5 Tips for Creating Your Next Killer Infographic

Infographics are among the most shareable content on the web. On their own, numbers can be pretty dull, and deciphering an informational report is too much like work. Who needs that? Breaking down complex information into visual medium makes info more digestible, easier to understand, and way more likely to go viral. Here are 5 tips to create killer infographics, along with some stunning examples.

1. Ideation or brainstorming

The first task is to plan the content of the infographic. The information you share should be targeted to your audience. What are they interested in? How does this relate to your business? One great example of highly targeted graphics is this infographic about the economics of blogging from Ignite Spot Outsourced Accounting.

It’s visually interesting and colorful, contains lots of information that’s not common knowledge, and presents otherwise dull statistics in a quick-scan format. Really, 77% of internet users read blogs? Sweet! So why did Ignite Spot present this information to bloggers? The answer is right there in the infographic. There are 6.7 million bloggers on the internet, and 50% to 70% do it for the money. Most bloggers are freelance contractors, and that means many of them need…wait for it…an accountant.

The takeaway is to hit your audience where they live. Tell them what they want to know and they’ll jump right on the sharing bandwagon.

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The-blogconomy-infographic

The #1 Small Business Marketing Idea via Ignite Spot.

2. Make the information interesting

Your infographic should tell a story. If the information flows naturally from top to bottom and presents a cohesive overall theme, like this one, it really drives home the point. Using a boxing analogy, Insightly lays out exactly why you need Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to manage your social contacts.

In this case, using a theme really packs a punch (pun intended). It starts by citing how many customers use social media, flows into how many customers order and interact with brands online, and ends with statistics about how many companies are dropping the ball.

Think about the power of this information. If your odds of making a sale to a returning customer are 65%, and 73% of businesses have no process to follow up with a customer after an initial sale, that’s a lot of potential business down the drain…and a pretty darn good reason to consider a CRM, don’t you think?

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stats for small business CRM

An Insightly infographic via The #1 Online Small Business CRM.

3. Choose your colors wisely

Color is both art and science, and the colors you choose impart a subliminal message to the viewer. The Logo Company put together this stunning visual on emotional response to color:

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color imotion guide

Eye-catching use of color is important to your design, but too many colors can make your graphic chaotic and confusing. For best visual effect, choose a neutral background and use pops of color to highlight points. Another visually effective tactic is to limit colors to two – either a muted background with a darker shade of the same color (brown on tan) or a high contrast pair (white on blue).

4. Focus. You can only cram so much information into one graphic.

Check out this jam-packed infographic from MediaMolecule.com. It’s fascinating, but kind of a trainwreck. Each nugget of information is given the same visual importance, and things that might be condensed to a single section with bullet points (like awards) are kept separate.

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trainwreck infographic

Via MediaMolecule.com.

By limiting your ideas to create a focused message, you make your content easy to understand. Readers will get the point without struggling to connect a jumbled confusion of words and ideas.

5. Make it easy to share.

This infographic, entitled The Good and Bad Habits of Smart People, has been shared more than 60,000 times on Facebook alone. ..and it’s a repost from the original source, Online-PHD-Programs.org. The framework on each page offers sharing options on nearly every popular social media outlet with the click of a button or cut-and-paste code.

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good and bad habits

Via entrepreneur.com.

Any subject can be visually interesting. They key is to find an imaginative angle – something your customers want to know – and present it in an eye-catching way. While it should be related to your good or service in some way, the link doesn’t have to be direct. The ‘habits of smart people’ has nothing to do with getting a doctorate online, but it’s safe to say that smart people are the target audience.

Killer infographics can be powerful linkbait in the hands of people who can blend art, facts, and often humor into an attractive visual hook…or a complete waste of time on an ill-conceived idea. Make your infographic killer!

Megan Totka

Megan Totka is a freelance writer, business expert and consultant. She was the marketing & editorial director at ChamberofCommerce.com for over a decade. As a business expert, she specializes in reporting the latest business news, helpful tips and reliable resources, as well as providing business advice. She has significant experience with the topic of business marketing, and has spent several years exploring topics like copywriting, content marketing, list building, social media and any hot topics to help businesses run their business successfully.

6 thoughts on “5 Tips for Creating Your Next Killer Infographic

  • These are some great tips Megan. It is so important for infographics to be interesting and pleasing to look at!

    • Thanks, Kostas! Infographics being interesting and pleasing to look at are key. Also, you don’t want to much text or a sloppy design – they can definitely be tricky!

  • Hi Megan,

    I feel the planning stage to be huge.

    I haven’t really used or created IGS but seeing the volume of information in IGs, I gotta say, intelligently planning your graphic seems to make your job easier.

    I’ve seen a few that come up short, due to lack of cohesion, poor scale/fuzzy imagery and overused, played out stats.

    I’d also warn against sharing IGs unless they are new to the web, as recycling the same old IG adds little value to your post.

    Create.

    Don’t compete.

    Thanks Megan!

    Tweeting from Fiji.

    Ryan

  • Along with information, color and design play crucial role in making an amazing infographic. Unless your infographic is eye catching, you won’t find many interested readers to see it but once they start reading it you unique information is going to force them to read complete infographic.

    • I agree completely. It’s a tough call to say which is more important. Without the visual to bring readers in, you may be fighting a lost cause. But if your information isn’t interesting and valueable, then you’ll lose them right away. Both really go hand in hand.

      Thanks for reading!

  • Great tips – I agree that infographics and presentation make the best and most virus content, but you need to make them wisely. For infographics a great design is no less important than a great content

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