Monetize Your Website By Creating a Media Kit That Sells With this tool in place, you can begin to attract the attention of entrepreneurs and businesses that are trying to determine where to spend their marketing dollars.
By Thomas Smale Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Are you looking to sell advertising on your website or blog? By putting together an effective media kit, you can begin to attract the attention of entrepreneurs and businesses that are trying to determine where to spend their marketing dollars.
Naturally, your goal should be to demonstrate a compelling reason why they should spend their money with you, whether it's an attractive price point, a highly engaged target audience, a specific amount of traffic you drive to your site every month, a combination thereof, or some other benefit.
But first, do you even need a media kit?
More than likely, you will not need a media kit if your intention is to monetize your site through display ads, such as AdSense ads. However, a media kit will be necessary if you want to sell ads directly to media buying agencies, entrepreneurs and businesses. It's one of the most important documents you could put together if you're looking to convince those with a marketing budget to work with you.
Related: 25 Signs You Need Help Marketing
There are several more considerations you need to be thinking about if you want to sell ads on your site. Ask yourself:
- Is my site getting a lot of traffic?
- Is my audience highly targeted?
- Am I aware of companies within my niche that are actively spending money on marketing and promotion?
- Do I have a broad set of connections and relationships within my industry?
If you answered "yes" to two or more of the previous questions, there's a good reason for you to create a media kit.
What is a media kit?
A media kit is a three- to 10-page document -- generally a PDF -- that shows potential blog sponsors everything they need to know about working with you as a website owner. Sponsors will take you more seriously when you have an attractive media kit -- it creates the basis for a professional working relationship.
Here is an overview of what to include in your media kit:
- Audience data. This refers primarily to demographical information: age, gender, whether your visitors have children, annual income, buying habits and so forth.
- A strong introduction. Your opening paragraph should be direct and concise. Introduce your site to the reader, what topics you cover, what content you create and why visitors come to you.
- Audience stats. Page views, unique visitors, average time spent on site, traffic growth, niche-specific survey data, subscribers, your social following (if it is particularly large) and more. The more numbers you can provide here, the better. Specifically, demonstrate how engaged your visitors are. Also see 5 Affordable Consumer Research Tools for tips on how to survey your audience.
- Advertising opportunities. Show readers how they can advertise on your site. More specifically, point out the particular ad options you have for them and how much they cost. For example, take a screenshot of your home page and mark up the ad units you are selling, along with their exact dimensions.
Crafting a media kit that sells.
Now you know what you need to include in your media kit. Crafting your media kit may seem like an overwhelming task, but the key is to break it down into smaller steps and tackle one thing at a time. It also helps to take inspiration from the many amazing media kits that are already out there. For example, take a look at the Entrepreneur Media Kit, specifically the digital media kit.
Related: The Most Memorable Ad Campaigns Share These 3 Elements
It begins with an establishing shot that clearly identifies what the document is, and also includes the Entrepreneur logo as well as the tagline, "The Voice of Entrepreneurship." That's page one.
On the second page, you will find the introduction. It's a simple one-paragraph introduction -- following a headline -- that defines the audience. Below that, they've identified the different kinds of people that read Entrepreneur -- such as moguls, investors and trendsetters -- along with the percentages of people that fit in with a particular category.
On page three, there's a content calendar showing the topics that will be covered during specific months, as well as the broader topics that the content belongs to.
The next page shows print and digital reader stats, Entrepreneur's social following, how many people are attending live events and how many books have been sold.
Page five shows demographical information. From there, the media kit also includes information on the opt-in list, newsletter sponsorships, ad specs and ad units, as well as mobile reach.
Of course, your media kit isn't necessarily going to look exactly like Entrepreneur's, but it should provide clues as to how to make your document look as attractive as possible, and the details you need to include.
Additional steps you can take to enhance your media kit.
Beyond the numbers and the pricing, there are certain elements that make a media kit really stand out. Here are some additional steps you can take to enhance your media kit:
- Create your media kit with your target advertisers in mind -- not your target readers. Keep in mind that media buyers don't necessarily know anything about your niche or topic.
- Provide as much information on your audience as possible, beyond the number of monthly visitors you get and the subscribers you have. This is where demographical information can prove particularly useful. If you need to get to know your audience better, take a look at 9 Ways to Meet and Understand Your Audience.
- Recognize that prospective sponsors may be learning about you and your site for the very first time when they view your media kit. You need to include key information that will help them understand who you are, but you still need to relay your highlights concisely, as advertisers don't necessarily have a lot of time to learn about you.
- Demonstrate social proof by showing past advertisers. This will prove to potential advertisers that you provide a valuable service.
- Engage with images. Nice looking imagery can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your media kit.
- Include testimonials, especially from noteworthy sources.
Final thoughts.
By using the tips and suggestions outlined above, you too can create a great media kit and begin attracting sponsors for your website.
If your head is spinning and you're feeling overwhelmed, you may want to take advantage of this handy Media Kit Generator to get up and running. This tool allows you to create simple, nice-looking media kit presentations on the fly.
