and I have been promoting their stuff for some time! Love my MBP stuff!
        Kimberly

        • Wow sounds awesome!

          You mentioned it shows up in the footer on someone’s first visit, and then on their 3rd comment it prompts in a different way.
          Do you mean it does different prompts depending on certain actions? E.g just visiting or visiting plus commenting.
          I’m sure you’ll be blogging about it when the beta test is over but for now it sounds like a fab new plugin to look forward to.
          It sounds like leverage on steroids!

          Michaelé
          P.S. Thanks for your help re WP comment nesting :)

          • Yes, yes and yes… in the 5 weeks of testing my optin numbers more than doubled. That was without using their auto subscriber or their popup tool that I can yet put in place to gain even more. Seriously set to be the hottest novice marketer plugin of the year.

            • Woo hoo Kim!

              It sounds awesome and double the opts ins is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
              Are you any closer to being able to share the launch date or any other details?
              It’s so great to know such a talented beta tester :)

              Michaelé

  5. Michaele,
    Favicons have been one of the few mysteries of the blogging world for me…until now. With your instructions, I now understand what a favicon IS, and how I can make one! I can totally relate to your “deer in the headlights” response when you see instructions to “save to your root directory”. Thankfully I have a terrific friend who is a WordPress and BlueHost genius who helps me with these things…but your video makes it clear that I can now do this kind of thing myself, too! Thanks for sharing this valuable tip for making our blogs even better!
    Mary Lou

    • Mary Lou,

      Glad to know I’m not the only one who doesn’t know where their root directory is!
      There have been so many times when I’ve thought I would just hire someone to do something techie and then I’ve figured it out myself.
      Not only is it empowering, it then allows you to be able to teach something you wouldn’t otherwise have been able :)

      Michaelé

  7. Great post Michaele. Thanks for sharing – you’ve made what I thought was a complex subject quite easy. Now I need to implement :-)

    Thanks again,

    Niro

  8. Hey Michaele
    This is an awesome tutorial, you’ve made it so easy to follow.
    What a great tool to assist personal branding.
    I’m putting this on my list of ‘to do’s’.
    Thanks for sharing this knowledge.
    In Gratitude
    Toni

    • Hey Toni,

      I’m so glad you found it easy to follow, as that was my aim!
      When people start mentioning HTML code and manual FTP uploads, it does my head in lol.
      My post was dedicated to people like me who want the easy peasy way out :)

      Michaelé

  9. I have searched high and low…under rocks and on mountaintops trying to figure out how to do this. And now, in less than 10 minutes all my worries are gone!! Wow! I literally made my favicon, downloaded my plug in, installed and got it activated in less than 10 minutes. Thank you most awesome Michaele!!!

    You Rock My Friend,
    Krista

    • Hi Krista,

      You always manage to crack me up! I just had to put a stop to you searching under rocks lol.
      I checked out your cute little favicon and it looks awesome :)
      Glad to hear you did it in under 10 minutes!

      You’re the best.

      Michaelé

  10. Hi Michaele,
    This is great. I had gotten as far as downloading a favicon image, but the plugin I used only added the image to my admin site. So I deleted that plug in and added the one you recommended and it worked great.
    Thanks,
    Virginia

    • Hey Virginia,

      It can be so frustrating when plugins don’t work.
      The one I used (as you now know) is created by Max Blog Press and I have to say, their plugins rock!
      Glad to hear it worked for you.

      Michaelé
      P.S. Thats a great little Animoto video you did for your blog. I love how you put the video part with people moving on fast forward to depict the Rat Race.
      Well done :)

      • Thanks for visiting my site and watching the video. It is really fun to do them. I made one recently of my grandson’s first birthday – pictures and videos at his party! Then it can be sent out to family and friends. Just go to their site – short videos for free, longer for $3 or $37/year – can’t beat it.
        Virginia

        • Hi Virginia,

          You’re welcome, I really enjoyed it!
          Yes I think Animoto’s prices make it a no brainer for everyone to use.
          I also use OneTrueMedia to do montages, which is another great resource.

          Michaelé

  11. Hi Michaele,

    This was a super helpful post!

    I’ve seen favicons and wondered how to go about obtaining one and uploading to my blog. Thanks for the instructions.

    Ryan Biddulph

    • Hey Ryan,

      Well you are ahead of me, wondering how to upload one.
      I had to work out what they were called first before I could research the upload/install process lol.
      Glad you found the post helpful.

      Michaelé

  12. Hey Michaele,

    It was nice of you to share this little trick. Having a Favicon is important in self branding. It also separates you from the crowd and helps you stand out in a professional way.

    A lot of people don’t think about adding these to their blogs/sites, but its a very simple task, but once done, will stay there and become well worth the effort later down the track.

    • Hey Josh,

      I love sharing little tips that I struggled with. For such a long time I had no idea what a Favicon was lol.
      So I didn’t stop till I worked out what they were and how to create one!
      Great work on your NMC Favicon :)

      Michaelé

    • Hi Louise,

      Congratulations on getting your blog going. I took a sneak peak tonight :)
      If you’d like some help on getting some of the ‘social proof’ widgets going, just ping me on skype.

      Michaelé

  14. This is something that I have done with previous websites. I will need to do this with my Blog real soon. After I saw this it was a pleasant reminder.
    Thanks Michaele.
    Marty Ware
    The SEO DAD

    • Hey Marty,

      I’ll be checking out your blog soon to see if you’ve installed it :)
      Awesome work on your Hubpages course! Something everyone should be checking out.

      Michaelé

  15. This is a very useful tool. It’s the little things that stand out in such a crowded world. This is one tool that I think is easy and has a lot of impact when used.

    Thanks for sharing.

    • Hey Jose,

      I agree on the little things. It’s so busy out there on the internet that any small thing that helps you stand out is a plus!

      Michaelé

  16. Aloha Michaele,

    Great post and I’m with you. Anytime I don’t have to do html, I’m happy! Thank you so much for this! I did it following your wonderful instructions. I love the step by step in video because we can stop the video, do what you say, and then continue!

    Success Michaele! Thank you! Kimberly’s comment is great as she has helped me with the slow loading issue too. This one seems to be loading the favicon, however, it’s not stopping the rest of the blog from loading, so it seems to be okay.

    Thank you so much my friend! Much love & aloha,
    Kellie :)

    • Aloha Kellie,

      Gosh I’m not sure why Akismet picks up random posts and puts them in my spam folder. Yours was one of the so sorry for the late reply!
      So glad you were able to install your own favicon and that Kimberly could help with the slow load issue. She is an amazing person!

      Michaelé

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