12 Tools for Travel Bloggers
Tools that make life easier, more productive and more fun for bloggers on the go!
Social Media
Iconosquare.com – there’s no question that Instagram is the way of the future with regards to social media. Iconosquare provides a desktop version of your IG feed. Why is this great? It allows for quick engagement with the IG community! Commenting, interacting and finding new IG-buddies is quick and easy.
WordPress SEO by Yoast (WordPress plugin) – In the world of travel nothing beats a solid Google page rank. For example, Jane in Ohio googles “what to do in Paris”, if your killer Paris post finds it’s way on to her first or second page – winner, winner, chicken dinner! This plug-in helps out big time in the fleshing out what search engines need to know about your content.
Dropbox – Social media these days is heavily image-based, save the headache of emailing yourself gorgeous travel photos in order to share them on Instagram by uploading them to dropbox and pulling them down via their App to your phone. More importantly, backup your photos, at $10/month for 1 TB (that’s 1,000 GB!) it’s absolutely worth the investment.
Co-Schedule (WordPress plugin) – If there ever was a game-charger in my workflow this bad boy would be it. Assign a social media distribution plan for each and every post, quickly and easily. I’ve read that sharing posts on 3 occasions via twitter is key for reaching largest audience, this plugin makes scheduling distribution a cinch.
Aesthetics
Lightroom – Hand’s down, there’s no better program for editing images. I will admit that the workflow in Lightroom can be confusing at first but after a few Skillshare classes you’ll be absolutely amazed by the images you’ve captured. I use A Beautiful Mess presets for many of mine and love the moody feel they create.
Canva.com – Photoshop made simple, use Canva to make attractive cover images (like the one above!) and create your media kit! Putting together a great vertical cover image makes the image more pin-able on Pinterest and makes the post more enticing for readers skimming their Bloglovin feed. Unsure what goes into a media kit? Check Etsy for inspiration, like this one.
Seek a Peer Critique from blogging pals, like ME! – Shoot me an email with a link to your blog, I’ll zip through and give you feedback on areas you might be able to improve on.
Travel Planning
Rome2Rio.com – The logistics of travel planning can be time consuming and get very tricky. Rome2Rio quickly identifies route options (flight, drive, public transit) for easy comparison on cost, time and feasibility.
Skyscanner.com – There are a lot of airfare reservation sights out there, Skyscanner brings it to the next level with OPEN SEARCH capabilities. Have a free weekend? Enter ‘Everywhere’ as the destination and explore your options. (Swear, I use this method for 90% of my air travel!)
Kayak.com – Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it before. BUT, why is Kayak better than the rest? Their ADVICE graph tells you exactly what to do – BUY or WAIT on that airline ticket.
Expat Living
The Skimm – a free daily newsletter covering the most important topics in the news. Written by a witty, informed, team of 20-somethings, it’s entertaining and keeps me informed on US and World news while living abroad.
Hola (extension for Crome) – Free and easy, this tools allows you to pick where you’d like to view the webpage from no matter your actual location. Why? Many TV shows and youtube videos require a local IP address for viewing. Quickly grab one and stay in the loop on news and entertainment at home.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below! 😉