Business 2 CommunityTop Ways Infographics Can Increase Site Traffic and Improve Appearance
The Internet is a visual platform, so it only makes sense that infographics have the ability to reach millions of people and keep them engaged. According to Bell Pottinger, a marketing company, 2013 saw a 55% increase in business budgets for digital items like infographics.
In an infographic about infographics, Unbounce states that the number of people searching for infographics has seen an 800% increase in the last two years. With statistics like that, it’s hard to deny that data visualizations in the form of infographics is a good marketing tool for websites.
Draw New Visitors
Using Infographic to draws more tweets and new visitors
According to an infographic by Top Marketing Schools, a single infographic has the potential to reach as many as 15 million Internet users. Find a topic that people are interested in that ties to the niche topic of your site and you are almost certain to gain more than a few new site visitors.
Adding infographics draws new site visitors in a couple of ways.
Web Searches: Internet users may be doing research on the topic your infographic is on. If you are the only site to have an infographic on why blueberries make you smarter, then you’ll get the traffic from anyone searching for an infographic on that topic. Those who are searching specifically for images may come across your infographic as well.
Social Media: The infographic from Top Marketing Schools indicating that a traditional post gets about 75 tweets, while an infographic gets almost 600. Since people are so much more likely to share your infographic on Twitter than a simple post, your potential to reach new visitors via social media is enormous.
Keep Visitors
Nielson/Norman Group estimates that the average page visit lasts under a minute. Unless you grab the reader’s interest, she will glance over your page and move on to the next site.
Site visitors are in the habit of scrolling for information and news. This is another reason why infographics work so well to grab the reader’s interest. A visual representation of an interesting fact is a faster way to present information than paragraphs of text. Readers can skim your infographic quickly, absorb the information needed and will stay a bit longer to check out what else you have to offer, or may bookmark your site for later use.
However, another thing to keep in mind is that while infographics add value, heavy images that take a long time to load may serve to drive visitors away. Research by Pew Internet estimates that the average site visitor expects a page to load in under three seconds. The faster your site loads, the better your conversion rates will be.
It is quite the balancing act to make sure that your site offers a visually rich experience while still loading lightning fast. The best way to accomplish this is with fast servers and optimized images. You’ll notice on our hosting reviews page, that we list A2 as one of the fastest hosting companies. You can read complete reviews on a wide variety of web hosts and see which one best meets your need for speed and other features.
Social Media Reach
Pew Research Internet Project estimates that as of September, 2013 about 73 percent of adults who use the Internet are on social media sites, which are popular venues for sharing infographics. If you can make your infographic interactive, with video or clickable links, then people are even more likely to engage and share your graphic with others. Make sure:
The infographic has an embed code so others can easily add it to their sites.
It has your website address on the graphic.
The name of your company is in bold letters.
If you have the technical know how or can hire someone who does, you may also want to make easy share links for social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
Keep in mind that people are more likely to share an infographic via e-mail or private message as well. The potential to reach new site visitors with your infographic may be even larger than expected. Add to the examples above the fact that infographics are used in business and school presentations to illustrate a point and you have reached even more people than you ever thought possible.
Add Authority
Most people are visual learners. NeoMam has compiled research from sources such as Google Trends, Nielson and Pearson that suggests 70 percent of sensory receptors are located in the eyes and people can take in and comprehend a visual scene in just under 1/10th of a second.
People tend to believe what they see because they comprehend it better. Doing research and backing it up in your infographic can add authority to your brand. Be sure to:
Offer solid statistics
Add well-respected resources at the bottom of the infographic
Add graphs and charts that show those statistics in a visual way
When you combine the visual senses with interactive features, such as the NeoMam infographic these statistics came from, you not only capture your reader’s interest but you engage it.
What do you notice more? Do you notice a plain graphic on the page or one that moves, flashes or perhaps starts a video?
Stickier Website
A sticky website is one that every website owner strives for and would never consider taking “soap and water” to. A sticky site captures your visitors and makes them want to hang around for a while and come back time and time again. In addition to speaking to people on a visual level and being time effective, infographics help engage the reader.
In The Persausive Properties of Color, Xerox found that a simple technique such as adding a colored box behind text makes readers desire to read that text by as much as 80 percent more. Add color with:
Colored arrows
Bold, large text
Encapsulated text
Experiment by adding one of these elements at a time and see how your conversion rates change.
Persuade Visitors to Your Way of Thinking
Would you like to persuade visitors about a trend or statistic? The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, found that only 50 percent of an audience was persuaded with a presentation that was verbal only, while 67 percent were persauded by a presentation that offered verbal and visual features. In addition:
Visual graphics helped people make their decision immediately following the presentation.
Meeting times were reduced because information was presented faster and people understood it better with data visualizations, which meant less question/answer time.
Think about meetings you’d attending in the past. Who was more convincing? The person with visual aids and a quick, to the point presentation? Of course that person is more convincing than one who stumbles around the topic, offers no real proof and lectures at you for hours on end (usually in a monotone voice).
Adding Fresh, Trending Info
Infographics are a different way to add fresh info that is trending. Right now, Google’s algorithms tend to index infographics quickly, which can help with your page rank. However, Google is always tweaking its algorithm, so your best course of action is to present top-notch information in a way that engages your readers. Infographics accomplish that and more.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Top Ways Infographics Can Increase Site Traffic and Improve Appearance
More Business articles from Business 2 Community:
