Friday, January 20, 2012

30 + Really useful info graphics tools & resources


Infographic credit:  Ivan Cash


Infographics are everywhere!  Whether you’re a fan of them or not, infographics have become a staple of web content and are engaged in a seemingly endless love affair with social media.  As digital marketers, we’re interested in the content marketing potential of infographics, which can generate thousands of pageviews, social media shares, backlinks and capture mindshare.


If you’re interested in developing your own infographics to reap these potential benefits, we put together this list of 30+ useful infographic tools and resources to help you on your way.  We included a well-rounded mix of charts & graphs generators, graphics programs, mind-mapping tools, and resources for finding data sets and statistics.


Whether you’re just looking for simple online charting tools or seeking complex data visualization software, the list below has got you covered!


(Listed below in Alphabetical order!)

amCharts – A set of free JavaScript/HTML5-based chart tools that can cover most of your needs, whether designing static infographics or developing embeddable “live” charts!  Includes serial charts, pie/donut, radar/polar and xy/scatter/bubble charts. Cross-browser & standards-compliant!Bubbl.us – A free online brainstorming tool that lets you easily build colorful mindmaps to print or share with others. Screenshot your creations for incorporating into infographics, presentations and other content!Cacoo – Create eye-catching diagrams online with real-time collaboration! User-friendly drawing tool that enables you to create a variety of diagrams like sitemaps, wireframes, and network charts. Free version is more limited, but still powerful.Chartle (Beta) – Simple, browser-based tool for creating slick-looking charts & graphs easily using a variety of pre-built templates like US Map, Venn Diagram, and many others. Publish, share & embed your creations or screenshot them for including in infographics!ChartsBin – A web-based data visualization tool that will allow everyone to quickly and easily create rich interactive visualizations with their own data. You can then share your interactive visualizations with others by embedding them in websites, blogs or sharing via Facebook or Twitter.Creately – Create beautiful-looking charts and diagrams quickly & collaboratively. Has an extensive library of object sets and ready-made templates to make things easy. Offers both free & paid (but very affordable) versions to cover your needs.Data360 – A treasure trove of useful, up-to-date data for incorporating into your infographics.  Covers a wide range of topics, including Economy, Societal Trends, Energy, Environment and data by Country. If you’re looking data and statistics, start here!Gapminder – Another great source of data for infographics. A “fact tank” that promotes a fact-based world view, here you’ll find updated statistical content, videos, Flash presentations, and charts showing major global development trends with animated statistics and colorful graphics.Gephi – A free, cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Mac) interactive visualization and exploration platform for real-time data visualization. Deep-dive into data to interact with, manipulate, and extract knowledge from data. Creates beautiful, intricately-woven visualizations of complex data and systems.Gliffy – Create great-looking diagrams for free. Professional-quality flowcharts, diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, & other useful visuals you can incorporate into your infographics.Google Public Data Explorer – Need very specific data for your infographics? This Google tool presents interactive charts of public data that you can explore, manipulate and screenshot for developing rich, informative infographics. Use the built-in search function to find information about specific topics.Hohli – An easy-to-use online charts builder. Just select the type of chart you want to create, plug in your data, select a size, customize the look & feel, and you’re done!InetSoft Visualize Free – A free visual analysis tool for sifting through multi-dimensional data to spot trends, abberations, and do some slicing & dicing. Includes a set of useful pre-made datasets and visualizations that you can interact with.Inkscape – An open-source vector graphics editor for creating professional-quality infographics.  If you can’t afford expensive vector graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, this might be the solution for you!JSCharts – Use JSCharts to easily generate impressive-looking JavaScript charts with no coding experience–bar charts, pie charts, and simple line graphs.  Screenshot your creations for infographics, or embed them into your blog or website.Lovely Charts – Premium tool that allows you to create professional-looking diagrams of all kinds, such as flowcharts, sitemaps, business processes, organization charts, wireframes and many more. Offers Desktop, Web-based, and iPad versions.IBM Many Eyes – Explore a wealth of data sets, visualizations, and other useful information to inspire & inform your infographic development process. Create new topic centers & upload your own visualizations and data sets too!Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft Office – Good ‘ol Microsoft Office–the ubiquitous but oft overlooked infographics tool! Whether you’re using the free web app versions or have the full-blown suite installed at home or work, chances are you already have access to programs like Excel, PowerPoint and Visio that all have helpful features for creating infographics.Mind42 – Browser-based collaborative mind-mapping tool. Manage your ideas, visualize your brainstorms, and screenshot your creations adding well-organized, text simplicity into your infographics.Mindomo – Another online brainstorming and mind-mapping tool that enables you to create beautiful-looking, collaborative visualizations of your thoughts and ideas.Online Chart Tool – A simple, free browser-based tool for creating charts and graphs.  Point & click to create Bar, Line, Area, Pie, Bubble charts and more. Customize your creations with colors and fonts, then save & share.Re.vu – Using infographics as a résumé? Sure, why not! Re.vu is one of a new breed of services offering visual résumé storytelling for a more memorable, expressive way to inform your prospects and potential employers about your professional experience.StatSilk – Offers a range of web-based and desktop software to cater to diverse visualization needs. Award-winning suite of products that includes StatPlanet, StatTrends & StatWorld.Tableau – Robust, premium data visualization solution for analyzing and presenting data in more meaningful ways.  Try Tableau Desktop for free, which includes sample workbooks and data sets.Tagxedo – Online tool that turns words (quotes, slogans, themes, articles–anything you want) into visually stunning word clouds. Great for incorporating into infographics, blogs, and websites.Visualize.me – Another visual résumé service that turns your work history and experience into beautiful infographics! Connect your LinkedIn account for easy integration with Visualize.me’s visual résumé tool.Visualizing.org – Need data or inspiration for your infographics? Look no further! This is a massive collection of rich data sets and beautiful, well-organized infographics from all over the web.  Community of designers, data geeks and educators regularly contribute. You’re bound to find something useful here.Visual.ly – Another curated collection of beautiful infographics from around the web.  Users can explore infographics, share their own designs for exposure and feedback, and soon they’ll be able to use Visual.ly to create infographics as well (tools in development).Wolfram-Alpha – Extremely useful statistical analysis and research tool that you can use to calculate data, make predictions, and do some heavy-duty number crunching for infographics data plotting & development.Wordle – Generates beautiful, customizable word clouds from your own text. Copy & paste your own words, or enter any RSS feed to automatically parse & scrape text.  Tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts and color schemes.


