Favicons are small icons that are displayed in your internet browser’s address bar, in your visitor’s bookmarks, and several other places.  A favicon allows you to give your site some branding and recognition when people visit your site or view your site in their bookmarks – and are a great, simple way to brand your site.

While often overlooked, these little images can be very powerful in reinforcing the image of your site and bringing familiarity to your readers.

How to Create a Favicon

Creating a favicon for your site is very simple and you can have one up and running in a matter of minutes.  There are a few steps to get your very own favicon for your site or blog:

1. Create an image
   Create an image that you would like to use.  You want it to be similar to your site’s design or integrate your logo somehow.  Since the image will be fairly small (about 16 pixels square), you will want it to be easy to see when it is scaled-down.
2. Convert it to a “.ico” file
   Once you have created your favicon’s image, we now need to convert it into a “.ico” file.  The easiest way I have found to do this is by using Dynamic Drive’s FavIcon Generator.  Simply upload your image, click “Create Icon” and then download your favicon to your desktop.
3. Upload it to your site
   Now that you have created your Favicon, you need to upload it to your site.  I typically upload it to the root (the main folder) of my site or blog (i.e. http://bigmanta.com/).
4. Add a piece of code
   The final step is to put a piece of code in the header of your site so that your favicon will appear.  To do this, simply place the following piece of code in your header:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” type=”image/x-icon” href=”/favicon.ico”>

You’re finished, you should now have a fully-functioning favicon that can help your branding efforts and start creating recognition for your site and yourself!

You can see the favicon I just created for Big Manta here: http://bigmanta.com/favicon.ico.

To check to make sure your favicon is working properly, check it in your browser by visiting http://YourSite.com/favicon.ico (if you uploaded it to your main directory).  You may also notice that your favicon might not appear immediately.  If it’s not showing up, you can restart your browser and it should appear.