Shop my favorite media kits, here

Matt & I have received endless questions from fellow readers and bloggers, wanting us to share tips and tricks on what it takes to blog full time. I always welcome these types of questions because I was once in your shoes, so NEVER feel awkward when it comes to reaching out. 

The blogging industry can be confusing and like a bad indie movie, hard to figure out. So I wanted to take some time to share one essential piece you’ll need to create, for your business, if you decide it’s time to reach out to fellow bloggers or brands.

Let me first start off by saying, I personally waited to take on my first paid collaboration until I had a steady blog following and an Instagram following of about 20,000-ish. Before that time I was strictly blogging for myself and getting to know brands as a fellow brand and not a marketer.

You have to really think hard about when you feel comfortable taking your blog to the next level, however, this post isn’t about getting a collaboration, it’s about creating a media kit that makes your brand shine. 

So shall we jump in? 

When I’m collaborating with other bloggers or brands, I’ll always send over my media kit. Which to put it frankly is a two-page PDF which sums up, The Coastal Confidence. 

However before you even sit down to make a media kit, I recommend blogging for a substantial amount of time, as you’ll need to showcase your work, brand mission, and statistics; which takes time to figure out, finalize and grow. 

The truth is, media kits are quite simple, they’re basically just a resume for your blog! But since a lot of blogger’s don’t touch on the topic, I can see how it can be daunting starting from scratch with little guidance. 

So, Matt & I took some time over the weekend, to break down our media kit & share some of our favorite media kit templates, with you all. When I first started blogging, I created a media kit, like you would a resume, on Word.

However, today, as blogging becomes more and more popular; you’ll start to see media kit templates popping up everywhere. The template I use today was personally coded for me; however, there are some more affordable options, that stand the test of time. For fashion bloggers, I love the look of this media kit, for a home or cooking blog, I love the colors and theme of this media kit, and finally, for travel bloggers, I love this media kit because it has sample slots to show off your travel photography work.

To be honest, if I was hunting for a new media kit I would go the Etsy route. You can view all media kit templates here, and I’d say the average price seems to be between $10 – $15.! 

So now that you have your media kit template let’s chat about the do’s and dont’s of media kits! 

DO: 

• DO include images – Images say a lot about your brand, you work quality and your site’s aesthetics, so make sure to include images you are proud of. Select images that really uphold your blog’s ‘niche’, categories and tone. 

• DO include your logo – I would 100% include your blog’s name and logo at the top of the media kit, this is important especially if companies print out media kits to have on file. Make sure to make it easy for them to find you!

• DO include a paragraph about yourself – let’s face it, not every blogger or brand you’ll collaborate with, will have had the time to read every single post on your blog. So make sure, to sum up who you are and what you’re all about. I find including a backstory about yourself on your blog, helps start collaborations off on the right foot. 

• DO include your blog’s statistics – 
  • This section could be a whole post in itself but it’s really important to provide value to whomever you want to collaborate with. 
  • Some things I’d recommend to include in your site statistics section: 
    • Monthly Unique Visitors – I would recommend using Google Analytics to get this number.
    • Average Time on Page – I would recommend using Google Analytics to get this number.
• Oh, and don’t forget to include your social media following

• DO include a little bit about your readers – I would recommend using Google Analytics to accomplish this, but it’s important to let brand’s know who your readers are. For instance, male vs female, age group, country location, langue spoken, etc. This will help the other blogger or brand decide if a collaboration is a good fit.

• DO include your contact information – You never know what might happen, so make sure to include where they can find you on all social media platforms, along with an email & (if you want) phone number. 

Okay, so those are some of the do’s to consider when making a media kit, now here are some of my personal DON’Ts. 

DON’T: 

• DON’T fake it till you make it in statistics – This is really important guys, a lot of companies will ask for images of your most current month’s google analytics, and that’s not a conversion you can fake. So make sure to keep your numbers legit, or else it will be hard to explain why your google analytics don’t match what you’ve listed, however, it is normal for analytics to change month-to-month, just keep it real. Always remember blogging is a LONG-TERM career path, nothing happens overnight (read more about that in this post) so make sure you’re honest with whomever you’re collaborating with. 

• DON’T include your price list – Okay, this DON’T is really a personal preference, but for me, it’s a HUGE DON’T, for the following reasons. I have a price list separate from my media kit to send over to companies interested in collaborating. The main reason why I separated these documents was that I use my media kit for, WAY MORE than just locking down collaborations. I use it to show people how my site functions, I use it to gauge growth (which means I’m sending it out to interns, TCC employees, etc), I use it to send to hotels or restaurants if I’m traveling and want to shoot at their location, I even use it to send to other bloggers I’m interested in collaborating with. For me, it’s a good way to introduce myself to people, and I feel like including the prices would be ‘awkward’  and irrelevant in those situations. 

• DON’T think longer is better – this isn’t a contest to see the exact amount of things you’ve accomplished in your life. Keep your media kit SHORT! My media kit is broken down into: one page filled with writing and images and the second page filled with statistics, my brand motto and pictures. That’s it. Keep your media kit short and to the point, because honestly, no one has time to read all the nitty gritty. 
  

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Okay, that all we have for you guys at the moment. I hope this post clarified some of your deepest and darkest, blogging Q&A’s. Oh, & Matt and I have been working really hard on our weekly newsletter relaunching in August, so make sure to subscribe here. xx Aubrey 

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