Have you gone on a trip since starting a blog? Have you had a friend dump a thousand photos into their Instagram feed after returning to the hotel each night? Have you wondered where to begin and what to include while mobile blogging?
PicsArt is here to give us five of their best tips to answer all our questions! Best yet, join the Alt community + PicsArt (@picsartstudio) on Twitter Wednesday morning (tomorrow), February 17th at 9 AM PST/12 PM EST for an hour-long chat all about mobile blogging. We would love to have each of you there, to hear your live thoughts and options on the subject!
5 Tips For Blogging During Travel
As bloggers, we rarely get a break from social media. In fact, when we’re traveling, that’s often when we have the most content, and when our readers are most engaged. For them, it’s a chance to travel around the world with us with just their phone. On the other hand, the last thing we want to do is spend all our time working while we’re on vacation. Check out these 5 tips to help you blog efficiently during travel, whether or not you have a laptop!
Tell your readers you’re going on vacation.
Above photo by @isr4el on PicsArt
This seems like a “duh” tip, but sometimes you get so caught up in the whirlwind of packing for vacation, you can forget the simplest things. Inform your readers that you’ll be a little less ON for a few weeks, while you’re traveling to manage their expectations. They’ll notice if you’re gone!
2. Make photo-editing easy with one app that does it all.
Above photo by @nanette_pa on PicsArt using Bianca Mascorro Clipart
PicsArt is a mobile photo editing app that makes collages, quote graphics, and you can even draw with it. Instead of editing a photo in one app, then opening another one to add text, and then opening a third app to make a collage, you can do all of that with PicsArt. Pretty darn handy. Not so good at calligraphy? You can also download calligrapher and artist Bianca Mascorro’s art (Clipart) in the app starting January 22nd.
3. Download the WordPress app.
Above photo by @averyalessandro on PicsArt
Even though I’ve had a blog for years, I only recently downloaded the WordPress app. I always scribbled down notes in my journal or on my iPhone in the notes app, but why not start a blog post while I’m in the zone? Especially when I’m writing notes about favorite dishes or restaurants, I like to jot it down in a draft blog post, lest I forget what I was thinking at the time. It’s also super handy for when you notice a little mistake after publishing— you can correct it anywhere you’re at, rather than race home to edit it on your computer.
4. Automate your social media.
Instead of using a bunch of different plugins or apps, use one system to automate your social media. I love using If This Then That (IFTTT). It’s a web-based service based on “recipes” that trigger action in other web services. For example, I can create a “recipe” to have my all my WordPress blogs go straight to Facebook & Twitter. Or, you can have any Instagram post you tag in a specific way, and it will be published on your blog as a post. The possibilities are endless!
5. Write content ahead of time, even for when you’re back from your vacation.
Above photo by @yourblues on PicsArt
Most of us plan for posts while we’re on vacation, but what about when you’re back? The last thing you want to do after traveling for days is scramble to put up a blog post last minute. Have a backlog of content ready for you in case you are feeling super jet-lagged, or even sick after weeks of travel. It’ll definitely make your “back to reality” moment a little easier :).
Have more tips? Don’t forget to Join PicsArt (@picsartstudio) on Twitter for an #AltChat on February 17th to talk all things blogging on the go!
