infographics - Express Writers

How to Write Infographics: Your Complete Guide to Stellar Copy

January 13, 2024February 21, 2023 by Korilynn V.

How to Write Great Content for Your Infographics

Infographics are an incredibly popular online resource. According to HubSpot, they are the fourth most popular type of content used by marketers. The popularity of infographics comes from several factors: They’re visual and textual, making them a powerful vehicle for education. They’re easy to share and simple to skim, so they’re perfect for our instant-gratification digital world. If you haven’t used an infographic in your marketing before, now is the perfect time to get started. Today, we’re breaking down how to write great content for your infographics, so you can start developing custom visuals your readers will love to share. What Is an Infographic? Infographics are a visually appealing way to share interesting information. While their use has grown exponentially in recent years, it might surprise you to learn that infographics have been in use for hundreds of years. One of the earliest infographics appeared in 1626 and illustrated the movement of the sun. Today, infographics are used as a marketing resource to generate leads and build site credibility with backlinks. Consider this example below from a recent email we sent about Express Writers University While it might seem like an infographic is just an alternative way to deliver information, imagine how this information would look if it were simple text. It would be dense and wordy, and people might skip reading it. The addition of images makes the information much more effective and accessible. Researchers have found that about 65% of the population are visual learners. Beyond that, content with visuals is 40 times more likely to be shared than content without images. With these statistics, it just makes sense to add infographics as a resource in your content marketing strategy. Types of Infographics As infographics have increased in popularity, so has their versatility. With a graphic layout, there are near-infinite ways to present your information. Here are some of the most popular types of infographics: Timeline: A timeline infographic shares key moments from your subject in chronological order. List: This infographic shares important points about your topic. You should include some context to tie each point together. Flowchart: In a flowchart infographic, each point leads directly to the next. These charts often use arrows or other types of images to show the flow of information. Mixed Chart: A mixed chart infographic includes multiple types of charts like pie charts, bar graphs, and density maps. Your copy should concisely describe the data for each chart. How-To: This type of infographic explains a process in detail with as few words as possible. Hierarchical: A hierarchical infographic stacks information into defined categories. The information is commonly presented in a pyramid shape. If you use this type of infographic, make sure you organize your information correctly. 10 Steps to Writing Winning Content for Your InfographicsEven if you’re not a visual design expert, you can still write attention-grabbing text for your infographics. Here’s how: Strike a Balance Between Text and Visuals There are two parts to an infographic – data (information) and design (graphics). Both are important, so striking a balance between the two is imperative. If you have excellent text and boring design, or vice versa, your infographic won’t work. Creating a cohesive experience gives your infographic the chance to perform as well as possible, so make sure your visuals and text work together. Keep It Concise While infographics can be long, the independent elements within them don’t offer a lot of room for text. As such, you need to be careful with your choice of language. Writing copy for Infographics is a great way to learn to say complicated things in simple terms. Aim for small sections of copy that are no more than 100 words. Anything longer and your readers might lose interest. Be sure all the language you choose supports your main points and helps readers understand the “meat” of your infographic. Improving your concision is easier said than done. Here are two ways you can try eliminating unnecessary words: Rewrite your copy: Doing your work twice might seem unappealing but working through it again can offer impressive results. Once you finish your initial copy, walk away and come back later. Wait at least two hours or even overnight to give yourself a fresh perspective. You will likely notice small errors and make improvements in the clarity. Check each sentence individually: Every sentence in an infographic carries a lot of weight. Read each sentence separately and look for any words you can eliminate without affecting the meaning. These will be fluff words, like ‘really,’ ‘in order to,’ ‘very,’ and ‘that.’ Create a Narrative Arc Although an infographic might just look like random bits of information stuck together in a graphic, it’s anything but. In fact, all the best infographics have a narrative arc that helps the reader make their way through the information. This narrative arc may rely on sections, a series of chronological events, … Read more

