So you have chosen your platform, set up your domain name, and figured out which template design is perfect for your blog. Now you are ready to add some bling to your blog.
Social Media Icons
Social media icons are on every blog and website. If you purchased or downloaded a template social media icons were most likely included. But many times they are generic or plain. If you have a colorful blog or want to add some cute new icons you’ll need to find or design your own.
Free Icons
You really don’t need to design your own icons, unless you are looking for something very specific. There are all kinds of free social media icons out there.
Colorful
Lovelytocu (shown above)
Whimsy & Hope
Beautiful Dawn Designs
Designs by Miss Mandee
Carrie Loves
A Typical English Home
Simple
Lovelytocu
Kay Brighton
The Dutch Lady Designs
A Typical English Home
Design Bolts
Whimsical
Lovelytocu
Fribly
Blogtacular
Free Sketch
Rakshi Creations
These are just a few of the hundreds of free social media icons available. You can find more on Pinterest, or if you are willing to spend a bit of money check on Etsy and Creative Market.
Blog Buttons
Creating a blog button is a super simple and a 100% free way to promote yourself. Whether you want to drive traffic to your blog or a specific post, like a craft-a-long, creating and posting a blog button on your blog is free advertising. You can’t beat that! And, you can create your own blog button in no time and with absolutely NO money!!!
Designing A Button
The easiest way to create a blog button is with a photo editing program. When you think of photo editing programs you probably think of Photoshop. Photoshop is the granddaddy of all photo editing programs. It is super awesome, but it is also super expensive.
The good news is you don’t have to spend big bucks on Photoshop. Thanks to the internet, you can use a free online editing program.
There are quite a few free programs you can choose from:
Canva
Fotor
Ribbet
BeFunky
LunaPic
Pixlr
Picmonkey
Picmonkey is the program I use, but I have also been tinkering with Canva. For blog buttons, Picmonkey is probably a better choice.
I thought it might be good if I put together a quick and easy tutorial for designing a blog button. I’ll be using Picmonkey and I’ll show you how I designed my stashbuster challenge button. Check back on Friday for the tutorial.
Free Blog Buttons and Graphics
If you don’t want to design your own buttons or other graphics, there are plenty of free blog embellishments all over the web. While they won’t let you promote yourself or your blog, they will make your blog pretty and will let your personality shine through.
Some places to find free blog graphics:
Shabby Blogs
The Sits Girls
Kate Stevens
Starsunflower Studio Blog
Lisa Glanz
Angie Makes
Jones Design Company
We Lived Happily Ever After
Favicon
A final graphic to add to your blog is a favicon. A favicon is the little image that appears next to your blog URL.
I currently have a black heart as mine. I used a favicon icon generator to pick my icon. My black heart was already created, so I just downloaded a copy and loaded it to my blog. Favicon.cc has a ton of different premade icons. And if you want to tweak one, you can choose edit and change the size, color, or edit it completely.
If you want to create your very own icon, check out this awesome tutorial from Design Your Own Blog. I just might have to try to create my own favicon too.
Well, we are almost done with this mini blogging series. Be sure to check back next Monday for the final part of How to Blog without Breaking the Bank!
Missed any of the series?
How to Blog without Breaking the Bank – Introduction
How to Blog without Breaking the Bank – Part 1: Start a Blog
How to Blog without Breaking the Bank – Part 2: Design a Blog
How to Blog without Breaking the Bank – Part 3: Embellish a Blog
How to Blog without Breaking the Bank – Extra: Make a Blog Button
How to Blog without Breaking the Bank – Part 4: Decorate a Blog with Photos
