Tag Archives: promotions

5 Infographic Creation Tools to Try Now

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Hosting

The recent rise in social media usage has taught us many things. One of the most striking is how visual human beings truly are.  As a result, websites, blogs and social media accounts that use great visuals are typically more successful and see more engagement from users than those that rely on text alone. Growing awareness of this trend has led to the rise of the infographic.   An infographic is a visual depiction of data that helps users to learn more about a topic.  This combination of visual imagery with statistics and facts makes information easy for a user to digest at a glance.  In fact, some studies even show that users remember information learned through infographics more easily than data obtained by other means. As a result, infographics have been successfully used in sales campaigns, marketing efforts, education initiatives, internal company trainings and more.  Given that, many companies are eager to create their own infographics to compete in an increasingly visual marketplace.  This is easy for firms that have a large staff of designers on hand, but not everyone has access to those resources. So how can people who are not designers make their own infographic? Check out these five tools:   Infogr.am Infogr.am is a simple, free tool that allows you to create more than 30 types of charts. For comparison, Microsoft Excel – the analytics tool used by many small businesses – offers only 11 types of charts. This allows for much simpler visualization of data. Data can be imported from Excel into Infogr.am and can then be published in PDF format or easily embedded on your website. If your data is sensitive, you can also password protect it before sharing it with others. Overall, Infogr.am is a simple infographic tool with many features, all at no cost to the user.   Piktochart Piktochart offers drag and drop infographic creation for $29/month. The service’s “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) platform makes it easy for users with no design or technical skills to use when creating infographics. Currently, the tool includes 90 templates of varying quality. These premade starting points give you an easy to use and effective way to turn your data into great infographics. You can then share your creations via social media or download print quality files. If you’re curious about the tool, but don’t want to commit to a paid plan, you can try the Piktochart editor for free for a limited time to give it a test run.   InfoActive Like many of its competitors, InfoActive lets you turn your data into visuals in a fairly straightforward manner. In addition, this program allows users to interact with that data. This means that users can add their own experiences to the data, allowing it to change in real-time. This feature allows data to continue to be “real-time,” whereas other infographics can quickly become outdated, making it the most “social” infographic tool currently on the market.   Many Eyes This IBM tool doesn’t offer the premade themes that other programs on this list provide. As a result, it may be better suited to those who are somewhat more technically inclined. However, the visualization styles included offer some features the others don’t – including heat maps, word trees, tree maps and word clouds. Many Eyes also allows users to compare a set of values, see parts of a whole or track rises and falls in data over time. If your data is more trend-based than statistic-oriented, the program is definitely worth a look.   Visual.ly This paid service creates some of the most widely seen infographics on the market. Visual.ly brings together marketers, designers and data experts to create stunning visuals that bring your message to life. One fun program feature that’s great for internal presentations is its ability to create web traffic reports based on your website’s Google Analytics statistics. In seconds, you can have a visually pleasing and informative report on how your website traffic has been trending over the past few weeks. If you don’t feel comfortable designing on your own, the program can match you with a designer (though this is considerably more expensive and time intensive than doing it yourself). *** These five infographic creation tools allow you to easily visualize your data and to share it with your community in a fun, engaging way. Depending on your design and technical skill level, you may prefer one tool over another, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different programs. But whatever option you choose, be aware that creating a visual representation of your data can take your firm to the next level. These tools can be used for internal purposes, helping you to understand your firm’s target market, goals and website traffic. Alternately, they can be used to help educate your audience, drive sales and distribute your marketing messages. Whatever your goals, creating stellar infographics is an important part of standing out in an increasingly visual marketplace – so get started with your first graphic today! Continue reading →

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Infographic: Kids of the Past vs. Kids of the Internet Generation

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Hosting

Kids these days… am I right?  The following infographic takes a look at today’s kids as compared to the children of the past.  In other words, it’s a no-holds-barred face-off: Kids of the Past vs. Kids of the internet Generation! Enjoy! Click image to see a larger version Kids of the Past Vs Kids of the Internet Generation via HostGator Continue reading →

