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    The B2B SaaS Marketing Blog

    How to Create a Great Infographic with No Design Skills

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    Last updated: July 10th, 2014

    Graphic Designer

    Infographics are a fantastic way of marketing your business online. Considering that approximately 65% of people are visual learners, most Internet users prefer to have visual representations of data. By presenting information in a concise, easy-to-understand and eye-catching way, you can draw the attention of your buyer personas and achieve your marketing goals.

    Unfortunately, combining useful data with creative visuals and attractive colors in a manner that outshines your competition isn’t that easy, especially if you’re not a garphic designer. But don’t give up; you can still create cool infographics and successfully use them as part of your web marketing strategy.

    How to Create an Infographic in Five Simple Steps

    1. Develop a Knockout Headline. The headline is the first impression, so make sure it’s awesome! The best headlines, such as those promising to share useful information or those posing intriguing questions, always attract readers. Don’t forget to include your targeted keyword. Here’s an example of a catchy headline from a popular infographic:

    Facebook Cheat Sheet

    2. Use a Customizable Template. One of the most important things you need to do in order to create a great infographic is to select appropriate graphics and imagery. If you don’t know how to develop graphics from scratch, you can find various infographic creation tools. A great idea would be to use customizable templates, which you can easily edit by adding text, inserting shapes and changing fonts and colors. Regardless of the template you use, make sure that it perfectly fits your story. For instance, if you want to run an infographic about a serious health issue, it’s not the best idea to couple it with super cheerful, almost childlike designs.

    The following sites offer free and paid versions of excellent infographic builders, make sure you check them out:

    3. Use the Tools You Have at Your Disposal. When creating infographics without any experience, don’t try to reinvent the wheel; leave that to experts. Regardless of the templates and apps you select in order to create your infographics, consider the following points:

    • The power of data doesn’t lie in the data itself, but in the way it’s displayed and interpreted.
    • Keep your graphics simple and easy to understand, addressing specific problems or questions.
    • Use your imagination. After all, creativity is what makes infographics different from simple charts. Besides using various tools, you can make your graphics more unique by inserting images and screenshots.
    • Since accuracy is very important when creating graphical representations, stay away from the diagrams and charts that fail to represent data accurately.
    • Always use an infographic style that’s relevant to the topic.

    4. Write Great Content. Although “a picture is worth a thousand words,” placing a few images and graphics on a PowerPoint slide isn’t enough to attract people. Keep in mind that infographics aren’t about making poor content look great, but about offering valuable information to readers. Thus, the content you create should:

    • give your infographics meaning
    • be compelling enough to capture readers’ attention
    • be relevant to the services and products you provide

    To keep your infographics as simple as possible, complement them with as little text as possible, and don’t forget to cite your sources at the end. Here’s an example of great copy from a Google infographic:

    Media Consumption

    5. Customize. After choosing a template, copying/pasting your content and adjusting typeface sizes and formatting, it’s time to customize your infographic to make it look cool. You can add different elements, such as shadows, arrows and talk bubbles, and even adjust the color scheme for a more branded look.

    Summary

    Finding a free customizable template that perfectly fits your story and then editing it can take a lot of time.

    Fortunately, there’s one more solution you can opt for. Not only do the aforementioned websites provide different templates along with all the tools you need to create infographics, but also you don’t have to spend time learning web and graphic design. But there’s also a downside. Although these websites are great for novice graphic designers, they can be quite limiting. Further, you’ll simply never get the same results as a professional designer.

    Now, if you wonder how to create an infographic with great aesthetics and functionality, ready to deliver superior user experience, the best thing you can do is to hire design professionals. The design if only half the battle though. The next challenge is actually marketing your infographic in order to ensure that it reaches the audience you’re looking for. Make sure you book a free marketing assessment with us if you want to take your content marketing to the next level!

    Image source: Shutterstock.

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