When I first started review and giveaway blogging over a year ago, I started hearing the term media kit. When a PR rep asked me to send my media kit, I almost panicked. I barely knew what a media kit was, muchless how to put one together! Eventually I figured it out and emailed it over (admittedly rather delayed.) I thought I’d share with you what I’ve learned about media kits so hopefully you won’t go through the unknown like I did.
What Is It?
A media kit lists your blog statistics, policies, advertising rates, and a little something about you & your blog. It can be short and simple or it can be fancy and longer. The whole point is to “sum up” your blog in a couple of pages. It’s a professional way to introduce your blog in a simple package to PR reps.
Many PR reps request a blogger’s media kit. It’s especially good when you are pitching companies (you asking them to work with you.) Put your whole pitch with all your stats in an email and it may work, but email a brief statement about why they should work with you, a couple of stats, and “You can read the rest in my Media Kit, which I’ve attached to this email” and, suddenly, you might just be taken more seriously.
Also remember that media kits can be as different as bloggers. The information I’m sharing here is what I personally use. You may decide to change it and that’s perfectly fine. I just want to give you a place to start.
Part 1 – Your Blog Statistics:
Here’s a basic list of what PR Reps usually like to know:
- Google Page Rank – Go here to check your site’s page rank. It will be anywhere from 0-10, but most blogs are somewhere around 0-4. It’s hard to get higher than that.
- Unique Monthly Visitors– Best found with Google Analytics. Traffic numbers from Stat Counter, etc. are not the official stats reps want. If your blog isn’t linked with Analytics, do that now.
- Monthly Page Views – again found with Google Analytics. This is the number of times people have viewed individual pages. This number is typically higher than the unique visitors.
- Alexa Ranking – Alexa provides a ranking based on the traffic of your site. For Alexa, the lower the number, the better. Go to Alexa.com and enter your site address to find your blog’s ranking.
- Email Subscribers – Do you have an email subscription service or feedburner? Find out how many subscribers you have. If you have Google Feedburner (as many do, myself included), log into your account, click on the Publicize tab, then Email Subscriptions on the left side, and the number of subscribers should be at the bottom.
- Facebook Fans
- Twitter Followers
- Google+ Fans
- Pinterest – This is a newer one. If you don’t have a Pinterest account, that’s ok, but if you do, it’s a good thing to include. It shows the reps that you’re up for the latest and greatest.
Part 2 – Tell them about you & your blog.
Make it personal. Give them some background on your blog. How did you get started? What’s your focus? Is your blog about couponing, savings, parenting, reviews/giveaways? If you’ve worked with some notable brands, mention that too.
Then tell them something about you. What makes you unique?
Resist the urge to ramble on (trust me, I had to write and re-write my “about me” part many times.) You don’t want to overwhelm the rep, you just want to give them an idea of who they’re working with and that you’re not just “one more” blogger. For example, I’m a homeschooling mom with 4 children. That makes me somewhat unique, not to mention that I have more children and ages with which to review products with. Definitely something I want to communicate.
Here’s my examples:
About Musings From a Stay At Home Mom:
Musings From a Stay At Home Mom began in 2007 when Erika wanted a place to share stories & pictures of her children with out-of-state family. In time, it grew as people were attracted to Erika’s down-to-earth stories of her daily life as a stay at home mom. Now, with a continuing focus on The Mom Life, food & recipes, and product reviews and giveaways, Musings From a Stay At Home Mom is steadily growing and reaching new readers each month. Musings has worked with companies such as Hasbro, Quaker Oatmeal, Fisher Price, K’NEX, Pediped, Hearthsong, CSN, and many more.
About the owner/author, Erika:
Erika is a twenty-something, stay at home, homeschooling mom to 4 children, ages 1, 2, 5, and 9 years. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and children and enjoys couponing, cooking, photography, writing, and blogging. As a homeschooler with four children, Erika is trusted by readers as someone with a unique and honest perspective. She is active in many social media outlets and blogging communities and enjoys sharing quality products in the form of reviews and giveaways for her blog followers.
Part 3 – Advertising & Sponsored Posts
Share your advertising rates. Do you offer sidebar ads? Text links? Sponsored post opportunities?
List the options and your rates.
Part 4 – Your Blog Policies.
When it comes to product reviews and giveaways, you have guidelines you follow & you should let the PR reps know this. This tells them that you mean business, what you expect from them, and also what they can expect from you.
