Travel influencers may already have tons of apps on their phones for recording their adventures and sharing them online. If you’re a travel influencer, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve built a following already, there is some must-have software out there that will make influencing, writing, photography, and even filing your taxes as a freelancer far easier. Here are the four essential pieces of software for travel influencers.
Tax software
Many travel influencers and bloggers are freelancers, meaning they file their own taxes every year. This can be a huge pain, especially if you have income coming from multiple sources or you receive free gifts or trips as an influencer (yes, you need to pay taxes on those too).
Travel influencers should consider investing in a tax software package that suits freelancers and small businesses. Tax software makes recording and monitoring your income as well as filing your taxes in April much easier and you’re less likely to make mistakes.
Grammar and writing apps
Even the best writers make mistakes, but glaring spelling or grammar errors on an Instagram post or blog can make travel influencers look unprofessional. The easiest way around this is to get a free or low-cost grammar and writing app. These are better at catching mistakes than standard spellcheck and can even help you improve the flow and tone of your writing.
Grammarly is one the best-known writing apps out there, but alternatives include Ginger Software, StackEditing, and ProWritingAid. Many of these apps have additional features such as style and tone suggestions and even a comparison between your blog or post and others out there in your niche.
Email list software
Building an email list is a great way to attract more followers, engage with your followers, and drive traffic to your website or social media page. Whether you do your travel influencing primarily on social media or via a blog, an email list is a great marketing tactic that many travel influencers use. Handling a large email list and sending well-structured, visually appealing emails with plenty of links isn’t always straightforward.
Luckily, there is plenty of email list software out there. Mailchimp is one of the most popular email list building tools out there. Others include Sender, Omnisend, and SendPulse.
Photo editing software
As a travel influencer, one of your most important outputs is your photography. Followers and blog readers want to see where you’ve been as well as read about it. You don’t need to be an expert photographer to produce high-quality travel photos, though brushing up on your travel photography skills certainly helps. What you’ll really need to make your photos pop and to add effects, texts, or layouts to them is good photo editing software.
Canva is a great photo and image editing tool that has free and premium levels to choose from. Other popular apps and tools include Snapseed, VSCO, and, of course, Adobe Photoshop. Many of these tools are free or very cheap, but if you want to make travel influencing into a career, it’s worth spending more on a top-quality photo editing tool.
