I’m back with another post that is about links when you really dissect it. Why? Because links are the #1 thing you need to rank. The “content is king” fanboys will preach that all day long until they are blue in the face at the conferences and in their writing, but guess what? They are building links in the background. The “content is king” BS they spew is done so they can.. get this.. GET LINKS! Comical, right?
This post is about my favorite kind of content: infographics. Why is it my favorite? Because it’s the easiest way to get links by doing content marketing and it doesn’t require you to type content all day long until your fingers hurt. I have been using infographics to get my clients some very nice authority links over the past couple of years and instead of just preaching that it works so good, I’m going to explain why. My goal is to help the average website owner and someone that might be new to SEO understand why it’s effective and also highlight the fact that links are the reason we do content marketing. It isn’t to “tell Google we know what we are talking about” and all that false preaching. It’s to get links. Links is what helps rank websites at the top of the SERPs.
You’ll soon see why Infographics should be part of your SEO Arsenal.
1. Regular Content is a Dime a Dozen
Ever since content marketing became the biggest buzzword in the SEO world, every website has been posting “high quality content” and trying to get guest post spots on blogs. It’s gotten so saturated that it makes it very hard to stand out if you are offering to contribute just an article. There are hundreds of other people just like you that are contacting websites every single day with a promise of “high quality” content.
If you go in with the same approach and pitch that every Tom, Dick, and Harry uses you won’t be seen. That means you won’t get any links. Infographics take a bit more effort because you need to research content then either have the patience to learn how to create them or have the budget to get them made by someone that has experience making top performing infographics. With such a small amount of pitches being infographics, if you use them as your link bait you will get a much higher response rate from the websites that you contact.
With so many people after guest blogging spots it makes just getting noticed a top priority. Editors will sometimes just delete emails without reading them if they sense it’s a generic “hey I want to guest blog” pitch. Make them know you have a great infographic by using a subject line like “Infographic just for (website)” and that will at the very least get an open. If your infographic is good, then you stand a very good chance of nabbing a link out of the deal.
2. Infographics Are Easy for Websites to Post
Most people think that websites are begging for guest posts because it’s “free content” but that isn’t the case at all. I can promise you that any large website that is considered an “authority” has a large staff dedicated to its content. They have staff members that plan it, review it, edit it, scan it, skim it, etc. Even a “free” guest post goes through several sets of hands that the website is paying to employ.
The less shit they make each person handle, the more quality that will actually be published. That is why it’s impossible for them to read every pitch and submission. Most is crap and their staff would be wasting a lot of time, which equals the website wasting a lot of money.
Don’t get me wrong, these authority websites love free content, but this is why relationships work so well. If you have a direct contact that allows you to skip all the front lines it helps you greatly. You won’t always be able to make those contacts right off the bat, so you will have to get in through the standard channel. Infographics help you stand out and make those connections.
3. Most Readers Are Lazy: Reason Why Infographics Get More Shares
Why do infographics get more page views and more social shares than a regular blog post? It’s because the readers are lazy. People don’t read all of the content in an article. That is why formatting is so important. Most articles are just skimmed through, so it’s important to have numbered lists and headings that will at least give the reader an idea of what the article is about if they just scan it quickly.
An infographic is designed to allow someone to get all of the information just by skimming it. You don’t have to “read” the same way you need to when it’s a regular post. It all comes down to laziness. The websites know their readers are lazy. They know their readers would rather look at an infographic instead of reading a blog post. Someone is going to understand the content when it is presented as an infographic with very little effort, so they share it on social media because they did understand it. Then, their friends see it, glance over it and “get it” and share it as well. This is why a great infographic can go viral much easier than a blog post. Thank the lazy people, because they are the reason why they do so well.
4. Typing Long Articles Sucks
Guess what? If you want links from 10 websites and are going to guest blog that means you have to write 10 awesome articles. You can approach the same websites with the SAME infographic and get them all to post it. There is no worry about duplicate infographics. Even if you write the intro for each, it’s much easier to write 10 paragraphs rather than 10 entire articles!
Writing content isn’t fun. For the time it would take you to write 10 high quality posts you could create a very good infographic. And for what it would cost you to have 10 articles written you can buy a great infographic. Not only is this approach easier, but it also works much better. You are going to attract the attention of the website owner or decision maker with an infographic 100 times easier than if you are just pitching a guest post article like everyone else.
