Do you need to explain a complicated topic to your audience? Then it may be time to consider creating an infographic. Research shows humans take in data 323 percent better when they have illustrations to guide them.
Of course, infographics aren’t just a great way to explain complex ideas or problems. They can also help to improve your website’s ranking on search engines like Google and Bing.
Are you ready to create an SEO-friendly infographic of your own? Read on to find out how.
How to Create an Infographic for Your Website
Creating an infographic for your company’s website doesn’t have to be an arduous task. In most cases, all you need to do is follow these four steps:
Gather Your Data
The first step on the road to creating an attractive infographic is gathering data. Though this step is not glamorous, it is essential to the process.
There are two types of data you can include in your infographic. They are:
- Original Data: Information collected through customer surveys or in-house research
- Third-Party Data: Statistics gathered from government agencies, universities, and other reputable sources
Once you have your raw data on hand, you can then review it and decide which facts you would like to present to your audience.
Choose Your Desired Template
When you finish gathering and selecting your data, you must next pick an infographic template. One of these options is likely to fit your needs:
- Flowchart Infographic: For explaining a cyclical or linear process
- Graph-Based Infographic: For presenting a large volume of statistical information
- Timeline Infographic: For telling a chronological story
- Side-By-Side Infographic: For explaining the differences between two concepts or processes
You can find a variety of infographic templates on PowerPoint or any similar presentation program.
Customize Your Infographic
Gathering data and choosing a template is only half the battle. Before you can present your infographic to your audience, you have to customize it to make it appealing and unique.
For most infographics, the customization process involves these steps:
- Plug in facts and statistics
- Insert relevant images and graphs
- Adjust colors
- Add a company logo
If you plan to create and post more than one infographic, try to maintain a similar aesthetic across all of them to maximize your results.
Disclose Your Sources
It can be quite tempting to hit “publish” as soon as you finish customizing your new infographic. However, before you take this step, you should take some time to add your sources to the footer.
This process will only take a few minutes – and will make your infographic appear much more professional and trustworthy to users.
How to Optimize Your Infographic for SEO
Even the most appealing and well-sourced infographic in the world won’t drive traffic to your website unless you optimize it for SEO. Fortunately, it isn’t complicated to optimize an infographic. Just follow these four steps:
Carefully Select Your Keywords
The first step in the optimization process is choosing the right keywords. Of course, you should never select your keywords at random. Instead, it is typically best to do some research before pressing forward.
You can carry out this research using the following tools:
It is generally a good idea to stick to long-tail keywords when optimizing your infographic. They are likely to drive the most traffic to your site.
Choose the Right File Name
When creating your infographic, you most likely saved it to your computer with a name such as “infograph01.png” or something similar. However, it is rarely wise to upload it to your site with such a generic name.
It usually makes more sense to give it a name that includes your selected keyword. If, for example, your keyword is “2021 Toyota Camry specs,” you may wish to name your file “2021_toyota_camry_specs_infographic.png.”
Search engine algorithms will see this file name and send interested users to your website.
Add an Alt Tag to Your Infographic
Bots don’t just read your file names. They can also see the alt tag you add to your infographic. As such, you should always take the time to include a tag that will help the bots understand the content of your image and drive users to your site.
You can write SEO-friendly alt text by following these tips:
- Describe the content of the infographic
- Include your keywords in a natural way
- Avoid keyword stuffing
- Do not exceed 120 characters
Alt tags like “2021 Toyota Camry specs and features” are likely to perform well with search engines.
Reduce the Loading Time
Neither Google nor Bing will send searchers to your infographic if it takes too long to load. So, if you want to generate traffic, you should take steps to improve your loading speed.
The following techniques are some of the best ways to boost the loading time of your infographic:
- Compress the image to reduce the file size
- Use a content delivery network to serve the image to the user
- Enable browser caching on your website
You can also consider switching to a faster hosting provider if your image is still slow to load after following these tips.
Need Some Help? Contact the Experts at FZA Digital
Do you need help creating an SEO-friendly infographic for your company’s website? Then please do not hesitate to get in touch with FZA Digital. Our team of knowledgeable marketers and graphic designers will be happy to provide you with the assistance you require.
To speak to one of our friendly representatives, all you need to do is fill in our short online contact form or give us a call at (424) 229-2923.