What Are Gifographics & 10 Ways To Use Them in Your Visual Content

June 19, 2024January 28, 2016 by Adam Oakley

There’s a hot new player in the world of content creation, and it’s called a gifographic. Gifographics are the next level to the amazing visual content piece known as an infographic. And gifographics are taking it to a whole ‘nother level. In addition to being more engaging and more interactive than infographics, gifographics are also ideal for mobile displays and primed to make a huge impression in content marketing as we know it. Curious to find out about this innovative form of content? Curious to learn how you can use them in your content marketing? Let’s discuss. What is a Gifographic? In many ways, gifographics are the close cousin to an infographic. Infographics, of course, use images and text to provide an informative piece of content for users. GIF-ographics are an infographic… and just what the title suggests, with the parts of a moving GIF. See the differences in our two creations below. Infographic: “Ultimate State of Content Marketing in 2015” Gifographic: “A Guide to Writing & Optimizing Great SEO Content” Much like an infographic, a gifographic works by providing a platform for a lot of information in a small space. Gifographics, like infographics, also feature images but, decidedly unlike infographics, gifographics are animated. And “gifographic” is a term that Neil Patel coined back in 2014. “GIF” is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format. GIFs were one originally of the earliest forms of moving images on the web and they’re still massively popular. Sites like BuzzFeed use GIFS in their content all the time for high engagement, and Facebook just began allowing GIFs in its newsfeeds. Twitter allows direct GIF uploads, too. For example, here’s a GIF from a Twitter participant during one of our #ContentWritingChats: Excited to join the first #ContentWritingChat: What is a Copywriter? pic.twitter.com/aDbBvGw7v0 — Kathleen Burns (@katbu) January 19, 2016 While GIFs are short, sweet, and often hilarious, they lack one big component: they don’t often provide a ton of information for users. While they’re great for cat videos or images of people falling down, they haven’t dominated the “informative content” market until now. Combined with the traditional format of an infographic, gifographics have the potential to provide huge value for users and marketers alike. Published late 2015, our gifographic already has over 300 shares thanks to the fact that it illustrates the concepts while also providing a transcript and some helpful information for our readers. Effective, right? We think so, too. We even repurposed and cut the top of it as a GIF for an Instagram video: Today on the blog, our first #gifographic (link in profile): A Guide To Writing & Optimizing Great SEO Content (Gifographic) #infographic #nextlevel #marketing #googlesearch #webtraffic #optimization #content #seo #seoproblems #success #entreprenuer #sales #copywriting #writing #contentmarketing #blogging #inboundmarketing #growthhacking #newblogpost #newblogger #bloglife #instablogger #newpost #blogspot #writer #expresswriters #photooftheday A video posted by Express Writers (@expwriters) on Nov 19, 2015 at 4:44pm PST While infographics are far from dead and are still effective in many ways, it goes without saying that they don’t work as well today as they used to. This is part of the reason gifographics are coming into popularity right now. One of the most important aspects of a gifographic is that it harnesses the power of video content, which is fantastic because an estimated 69% of all web traffic will be directed at video content by 2017. This means that the future of gifographics is bright and that you can benefit from incorporating them into your marketing strategy right now. The Content Sea We’ve talked before about the idea of the “content sea.” Today, the average social media user is confronted with MORE than 285 pieces of content each day. What’s more, people receive roughly 121 emails a day and the web at large shares over 27 million pieces of content on a daily basis. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that we’re suffering from content burnout. This may be one of the many reasons that people are on the lookout for concise, valuable, informative pieces of content now more than ever: we simply don’t have time to read 5,000 word articles or pick apart the meaning of long-form. It would seem that we’re between a rock and a hard place. As the web continues to grow and as tech continues to develop, everyone needs content to make their businesses run, but more and more consumers are becoming burnt out on content. So what’s the answer? How do we create content that readers want to read? How do we create content that doesn’t immediately sink to the bottom of the content sea? The answer is simple: make it more interesting. This, my friends, is where the power of gifographics enters the picture. How Gifographics Can Help Your Content Stand Out Gifographics combine several of the things consumers love – information, visual interest, and conciseness – into one highly-shareable and highly-viral package. Gifographics are extra exciting right now because they’re just starting to break into the mainstream. While people beyond a select group of content marketers are starting to get familiar with this content form, they haven’t saturated the market yet, which means the grounds are ripe for marketers who want to jump on the bandwagon. One of the reasons that gifographics are so effective is that people are 323% more successful at following directions that include illustrations than text-only directions. Additionally, we remember an average of 80% of what we see, compared to only 30% of what we read. These facts illustrate the importance of gifographics and prove that marketers who aren’t using them should be. 5 Key Benefits of a Gifographic Aside from being immediately understandable and digestible by readers, gifographics offer a series of important benefits: 1) Gifographics boost SEO According to Neil Patel, gifographics are one of the primary pieces of content that marketers can use to boost SEO rankings, help build authority, and gain readers. 2) Gifographics go viral If you think infographics are the perfect vessel for “Going viral” you should check out what gifographics have the potential to do. A recent Buffer study found that when blog posts feature animated graphics, they … Read more

