Type-A Mom Conference – Know Your Numbers: Putting Together a Media Kit

Next up is the Type-A Mom Conference session about putting together a media kit. Our speakers are Wendy Scherer and Katja Presnal.

Wendy says that media kits are a promotional piece that have been used by newspapers and magazines for a long time. It helps people take you seriously. It’s a way to show who you are and give the details companies need to the people who make decisions.

You can use Compete and Quantcast for traffic data. They provide vastly different information, but they are both useful tools.

Even if you don’t have high traffic numbers, if your numbers show an upward graph, take a screenshot to show how you’re growing. If you can show the percentage of growth over time, those trends are very helpful for the companies you want to work with. Even if your uniques are low, your pageviews may be high. Time spent on your site is good. Google traffic may provide 10 second visitors, but if you have visitors remaining for 3-5 minutes, advertisers will love that.

Engagement on Facebook is also helpful. Your likes, your comments…good to know, but engagement is definitely key. Take a screenshot of that one great comment you have on your fan page from the person who loves your site and visits it every day.

Comments back to you on Twitter are great. Take screenshots of tweets from companies you’ve worked with. Twinfluence, Twitter Analyzer, Klout, Twitalyze, Tweet Stats…good tools to check out. There are hundreds of others, as well. Each tool has its own algorithm, so quote your source when you provide those numbers.

Don’t use all of your stats. Use your best stats. Show the numbers that look good! Look where you’re in the top 5, and use those numbers to show where your influence is the highest. Your stats are like your resume. Put your best face forward.

You can use offline “stats” too. If you’re a PTA mom and you meet with 100 moms every month, put that out there, too.

Use bit.ly to track your clicks on your links. (I prefer j.mp which is a service of bit.ly) Use Google to find who’s linking to you. Google [link:http://WELLinTHIShouse.com] to find out who’s linking to me!

Check out twunfollow.com to track your Twitter followers and show your increase over time.

Most companies aren’t going to go any further in researching your stats than looking at the information you provide them in your media kit.

What is the goal of your media kit? Are you trying to attract advertisers? Your trafic will be most important. Are you trying to attract spokesperson gigs? Get better products to review? Decide on your goal and shape your media kit info based on that.

Companies will be impressed if you include your media kit with your initial pitch.

Put your email address on your site. Companies don’t want to see a contact form. (Oops. I’m guilty of this one.) If they can’t find your email address, you may be losing the people you’re trying to attract with your media kit.

You don’t have to call it a media kit. You can call it your about page or whatever else.

If you’re the top person on some sort of list, include that info! Top 10 mommy bloggers? Excellent. Put it on there, no matter how silly it really is.

There are a lot of brands who are looking for people who don’t have the most traffic. They want the people who are most driven. The biggest bloggers don’t necessarily have enough time to devote to making it personal for their readers, and companies want someone who can give them more attention. Ask your readers why they read your blog, and you can use those testimonials. (Just let them know you’re going to be using those comments in your media kit.)

If you’re one person with multiple blogs, you have the option of doing one media kit for all of your properties…but if you’re selling advertising, you may want to create blog-specific media kits, particularly if you cover wildly different niches.

By the way, these ladies talk really quickly. We got a link to their presentation here: http://tinyurl.com/typeamediakit

Demographics are important. Who’s reading your blog? Quantcast gives you a great picture of your readership, or you can do a survey on your blog. Make yourself look good!

Psychographics…What do your readers care about? What is their favorite part of your blog? What else do they read? Paint a picture of who your readers are.

You are more than a number. Show who you are. Include pictures of yourself. Take screenshots of your best blog posts. Have you been an ambassador of a brand? Have you been invited to a special event? Show the entire picture of who you are.

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Create compelling content as an investment in your business. If you want to get  invited to a resort because you’d love to break into travel blogging, put some money into taking a road trip and blogging about as many places as you can.

“This is what I’m doing. This is what I can deliver. This is how much I charge. And I am worth the money.”

Don’t do so much consulting for free.

Katja says, “Do not work for cupcakes.” That was me. I said that at last year’s conference, and it’s become a catchphrase for valuing our work as bloggers. Go me. 🙂

People don’t value free work as much as they do when you charge. Don’t sell yourself short. It’s hard to get the better paid gigs when you’re giving it out for free. Your media kit shows that you’re serious, that you’re a business. You’re positioning yourself as a professional.

Katja is all about PR. She doesn’t like the numbers as much as telling people who she is and what she offers. Make yourself easy to contact. Link to examples, your press page, your Facebook, your Twitter, your LinkedIn. Include your picture. Use the same photo for branding purposes. Put what you’ve done before. What did you do before you had a blog?

For SEO purposes, have an about page, a professional portfolio page, etc. You can have several pages that make up your media kit.

For ambassador and spokesperson gigs, you can make an overall feature of things like a Disney cruise you get invited on…Put screenshots on your media kit to attract additional offers.

You have 30 seconds to attract companies. If you’re not appealing in the first 5 seconds, you won’t even get 30 seconds. Be concise and accurate. Put the most important stuff on the top, above the fold.

Put the link to your media kid in your header navigation so it’s right there.

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.