If you’ve never created a personalized homepage, or custom start-up page for your browser, there are a lot to choose from. My personal favorite is iGoogle but Pageflakes looks interesting too. A custom homepages is a place to gather all the news, feeds, email, gadgets, widgets and apps that are important to you, to give you a single place to start your web sessions from. For a closer look at fourteen different homepage services, read Mashable.

StumbleUpon is a browser toolbar that introduces you to new websites based on your interests and preferences. As you rate websites, StumbleUpon compares your interests with other similar StumbleUpon users and finds new websites for you to “stumble upon.” Works with both Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Social bookmarking site Del.icio.us allows users to create shareable or private online bookmarks. Not only is it a great way to store your own bookmarks, but the tagging features (categorization by keywords) make it a great place to find new and useful links. Start by creating a free account.

Depending on your browser, there are several ways to add a site to your favorites or bookmarks. Three that usually always work are clicking the toolbar icon, using the menu bar item or right-mouse clicking on an empty spot in the page. Be careful not to right-click on an image though, because then you’ll save the address of the image (not the web page) in your favorites list. For more tips on using favorites, see Using Favorites Effectively.

Ever notice the tiny icons that display in your browser address bar or favorites list for some sites? They are called favicons (short for “favorites icon”) and you can easily make one for your homepage with a graphics editor or with this free online tool from Favicon.co.uk.