Super easy blogging tip: Adding a Site Icon to your WordPress Blog #MondayBlogs #Blogging

I spend a lot of time reading and just generally checking out blogs from book reviewers and other writers. My husband probably thinks I spend what too much time on my WordPress app while those who are fervent believers in the so-called author platform would argue I need to spend way more time communing with my blogger brethren. But that’s neither here nor there.

I’ve recently noticed quite a few bloggers don’t have a Site Icon. Back up – I hear you shout. What’s a Site Icon (also known as a favicon)? I admit to having to look the term up. In my notes, I used the term ‘icon thingy’. Anyway, a site icon is the tiny image on the left side of your website title in the browser. If you use WordPress, but don’t add your own Site Icon, you’ll see a tiny image of the WordPress logo here.

It’s possible, with just a tiny bit of work, to add your own Site Icon. But why should you?

1. Professionalism – Having a site icon makes your website, and thus you, look like you’ve got it going on. Go you!
2. Recognition – If your author brand has an icon or image with which it is associated, using this image as a Site Icon increases the recognition of your author brand. Win! Win!
3. Visibility – Some of us always have like thirty tabs open (I closed a bunch of embarrassing tabs to take the picture below). If you use a Site Icon, your blog is easier to recognize. This also decreases the chance of accidental closure. Please tell me I’m not the only one constantly closing the wrong browser tab?

Now that you’ve decided that Yes! You are going to add a Site Icon, you need to figure out how to do that. It’s easy. Seriously, I did it so how hard can it be?

Step 1. Make a favicon image.

Do you have an image with which you associate your author brand? I use the image from my Death by Cupcake series. It’s a knife stabbing a cupcake with some blood added in for effect. You’ll need to find an image that’s small yet detailed enough to be decipherable on a browser tab. According to WordPress, the image must be square and at least 512 pixels wide and tall. I used a rectangular image and WordPress helped me crop the image into a square.

Step 2. Add the image to your WordPress blog.

If you’ve got your image figured out, this is the easy part. Just go to My site > Settings > General tab. Upload your picture, hit save settings, and voila! You now are the proud owner of a Site Icon. Go you!