Honestly, who doesn't love infographics? They're informative, visually stimulating, and they allow you to easily digest a ton of information quickly. What this usually results in for marketers is a high rate of social sharing that generates a lot of web traffic and precious inbound links to increase SEO. That is, if they're created effectively...
But truthfully, not all infographics are such big hits. In fact, there are quite a few factors that contribute to whether an infographic is a huge success ...or a total flop. Infographics take time, effort, and skill to create, so the next time you decide to create one for your business to boost traffic and inbound links to your website, make sure it encompasses the following 10 traits.
10 Traits of Awesome Infographics
1. Highlights Tons of Reliable and Interesting Data (Data Density): A great infographic is filled with a lot of meaty, interesting data. After all, an infographic without any information is -- well -- just a graphic, right? And that's not nearly as valuable. Data density is a big factor in successful infographics; without enough data, your infographic is sure to fail. In addition, as you're sourcing data, make sure you choose reliable information and statistics. If viewers have to question whether the statistics or data points you mention have any weight, your infographic won't be nearly as effective, and you'll probably need to obtain your data from more reliable, established sources.
2. Focused on a Valuable Topic: Just any data won't do. Choose a topic for your infographic that is relevant to your business/industry and important to your target audience to help you attract the most qualified visitors to your site. Do some research, and try to select a topic that has never before been presented in infographic form. This will make your infographic even more innovative and likely to spread.
3. Presents Information Simply: Remember -- there is quite a fine line between enough information and too much information. Be careful not to over-clutter your infographic. Furthermore, try to organize your data in a way that appeals to the eye's natural pathway. If your audience takes one look at your infographic and immediately feels a headache coming on, you're doing it wrong.
4. Creatively Visualizes Data and Information: Infographics have become more and more popular recently, so it's important to stand out from all the rest. If you don't have an in-house designer who can take on the project, consider hiring one. The last thing you want is an infographic that looks unprofessional or unoriginal. Uniquely visualize your data, and use quality, professional-looking graphics and design. Similar to our point in number 1, an infographic without any graphics would be -- well -- just info, right?
5. Isn't Too Long or Too Short: Effective infographics strike the right balance between being too long and too short. As Goldilocks would attest, a great infographic needs to be "just right." Limit yourself to highlighting only the best data to make your point(s), and try not to include every data point under the sun. On the other hand, a too short infographic that provides little value will likely be sent to its grave earlier than you'd like.
6. Isn't Overly Self-Promotional: One of the best ways to ensure an unsuccessful infographic is to create one that's all about you. If you want your infographic to get shared a ton, avoid focusing it on data about your company, products, and services (unless that's the goal). Instead, focus it on a topic in your industry that more people will care about and naturally want to share. (Note: While the goal of the infographic below may not have been to generate inbound links, Intel Teach should recognize that because it's very self-promotional, it won't receive the attention that an industry-focused infographic would have.)
7. Incorporates Branding: While you don't want to be overly self-promotional, as your infographic gets shared and spread throughout the web, you'll want people to recognize that it was created by you. Include branding elements such as your company logo and branding elements. Don't be afraid to align it with the look and feel of your other content by keeping it consistent with your color scheme, font style, etc.
8. Provides Clear and Obvious Takeaways: Your infographic should be focused on one topic, but you should also have a goal for what you want your infographic to accomplish. Are you trying to highlight a particular industry issue for which your products/services help to solve? Target the statistics and data you incorporate into your infographic to help address that issue. Your infographic should always give the viewer clear and obvious takeaways that support and help to achieve your marketing goals.
9. Cites Data Sources: While the information you cite doesn't have to be original data from your own research (bonus if it does though!), you always need to cite your sources. Be sure to do so directly within the infographic, because if your infographic gets shared like you want it to, you'll want the sources to stay with it.
10. Is Promoted: Once you produce your awesome new infographic, promote it! Create a post on your blog to feature it, and share it in social media and via other promotional channels. Consider creating an embed code that you share within the blog post to encourage people to post it on their own websites/blogs, too!
Want some more examples of effective infographics? Check out the blog, Cool Infographics.
Have you ever created an infographic for your business? Was it successful?
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Sherman Mohr 2:39 PM on November 02, 2011
Great stuff. I appreciate the work in aggregating this material! Many thanks.
Kathy 3:17 PM on November 02, 2011
Great information, succinct and helpful and..very well illustrated!
David Silva 5:02 PM on November 02, 2011
My question is: how do you get all that awesome data to begin with? Sure, some of it is available through census information etc. but what about the rest? How can a small business go about finding this highly specific data without encountering prohibitive cost barriers?
Ashly Lorenzana 6:12 PM on November 02, 2011
Hello there Hubspot. I have been admiring your blog from a distance for close to a year now, but this will be the first time I have commented.
When I saw the headline for this post, I was immediately interested because I happen to find infographics about as awesome as you do. I always have my eyes peeled for new, innovative data displays.
While I basically agree with the main points you've made in this post, I feel compelled to respond to just a couple of specific remarks you made.
