You may have seen infographics like the one above on the web and not realised that it had its own name.
In this article, I’ll explain what infographics are and how you can use them to promote your business online.
What is an infographic?
“Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge.
These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education.”
Source: Wikipedia
Why use infographics?
As the definition above states, infographics are a great way to get complex data and statistics over in a clear and easy to understand way – perfect for people’s short online attention spans.
As you can imagine, people are much more likely to look at infographics online rather than page after page of statistics in text form.
The benefits of infographics include:
- They can generate backlinks to your website
- Infographics can bring more website traffic via social media
- They can help position you as an authority in your industry
The one downside of infographics for a small business is that unless you’re skilled in graphic design, you’re going to have to pay for someone to produce one for you. However, the benefits above can far outweigh this if it’s done properly.
When not to use infographics
The best infographics are the ones that have something interesting to say. Don’t just take some bog-standard statistics about your industry and turn them into an infographic – do your own market research and publish some interesting facts that people will want to know.
Examples of great infographics
I’ve seen thousands of infographics both good and bad over the years, but here are three great examples:
http://www.abccopywriting.com/blog/2012/09/13/copywriting-infographic/
http://ppcblog.com/how-google-works/
http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/twitter-users-profile1.jpg
If you’ve seen any other great infographics on your web travels, please paste links in the comments below.
Image credit: GDS Infographics (license)
I have always been interested in Infographics, I didn’t realise they helped promote web design businesses. As I am a web designer in London, I know the competition is big for searching on Google, so this may help me
Thanks
Having great graphics is really the corner stone of any web design and getting this right will be the true success or failure of any website on the web. Don’t underestimate the power of great graphics in your website design because as web developers know, people don’t want to read unless they have to! Having great graphics on your web page will draw visitors to your website in.
Thank you both for your comments. @Hairywom – I wouldn’t agree that ‘people don’t want to read unless they have to’ – I think images and text together are more powerful than just one or the other.