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HTML 101: Your HTML Cheat Sheet

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Hosting

Once your website is up and running, you may find yourself wanting to make some small additions or edits. Contacting your designer or a webmaster for every little change can become tedious (not to mention expensive), which is why it’s so helpful to understand some basic HTML. HTML is the language that most websites are coded in – it drives the layout, fonts, colors and other formatting and functionality aspects of your website. You may be thinking, “That’s great! But I don’t know any HTML.” If you’re in this position, this short cheat sheet will serve as a guide to making basic HTML changes to your website. This way, if you’d like to change some minor formatting on a page, you can quickly make these changes yourself.   What is an HTML tag? An HTML tag is a snippet of code that tells the website how to read or format your content. HTML tags are surrounded by the < > characters. All HTML tags must be closed with corresponding tags. This tells your website where your formatting changes begin and end.   Where do I make HTML changes? Before we get started, it’s important to note where these changes get made. In most content management systems (CMSs), you’ll find that each page has two views. One is a design or visual view. This lets you see the page as it will look when it’s posted to your website. The other view is often referred to as the text, code or HTML view, depending on which CMS you are using. HTML changes should all be added to the text, code, or HTML view. To enter a change, you’ll need to find the section of the page you’d like to change. Simply scroll until you see the text you’d like to alter or the space where you’d like to add new content. There, you can add the appropriate tags. After this, make sure to check the design view or preview the page to make sure everything looks the way you’d like it to.   Make text bold using HTML To make text on a web page bold, use the HTML tag . For example, if you wanted to make the sentence, “This is important” bold, it would look like this:   This is important   Make text italic using HTML To make text on a web page italic using HTML tags, you would use the HTML tag . This is short for emphasis. For example, if you wanted to make the sentence “This is important” italic, it would look like this:   This is important   Add a link using HTML Adding a link is somewhat trickier than simply changing the formatting of your text to be bold or italic. If you’d like to add a link, you’ll use the HREF tag. HREF tags tell the website what text should be linked, where the link should go, and how the link should be opened.   For example, if I wanted the text “Google” to be linked to the Google website, it would look like this:   Google   For contrast, if I wanted the text “Yahoo” to link to the website for Yahoo, it would look like this:   Yahoo   Additionally, if you’d like your link to open in a new window or tab so that users aren’t directed away from your site, you can add some additional information to the HREF tag. For this example, you would tell the code that you’d like to open the link in a new window by indicating that the target is blank. In this instance, the HTML code would look like this:   Yahoo   Add a picture using HTML Adding imagery is a great way to help users connect with your content and become more interested in what you have to say. To add an image, you’ll first need to host that image somewhere online, either on your CMS or on another service. Once you’ve uploaded the image to the place where you’re hosting it, simply add an image tag. As an example, an image tag should look like this:     Images are somewhat unique because they do not always have an end tag. The code does not need to know where the image ends – the image itself can dictate that. However, you can link images to a web page. For instance, if you wanted to link your image to your home page, it would look like this:     You’ll notice that, in this case, the code for the image simply replaces the text in the HREF tag. Obviously, these few tweaks only scratch the surface of full HTML coding. However, simply knowing how to handle these simple changes on your own can save you big money by minimizing the need to contact your web designer every time edits must be made. Start with these HTML 101 steps and continue to grow your coding skills as you go! Continue reading →

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Infographic: YouTube Sensationalism

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Hosting

In 1968, Andy Warhol was quoted as saying “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”  YouTube has, by and large, facilitated the realization of this prophecy.  Enjoy our infographic, YouTube Sensationalism: YouTube Sensationalism via HostGator Continue reading →

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10 Sources For Web Design Freebies

