While a blog is famously known to consist of
articles (i.e. made up of words), often times readers need a visual aid to help
them digest the information—and no we’re not just talking about having a
complimentary photo to make an article look more attractive. We're talking
about the very popular growing inforgraphic.
Inforgraphics tell a story in
their own way by creatively and artistically displaying factoids and other
interesting tidbits of information on a chart or other animated image. There
are extremely eye-catching and can offer an interesting new way to post some of
your content. Not to mention they do great for search engine optimization,
especially if it gets popular on Twitter or Facebook and goes viral. This means
you get tons of new readers.
While typically you need to have some background
knowledge in graphic design to create one, there are a few websites that have
made it easy for the average blogger to create his or her own infographic for
free. The top 3 sites are listed below.
1. Wordle—Like
the name suggests, this infographic-making
tool does some really neat things with words.
Simply type a few words or even an entire body of text into the appropriate box
and the site will automatically convert it to an artistic "word
cloud." If you don’t like what the site has created for you, you can tweek
the artwork yourself and change colors and fonts as well as themes. It's free
to use but make sure you have the latest edition of Java or it won't run—if you
don’t know worries, it can be easily downloaded for free. You can then directly
post the infographic onto your blog or print it out for free for your records.
2. Statsilk—This site gives users the opportunity to
creatively display a set of statistics that pertain to the U.S. or the world as
a whole. This is because this
visualization software creates really intricate and interactive maps. Thus, if
you get your hands on a set of facts or stats that deal with a certain region,
state, or country why not make a map? You can literally paint a better picture
for you audience instead of just using words.
3.
Creately—Lastly,
this website lets bloggers create all kinds
of "creative" diagrams, flowcharts, and concept maps. You may think
that you'll never need to use one, but it can be a fun way to explain how
something has evolved over time or use it to compare and contrast ideas. The
possibilities are endless. The only downside is that the site only offers five
free diagrams. Once those are used you have to pay to use its services.
While infographics
surely aren't the only way to step outside of the box, they are a great way to
start. Don’t forget about video blogging and podcasts too—they can make your
readers really engaged.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com.
