Infographics: What They Are and Why You Need Them

Infographics are a visual representation of data or information (in case you didn’t know). Back in the early 2010s, infographics were used in content writing strategies, accompanying all written content pieces online. The issue with that strategy (although still beneficial) was that the market became saturated with infographics, taking away the uniqueness of the idea. When it became oversaturated, people stopped using them altogether.

Over the past year or so, infographics have made a serious resurgence in the content marketing world. In comparison to the early 2010s, infographics should now be used sparingly and only for power pages that you really want to promote. If you are creating 1000 word blogs multiple times a month, you do not need to create one for each blog. Use infographics on compelling topics that you believe other websites will post and backlink. We have been using this tactic for SEO for many of our clients, as well. Power pages with infographics like this are essential for SEO growth, especially in the long term.

Below are the benefits of using infographics in your SEO and content strategy.

Pictures Over Text

People enjoy looking at a visual representation of a topic more than reading about it. If you look at a high traffic blog that provides a list of things like “top 5 ideas you need for digital marketing”, people will more likely want to look at the infographic than just a block of text. This is even more evident now that mobile has drastically surpassed desktop visitors.

The argument I hear most often about this is that the time spent on-page will decrease, and so why would I want that? Although it might be true that a user may look at the image and leave, images provide a better user experience and make the content more appealing to share with other people. Infographics can be shared on social media, as well!

Less Competition

Due to saturation in the market, infographics have become less common but their usage has increased in the past year or so. My point? The uniqueness factor is back! Since the market is not full of infographics, this means that your content piece will stand out more than ever. You can use this to gain more quality backlinks due to the uniqueness factor.

The primary focus here is the quality of the infographic created. You cannot depend solely on the fact that you created an infographic. It needs to be compelling, easy to read and easy for the viewer to share it alone without content. Nowadays, people want their content as fast and as easy as possible, just like Instagram, so tailor your infographic in the same way.

Make Sales

Infographics can be used to tell a story about any topic. In my mind, the best kind of infographic for a business is one that helps you sell your services! If you have a service or platform that is unique to you, create an infographic that talks about all of the features. Tell a story about all of those components that make it unique and make it easy to digest.

Here at Techwyse, we created our own platform for all of the Google services we manage, and it’s called Adluge. We market the platform through its own website, and an instructional video can be found on the homepage. Infographic creations are a complementary piece to the ongoing marketing that we do for Adluge.

Use it as a Lead Generator

For years, businesses were creating eBooks and locking them behind a form that a user needed to fill out in order to read the eBook. You can also do that for infographics on topics and information that is unique. In my previous point, I mentioned that you could turn your infographic into a sales tool, but why not turn it into a lead generator? You can see that we did something similar to a video we created on the Adluge website for those looking to watch a demo. When creating a blog for services or platforms that are unique, add in a form and turn those visitors into leads!

The future of marketing is in automation, where you can have these form leads added to a smart email marketing system that tailors the content they receive based on the choices that they make. You can actually see a demo of marketing automation on our website here.

This is a crucial time for businesses to include infographics in their content strategy. Due to the lack of popularity at the moment, infographics are critical for a dynamic and impactful content strategy. It's essential not to flood the market with infographics, but rather focus on creating quality and concise infographics on topics that will benefit your audience.