If you are going to work with PR folks you will need to create a Media Kit. A media kit is a “resume” for your blog. Remember you are in the business of YOU and you will want to highlight yourself and your blog in your media kit. A media kit is normally a 1-2 page (maximum) document that includes information about yourself and your blog.
You will want to include your experience or possibly your education if applicable, site stats, contact information, what you have to offer and what you expect from your potential contacts. This is a tool that you use to sell your blog and what it offers to potential PR people, business owners and advertisers.
You will need to clearly establish your rates. Be sure to update your media kit monthly with new stats. It is important to keep it fresh. You need to create a formula that PR folks are looking for. Share your numbers with potential PR people or as much as you are comfortable with. The formula they are looking for is
Facebook Fans + Twitter Followers + Google Readers/Feed Readers + Unique Visitors + Visitors Average Time On Your Blog + Technorati + Google Page Rank
This is a sliding scale. You do not have to keep them equal, one may be stronger than the other. However this is what PR folks are looking for in a media kit. Remember that these numbers are public knowledge for the most part so being honest is very important. You do not want to try to inflate your numbers. Being honest about your blog and what you can offer is very important.
If you are looking for ways to figure out stats for yourself of others you can go to compete.com, sitemeter.com or googleanylics.com. All of these sites can give you stats on yourself and others. If you are looking to see how many google readers you have go to google.com and the number is available beside the name under who you are following. I always recommend following yourself via google readers and feeburner (email).
When I attended Camp Blogaway I had the opportunity to listen to two PR panel forums which were very beneficial. They shared so much excellent information which us which I used to create this post.
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Thank you for hosting the linky!
I haven’t reached the point of needing a media kit but I’ve seen some beautiful kits. I’ll check back once I need one.
Thanks for making this post. I was just talking with a friend of mine about having a media kit. He thought that it wasn’t necessary. Boy was he wrong.
You are welcome!
Can you explain just a little bit more about how you use a media kit? I’m planning on starting a blog in the next month or so, and have been trying to learn as much as possible, so your posts here have been really great! (I also loved the Problogger book, if anyone else is looking for additional info about starting a blog!)
Would you use a media kit because you want companies to compensate you for promoting their products, is that the idea? Or is it just kind of a general “resume” letting anyone know what kinds of services you might be able to offer to a business? I can see that this is an important thing to have on a blog…. But am not entirely sure what to include, when you talk about posting the rates that you charge, because I don’t know what I would be charging rates FOR
Thank you!!!
While my blog isn’t quite to this point yet, I appreciate the info for the future! I hope to be at that point someday.
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