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?

Professionalism – Having a site icon makes your website, and thus you, look like you’ve got it going on. Go you!
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!
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?

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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.

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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!