Stand Out From the Crowd With a Favicon
Now, whilst RSS feeds are all the rage, by and large the majority of people will be bookmarking your site because obviously you have information on there that they like, appreciate or just simply want to come back to. The problem with the internet however is information overload. The average users bookmark directory now looks like a telephone book with folders dividing categories and even sub-categories. It’s all very well getting book-marked by a visitor, it’s reminding him to visit that’s your number one goal!
One thing you’ll notice about this blog, either in your bookmark folder or up on the address line is a little green symbol, I know it’s small but you can make it out, right? Yes, that’s right, a dollar bill with a + sign, I’m deliberately trying to plant the seed in your sub-conscious that www.omneo.co.uk is the site that increases your money! If you haven’t already done so, bookmark the site and you’ll see the symbol beside the blog title (you may have to close your browser and re-open it for it to kick in) that little symbol is called a ‘favicon’
How do I create a favicon for my site?
A favicon should be 16 X 16 pixels with 16 colors and the file name should be favicon.ico. IrfanView is a superb freeware image viewer that supports the icon (.ico) image format. You can use it to shrink one of your regular images to a 16 X 16 size, then decrease the colors to 16 and save as a “.ico” file. Remember, if you don’t save it as “favicon.ico,” it won’t work. Also, don’t just shrink an image to icon size and rename it with a “.ico” file extension. That won’t work either because it’s not a real icon file.
You can also use an online generator, there is a nifty one at www.favicon.co.uk, which will convert your own image into a ready to use favicon.
How do I get my favicon on my site?
Simply upload the file, favicon.ico, to the root web directory of your website. Make sure your favicon file is named “favicon.ico.” When someone bookmarks your site with a browser that supports favicons, your favicon will appear. To make doubly sure it works for old browsers, add the following code between the <head></head> tags:
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://www.YOURSITE.com/favicon.ico”>
I’m lazy, where can I get ready made favicons?
There are numerous websites offering free favicons that you can use, just pop “free favicons” into Google and see what you get… But to kick start your search you can download a collection of Free Favicons I’ve already sourced. Please pay attention to the README text files within each folder, especially if you choose to use any of them.
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