How to Create an Infographic for Any Audience
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If your company has a website, you have most likely segmented your different audiences and worked hard to create a personalized experience for your visitors. This is one of the most important things to consider when working on optimization, but also one of the most tricky. Many companies find that they have great information and great articles that cater to their particular audience, but struggle to get the audience to read them.
Whether your target audience is high schoolers, professionals, or senior citizens, a big block of text is usually not appealing to the eyes. This makes infographics extremely important for just about an company working to optimize its website. In other words, your company should not avoid the inevitable: people, of all ages, love visuals.
Why Infographics Work
According to Jungle Minds Digital Consultancy, 87% of people who saw an infographic stopped to read (or interact) with it. Meanwhile, only 41% of people who saw a traditional article read the text. In other words, there is no denying that this type of content presentation can capture a reader’s attention. Infographics are flashy and interesting, so they will help create “stickiness” on your websites. These graphics are generally easier to understand, so they work well if you have a complicated subject matter you want to discuss.
5 Techniques to Help Your Create Your Perfect Infographic
In simple terms, an infographic, or information graphic, is a way to help share information visually. In the past, infographics on a website consisted of a simple graph or chart stuck in the middle of an article, but many companies have taken the idea of visual representation to a new level. Instead of the traditional article, companies have begun to create animated infographics to help keep readers engaged. When creating an infographic, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Be Specific
If you’re going to create an infographic, be sure the subject matter is something specific. A general message is easy to convey in a short, plain text article, save the infographics for something specific. For example, a topic like “credit card processing” is very broad, but “how to find a credit card processing merchant” would make a great infographic.
2. Keep it Short
A long infographic will bore your readers. Although you will likely be working with complicated information, keeping it short is possible if you link to pages with more information within your infographic.
3. Be Accurate
Make sure to keep all of your graphs and charts to scale. This is easy with one flat picture, but an infographic has a lot going on. Don’t let this slip your mind!
4. Be Organized
Many businesses have become so excited about the idea of infographics that they go a little bit crazy. Do not use ten different fonts, five different font sizes, and six different font colors. The point of an infographic is to inform in a simple and fun way, not give the reader a headache.
5. Be Interactive
Although infographics don’t have to be interactive, most companies are finding that it’s the easiest way to personalize a reader’s experience. If each reader can answer questions or fill in their personal information, they will feel as if they are getting personalized treatment (probably because they will be getting personalized treatment!).
When it comes to creating an infographic, there are a few different routes you can take. Some larger corporations hire a company to create the infographic for them. All the company has to do is provide the information (and the vision if they can), and the company will create a graphic. However, many companies create their infographics on their own using different software available across the web. Some of this software includes Stat Planet, Hohli, Creately, and Google Public Data. For more information about your options, visit MakeUseOf.com.
What about SEO?
Head of Google Webspam Matt Cutts has never come out and said directly that infographic links are not valued by Google, but he did say that they probably won’t mean anything in the future, which you can learn more about here. He had three main reasons:
- Fact checking isn’t always the best.
- People aren’t always aware of what they’re linking back to when they republish an infographic (they may just like the information).
- Links are embedded in infographics, so if someone does republish they are easy to miss; thus giving links back to sites you don’t endorse.
Just because Google might not give you any link juice for your infographics doesn’t mean they’re useless. They offer all the benefits discussed above, and they’re more likely to be republished. If you think an infographic will work for your company, don’t hesitate to get started. Many companies are still learning how to create the best infographics, so you’re getting involved at the right time. It’s hard to publish an inforgraphic every day, but consider putting one on your website once or twice per month.
What do you think about infographics? Has your company ever created one, and if so, what was your experience? Let us know your story and your thoughts in the comments below.
Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from Panda and Penguin updates. She writes for HigherVisibility.com, a nationally recognized SEO company that offers online marketing services to a wide range of companies across the country.
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Amanda DiSilvestro is the Marketing Manager for Coastal SEO Consulting. She has been writing about all-things digital marketing, both as a ghost writer, guest writer, and blog manager, for over 10 years. Check out her website amandadisilvestro.com to learn more!
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