There’s something to be said about adhering the standard. Some people will think that you are a wild erratic kook if you don’t fall in line with everyone else, if you don’t do as those around you do. For example, it’s become pretty standard to have some sort of blogroll on your WordPress-powered blog. It’s also fairly standard to have a search field, an archive, and a contact page. If you don’t have these basics, then your blog isn’t exactly standard and people may not come back.

At the same time, there is a definite advantage to departing from the herd and doing things a little differently. For example, the standard color for a feed icon is orange. I use orange on Beyond the Rhetoric, for example, just as guys like John Chow, Nate Whitehill, and InvestorBlogger all use orange for their RSS feed buttons. But what if orange sticks out like a sore thumb on your WordPress theme?

If you’re not particularly skilled in PhotoShop or you can’t be bothered to do a palette swap on your own, you can head on over to feedicons.com where they have a free package of several RSS feed icons. There are at least two shades of orange, in addition to blues, greens, purples, and pinks. Choose the color that suits your template the best.

By using a “custom” colored feed icon, you add just a touch of personalization and originality to our blog. You don’t want to be exactly like everyone else, do you?