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Using Favicons

There are basics that every site should have, although not everyone will agree on what those ‘basics’ are.  For PaMidstate MEDIA, you can get an idea of basics (when applied to WordPress) by reviewing this post about standard WordPress Plugins.

All sites need to have some sort of branding, right down the the fine details.  I am horrible at fitting all this into place, so whenever I find a site that makes that job easier, I use it.  And in this case, I am posting that information here – partially to help you find easier ways to do things, and partially as a reminder or bookmark.

An Easy Way to create a FavIcon

Simple – do you have a picture of your logo or something that can create a memory of your site for users?  Make sure it is as close to ‘square’ as it can be, remember where you saved it on your PC and go here: http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

Easy – like I said:

  1. Choose the image from your PC.
  2. Upload the image (they even give you a button to do that!)
  3. Click “Create FavIcon”

That was easy.  Now – just upload that file to the root of your website and you are done.

WP Standard Plugins

Whatdo I consider Standard Plugins?

For me – these standard plugins are the WordPress plugins that I use on almost ALL of the sites that I create.  I can’t say that each one goes on all sites, but you would find the majority there.  Why – because these plugins give ‘something’ that can help me with all the sites that I create, for myself, or for clients.

If you want to know what is driving visitors to your site, or help yourself out with administration, these are great plugins.

NOTE:  Last Updated on September 6th, 2009 – I will re-post an update time when I add/update/remove plugins, although I may not mention what was changed.

By the way – I don’t link to these plugins, because you can install them from your WordPress dashboard and get the most up to date version (plus a little oversight on developers) since it is located in the repository.

WP Plugin [Standard] List

  • Aksimet – from Automattic, the makers of WordPress.  This adequately eliminates spam from my websites.  I have much less to handle.  There is nothing more I can say about spam elimination.  A few comments will slip in that don’t belong in the comments, but since I don’t have to spend hours, the occasional errant comment is no problem.
  • All in One SEO Pack – Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog.  This plugin is consistently being developed.  It gives you excellent control of keywords, titles, meta-tags and more.
  • Full Comments on Dashboard – simple, it shows the full comment on your WP Dashboard.  I hated having to click through to a comment to read the whole thing, when I have the ability to approve it right there.  Imagine this scenario, a spammer can realize that MOST web administrators approve comments from the dashboard – especially if they are a large blog with many comments.  So, write a good comment – until you hit the character count, then add your spammy links… webmasters are bound to approve a few of these, right?
  • Google XML Sitemaps – within a day of creating a new site, you can see your latest article(s) in the search results.  And – driving traffic already.  That is proof enough.
  • WordPress Database Backup – We all know that we should.  Most of us don’t.  Plenty of us lose entire bodies of work.  This plugin makes it simple and automatic – right to your email.  Every site, every time.

That is my current list.  Got suggestions? Something I might like?