The #1 policy you should include is “I disclose and follow FTC guidelines.” Any good PR rep will want to make sure you are following the law and this simple statement assures them of this.
You should also include your review and giveaway policies. For a list of the review and giveaway policies that I have, read my PR Friendly page. Feel free to copy them for your own policies if you’d like. You may want to add or take away from what I use; it’s up to you.
That’s the basics of what a media kit is all about! See, now that’s not so overwhelming, is it?
Next week, I’ll be sharing how to make your own media kit. Nope, you don’t have to hand over hard-earned money. And you don’t have to be a graphic designer either. You can do it yourself!
If you liked this post, please click the “Pin It” button on top so others can see it too! Thank you!
Kari says
Great article! Thanks for sharing.
Erika says
You’re welcome! Thanks for commenting!
Kim says
Great article for us that are just starting out on doing r and g. Thanks for this. I will read it in its entirely later today. Thanks again.
Mommie…Again
Erika says
I’m glad to help!
Nicole (Mama to 4 Blessings) says
great article – my kit is PACKED with info including big companies logo’s I worked with!
Erika says
I’m sure it is! You’ve done a lot, Nicole!
April says
Very informative:) Thanks for sharing.
Erika says
Thanks for commenting, April!
melissa says
This is great. I do have a media kit and this article is helpful for those that don’t:) Thanks!
Erika says
Exactly! Thanks Melissa!
Kecia says
For a blogger that doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on having a media kit created, this is a great tutorial! I think I have everything you listed here in mine, but I am going to check and make sure.
I am looking forward to next week’s post – I need some designing tips for my own.
Erika says
That’s the nice thing with Media Kits – you can change them! I change mine all the time.
Trisha G. says
This is great and just what I needed. Thanks so much for this fantastic tutorial!
Erika says
You’re welcome, Trisha. Thanks for commenting!
liveit says
Thank you for sharing! Really useful info!
Erika says
Thanks for stopping by!
Shari Lynne says
Erika you always give me such great info!! So today someone contacted me regarding a text link. They wanted to pay $5 for 6 months..Now I’m a newbie about 7 1/2 months..but this didn’t seem quite right. Reputable company though..what’s your opinion?
Thanks so much!
Erika says
You have good intuition, Shari. That’s in no way worth your time or space on your blog. You’d be selling yourself way short to agree to that.
email me if you want to chat anymore! musingsfromasahm at gmail dot com
Swati says
I already have a media kit but definitely learned some new things here 🙂 thanks!!!
Erika says
Glad to help! Thanks for commenting!
Dangerous Lee says
How do you set up Google Analytics with a free WordPress site?
Erika says
I think you just add the tracking code (details here: and it will start gathering data within 24 hours.
Glenda Cates says
I have had two media kits made by bloggers I trust but since I just redid my blog they do not match it and so I need to redo it again. With this list I think I can do it myself and save me quite a bit money and so I am so excited to see you included a tutorial with it and I would like to say Thank you.
Erika says
I’m glad to help, Glenda! I’ve been there with having to update EVERYTHING and sometimes you just dont’ want to spend the money. Especially for something like a media kit, which I find I am changing quite regularly.
Thanks for the comment!
Heather Kelly says
Thank you so much for posting this. I am really starting to put together my own Media Kit based on what a few other bloggers have posted. It’s nice to have bloggers share with others about what we need to do. I HAD a lower Alexa rating till I took a month off. I am dreading July because of having another baby to care for and the time that I won’t be able to spend online for a little while. So scary when your rating on Alexa fall.
Kira says
Thanks so much for this info – I found you via Pinterest. It’s very helpful as I’m working on my own media kit as I prepare to take on advertisers. I have a question though – should you always include Google Page Rank and Alexa Rating, even if they’re not that great? My Google Page Rank is 2, I’m not even sure my Alexa as that site is pretty confusing, lol. This is all very new to me so I appreciate any help!
Raymond says
A very well written article! 😀 I think, you really explain it better than other blogs.. ehehhehe
Lisa Jones says
Learning Something New Everyday Just Wanted To Let You Know It’s Greatly Appreciated All That You Posted About Media Kits As I’m At That Stage Right Now & Have Just Been Struggling With What To Include So Thanks A Bunch!!!! 🙂