As we all know, the Internet and its usage is expanding in phenomenal ways. The evidence is clear: Facebook announces vanity URLs and the world pauses to get to their computer. It’s all about branding.
Even as a self-representing artist, developing your own brand is key to your marketing plan. Your brand begins with your website. Your site should have its own name and logo. That is evident. However, you take your branding to the next step with a favicon. A favicon is that little icon that shows up in the address bar next to the site’s name. You have several options.
Your favicon can be the an miniature version of your logo. My favicon, as you can see, uses the ‘W’ from my site, Weborg Lodge. It’s in cursive to reflect an artistic style. Your favicon can do the same and convey the message of your art. Are you an abstract artist? A swish of different colors can convey your style. Paint a lot of farm scenes? How about a smiling cow?
To use a favicon you need to upload an image with the .ico extension to the home directory of your site. The image itself can be created in programs like Gimp. The ideal size is 16 x 16 pixels. You will also need a bit of code for it to be recognized. This line of code should be placed in the <head> section of your website, with your information substituted.
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://www.yoursite.com/yourfavicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />
Wordpress comes with a handy plugin that will do this for you, but you can also add the code if you feel confident editing theme files. You will want to look in the header.php file.
Any little bit you can take to get your brand out there helps you establish authority. It helps visitors recognize you and your art. Remember, selling your art is as much a business as it is about creating art.
Wednesday, 1. July 2009
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.
Wednesday, 1. July 2009
Hi Chris, Interesting posting. My husband found lots of favicon editors just by doing a search. I love all these neat visual things for blogs and the web. I liked your watercolor of the leaf you did too.
Peggy Stermer-Cox´s last blog ..Two Years of Blogging