Creating infographics and
turning stats into visualizations has been a
form of communicating information for a very long time. However, maybe
the best use for infographics is on the Web and have some solid
benefits for Internet Marketing:
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There's a number of ways to exploit infographics. Here's a few suggestions:
Pinterest:
Infographics are great to use on Pinterest. Not only can they go viral
and be "repinned", by creating your own infographics you are in good
shape concerning copyright laws. (Assuming you don't use any copyright
protected material in your infographics)
Pinterest
Suggestion:
Recipes are "fair use" and can't be copyright protected, only the
presentation can. Be creative and make a list of ingredients, then use
a "mind map" to turn recipes into infographics. Maybe add a photo or
clip art to dress it up. You can do the same thing with many step by
step "how to's". Be sure to put them in your own words and create an
entirely new graphic presentation using mind map software.
Twitter Images -
When 140 characters isn't enough. Twitter Images allows you to post
images and infographics are a great way to publish more info that you
can post in a normal tweet.
Instagram - Their site says, "Snap
a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to
Instagram. Share to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr too – it's as easy as
pie. It's photo sharing, reinvented."
Google Image Search
- Images can deliver some serious Google traffic and give you another
weapon in your marketing arsenal. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter
to learn how to optimize images infographics.
Photo Sharing Sites
- By creating infographics instead of always writing text, you can
submit them to the photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Photobucket Pro
and more. These sites can bring you attention and traffic, as well as
linking opportunities for SEO.
Submit to Slideshow/PowerPoint Sites - Some infographics and
visualizations can be produced using PowerPoint and/or Open Office
Impress. Upload them to sites like Scribd, Slideshare and Zoho for even
more marketing reach.
Make YouTube Videos
- After you've created slideshows from infographics, you're only a
small step away from exploiting all the potential submitting videos to
Youtube gives you.
Content - And don't
forget that infographics and visualizations make create content for
your sites and blogs, adding depth, interest and professionalism to
your pages. They can be interactive and animated. Many of the free
resources included below will even host your infographics and
visualizations for free.
Free Infographics and Visualization Tools You Need to Know
ManyEyes
- Probably my favorite infographic resource. A great site by IBM that
allows you to create "visualizations" using either your own data or
data stored on the site. You can choose different styles, fonts, colors
and more to display your infographics.
How to Use Many Eyes
Google
Data Sets - Similar to ManyEyes, but not quite as good, IMO.
Still, a good resource to check out.
Intro to Google Public
Data Sets
Visual.ly - A fantastic
infographic site. Create, share, publish infographics and visuals.
Connect your account to Facebook and Twitter and much more. Visual.ly
is a "must checkout"!
Wordly
- Another favorite. Just add some text and Wordly creates a
visualization. Uses a "word cloud" so the more times a word is used in
the text, the bigger it will appear. It can also import RSS feeds.
Note: Wordly uses Java to create the images. This means you can't save
the image directly to your computer. However, it the Wordly license it
says it's OK to take a screen shot and save it that way.
To make a screen shot, after you've created your Wordly:
press the "prt scrn" button on your keyboard.
Open Paint (Start => All Programs =>
Accessories => Paint)
Tip: Once you get your Wordly visual into Paint (or your favorite
graphics editor), add a simple picture, avatar or clipart to give it
some more "oooomph".
Tagxedo
- A very good text visualization tool similar to Wordly, but with many
more features and controls. The problem with Tagxedo is the usage
license, which is for non-commercial use only. The TOS also states they
own the copyright to the images created and add a copyright notice to
the bottom of each graphic. If you are OK with this, Tagxedo produces
some very cool results.
Tip: For tons of
ideas to make text-based infographics, do google searches for:
"list of ______"
"big list of ______"
"_______ word cloud"
...etc.
Collect your lists and make text-based infographics you can use on
Pinterest, Facebook, forums, YouTube videos, sites and blogs.
StatSilk
-
(Formally called "Stat Planet") Has a number of free downloads to help
creating infographics focusing on world maps and countries of the
World. Download page
StatSilk (StatPlanet) Interactive Map Maker
Hohli - Fast and
simple way to create pie charts, line graphs, bar charts, scatter
plots, radar charts and Venn diagrams.
Hohli Tutorial Video on Youtube:
yED
- A good, free flow chart creator and will run on Windows, Unix/Linux,
and Mac OS. See yED in action in the short video below:
Make Sweet -
Easy and fun way to make 3D Venn diagrams consisting of two
over-lapping circles.
MakeSweet Basics
Gapminder
- Adobe Air based program so it will run on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Creates impressive visualizations and includes a self-updating data
base of World facts and statistics.
Creately.com - An online flowchart creator with some good looking
templates. Free version is limited to 5 diagrams a month. Can upgrade
your account to unlimited diagrams for $5 a month.
