No area of graphic design and web informational marketing is hotter than infographics. The source of this new boom can be laid on the doorsteps of Google’s declaration that original content would be prioritized. Infographics grabbed hold of the public consciousness as a new way to spin established data stylishly and initially and be richly rewarded by Google’s search ranking spiders. Infographics put to imagery what plain text and graphs did before. They meld the statistician with the graphic artist that is greater than the sum of its parts when done well.
The Challenge
The problem with any new fad or trend is that it can be overdone or done poorly to satisfy some practical goal. Some have already concluded that infographics are already over-used and can take too much time to make it creative for their potential payoff. Still, few can argue that the combination of more artful and creative presentation with valuable data has lifted the art form. If that’s what it takes to receive useful backlinks increase viewer engagement, and drive critical site traffic to unique content, then it’s worth the investment. With the trend of people spending more hours online than they do watching television, it will only increase the need to create innovative ways of grabbing these overwhelmed data viewers’ web attentions. The engaged viewer serves as a critical partner in the dispersal of your content through easy-to-use social media options.
The advantages of investing in infographics:
1. Traditional text-heavy article clutter is replaced by a more visual and textured display of crucial information.
2. The graphic layout and creative display options allow you to emphasize the more egalitarian and limited text and font display.
3. The data’s artistic rendering transforms the information from just data to a graphic plus data connection in the viewer’s memory.
4. Google has expressly indicated that this type of unique content will allow you to better leverage link building and search ranking tactics to promote your site than previous content and link-farm methods.
5. Infographics done well can make the viewer keen on the key issues better, thus better influencing them in a particular direction.
Achieving that last goal, “infographics did well”, isn’t just a framing of words. There is a thin line balance between being too creative and being to text. While simplicity is critical, there needs to be enough original artist contribution to make your project impactful and worthwhile.
Key factors should be given due consideration when creating an infographic:
1. You want viewers to quickly grasp the essence of your infographic—the simplicity of the message but the complexity of the delivery. You don’t wish your artistry and organization to be a distraction where it is too busy, too short or lengthy, to text, or too many images.
2. Plan out your theme in advance while mapping out the layout and what you want the viewers to take away from the infographic before you get too involved in its creation. Don’t be afraid to conclude your evaluation of the research, data and facts.
3. Your data doesn’t need to be unique or original. Still, it should be researched well, emphasizing picking out helpful and valuable information that might not have been seen this way before. While governmental agencies conduct many publicly available research studies, if you use privately generated information, make sure you request permission and cite if the data or facts are proprietary.
4. If the viewer can’t grasp a sense of the infographic within a couple of seconds, they are likely to disengage quickly.
5. For designers, keep in mind that it is legible and scalable as a thumbnail won’t give it adequate justice but should still have compelling visual features of all sizes.
6. Make sure to include some SEO-intended copy that sums up your pieces, and you must have the URL embedded in the code along with all the recommended social sharing options.
Conclusion
Embracing the popular infographic trend requires a severe approach and time commitment. Still, it can be an enriching experience for your site’s traffic and search ranking, so take the process seriously.
In our later related article, we will discuss the next essential step once you have created an infographic that you can be proud of, getting it widely seen.