The Free Way to Upgrade Your Infographics with Tableau
I came across data visualization tool Tableau yesterday and am impressed, especially for what it could mean for link building.
Data In, Brilliance Out
Tableau offers user friendly tools for building interactive interfaces to data. For large data sets and for storytelling involving multiple dimensions, their visualizations are very effective and easy to put together. They even offer a free version for bloggers and other digital publishers.
It may be easy to think of Excel graphs when looking at Tableau’s case studies but these visualizations are different than what comes out of the box from Microsoft. They are built to be interactive. Instead of asking users to stare at lines and numbers to try to make sense of them, Tableau’s product invites people to start clicking and discovering.
Better Infographics
We all know that infographics can be a great way to tell the story behind a spreadsheet of dull numbers and as a result, can be great content for link building. With so many infographics out there it can be difficult to make one that stands out. Tableau helps by adding the draw of interaction and movement.
For link builders, these interactive graphics are especially helpful. Because the graphic isn’t just a flat image, it’s more likely that publishers will link to your page rather than simply swiping the .jpg file. Plus because it’s interactive, you’re allowing users to discover their own conclusions. If the blogger you’re pitching uncovers a nugget that’s interesting, they’ll have more ownership of the tool than if you simply handed the insight to them.
But the best reason that Tableau is worth checking out is that it’s easy and free. If you’ve hired a designer to work on infographics before, you know that it can be time consuming and expensive. One firm that I talked to recently wanted to charge double to make a graphic interactive. With the simple desktop software that Tableau offers, you can set up your own graphics with all the control that you like, produce more of them and spend less money to do it.
If you have interesting data that you want to bring to life quickly, Tableau is a nice option.
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