Every blogging website should have a logo. Logos make your website look more professional and increase trust with users. If you’re not a designer or on a budget, getting a decent logo may seem challenging. However, I’ll show you how you can easily make a logo for cheap (and even free).
Creating a logo should be part of your website setup process. I personally like to get a logo up and running fairly quickly for two reasons:
- Once I have a logo created that I like, I can stop keep thinking about it. The sooner I get my logo done, the sooner I can shift my focus to writing articles.
- When I have my logo done along with my theme and essential pages, I feel a lot more excited to start filling the site with content.
I know there are people out there who might care a lot about having a great-looking logo. I think though, in the beginning, it’s more important that you get a decent looking logo up and running rather than trying to make the perfect logo. For a brand new site that doesn’t have a lot of traffic yet, you don’t want to spend a whole lot of time and money on a logo. As your website grows, you can always update the logo later. Even huge successful companies often redo their logo from time to time.
But before I show you the best ways to create your logo, I want to give some info about the different types of logo styles. This will be important to know as it can save you some frustration and you’ll be more knowledgeable if you ever want to work with a designer.
Different logo styles
When creating a logo, there are a few ways you can design it
- You can have a logo just be the icon without any text. This is called a logo mark. Think of the Nike swoosh or Apple logos.
- You can have a logo with just the words only. This is called a wordmark. Think of Google or CNN.
- You can have both together. Think of Burger King or Adobe.
Which style you choose is a personal preference. At the very least, you should have a type of logo separate from the text. This is because you want to be able to upload this logo to be used as your favicon. A favicon is the small icon that appears in the browser tab. It’s also used in the Google search results, bookmarks, and other apps. It’s very recommended that you have this type of icon.
So the question is really, should you include your blog name in your logo design or not? First, hopefully, you have picked a good domain name, though your domain name could be slightly different from your blog name. A often see this with software companies.
For some of my blogs, I just use a regular icon I found for free from Canva. The advantage of this is it’s quick and simple. The same icon I use for my logo is the same icon I use for my favicon. I just need one file. I still have my website name displayed, but I add it through the WordPress setting instead. If you decide to go with a wordmark, it can really add to your brand. Just make sure you have a separate icon to use as the favicon.
Now you know the different ways you can create a logo, let’s learn about some basic logo guidelines…
Logo guidelines
Size
When it comes to logos, size does matter. What I mean is, it’s better to start off with a very large logo than with a small one. The reason is, large logos can always be made smaller and still look good. But if you take a small logo and try to make it bigger, you have to stretch it which ruins the quality of the image. So you can always make a logo smaller, but not bigger. That’s why you want to start with a large logo first and resize it as needed. If you’re just using a logo icon without any text, the recommended size is 512x512px. This is ideal because it’s also the recommended size for the WordPress favicon.
Colors
For colors and design, you want your logo to be simple. The reason why you don’t want a complicated logo is that, when the logo is smaller, it will be harder to see all the details. So in this case, simple graphics are preferred. Simple not only in detail but also in colors. If you look at the most popular brand logos, most of them are simple designs with only a few colors. You don’t necessarily have to follow these rules, but they are general guidelines.
Okay, now you have a better understanding of logo styles, you can start getting your logo made…
How to create a logo yourself
Nowadays, nearly all my graphics are made in Canva. If I need something more professionally done, I’ll hire a designer. For blogs, however, Canva does a really good job. Many of the graphics are free or cost just $1.
To get started, just head over to Canva.com and create a new design. When you click ‘Create a design’, you can select ‘custom size’ and select 512×512 (the recommended WordPress favicon size)
Here’s the step-by-step:
- Head over to Canva.com
- Click ‘Create a design
- Click ‘Custom size’
- Enter 512 x 512
This will look big for a logo, but remember, it can always be resized to be smaller.
Now, in Canva, use the search to find graphics related to your niche. Search terms could be the niche keyword itself or things related to the niche. For example, with a camping blog, you can search for ‘camping’, or search for ‘campfire’ or ‘tent’. Again, make sure you are searching under the graphics category.
Icon sites
Besides Canva, another way to create a logo is with icon sites. Here are a few of them.
As always, be sure to abide by the copyright rules when it comes to using images.
Should you hire a designer?
There are obviously pros and cons to hiring a designer. Creating a logo yourself might be faster and cheaper. However, some people might have a difficult niche or might have a hard time with design in general.
In the beginning, I personally like to keep costs low so I’ll make a quick design myself. As the website grows, I can always reinvest profits into getting a better logo if needed. On one of my first websites, I paid a guy on Reddit $140 for a logo that I was pretty happy with. But I also heard of some experienced bloggers having success hiring people from Fiverr. You can even find designers on Facebook by searching for ‘graphic design’ or ‘logo design’. There might be some people willing to work for free one exchange for experience.
What’s your experience using fiverr for logos?
— Ben @ Keyword Chef (@KeywordChef) February 27, 2023
Here are a few quick tips when working with a freelancer:
- Share your idea – If you already have an idea for your logo, let your designer know. You can show your freelancer other designs that you like to be used as inspiration.
- Understand costs – Make sure you understand all the costs and limitations involved. For example, how many revisions does the service include? And does it include the raw graphic files so you can edit them later?
- Get samples – One of the best ways to judge someone’s work is by looking at their samples. A good designer will have a portfolio for you to look at.
- Communicate – If you have questions, always communicate. I’ve hired people for jobs only to realize later I couldn’t send them money because my payment methods didn’t support their country (I had to send payment to his friend).
Takeaways
Key takeaways from the article:
- Focus on getting a decent enough logo so you can focus on articles
- Have a 512×512 logo for the favicon
- Canva and icon sites offer cheap and free icons
- Once you start getting traffic and making money, you can always hire a professional to create a better logo