Eliminate all that typing for guest blogs and if you really feel the need to crank out articles post them on your own website. Dedicating most of your content to your own blog will help you target long tail keywords and grab the traffic for yourself instead of for someone else you are guest blogging for. Infographics are just smarter content when it comes to guest blogging.
5. Outreach Close Ratio Makes Up for Cost Difference
If you want to get a guest blog posted on a website like Inc or Forbes you better be willing to spend some serious money on not only the “connection” but also the content. I can tell you that unless you are a top writer and understand the style of content they like, you better be prepared to spend $250 – $500 JUST for the content (then BIG money for the placement). That is just for ONE link.
Infographics are more affordable than you think. If you look at my company’s infographics plans you will see the cheapest plan is $425 and that includes the research and design along with placements. Now, the infographic can be posted on as many websites that you can lock in. Once that one cost is handled you can do manual outreach that won’t cost you a dime other than your time.
“But Tommy, I write my own content.”
Great, I can promise you that infographics will still give you a better return. If you use the time you usually type out content to work on other areas of your business not only will you get more links (because infographics outperform regular posts) but your overall business will be better because you are using that time you used to write to work on other areas that you would have to neglect in the past to crank out content.
6. You Can Make Them if You Can’t Afford Them
A lot of people will contact a large agency and get a quote of $3,500 or more for an infographic and they never consider them again. These big SEO agencies have huge expenses like big offices and large staffs that they need to account for, so their prices are inflated. I have seen $3,500 infographics that look like they were purchased on Fiverr and my team has created infographics for clients using our $425 package that looked like they cost 10X that price.
Don’t think that an outsource option or a freelancer is going to automatically mean a lower quality infographic. The truth is that many of the large agencies are using the same outsource teams and marking them up, leaving them with a very high margin. It’s just like everything in the SEO world. There are often a few large outsource options that are providing the actual “work” for multiple companies that are basically just sales teams.
If you are really short on cash or have no budget at all you can use some of the tools that I have previously mentioned in this post. There are a lot of very affordable monthly options that allow you to use a large library of templates and get access to new ones as they are added. There are also some free options that have a very limited template selection, but it’s a good option for those just starting off.
“I don’t have money” is a horrible excuse. Anyone can make infographics their main content marketing bait.
7. Easiest Way to Build Authority Links to Inner Pages
What do I use infographics for the most? This is easy: to build authority links to inner pages that target long tail keywords. I love to find great long tails with low competition and then create an infographic around them. With solid on-site optimization and a strong authority base to start, I can usually get inner pages ranked using this strategy with just a couple strong links.
It’s also very easy to get links back to the “original source” of the infographic. It’s not link you are asking the website to link back to your home page with exact anchor text for “make money online” or something crazy like that. With good on-site optimization you can rank with even “click here” or “original source” generic links from the right authority websites.
Do this, and have a really strong popup or sidebar offer and you can really start to see some results.
Tip: If you uncover very low competition long tails quickly make an infographic using one of the tools and submit it to infographic directories. Most will link back to the original source automatically. These links can help you rank for the long tails very fast!
8. They Build Links on Autopilot
What if I told you that I have clients that are still getting links from infographics we posted on their blog almost a year ago? Would you think I’ve been smoking the good stuff again? Well it’s true, I have several clients that get new links every month from infographics that are old.
The key is to create infographics that are evergreen and don’t have an expiration date on them. It’s easy to go in and manually update old blog posts so they remain relevant, but an infographic would require reworking the design and nobody has time for that. Just create infographics that aren’t going to ever lose their appeal and interest. If you can do this then you will have a piece of content that will literally help you snag links on autopilot every month.
The impact this can have is greatly increased if you have a lot of infographics on your blog. Here is a little tip that works so well, but nobody does: Create a separate blog category “infographics” and make sure you include every infographic there. If another website finds one of your infographics and posts it, they will often check out your other offerings and this is an easy way to get multiple links from solid sites pointed at several of your inner pages.
Conclusion
It should be pretty obvious why infographics work so well after reading this. Don’t let the cost stop you. If you can’t hire someone to handle the project, use a template or one of the many infographic creation tools. You won’t always get the type of response as you would with a fully custom one, but it can still help you get links. As you make more money and have a larger SEO budget, you can then improve the quality of the infographics you create.
If you have any questions about infographics, from making them or sourcing them to outreach, drop them below and I will do my best to help you. Until next time!
