Infographics, an effective form of content marketing, are everywhere on the Web, but it isn't always easy to come up with good designs when you want to create one yourself, especially if you're not skilled in design and visual content.

Fortunately, you have plenty of options. Many blogs and other publications offer tips and tricks to help improve your visual content, and sites like online infographic maker Visme (which I founded) and applications such as PowerPoint offer templates to help you get started.

Templates help you get a general feel about what works for an infographic and what doesn't, which can then allow you to branch out with your own designs. Often, though, in the business world, a lot of templates are simply tweaked to create an infographic; the basic template remains intact. After all, if it isn't broke, why fix it?

So here are five of the most popular templates, the reasons they work so well, and a few tips and tricks to help you make them your own.

1. Charts

Source: WordStream

Probably most people don't think of a simple chart as an infographic, though technically it could be. Instead, a grouping of charts is used to represent and highlight information in the form of an infographic. When charts are used, they're often combined with additional images and information.

The use of charts in an infographic makes perfect sense; they were some of the first ways to visually present statistical data, and they are still used for that purpose. Displaying charts together in a visually appealing way and adding a little flare goes a long way toward really capitalizing on the infographic format.

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