Infographics are the ‘in’ thing to produce at the moment for link baiting. If you haven’t come across one they can be summed up as

Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly[1], such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. – Wikipedia

A few examples can be seen at Infographics directory site www.infographicsshowcase.com. The best infographics are gennerally ones based on a subject matter of current interest, so this week could be a on the Ashes with England going over to Australia or about Cargo planes after the bomb scare.

In order to make infographic you need some raw data, and here’s a list of 5 sites which can supply you with the vital data.

1. UK National Statistics http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/

The Publication Hub at the UK National Statistics is a first port of call for all those seeking the latest statistics from government departments in the UK. It is the central website for hosting all first releases of National Statistics. New data is released daily on whole range of subjects from Taxation, Wars, Education, Hospitals, Business and growth etc etc. All free to download and there’s a release calendar of up and coming reports.

URL : http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/

2. Guardian Data Store http://www.guardian.co.uk/data-store

Lots of different types of data in different areas. There’s also some on going data generation on the War in Afganistan, Swine Flu etc. There’s a list of Applications, a API to grab data directly. Keep up to data with new data via the twitter account. You should also look at how the Guardian use the data in their  news stories producing graphs, flash animations etc.

URL : http://www.guardian.co.uk/data-store

3. BBC Backstage http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/

At the moment it looks like it’s been shut down but some of the data and feeds are being kept live. There’s data in the form of RSS, API’s, a music API etc all that can be downloaded sorted and then visualised. Similar to the Guardian the BBC create some great info infographics in articles and features on the site, recently the reporting of the July 7th enquiry and the Chilean miners generated some brilliant pages of information which generated plenty of links.

URL : http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/data

4. London Data Store http://data.london.gov.uk/

There are other places in the UK than London but the London Data Store has some great information on transport, education results, crime, emergency services etc. It’s a pretty new site but there is more and more data being added on a regular basis as well as a growing community.

URL : http://data.london.gov.uk/datasets

5. Data.Gov.UK http://data.gov.uk/

Probably the most well known from this list. The official Government site for UK has lots of data, help and a great community behind it. There’s an ideas section where people are submitting ideas for the release of data and then what to do with the data once it’s available. A selection of apps also show what has been created so far e.g. mash up maps, iphone aps etc. You may be able to use one of the existing apps to find data for your infographic.

URL : http://data.gov.uk/

Bonus 6. Data.Gov http://www.data.gov/

Similar to Data.Gov.UK but for the United states of America. Again plenty of information often country wide but also organised by state which can lead to som interesting data. Many infographics have been created as a result of the data generated out of Data.Gov

URl : http://www.data.gov

If you fancy a PR 7 site here’s three simple steps to achieve a PR 7 site.

1) Make some popular wordpress plugins such as these

2) Make your plugin link back to your site using a hidden link so the person who installs the plugin doesn’t know about the link.

<div id="avatar_footer" style="display: none;">Adventures</div>

3) Sit and watch the PR come in http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/ and then sell links to argos and confussed.com

Big respect the guy / gal who did this!

Lunchtime find : Every so often you come across a site that hasn’t added nofollow to comment links. The independent comments allow you to add links in (check out the comments) BBC magazine websites are a free for all on the forums.

Checking over a few blog posts on the BBC surprisingly I’ve noticed that links don’t have nofollow on, which has led to anchor text links being placed into comments. Some of the BBC blogs add nofollow to links while others don’t.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/fivelivebr……ivin.html#P91629883

The link goes over to the Phones4U home page.

What’s great about the BBC blogs is you have a profile page which links to all the comments you have made. The comment above has been made by Vince (maybe related to the vince update?).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=14285586

Vince has been busy recently targeting “iphone”, “mobile phones” and “phone” all to the Phones4U home page. It’s not clear if this is being done by an agency or Phones4u themselves but they are not the only one at it.

A further look finds this account http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=14129205 in the name of David Cooper, which links over to www.very.co.uk, Phones4u.co.uk and k7computing.com (but that links broke!).

Others include…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=14125842 – seospecialistbirmingham.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=14235298 – seomomo.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=14137534 – bluelightseo.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=14130042 – clarebrace.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=1773493 – openeyemarketing.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=13952511 – david-whitehouse.org

I could go on…. Question is

a) Are these links any good considering they are located in the comments section rather than in the article content?
b) Is this a legitimate way of building links?

My view

a) Yes but they would be better in content.
b) Its a ok way to build links but in the long run not effective.

Anyone else have a view of this type of link building? If so add a comment