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Hosting

While “Content is King” still rings true on  many levels, it no longer tells the entire story of digital marketing. Content might prove the foundation for your kingdom, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Web design, SEO, user navigation and social media strategy are just a few of the other key players required for long-term success. Chuck Longanecker of Digital-Telepathy , a user-experience design firm, knows the importance of good web design in internet marketing. In a post at Mashable, he wrote, “the ‘beautification of the web’ is upon us.” But don’t confuse the idea of web beautification with fancy graphics and expensive landing pages. Just look at Pinterest and Tumblr to see how simple, clean design can attract an enormous following. Fortunately, enhancing your web design doesn’t have to cost a small fortune or take a lot of time. Here are ten design freebies that can help enhance your web presence today:   Premium Pixels Find handcrafted micro icons, textures, brushes, iPhone chat bubbles, textures and more at Premium Pixels . Unlike many free web design collections, these can be used for both personal and commercial use. BittBox BittBox offers design tutorials, along with vectors, high-resolution Photoshop brushes and textures. Look for posts in the series Freebie Fridays and Free Texture Tuesdays for fun giveaways, featuring everything from weathered wood designs to grunge splatter brushes. These freebies are yours to use as tools during the design process – even if you’re planning to sell your creations. Just be aware that users can’t redistribute or post them for download in their original state. Open Source Web Design Download and share your own free web design templates at Open Source Web Design . If you’re not sure where to start, look through the OSWD’s collection of Favorite Designers or share an idea through their Suggestion tab. There’s plenty of great stuff to be found! Design Moo Dubbed, “The world’s greatest source of free and commercial design resources,” Design Moo features free PSDs, vectors, textures, patterns and fonts, among other design goodies. Become a Design Moo member for quick access to a robust collection of design elements. Or, upgrade to a paid membership with access to exclusive design resources, perks and the ability to sell your own creations. Best PSD Freebies Best PSD Freebies offers icons, sliders, buttons, banners, ribbons, web themes, Photoshop files and more. The site has earned its bragging rights with over 200,000 downloads to date and no signs of slowing down. Flickr Creative Commons Don’t forget the photos and other images when it comes to web design. Flickr offers photographers and artists the option to offer their work through the Creative Commons license at Flickr.com/CreativeCommons . Flickr uses ridiculously easy license icons to show how each image can be used. Some allow you to use the image in any way you see fit, but only if credit is given. Other artists choose the option, “No Derivative Works” – meaning that others can copy, distribute and display verbatim copies of the work. Icon Finder Hunting down just the right icon can be a taxing and time-consuming chore. Save yourself some time and head to Icon Finder and do a quick search for anything from “mobile icon” to “social media icon” and find a comprehensive list. Not all icons are free, but clicking on the “Free” tab will help narrow down your results significantly. Pixeden Download free design templates, tab bar icons, iPhone mock-ups, PSD frames texts effect and other web sources at Pixeden . The site was designed as a one-stop shop for developers and designers in need of free elements to get their projects in gear. A premium membership grants you access to support services and the ability to make further modifications to their design elements in your projects. Smashing Magazine Though Smashing Magazine is an online publication for design pros – not a design element repository – it also offers a freebie category . Past freebies included “Typeplate: A Starter Kit for Beautiful Web Type,” free WordPress themes, icon sets and templates for mobile projects. Best of all, Smashing Magazine’s target audience of designers, meaning that all the freebies that are up for grabs have been looked with a discerning eye. Da Font Where would your content be without a good font? Da Font hosts an archive of free downloadable fonts organized by style, author, popularity or alphabetically. There’s not much you won’t find here. The site’s font collection is vast, ranging from groovy to “foreign look” and plenty of scripts.   With so many freebies readily available for use, there’s really no excuse to neglect your web design. But there’s also no shame in asking for help and tapping a professional to usher in the next stage of your design strategy. That step might mean a complete design overhaul or a simple logo update to better align with your brand and overall messaging. Remember there’s no magic formula to web design. Start by integrating a few key elements, from icons to a new web template, to refine your site’s style and usability. Keep making adjustments until you find the right combination for your growing online presence. Continue reading →

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