The Importance of Infographics in a Picture-Obssessed World

by Volume Nine

We’ve all seen them. They are a great way to convey important information while being eye-catching and engaging. Users are able to easily share them with colleagues and Facebook friends alike. They are infographics, and they are a great tool to sprinkle into websites and company blogs for user engagement.

Not to get too nerdy, but I think this infographic about infographics illustrates the sharability and importance perfectly (from Bit Rebels https://cdn.bitrebels.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/social-media-analytics-actions-infographic.png):

social media analytics actions infographic

Here are a few important tips for making your infographic as great as it can be…

Start with the plan of making a complicated idea more digestible. The best infographics take something complicated and makes them easily explainable. Think of a family tree. Families are complicated. If you’ve ever been to a family reunion or a wedding that you were meeting people for the first time you get pretty lost. Family trees do a great job of explaining who is married to who, what kids came from what families and how they are all related. Infographics do the same thing, they just do it on the internet and can be re-tweeted.  As social engagement becomes more and more of a ranking factor, sharable content is stepping more to the forefront increasing the value of a popular infographic. Be sure to include the following items as well to make sure the infographic is also optimized from a SEO perspective:

  • Include Alt Tags
  • File Friendly Images
    • Make sure they are not too big >150kb recommended and a SEO friendly file type like .jpg
  • Include Heading Tags
  • Using Keywords in Heading Tags / Alt Tags
  • Make sure the Image itself is linkable
    • (ideally through an HREF back to your site)

Developing content that is fresh, engaging and shareable will be more and more important in the search world, and infographics are a great way to effectively market products and ideas online.

Did you know we create infographics for clients? Take a look at our infograph & social media services.