The infographic as a marketing tactic belongs to a particular era, when a well-designed graphic could reliably earn links from other sites. That mostly stopped working, and most contractors commissioning one now are buying a decorative image at illustration prices.
What they were actually for
The original case was link building. Publish something visual and useful, other sites embed it and credit you, and the links improve your rankings.
It worked while the format was novel. Then everyone produced them, most were padded with loosely related statistics, and the embedding largely stopped. What survives is the format without the mechanism: a tall graphic on a page, admired by nobody, that took a fortnight and a fee.
What works for a trade instead
The useful visual for a contractor is not stylised. It is the thing itself, made clearer.
- A labelled photograph. Your own equipment or a real installation with the parts named and arrows pointing at them. A homeowner who cannot tell a condenser from an air handler learns more from this than from any illustration.
- A before and after, side by side, at the same angle. The most persuasive image a trade can publish and the cheapest to produce.
- A simple diagram of where things are. Where the stopcock is, where the isolation switch is, which valve to turn. This gets saved and referred to, which almost nothing else does.
- A comparison table. When the content is a comparison, a table beats a graphic; it can be read by search engines, it works on a phone, and it takes minutes.
Each is genuinely informative, cheap, and drawn from work you already do.
The problem with a picture full of words
Text inside an image cannot be read by a search engine, cannot be enlarged by someone with poor eyesight, cannot be selected or copied, and does not reflow on a phone: where most of your visitors are, and where a tall detailed graphic becomes an unreadable strip.
So the information in an infographic is the least accessible information on the page. If it matters, it belongs in the page as text, with a picture supporting it.
If you make one anyway
Make it useful rather than promotional, put the same content on the page as text so it can be found and read, describe it properly in its alternative text, and keep it to something a phone can display.
And check it does not contain figures that will date. A graphic with last year’s prices in it cannot be edited the way a paragraph can, which is exactly the maintenance trap described in making content cheap to update.
Where the money is better spent
A photographer at three or four real jobs will produce images you use for years across the website, social, advertising and quotes. One infographic produces one asset with a short life and no second use.
For most contractors that comparison settles it.
Frequently asked questions
Are infographics worth it for contractors?
Rarely. Their original purpose was earning links, and that largely stopped working. A labelled photograph of your own work does more for less.
What visual content should a trade produce instead?
Labelled photographs, before-and-after pairs, simple diagrams of where valves and switches are, and comparison tables where the content is a comparison.
Why is text inside an image a problem?
It cannot be read by search engines, enlarged, copied or reflowed on a phone, which makes it the least accessible information on the page.
What is the best use of a visual budget?
A photographer at three or four real jobs. Those images get used for years across the site, social, advertising and quotes.
Where to start
Photograph one of your own installations and label the parts. It costs an afternoon, it answers a question customers genuinely have, and it will outlast any infographic you could commission.
Real Time Marketing has worked with home service contractors since 2016: plumbing, HVAC, roofing, electrical and other trades, nationwide, from our office in Bradenton, Florida. Agreements are month-to-month. See our website design or book a strategy call.