First, I am not sure I agree that the Intel example you used is terribly guilty of self-promotion. At least not any more so than most others, that is. All of the information in their graphic seems to be providing stats and data about their teach program, but I don't think that makes it less link worthy to the people who would be interested in a program like that. Sure, it won't appeal to as wide an audience as yet another infographic about Facebook, but that's because it isn't concerning itself with the kind of stuff that would generate that volume of buzz to begin with. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would assume that the creators of the infographic had this in mind.
The headline of the infographic reads: "Intel Teach Program Transforms Millions of Classrooms Around the Globe." That is really the only questionable piece of text on the entire image as far as I can tell. But even still, it states no clear positive or negative opinion. Last time I checked, transformations both good and bad were possible. Just because their program is transforming that number of classrooms does not mean we should immediately jump to the conclusion that it's transforming them into something better or that the transformation is even a positive one at all.
Also, I think most people could probably figure out that Facebook and Twitter infographics (as saturated as those are becoming at this point) are the biggest traffic boosters to go after. However, I'm not sure that ALWAYS means that spoon feeding the masses what you know they want to hear is the greatest path to your own success.
If McDonald's made an infographic to feature the nutritional value of a child's sized french fry compared to their less popular Apple Dipper alternatives, should be criticize them for promoting one of their products since less kids are going to want those anyway, meaning they are also less likely to actually eat them at all?
Sorry for the awful run-on sentence trying to pass itself off as an entire paragraph.
The last thing I wanted to mention was in regards to your advice on hiring a professional designer to ensure the quality of your infographics. While I most certainly think that's ideal, it is becoming less difficult for inexperienced folks to create the graphics themselves. Which ties into one last thought I had (I promise this really is the last one).
While the creme of the infographic crop is certain to be the richest in data density and the other traits you made reference to, I believe that they can also work for relatively simple and less significant purposes as well. For example, I started following one of Tristan Higbee's blogs about six months ago, and being a fellow infographic enthusiast, he created one to help readers choose their climbing pants. I must say, it's certainly among the most simple and sparse infographics that I've encountered yet, and the purpose it serves is both limited and perhaps even a bit too basic to demand one at all. The only problem with that is how well it worked in his post regardless of those things, since it managed to make reading about something I'm otherwise not interested in slightly more enjoyable and far more tolerable. It may be the most rudimentary example of an infographic, yet it made the post better and it worked to communicate the few tips he wanted to share with his readers.
Not to mention, I recently heard that he has also launched his first paid membership site called Infographic Academy, which was created to help the beginner learn how to start at least experiment with very simple creation methods. I believe he's asking for a one time payment of only $27 for membership, on top of all that.
Anyhow, sorry for the length of the comment and thanks for both the great blog post and the food for thought.
Steven Pofcher 6:25 PM on November 02, 2011
Two questions regarding using an infographic:
Is there any way to format an infographic for:
1) Printing out
2) Use in a Power Point presentation
Ronnie 6:37 PM on November 02, 2011
My buddy used KillerInfographics to get a infographic made. It turned out pretty sweet!
Pamela Vaughan 7:02 PM on November 02, 2011
Ashly: Thanks for such a thoughtful comment! I was using the Intel infographic as an example of an infographic that would not be very effective for link building. However, I also mentioned in the post that the goal of that particular infographic may not have been link building, which is totally fine. But if the goal WERE link building, that infographic wasn't going to cut it.
What makes an infographic wildly successful and helpful for link building is its application to the industry, not the specific business. Therefore, it really shouldn't be focused on your particular company or business.
That said, I wasn't suggesting everyone go out there and create another Facebook or Twitter infographic either. I think the key is picking a topic that is broadly sharable within your particular industry is key.
I think the next thing you mentioned is more along the lines of great data/content visualization, which is definitely valuable in its own right. I just wouldn't classify those types of visualizations as infographics, per say.
TSSVeloso 2:01 PM on November 03, 2011
Hi, Pamela, congratulations on the post, some excellent tips in here.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the growing trend of replacing the traditional press release with infographics, breaking one of your guidelines.
Sure, the purpose might not be link-building, but I receive dozens of infographics to post on Visual Loop, and I've seen a growth on the ones that are exclusively about achievements, milestones, or a new launch, just to quote some examples.
What do you guys think? Do PR companies need to start exploring more the use of Infographics?
Thanks, and keep up the great work!
Scott 2:52 PM on November 03, 2011
It's great to see more attention paid to infographics. Really glad to see this post and the attempt at getting people familiar with what it takes to deliver solid work.
However...I have to disagree with the first point "Highlights Tons of Reliable and Interesting Data".
The more data you try to represent in an infographic, the less effective it typically is at communicating the main point you're trying to get across. It's really no different than having a main theme in a paragraph. If you try to combine too much, you're boudn to fail at truly getting your point across.
I do agree that you need to have data (and good data) to back up what you're trying to convey. But you need to make sure the data supports a main theme without forcing the viewer to think too much.