A favicon is the tiny icon that displays next to your website title in your browser. Favicons are a great way to brand your website because your visitors will begin to recognize you based on that tiny image.
Many beginner bloggers don’t pay much attention to their favicon, and typically keep the favicon provided by their web host, or WordPress theme.
I consider this a no-no because as I said, your favicon plays a small, but important role in building your website brand.
This little butterfly has been my favicon since the start of my business.
Creating your Favicon
Favions are sized at 16×16 pixels or 32×32 pixels. I typically size my icons at 32×32 pixels.
Keep in mind that these dimensions are pretty small, so you want to be sure your icon is readable when creating your design.
If you don’t have your own image editing software, I recommend trying a free online photo editing tool such as PicMonkey to create your favicon.
As a tip, if you don’t want a white background on your favicon, be sure to create your image on a transparent background. Once your favicon is complete, I recommend saving your file as a PNG.
How to Install Your Favicon
Update 11/08/2015 – WordPress now has a built in favicon uploader! To upload your favicon, in your wp-admin, go to Appearance > Customize. Click on the Site Identity tab and upload your favicon where it says Site Icon.
Okay, back to the original post.
There are a few ways to upload your favicon to your website. Since the average blogger typically prefers to stay away from code, I recommend using the PhpSword Favicon Manager plugin to install your favicon.
Using this plugin is a quick and easy way to get your favicon installed without the fear of breaking your site when altering your theme files.
After downloading the plugin, in your wp-admin, go to “PhpSw Favicon.” Once there, simply follow the screen prompts for installing your favicon.
The plugin allows you to store up to two favicon icon logos, but you must choose only one to display on your website.
After saving your changes, take a look at your website and you should see your new favicon! If you don’t see it, try clearing and then refreshing your browsers cache.
I hope you found this tutorial for adding a favicon to your WordPress blog helpful. Leave a comment below for any questions or feedback!