Link builders have been telling you to add all sorts of links to your link profile, from straightforward text links in content to image links, using nofollow when necessary (or accepting it when there’s no other alternative) and even seeking out some links that aren’t keywordized (such as your site name or URL.) Those are the kinds of links that are actively sought, but then there are the passive links that can sometimes be even better in many ways.
Linkbait links, in particular, have been in our heads for ages now, as if they’re done properly, they can be some of the best links that you’ll ever get. Linkbait is definitely difficult to do well, in my opinion, because the potential for failure and backlash is there, as is the knowledge that you may invest time and money into something that doesn’t bring you a single link.
Infographics are a great way to get the best of both worlds and pull in active and passive links both. You can easily email webmasters and point them to your infographic and ask for a link, but infographics also tend to do very well when used as linkbait or to promote on social media platforms.
As you can also see when you look at the linking and privacy infographics mentioned below, there’s another fantastic bit about this form of content. It’s embeddable! Yes, like a widget. While not all infographics give you this option, the majority of the good ones that I’ve seen recently do, which makes it easy for you to grab it and slap it on your own site if you like. As you’ll see in the code, this gives you a nice link back to your site, so I’d suggest that you definitely include this ability if you’re doing any infographics.
One of my favorite infographics is the Google Privacy infographic done by Warlock Media and seen on the Wordstream.com site. (I have to confess to mainly liking it so much because it reminds me of the Communist propaganda art from ages past.) It gives you a ton of data in a very succinct manner without making you read some long boring article that goes on for pages and pages. It does everything that an infographic should do. Another one that I love is the linking inforgraphic that gives you info about what types of links you should have in your link profile. They are obviously much more clever than I am, and I suppose that in the essence of time I could have simply pointed you in that direction…
So to conclude, why are infographics so cool?
1. They do well on Digg and other social media platforms. There’s a great article about this here, so I won’t bore you with anything further on that tangent.
2. They’re good for linkbait. I can’t imagine that there are many people out there who have not seen a linkbait piece in one form or another, whether it was an image, video, etc. and shared it with someone else. I may have even sent the Chimpanzee Riding On A Segway video to my dad.
3. They’re good for those of us with short attention spans. Usually if a piece goes on for more than a few paragraphs, by the time I read past the 5th one, I’m out. I can usually follow a nice infographic with pretty colors and pictures though.
4. They’re a good way to add some variety to your link profile. It’s never good to depend upon one type of links if you want to stay competitive.
Some people are talented enough to create their own infographics and other forms of linkbait, but if you’re not, try to find a reputable company that can show you successful examples of their work before shelling out a bundle of cash.
