28 June 2012

Giveaway! Does Your Author Blog Need a Favicon?

Peevish Penman's favicon
Today I've decided to be the blog fairy, which is easy since I don't have to dress up in a tutu and wave a wand around while my blond curls bounce everywhere. I give gifts to all the writers blogging out there out there somewhere in the world working tirelessly to entertain us. I've noticed a lot of the writer blogs I follow look professional, but they sometimes lack that one detail that tells me an author is serious. It's the favicon.

It's the little image that displays next to a website or blog's URL, the tab in the web browser and even next to your RSS feed. Most of the time it's the site's logo, but it can also be a simpler image like the first letter of the name of the author or the site itself. The process of making a favicon is simple enough using free online generators.

Do you need it? I'll let you be the judge. But, do you really want all the visitors to your blog or website to be greeted with something like this:



What does it really saying about you to your reader? Yep, it says, "I use blogger." And that's a missed opportunity to communicate who you are from your site, your feed and your online presence.

Examples of the Blog Fairy in Action

Clark Brooks is a funny guy. He's got a dark purple color scheme and the blog fairy made him a dark purple "C" with rounded edges.



Clark Brooks's Blog




Clark's favicon



Aaron Pogue is an intriguing writer with a simple clean site design. The blog fairy isn't certain he'll want the favicon she's designed for his site yet, but it's a simple image with a transparent background, which might work.


Aaron Pogue's website


Aaron Pogue's favicon


How do you get a favicon for your author blog or website?

Method One

1. Do a search for "favicon generator free"
2. Upload an image you want to be your favicon
3. Adjust the image using the editor
4. Download the "ico" file
5. Upload it to your website

Don't have an image? Use a screen shot of a letter or image on your blog, crop the image and it's ready to upload. 

Method Two

Enter the Giveway!  

Professional favicon design can and do cost $20. It's not the difficulty involved, but the time it takes to make one look professional. Your personal fairy blogmother isn't having that.


1. Subscribe to Peevish Penman via RSS or YouTube or Facebook or Google Friend Connect.

(Step 1)

and

2. Share a post from Peevish Penman via Digg, Stumble Upon, Delicious, Reddit, Google or Facebook.

(Step 2)
then

3. Comment below and provide a link to the blog where you want the favicon made.

4. When I've finished, I'll reply to your comment and upload the "ico" file as a link.

5. Your job will be to upload the favicon to your blog or website. Here are some instructions to upload it.




Questions


Can I just buy one?

Yes, email me at bailey.carrie.e[at]gmail.com and I will design your custom favicon for $20, but I'd rather connect.

Will it work on WordPress? 

Yes, but you will have to add a specific bit of code, including the address where you upload it, to your template.

Can I get a custom design?

These designs are custom for your site, but because there are so few pixels involved, it's hard for me to know which letter combination, image or color combinations will look good, so if I design one and you'd like some minor adjustments try the favicon generator. If you're still struggling with it, send me an email.

How can possibly get this uploaded?

Your fair blogmother is here for you. Send me your technical question and I'll walk you through the process.




Yours Truly
Carrie Bailey - bailey.carrie.e[at]gmail.com

12 comments:

  1. Done, and done! I shared a post via my Tumblr, so it will end up on Twitter/FB as well. Great contest! :-)

    http://jamiedebree.com is favicon-less, if you're so inclined...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here the link is again incase the one on twitter gets lost in the inbox: http://picturestack.com/943/148/hWnfaviconlZ3.ico

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  2. Thanks for the great giveaway. Done and done. Great idea. I shared this post on my FB business page, so it also went to Twitter. Here's my blog: http://www.writenowcoach.com/blog/ I'd love to do a blogging exchange with you two during the months leading up to NaNo.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rochelle,

      I've done a red book with a transparent background. Hope you like it and thanks for sharing :). http://picturestack.com/16/82/XfSfavicon36dq.ico

      Delete
  3. Hi Carrie,

    Thanks for the giveaway. I have subscribed to your feed via google reader. I have also shared this post on stumbleupon. My blog is http://techtalk.virendrachandak.com I am trying to make my own site http://www.virendrachandak.com in addition to the blog. I would like to connect with you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Virendra,

      I'm happy to meet you. Since you don't have many graphic images on your site, I did a rounded edge favicon with your colors and the letter "V." http://picturestack.com/92/177/7vIfavicon4kJg.ico

      Let me know if I can be of help in anyway.

      Delete
    2. Hi Carrie,

      Nice to meet you. Thanks for getting the favicon so quickly. It looks good. Thanks for your help.

      Let me know if I can be of any help to you too.

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    3. It does look good on your site. I read your article about optimizing page loading and I'm going to have the images scaled, which I haven't done for the new ones I loaded.

      Having seen my site a little. Can you recommend any obvious improvements I can make? I'm looking into SEO, but I'm a bit clueless in some areas.

      Delete
    4. Hi Carrie,

      I can surely try to help you out on making improvements to your site. You can contact me through my site and than we can discuss all the improvements that we can make on your site.

      Delete
  4. Okay, it took me almost 2 days, but I got to a computer with consistent internet access and was able to go through all the steps outlined above. :) I shared the librarian article on my Facebook, although I didn't go through your icons up there. As we talked about, I'd love a favicon for my Random Oenophile blog. http://random-oenophile.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cecilia,

      I'd been thinking about which would work best, a glass of wine or a bottle of wine. I went with a bottle of or red, transparent background.

      Hope you like it! http://picturestack.com/103/794/9M1favicon5EZk.ico

      Delete