How To Use 3 Major Content Game Changers: Infographics, eBooks & Brochures

December 31, 2020November 10, 2015 by Josh McCoy

Alecs is the Client Accounts Manager at Express Writers. Content is a little bit like clothing. We all know which types we like best and, after awhile, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut so to speak, recycling the same 4 items time and time again, leaving 90% of the vast closet untouched. While you may not be literally reusing the same pieces of content over and over again, I’m willing to bet you probably reuse the same types of content – blogs, tweets, links, etc. While there’s nothing wrong with this content on its own, it can make your brand feel stale, boring and predictable if you don’t branch out – just like that dingy grey sweatshirt you love so much. But what if you brought in fresh new infographics, ebooks and brochures into your content wardrobe? It might make your brand feel a little like this… 3 Amazing Content Forms & How to Benefit From Them: Infographics, Ebooks, Brochures In order to switch it up and give your brand new life, try experimenting with the following types of content. 1. How To Use Infographics Infographics are the belle of the ball right now in content. Their most obvious winning factor is that they drive insane traffic to your site. Just how insane, you ask? Infographic search volume has increased over 800% in the last 2 years. The brain processes visual information at a rate 60,000 times faster than it does textual information. 65% of people classify themselves as “Visual learners” People who use infographics on their site grow an average of 12% faster than those who don’t. Infographics are shared on social media 3 times as often as all other types of content, which means they have a high potential to go viral. Personally, our brand infographics, like this one, have garnered 3x the average shares one of our blog posts gets. How’s that for content that is in-demand? In addition to being in-demand, though, infographics are also amazingly functional. This owes to the fact that infographics pack a ton of information into a small, easily digestible mechanism and can help your readers better understand your topic. Because of this, they’re shared more often, viewed more often and understood more comprehensively than text-based content. In order to use infographics effectively in your content, there are several things you need to consider. First of all, the infographic should be strictly information-based. Don’t ever use an infographic to pitch your company’s many virtues. These infographics defeat the point (viral information sharing) and use the infographic’s power for evil rather than good. Instead, focus on taking an issue your industry faces, a hot topic that will encourage sharing or an interesting development and breaking it up to provide your audience with further information. If you need help coming up with an in-demand and genuinely interesting topic for your infographic, consider consulting resources like Google Trends or viral Twitter hashtags. Once you’ve chosen a topic, you’ll need to gather information. When citing sources for your infographic, make sure they’re reputable sources comprised of industry experts and high-profile sites. Pulling information from obscure sites increases the likelihood that the information will be incorrect and decreases the likelihood that your infographic will receive a good reception (people don’t like sharing faulty information, after all). When gathering info, think about which statistics will make a good visual. Increase or decrease in revenue, for example, can be illustrated by a bar graph. Stick with great sources and highly visual statistics and you’ll have a great infographic in no time. When it finally comes time to design your infographic, you can either pay a designer (don’t be surprised, though, if prices top out around $1,000) or you can do it yourself. Free web-based platforms like Easel.ly, Piktochart, Infogr.am get the job done with professional results and can help you stand out from the pack in an instant. 2. How to Benefit From Ebooks Ah, eBooks – the quiet princesses overthrowing the palace one step at a time. Ebooks now top paperbacks in sales numbers and are set to completely overtake the paper dynasty any day now. As a marketer, though, it’s possible that you don’t want to sell your eBook and that you only want to use your eBook as an incentive. This is without a doubt how eBooks rose to prominence in marketing and is still one of the primary ways they are used within content strategy. The reason for this is that bundling has long been a market strategy to help consumers make purchasing decisions and to help differentiate a company from its competition. For example, when a consumer purchases a piece of clothing from an online outfitter and finds a $100 voucher for a new online wine club (a sister company of the clothing retailer) enclosed, that consumer is much more likely to buy from that retailer in the future. Similarly, when a customer visits your site and finds that you’re offering samples of your content or (better yet) entire courses for free in eBook form, they’re very likely to stick around to see what else you have to offer. This approach also proves to consumers that a company is so confident in the quality of its product that it is happy to literally give some of it away. Though compiling an eBook may sound complicated, it’s pretty simple. All you need to do is find a topic you want to write about (consider serialized topics you’ve blogged about in the past, consistent questions your customers ask, a problem many of your customers have or a new development you’re excited to debut) and write content (for more information about how to actually write an eBook, check out this HubSpot resource). In order to ensure that your content is as good as it possibly can be, ensure that it compliments your current brand, that it looks professional and that it is executed with precision. Enlist professional help to get your cover image on point … Read more

Are Infographics A Worthwhile Investment For Your Content Marketing?

