It’s not only bloggers that benefit from having a media kit on their website. Often overlooked in a branding tookit, a media kit does that one thing that journalists love – makes it easy to pull a story together, while simultaneously giving them a snapshot of your potential influence. Let me break down the life of a typical journalist for you. They have to provide content continuously for the hungry beast that is the internet and our ravenous appetites for new content. They have very little support, usually don’t have resources to travel far and get personal interviews, or a photographer, so they are producing everything on their mobile devices and sweating bullets to get their work subbed and uploaded in time each day.

Having a great media kit and an understanding of how to provide them with copy ready content means that you have a far greater chance of getting noticed and your story used than if the journalist has to do the work themselves. They are not lazy – just time and resource poor.

Your media kit is where you can make your initial first impression and succinctly tell your story. Who are you? What do you want people to know about your brand, blog and your products/services and what makes them special? Don't make this section too long. Give a brief introduction of who you are but don't give them every detail of your life. Facts and short print ready sentences are what journalists will love you for.

If you are a blogger, next you'll need to share your stats. These are your important details as they give an indication of how you are cutting through in the market. List things like:

·         Your analytics

·         Monthly visits

·         Social media followings

If you have collaborated with brands or sponsors, this is where you will list them and how you worked with them. Did you write a sponsored post? Do you do event hosting, promotions, or sponsor posts? If your media kit is promoting your products or services, the things you want to highlight are your sales, who are you working with, where are your outlets if you aren’t online. Again, this demonstrates influence and impact.

Your links and contact info is critically important so make sure that it is front and centre. Here is where you need to have your social media links easily found. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram are the best ones to have available. Don't forget your special badges and expertise. This is the place to show off your skills. This needs to be live and clickable, and if you have video content list it here too, as video as we know is a shortcut to engagement and showcasing your personality.

Make you media kit as pretty and compelling as possible, it is another way to capture and cut through. Be creative, show off your graphic design skills, your logo, and include a photo of yourself to help your media kit spotlight you and all you stand for. This is your virtual business card, and you want it to be memorable. When you are all finished, convert it to a PDF so you can send it out with emails and list it on your blog's or website’ About page. Don’t hide it somewhere off the footer, make sure it can be found.

Keep your stats updated monthly and make sure that your details are current. When you put out a media release, list them on your media tab so they are in close proximity to your media kit and can fill in the details for stories. And that’s it, a simple exercise that will professionalise your site, and make getting your stories into the press so much easier.