Did you know that 9 out of 10 infographics are useless, irrelevant and unattractive to readers? That’s right! 90% of infographics should be terminated, revised or improved. Let’s make sure
your next infographic doesn’t fall into that category, shall we?
When creating an infographic to embellish your
blog post, remember not to make these 15 mistakes:
- The infographic has no end.
No matter how interesting your infographic is, you risk losing your readers if it’s too long. People have
short attention spans and they tend to leave a website within 10-20 seconds. So, the longer your infographic takes to read, the more likely people are to close the page.
Also, long infographics need a lot of time to load. If your infographic loads for more than 3 seconds, you risk losing your viewers.
Solution: Your infographic should be up to 8,000 pixels and under 1,5MB (use compression tools like ImageOptim, TinyPNG or Optimizilla).
- It’s too wordy.
An infographic can be compared to a painting that represents thousands of words without saying them. If your infographic looks like an article in a fancy frame, it’s not a proper infographic. Too much text makes it boring and unattractive.
Also, when text overshadows images, the infographic loses its purpose. It no longer shows information in a visual way. Thus, it’s useless.
Solution: Be specific, choose simple but meaningful words and don’t ramble.
- The data is illogical.
Many marketers and content strategists create infographics in order to present data of a survey via charts and tables. But, they often forget to do the math properly. Thus, the percentages don’t add up and the infographic becomes laughable.
Solution: Do the math 3 times to make sure the numbers make sense.
- It’s too complex.
The main benefit of infographics is that they allow you to present sophisticated ideas and topics in a simple visual form.
If you add too many details, stray from the topic or get entangled in too much data, the infographic loses it’s charm and becomes difficult to understand for your readers.
How to check if your infographic is too complex? Try to summarize it in one sentence. If you succeed, your infographic is simple. If not, it’s too complicated and should be improved.
Solution: Be minimalistic and stick to your topic.
- The font is illegible or too small.
You’ll lose your viewers if your infographic isn’t readable.
Whereas it’s fun to use a variety of fonts in a variety of colors and sizes, such a mixture isn’t eye-friendly. Thus, if your infographic makes people strain their eyes and spend a lot of time deciphering the text, they’ll leave the website.
Solution: Choose no more than 2 fonts and adjust the size of the text so that it was easy to read.
- The headline isn’t eye-catchy.
The headline of your infographic is as important as the headline of your blog post. Neither of them will be clicked, read and shared without a killer title.
So, if your headline is too long, states the obvious and has powerless words, it’s not going to grab people’s attention and spark their interest.
Solution: In order to make your headline eye-catchy, use
power words, add numbers as well as trigger wh- words and keep it short.
- The information is false.
Another mistake you can make while creating your infographic is to present untrue data or use unreliable sources. It decreases your credibility. As a result, you lose readers.
No one will like and share your infographic if it feeds people with lies, untrue facts or has no sources at all to verify the data.
Solution: Use only reputable sources and always cite them.
- You don’t limit your color palette.
Choosing colors for your infographic is important. When you focus on one color, you evoke positive emotions in your readers - trust, hope, tranquility or optimism (depending on the color you use). An accent of a different color calls attention, but too many additional colors bring headache.
Remember that
color has a language of its own and communicates a lot to your readers, so don’t change your infographic into a rainbow.
Solution: Use 1-2 dominant colors and add no more than 3 accent colors.
- It lacks creativity.
If you use
online infographic makers, you can choose from hundreds of free infographic templates. Whereas it’s easy and quick to create an infographic using an available layout, the infographic won’t be unique.
Think about it. How many people have already used that layout before? When one template is overused, it becomes boring and unoriginal.
Solution: Don’t stick to the available layouts. Create your own unique templates.
- You add low-quality images.
The main goal of pictures is to help memorize data, not to disturb. So, an infographic that has low-resolution images looks unaesthetic and thus, is useless.
Also, infographics that have pictures with watermarks (many online infographic makers give you access to hundreds of images that are free but come with a watermark) are unattractive to viewers. They distort pictures.
Solution: Use only high-resolution images (you can use free stock photos from such websites as Pexels, Pixabay or Unsplash).
- No proofreading done.
When you work on your infographic for days, you cannot wait to see it live. Often, you forget that before publishing it, you need to do some proofreading. After all, your infographic consists not only of images but also text.
A spelling mistake in the title is catastrophic. Grammar mistakes in the body of the infographic also don’t look well.
If your infographic has a mistake, it’ll be noticed by everyone and thus, the infographic will not go viral.
Solution: Proofread your infographic at least 3 times before publishing it.
- No one knows you created it.
Another mistake you can make while creating your infographic is not to leave your signature on it.
Imagine that someone finds your infographic online and would like to re-post it on their website. If you don’t add your name on it, where can they find the original image? Also, if they can’t find the original image, how can they share it?
Solution: Brand your infographic. It can be your logo, the name of your website, your company’s name or simply your name and surname. The decision is yours.
- It’s only on your
Even the best infographic won’t be shared if you don’t allow it to be shared.
Imagine such a situation: someone reads your infographic, adores it and would like to pin it or re-post it on their facebook. So, they search for share buttons but can’t find any. Since there are none, what do your readers do? They leave the website and forget they have ever seen your infographic.
Thus, your infographic doesn’t go viral.
Solution: Make your infographic easy to share by adding tweet and pin buttons next to it.
- You broke the 7th Commandment.
“Thou shalt not steal!”
Whereas it’s good to be inspired by someone else’s work, it’s not good to copy it and publish as your own. Even if you change the colors, fonts and images, people will know the infographic isn’t yours.
If you decide to copy another person’s work, your readers won’t respect you or trust you. What’s worse, they’ll tweet that you’re a copycat. I think you wouldn’t like that to happen, would you?
Solution: If you like someone else’s idea or topic, you can use it but add more information, present the topic from a different point of view or add a surprise twist to it.
- No call to action.
Even if you create a wonderful infographic, add share buttons and some space for comments, it doesn’t guarantee you that your readers will use those tools.
If you don’t suggest people to share your content with their friends, they won’t do that; and, if they don’t share your infographic, it won’t go viral.
Solution: Encourage people to share your infographic by adding a call to action.
Wrapping it up
If you want your infographic to be read, shared and commented on, remember to proofread it before publishing. If it so happens that your infographic has any of the above mistakes, edit it and remember to avoid that mistake in the future.
If you find the article useful, share it with your friends! If there are any other mistakes you should avoid while creating an infographic, let us know in the comments below!
About Author: Emily Johnson is a blogger and a content strategist at omnipapers.com. She is also a contributor to many websites about career advice, productivity, work issues, blogging and writing. You can always find more works of hers on Twitter.