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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Our 2011 top blog posts

At the end, will, we are taking 2011 2012 ring and back watching us in the most popular blog post. Below is the article attracted comments most through traffic, mention, share, or the year. And seems to be enjoying the (re) reading often come back in 2012!


Is this list displays content curated by hot now. Too many additional tools must read the comments that have been proposed by our readers. (Read more)


Non profit online fundraising continues to grow faster than its traditional counterpart. Provides creative ways of rewarding that recruit volunteers and donations give society website than this new breed,. (Read more)


How useful our readers "for when it comes to love article, especially as Google Analytics. Your own analytics event tracking is still set? (Read more)


Gave birth to today's "group by" mega-popular deal sites, many clones trying to mimic the success of the original, all. This list is only a part of them! By then, continues top 2011 draw 2010 later in this entry,. (Read more)


Feet by 2011 2010 popular posts. Rich media advertising why so effective. Rich way to long-term beneficial standard advertising and why five reasons here, need to consider using advertising media. (Read more)


Useful tips and advice for your email and social media activity schedule packed. You don't have to miss it when it comes to timing of your online marketing efforts, is one of the summary. (Read more)


Such as online media, and buy for them and we plan to do the budget to hire Agency is not medicine-small companies. This list gets acquainted available various DIY online advertising solutions. (Read more)


Challenger brand is a brand of competitive spirit looking to gain ground on market leader. Using Twitter to learn how we can move forward. (Read more)


Market, you must use many tools and best to you, do you? This is a list of the various tools discussed here 17. (Read more)


Growing mobile search rapidly. Your website SEO mobile-friendly?? (Read more)




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5 Digital marketing & advertising resolution 2012

Unless you are depressed about the preparations of Armageddon Resignedly, the digital marketing and advertising games as 2012. Rapid convergence of new media, new tools and technology wave after wave of entertainment choices to push towards something of our golden age, for digital advertisers. How to almost become 2012, these new opportunities? You can recommend the following new year's resolution.


You expect mobile marketing and advertising formative 2011 companies stay ahead of curve and is worthy of serious attention is that rapidly growing segment proved suspicion. Consider this:

To search rapidly 20600000000 dollars by 2015 Mobile World 8000000000000 this statement spend more than 2011 Mobile advertising messages sent last year, four times search seven products, now mobile71% of TV and press advertisements online mobile search, Smartphone users can expect.

