Infographics have become fairly ubiquitous, illustrating more and more news stories, presentations, advertisements. Their popularity is no surprise, perhaps, as we look for new ways to visualize and understand the vast amounts of data we're presented.

Infographics can make information more accessible, more enjoyable, and easier to understand. And when well-crafted, an infographic seems to lend itself to being incredibly viral, with potential to drive traffic and generate interest.

On his blog Cool Infographics, Randy Krum lists tips for journalists designing infographics. But Krum's suggestions have application beyond journalism. If you plan to use infographics to tell a story, you should keep these things in mind:

1. Be concise. Design your infographic to make one main point.

2. Be visual and be creative. Although infographics do combine text and images, the emphasis should be on making a visually appealing graphic.

3. Be self-explanatory. The visualization should explain the data, with minimal exposition.

4. Be relevant.

5. Be transparent. Cite your sources.

6. Be different. Pie charts and bar graphs are readily understandable, but they can be pretty blase.

7. Be accurate. The visualization should not misrepresent your data.

8. Say something. Your infographic should convey a message, and not be an infographic for the sake of itself.

9. Be judicious. Not every story warrants an infographic.

And as with any copy you plan to post online, it's good to run your infographic by another set of eyes - to assess and edit both content and format.

Some examples:

If you are considering creating an infographic for your startup, spend some time thinking about what it is you want to communicate: your business plan timeline, your market or marketing strategy, your budget or financial projections, your product offerings, or your product differentiation, for example. Your infographic needs to address the right message, as well as the right audience.