Creately Tutorial (Note:
Collaborations aren't available in the free version)
More Data, Statistics and Content Resources and
Suggestions
Copyrights - Statistics and facts can't be protected by copyrights,
only the presentation of those facts can be protected. By creating your
own infographics and visuals using facts and statistics, you are
creating a new and unique presentation for them.
Suggested "average" search
queries:
The average _____ has
The average _____ weighs
The average _____ lives
The average _____ eats
The average _____ makes
The average _____ owns
The average american male
The average girl's guide
The average elevation
The average length of a _____
The average height of a _____
The average value of _____ is
The average cost of a _____ is
The average size of a _____ is
The average temperature of _____ is
The average hourly wage for _____ is
The average salary _____ is
The average price in 2012 for _____ is
The average price of _____ is
The average cost of a ton/pound/oz of _____ is
Quotes and Jokes/Humor
- There's many good sites with collections of jokes and quotes, and I
won't list them here. However, they make great content for infographics
and often can go viral on social sites like Pinterest and Twitter.
Images Morguefile.com - While the
images on MorgueFile aren't in the public domain, they do offer the most liberal
usage license of any of the only picture sharing sites. You can use them for
just about anything and you don't even need to give attribution. Be sure to read the
Morguefile license here.
PublicDomainPictures.net - Has a great selection of free quality pictures, backgrounds, lighting effects and more for personal and commercial use.
Ratings - Create
info graphics for Amazon products and be sure to include an appealing
graphic. However, be careful about using product pictures themselves,
as they may be copyright protected. Instead, create a chart or graph of
the average ratings for two or more products, for example.
Trends - Trends are great to convert to infographics. Here's a few ideas to find and exploit popular trends:
Google Trends - Enter multiple related keywords to compare trends, then convert to your own infographic
Youtube Trends - Find trending topics as well as create videos from infographics.
Trendsmap Twitter Trends
- Create infographics based on Twitter trends, then upload as Twitter
Images to exploit hot Twitter subjects to drive lots of traffic.
GraphicRiver.net-
Graphic River sells infographics mostly intended for print. IMO,
their license is a little expensive and restrictive to use for
Pinterest and other web project, unless you need something of very high
quality. However, it's free to browse and a great resource to help
stimulate your creative design juices. Check it out if you need some
design inspiration. Here's a search I did on GraphicsRiver for Infographics
123rf.com infographic templates - Also sells vector-based templates
for infographics. Another good source of inspiration.
YouTube is always a great place to learn and discover...Here's a couple of "infographics" related YouTube searches:
12 options for creating cartoon characters -
Cartoon-ize: Want to include a pic of a celebrity or famous person in
your infographic, and still respect copyright laws? Maybe
"cartoon-izing" that person is the answer. Or create cartoon look-alikes...Here's a web page that
reviews to use
in your infographics.
Jashaka.com
- Jashaka is a free program similar to Adobe After Effects, which
creates animations and special effects for videos. If you want to
animate your infographics and create videos for them for Youtube, etc,
without paying for After Effects, give Jashaka a look. The program
hasn't been updated in a few years, but a new version is expected to be
released in the summer of 2012. Also be sure to visit Youtube for Jashaka tutorials.
Free Infographic Vector Design Kit - I had
problems
getting the
download link when I gave my email address. But give it a shot, it
looks pretty cool. From the site: "Included
in this set is a world map, gender elements, as well as multiple pie
and bar charts. You can easily combine and modify all the elements to
create a distinctive infographic. The elements in the kit can be used
for personal and commercial purposes."
Free Infographic
Building Resources - A good collection of PSD and vector
images designed for making infographics. Includes charts, maps, "pins",
icons and more.
5 Free Vector Image Programs -
This site reviews the 5 best vector image programs. You are probably
more familiar with paint programs, such as Photoshop,
Gimp and Windows Paint. But when creating infographics, you may have a
need to be able to work with vector images. I won't get into detail,
but there's two ways to create images on a computer The most common is
called paint/raster. The other method is called draw/vector. Simply,
"paint" uses pixels and you can control it on a pixel by pixel basis.
"Draw" or vector uses math to draw lines and curves.
After you choose a program (I suggest Inkscape), you can find all sorts
of tutorials on Youtube.
Color
Palette Generator -
Enter the URL of an image to get a color
palette that matches the image.
Final Tips:
Unless you're very talented with graphics, keep it simple. From a
marketing point of view, a simple infographic can go a long way. Your
goal is to be productive, not Picasso.
Use the color schemers above. Just getting your colors to match can have a big impact on how good your infographics look.
Add your URL to each infographic. Not only do you want credit for making it, you can brand your site at the same time.
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