Not ready full of many companies, even though these eye-popping mobile statistics or deliberately ignore mobile complete more serious crimes (lack of mobile SEO) with relatively simple oversights (mobile-friendly website is not) from. Market – in many consumer devices, smartphones, tablets, e-readers, handheld games, and others – litany of advertisers have tremendous opportunities before them. So we are moored on our computers anymore, go. brand engagement, consuming large amounts of content we are everywhere Which brings us to our next point


Call day, looks slick corporate web site can be constructed when the long gone.



Today's customers are timely, relevant content, and requires a lot of it. Many other channels for content consumption and caused large amounts of, blog, video, social media, email, podcasts, webinar, all competitive prospects attention span, just continue.


Marketing Corporate brands struggle to capture mindshare in the flow of information and constant ebb valid at multiple levels, and to engage in many different contexts, and to develop effective and easy-to-manage content should ever greater 2012. You can react to demand disposal useful, share-worthy content web content curation tool brand.


In 2011, advertisers or stopped if social media fashion questions. (As having a website with Facebook and Twitter presence and standard. Plus Google, too, you bonus points. ), But social media strategy for your marketing LinkedIn, YouTube, (may be whatever the platform du jour is), please do not stop the usual suspects.


To meet interest and many more niches mature social media popular is giving rise to a new player. For example, using platforms like ThisNext and retailers pay attention to taste makers eagerly Pintrest, obtain the hotfix window-shopping society. New social media site course of luster is all going to come up with a way to integrate them into social e-commerce strategy is worth your investment, explore these familiar new way beyond the point is.


This digital disruption seen "crazy times", where is going on. Decision wrong some (or lack of decision that matters for ) can easily to the best opportunity for hungry competitors. RIM and Netflix fell prey to doubt how things changed so much as it even once beloved brand and so quickly. Many innovations, the company no longer remains in their glory of room is part of such must compete to survive the challenger brand. Evolution of the digital marketing and advertising is to level the land in many ways. You must assume and smart investing in new online marketing strategy and advertising technology company in the same rivals. You must track and monitor competitive is an integral part of your strategy.



Especially start every new year's is spread over prediction, technology. To deploy any startup? Come out on the device? At this point, last year, iPads did not yet exist. Shape determination of what future tool and technology marketing and advertising? Is the type of questions should be considered to formulate budget allocation and those companies marketing plan. We will bring, what future exactly, but unpredictable we can be ready for the notification. Important for the success of this year's regular review of the analysis of the social effect of keeping statistics, marketing and search and your own efforts to understand technology news will be. Perhaps continue the status quo, just to check door, expect your best.


Belt belts – 2012 is going to be wild ride!



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Change the Twitter love three new business-friendly brand.

Posted by WebAdvantage.net 12/9/2011.

Some changes to the Twitter platform, some really good way ( ) seem to change how work whole, as well as how it is consumed has announced. For example, followers and what recent Twitter 'activity', had to know, the user can, rollback tab ( following tweets, retweets, such as ). For more information, definitely. However, was how to streamline the engagement?


Both can be how other and effect of this latest update original tweet and other access to interact with their account. Tweets now online web fabric itself is anything else and is deep, shared meaning.


First, the actual changes.


Embedded Tweet : Twitter is dead rather than simple full Tweet link or embed a static screen shot. Paste the HTML now, visit the tweet copy, and customize the options directly, click the embedded link details page. Paste the HTML that contains the actual Twitter user ID information (detailed instructions here). HTML, short (like the popular WordPress blogging platform in ) and link all available easily.


Bonus: dynamic to the oEmbed endpoint these Tweets. In other words, can, according to click as a URL, such as the retweet, share images, video to render rich HTML. It an extra step (get status request to the oembed endpoint) value added interactive inviting it.


Button : also mention including specific hash button improvements, easier @ easy to search, for people who Tweet about specific topics.


Brand page : only a handful of brands now step closer again ( less Facebook [Google plus page recently) is a perfect Twitter + brand integration. Large logo with highlights, catchphrase, extended and most importantly: your own branded Twitter page Tweets of your company (or your timeline) controls how to promote.


Twitter began as a way to share content, ability to take these updates and new content-level competitive bartender. What is this Twitter business applications mean?

Company ( thought leadership they can dynamically display content to promote the 'sponsor' content area steering clear controversial ( and references as well as traffic ) of Gets the credit. Love only their topic around the attractive easy Twitter buttons and options that provide your audience to find increases beloved ROI time and fewer steps, this particular social network.

So we will be following closely these SEO digital advertising and marketing, is our gig. Questions about the meaning of this to your business, or tell us if you have questions other online marketing-we can. In the meantime, do you like how your new Twitter? Yes, no, maybe, OK?.




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