December 31, 2020October 10, 2014 by Adam Oakley

As little as two years ago, some of us said the infographic got hammered and it just wasn’t worthwhile anymore when it came to content marketing strategies. Is this true? Are infographics on the down and out, incapable of spicing up and improving our content marketing plans? Is it possible to still create quality infographics, or should we forget about them entirely and try something else? According to a recent article by CopyBlogger (and we’re talking end of September kind of recent), research suggests that publishers who leverage infographics tend to grow in traffic by about 12 percent more than those who don’t. In fact, they went so far as to present the information in…can you guess it? That’s right! An infographic: Wow! It makes you think twice about infographics, now doesn’t it? Maybe these little visual packets aren’t so bad after all? The What’s What of Infographics According to Wikipedia, infographics are information graphics. They have a pretty rich history, dating back as far as 1626 when Christoph Scheiner published the Rosa Ursina sive Sol. The very first infographic debuted in this publication and illustrated the Sun’s rotation patterns so that non-scientific minds could easily grasp the concept. Today, infographics are still visual representations of data or information. They’re a prime means of turning complex information into something almost anyone can quickly understand. Unlike 1626, today they are social media friendly. It’s not uncommon for these tidy pieces of content to go viral. They appeal to our visual senses, which often make them initially more powerful than our standard text based content. Yet, these handy marketing tools have flaws. You’d think that a content type dating back to the 1600s would be perfected by now! Then again, how many of us saw the Internet coming? And in all honesty, how many of us can accurately predict just how Google will react to the content types we choose? The Downfall of Infographics The biggest downfall to information graphics is the fact that Google can’t index the content contained within them. The same issue applies to any image we choose to use. Crawlers are not (yet) sophisticated enough to capture the words on images and index them. As is the case with every type of content out there, it’s entirely possible to produce low quality. If you’re not careful, you can create awful infographics. According to CopyBlogger, Google’s Matt Cutts had some pointed observations about bad infographics: When it comes to topics, they can get off topic. It’s not uncommon for the facts contained within them to be of poor quality. The link (or links) associated with infographics often go to sites that are completely unrelated. The link (or links) embedded in the infographics are sometimes undetectable by viewers. Cutts wrapped up his observations by concluding that in the future, infographic-type links just might be discounted or devalued by Google. So, the point is you have two outcomes when it comes to infographics: Nail it! Produce a high quality, well researched, gorgeously presented, relevantly linked information graphic. It won’t be indexed by crawlers, but it will be a one hit wonder that can be repeated with new products that increase traffic and boom your business. Fail It. Produce low quality infographics void of confirmed facts and relevant links that are eye catching but otherwise worthless. They won’t be indexed by crawlers, but they won’t be one hit wonders either. Low quality = get hammered (no, not with alcohol) and you’ll be in danger of infographic type links getting devalued. But there’s something else to think about, too. Are you infecting the Web with an unwanted virus? Second-Degree Duplication Do you have a case of second-degree duplicate content? It’s a plague that just doesn’t seem to let up, as discussed by Eric Enge and Matt Cutts. What are we talking about? Second-degree duplicate content is when a user goes to pages that all contain the same information. Even though they aren’t identical and thus identified as duplicates, they’re so similar that the user frowns and clicks the back button because the information they’re after just isn’t there. The problem with this scenario is that no additional value is being brought to the reader. No, the content isn’t duplicated, but it’s not bringing anything new to the table either! How does this relate to our discussion of infographics? Well, if you’re not careful, your infographics will simply rehash information and cause second-degree duplication, the kind that isn’t technically duplicated, but doesn’t offer anything of value either. Repurposing Content Doesn’t Mean Rehash the Same Old Same Old Infographics have taken off in the content industry as a means of repurposing older content into a new form of media capable of drawing a diverse (and fresh) audience. We’ve talked about turning long-winded copy into a handy infographic as a tactic for making your content go viral. But there’s an element that you have to consider if you expect infographics to be a worthwhile content marketing investment: Fresh perspective. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with repurposing content via an infographic, but you must offer somethingof value. This means you must offer something new. Otherwise, your repurposed content will be little more than a fancy case of second-degree duplication, and it could very well fail. Infographics as an Asset At the start of 2014, we ran a series of blogs tagged 2014 Success, and success number five was all about why you should create infographics. We even provided a brief how to that handed our readers 10 popular ways of using infographics. The truth is this content type is a worthwhile investment IF you do it right. So without further ado, here’s your short guide to creating assets in infographics: Focus on Relevancy: It’s the key to every type of content. If it’s not relevant, don’t use it. It’s really that simple! Google is not a fan of irrelevant links or content. Period. (I want to add in an exclamation point because this point just cannot be … Read more

