It’s no secret that infographics are becoming more and more popular for Internet marketers. Content is one of the most important aspects of a website, and infographics are a great way to help visitors understand complex content as well as make dry, boring topics a little bit more interesting. Studies have shown that visitors are far more likely to read text that accompanies an infographic as opposed to a traditional article. It makes sense that more and more companies would want to get involved, and young entrepreneurs comprise a majority of those who started the infographic craze.
If you’re a young entrepreneur looking for something to help your company pop, an infographic just might be the trick. There are many ways to accomplish creating an infographic, for example, an infographic maker. Although it seems exciting at first, creating a successful infographic can be a bit overwhelming and more time-consuming than writing a traditional article. This leaves many new entrepreneurs to wonder: Where do I even begin?
Tips and Tricks to Creating a Successful Infographic
The first step to creating a successful infographic is understanding how it works and why infographics work in the first place. Below are a few of the characteristics and things to keep in mind before you begin:
- Be Specific – Infographics are designed to teach a reader something complicated or very specific. An infographic that is general will likely be more confusing than one that has a clear focus. So, make sure you don’t stray from the point.
- Incorporate Charts/Graphs – A big reasons that infographics are successful is because they utilize charts and graphs. This not only improves the visual aspect of the infographic, but it can help you demonstrate your point pictorially (in essence, the meaning of an infographic).
- Hire a Web Designer – The vast majority of businesses hire a web designer or a team of web designers to create an infographic. These designers will have the tools needed to create something successful because it is a complicated process that needs the eye of a designer and someone who understands code. Make sure you look at the work of any designer you’re going to hire, and then be specific about what exactly you want the graphic to look like.
- Embed Code – Always make sure that you put an embed code under your infographic so that others can share the graphic on their blogs. You will get the SEO credit for others who share the graphic. So it’s an easy way to help boost your rankings and improve your visibility.
If done correctly, and infographic should help your website look more appealing than a traditional article. Infographics often catch someone’s attention, so many websites actually advertise that an article is an infographic right in the title.
Infographics and SEO
In terms of SEO, links found in infographics work the same way that a link is found in an article. You want your infographics to have a few links back to your website. Additionally, you want your infographic placed on authoritative sites. This will help improve your SEO as well as earn you some great visibility.
However, on July 7 of this year Matt Cutts, head of the webspam team at Google, explained that Google may soon put less weight on links coming from infographics as opposed to links coming from articles. The reason? Google feels that a lot of information found in infographics is incorrect (which is often true). Additionally, links can be easily hidden on an infographic. Plus, many people republish the graphics without putting thought into the links. This makes these links less valuable in the eyes of Google than links found in a traditional piece of content.
Cutts discusses this more in an interview with Eric Enge and SMX Advanced. He explained that Google is not doing this now, but it could be something we see in the future. This does not mean that you should give up on all of your infographic dreams. But, it is something to consider when you lay out your SEO strategy.
Did your company begin creating infographics early on? What did you find help you to become successful? Let us know in the comments below!
Photo Credit: listsoplenty.com
Amanda DiSilvestro is a graduate of Illinois State University. Although she graduated with an English Education degree, she found herself working as a full-time blogger at Highervisibility. It is nationally recognized as one of the best seo firms in the country.
