It’s the thing you see in the address window of your browser. Every company that wants to have a credible web presence has one. Google’s favicon looks like a lower-case, blue “g” now; it used to be an upper-case, multicolored “G”. It was a big branding change for them, so they thought long and hard before altering it.

Why should you have one? Here are some pretty good reasons for you to consider:

- They add to your company branding – They make your company look “with-it”, website-wise – You get to choose how your website is shown and don’t just settle for the Internet Explorer or Firefox default favicons – It’s easier to pick out graphical images than text, so they stand out from other sites in your browser’s “Favorites” lists – You can even have favicons that rotate graphic images with text

I can’t recommend them highly enough. This is how you make them.

The Quite Easy Way:

1. Make the graphic image you want to use for your favicon. Got to be small, though! 32×32 or 16×16 pixels.
2. Save the image as a bitmap, for example “favicon.bmp”.
3. Use a graphics editing program to change the bitmap file to an icon file.
4. Don’t have any graphics software? Download a free one — Irfanview, for example. Google the name for the link.
5. Change the file you made. Its name should go from “favicon.bmp” to “favicon.ico”.
6. Upload the new icon file to your website, along with the following HTML code, which you should put in the “Head” section of your page (don’t forget to enclose the code with “” brackets):<link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://-your website's homepage URL here-/favicon.ico">

And hey presto!

The Even Easier Way

1. Go to the “Favicon From Pics” site (Google the name). I’m not affiliated with them in any way, so use the site with confidence.
2. Select the graphic image you want to use for your favicon (don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be an “icon” file, it can be a gif, jpeg, png, whatever. It can even be a picture of you).
3. Type in the text you want, if you’re using scrolling text along with your favicon, and tick the “Animate Favicon” box.
4. Click “Generate FavIcon.ico” and save the file it comes up with.
5. You’ll get a favicon file, along with a file called “animated_favicon1.gif”. Don’t worry; it’s all completely free.
6. Upload the favicon file to your website, along with the HTML code given below (don’t forget to enclose the code with “” brackets):<link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://-your website's homepage URL here-/favicon.ico">

7. If you’re having an animated favicon with scrolling text, upload “animated_favicon1.gif” to your site and put this HTML code directly underneath the code given above (don’t forget to enclose the code with “” brackets):
   <link rel="icon" href="animated_favicon1.gif" type="image/gif">

And that’s it! Check it out. See how it looks. Don’t you feel all warm and fuzzy about your site now?

Daniel O’Connor is a top SEO copywriter based in the UK. See his 100% satisfaction-guaranteed site’s portfolio at http://www.daniboy.com/copywriting_portfolio.htm

He’s worked for some of the biggest companies and organisations in the world — including NTT and Mitsubishi Electric, not to mention the 1998 Olympic Winter Games — as well as some of the smallest.

And he can do a job for you, too.

Fluent in both Japanese and French and with a background in languages, Daniel is supremely qualified at explaining complicated things in a simple way. There’s nothing you can throw at him that he won’t have dealt with before.

Because it’s all about one thing: the words. The right words for you and your business. Blog articles. SEO for websites. Direct marketing. White papers. Flyer advertising. You want words? Daniel O`Connor has words.

Want to try out his writing before getting in touch? Check out his free ezine at http://www.daniboy.com/ezine

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