Why & How You Should Create Infographics for Your Company

February 2, 2023January 6, 2014 by Adam Oakley

2014 could be your most profitable year yet! How? Well, we’re loading you up with vital content and marketing information, all designed to increase your company’s exposure and profitability during the New Year. And one of the hottest tools is our topic today—infographics! One of the marketing tools currently said to be marketing gold is the infographic. Have you heard of them and wondered just why and how it might be of use to your company? We’ve dug into the infographic trenches and even tried using a couple of them ourselves. Let’s take a look as just why you should do more than think about trying them out, and how you should implement infographics as a marketing tool. What is an Infographic and Why It Matters for Your Marketing Efforts You’re educated regarding information and graphic marketing. These two marketing types are practically the bread and butter of every successful marketing campaign launched by every successful business for decades. But what exactly is an infographic? It sounds like a combination of information and graphics, doesn’t it? Wikipedia provides the simplest infographic definition. According to the online user-generated encyclopedia, infographics, also known as information graphics are graphic visual representations of data, knowledge or information, created with the purpose of presenting complex information in a quick and clear manner. A great example of an infographic is the weather report, which is a visual graphic depicting information about the weather. Graphs and charts presenting statistical data are another type of infographic. Think of an infographic as visual storytelling; it packs a strong and strongly memorable visual message. Infographics took on a dramatically new meaning for the marketing world with the advent of social media sites. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, infographics can be seamless and rapidly shared from a single user or business to an audience—and potential customer pool—of millions, worldwide. Why Use Infographics? Forbes sums up the top reason for creating and using infographics using the headline, “Use Infographics to Boost Your Credibility and Traffic.” Business owners are always looking for proven ways to boost credibility and traffic, but just why do infographics get the job done? Let’s take a look: Catering to short attention spans. Let’s be painfully honest, our attention spans are not what they used to be. We live in an information age. It’s streamed to us all the time; on the television, on the web, over our smartphones, on our tablets. We’re constantly bombarded with tons of useful information. How do we sort this information between our “must read” and “it can wait” lists? Simple! We look for the most captivating presentation. An infographic relays a complex message in a short, capturing format. Visualization caters to the brain. Forbes points out an excellent fact. “Human beings are highly visual.” It’s a fact that we absorb visual information faster than written information. We also retain is more easily. Ease of understanding. When infographics are properly created, they allow the audience to absorb and understand complex information in a fun and engaging format. When done right, this is why infographics can boost a company’s profile and website traffic. Going viral. The goal of every serious business is to create a marketing tool that goes viral, meaning it explodes onto the web grabbing thousands of views, tons of new exposure and converts to sales. A good infographic can accomplish this goal effortlessly while simultaneously inspiring writers and bloggers to chatter, creating backlinks, and further company exposure. Our highest converting email campaign of 2013 was our infographic campaign. It generated the most clicks and stirred up the highest amount of excitement and interest in our company to date. Why not tap into this proven marketing tool in 2014 and make it a year to remember as you gain record exposure? 10 Popular Ways to Use Infographics Larger amounts of data and content are the latest trends in online content marketing. According to a TNW Blog article on top ways to use infographics “the biggest question surrounding [this trend] has been figuring out the best way to interpret it all.” Infographics have been like the superhero flying to the rescue. These super powered creations pack a punch. Let’s review the ten most common uses of these power packed creations: A recruiting tool. Designers have used infographics on resumes for years as a way to visually simplify their careers by highlighting their specific skillsets with their own design style. Somewhere along the way, recruiters realized the genius of this strategy and started using infographics as a way to recruit for project management positions. Today infographics are used to effectively communicate the facts about a company and who they seek to hire. A data presentation tool. Statistical and numerical data have long been a bear to present. They have the ability to put the audience on snooze or baffle them completely. Thanks to infographics, data is easier to present in the form of easily readable and understandable graphs and charts. Simplifying the complex. As mentioned earlier, the primary goal of an infographic is to simplify a complex idea or complex information. Infographics are incredible educational tools, particularly when attempting to present an overview versus an in-depth analysis. The visual basis of the infographic helps students and audiences alike grasp complex topics through memorable and easily understandable visual collages. Explaining operations. Not only can an infographic simplify the complex, but it can also reveal the mechanics behind an intricate object with precision simplicity. For example, skilled designers utilize infographics to pull apart and demonstrate how complex products like clocks, cameras, computer components and smartphone work. Such creations can be great additions to user manuals, showing consumers how their product is built and the mechanics at work on the inside. Making startling comparisons. When we compare our business or product to something, we separate points into categories: likeness and uniqueness. Infographics provide an innovative way to display such a comparison in graphic form by creating visual parallels. Sometimes comparisons are difficult to express. Where words … Read more