Use Infographics to depict information visually.
Are you a visual learner? Do you learn by looking at pictures? According to educational publisher Prentice-Hall, 65% of all people are visual learners.
If you are a blogger, and your goal is to inform your readers, you need to accompany your text with pictures or 65% of your readers will be missing out. There are other statistics that say up to 85% of the population could learn by looking at pictures.
Professional looking pictures take money and time to create. As bloggers, most of us are strapped for time and don’t get paid anything to inform our readers.
Easel.ly is a theme-based web app for creating infographics and data visualizations. By using what is on your easel, you’ll be expressing your creativity. It’s free, fast, and fun.
My post 5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Readers’ Time at Your Blog explains the importance of infographics. After reading it, my commenters wrote that they wish they had time to create infographics. Now everyone does.
This screenshot shows some of the infographics I’ve placed in my blog posts.
Infographics are everywhere because they are great at sharing information creatively. They especially lend themselves to depicting numerical data easily. For example, there are only a few steps to using Easel.ly which is easy to see by looking at my infographic. In addition, they often get pinned and clicked on by the Pinterest crowd which will enable your blog post that goes with the infographic to get more exposure.
Welcome to My Easel.ly Tutorial!
Step 1: Go to http://www.easel.ly/ and make an account. Or, you can log in with an account you’ve already made for Facebook or Google.
Step 2: Click “Start Fresh”
Step 3: Click Vhemes (Visuals + Themes)
Step 4: When the Vhemes open, find one that suits the information that you want to present visually. Pull the theme straight down onto the work area and the elements that appear on the screen will go away. Or, you can click “Clear,” and you will have a blank screen to work on. All the elements–the background, the pictures, and the text–are all editable.
If you want to add an object, click “object”. A drop down menu will open which will give you choices. When you find what you want to place, drag the element down.
You can rotate the position of the objects. For example, I turned one of my arrows upside down.
If you want to change the background, click “background” and drag your preferred background down. My infographic originally came in blue.
Step 5: Double click on the text you want to edit. An editing space appears that will show you what the edited text will look like. There are controls that appear when you click that allow you to control the size of the elements.
If you want additional text, click “text,” and a new text box will appear that you can edit. With Easel.ly, you are able to change the size, font style, and color just like in a Word Processor.
Step 6: Click “Save” and name your infographic.
Step 7: Click “Download” from the Design Menu. I then choose “High Quality” to get an image so I can bring my infographic into my computer.
That’s all there is to using Easel.ly. All you do is pick from a wide variety of themes, adjust the elements, and save your work.
Are you a visual learner who would like to see first-hand? Watch the video. Since it only takes five minutes to make an infographic using Easel.ly, the video is only five minutes long.
Easel.ly is easy, free, fast, and fun.
If you think others could benefit from knowing about Easel.ly, please share. Readers, do you make infographics? How? Do you have experience with Easel.ly? I look forward to your views.
Related posts:
4 Simple Ways to Start Blogging Creatively
4 Practical Reasons Pinterest Will Make You a Better Blogger
How to Quintuple Your Page Views Using Pinterest
How to Use Canva: A Quick Guide
Sources:
http://www.phschool.com/eteach/social_studies/2003_05/essay.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VHyKgdbUhU
and other goodies!
You are so talented to bring this information to us in a neat package.
http://www.wyswoods.wordpress.com
Hi!
I think you reblogged my writing yesterday morning, and I forgot to thank you.
You are quite welcome my friend. I wish I could agree about “talented”. Easel.ly makes us all look talented.
Thanks as always for the praise and support.
Janice
I love infographics on other blogs, so thank you for sharing this helpful information. I’m bookmarking your post and then heading over to Easel.ly .
What a compliment! It’s fun, easy, and, of course, free. It’s quick too, basically modifying templates you like that are already in existence. Did you watch the video I embedded? That’s how I learned to change the color. Nice “meeting” you.
Janice
Always have loved them, and wondered how to make them. Thank you for sharing!
~Carl~
Hey,
How are you dong? You were one of my first contacts as a blogger. Nice to hear from you. I’m not very artistic. I use Canva (which I just added as a related post) to make professional looking graphics. Now I use Easel.ly to make professional looking infographs.
Thanks for writing.
Janice
You are constantly a wealth of information
Thank you so much!
I have a whole new folder in my favorites with mostly blogging tips of yours and links to fantastic sources. It’s filling up fast! Still gotta figure out that google adwords though! ~Elle
wow!wow!! I says dis is awesome, i will need to go through it over again, so as to perfect it. Thanks janice you are awesome. Do drop by at my blog,
http://naijahomecaterer.wordpress.com
i just post on Monday, so take a look at it and tell me your own view. Hope to see you in my blog. Once again i love the leadership in you.
Hi,
Is it Naija? You have become one of my most loyal commenters. When I get a chance, I’ll go back over to your blog. Lately, when I think of water, I think of you. LOL. I’m in California where we have a drought.
Off to finish my comments. I feel bad people have to wait for me to write back. I’ll visit again soon. I promise
Janice
PS If you have any questions about how to make an infographic, please write back and ask me.
Janice
Great! I could use this information for the Enhancement of my blog.
Thanks.
Thank you for the follow!!
Hi Muhammad,
They totally enhance the post, and they get shared A LOT on Pinterest which gets your blog new exposure.
Janice
Thank you for this! My attempts at infographics never look as professional as I’d like. This is great!
Visiting from SITS
I haven’t ever tried to make an info graphic so I really appreciate you sharing this. Thanks! I will watch and learn. Visiting you via SITSSharefest
Hi,
Thanks for coming over from SITS and letting me know how you found me. I always wonder. I LOVE infographics. They are kind of a spin on the traditional image and condense the information. Thanks for reading what I wrote.
Janice
Hey Janice ,
Very impressive post!!
I completely agree with you that visualizing raw data is a very important part for a business because it present business related information in an appealing, graceful and descriptive way. It not only assists in the hike of business but is associated with each and every form of human exercises.
I mostly use tableau software for creating my visuals but now I will surely give Easel.ly a try.
Thanks a lot for sharing 🙂
Cheers!!
Hi Tyler,
Thank you so much for reading what I wrote and your comments. I am not familiar with Tableau. Is it free? My readers are mostly hobby bloggers that don’t spend money on blogging. Many also can’t install plug ins. If it’s free, would you be interested in guest posting about it for my readers? I don’t have a budget to pay you, but I would link to your site, and I have a decent Alexa score.
Janice
Janice Wald recently posted…Blogger’s Pit Stop #30
Hello Janice ,
Extremely noteworthy post!!
I adore infographics on different online journals, so thank you for sharing this supportive data.
Hi Tyler,
I appreciate you commenting on my post. I am glad you enjoyed and found it valuable! I just made an info graphic this weekend. They help the reader and they do well on Pinterest.
Janice
Where did you find the post may I ask?
Janice
Hello, I want to subscribe for this blog to obtain newest updates,
so where can i do it please assist.
Hi Nate,
Thank you for your interest in reading my articles. Since you expressed interest, I added you to my mailing list.
Welcome!
Janice
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