Creating a Blog Media Kit: Part 2
If you missed part one you can find it here
I was blown away at the response of part one of my Creating a Blog Media Kit series and I’m so happy that so many of you found it helpful!
As a recap, a media kit is basically a blog resume! If you want to work with brands or eventually make a little (or a lot) of money off of your blog, you should have one! In part one, I talked about why you need one and what you should include in it. Today, I’m going to talk about how you can create one (even if you don’t have any fancy software or any graphic design knowledge). Trust me; you can do it. I have no graphic design background and think I did a pretty good job of putting one together!
The answer to all of your media kit dreams is picmonkey.com! Most of the features on this site are free, but you can pay 4.99 for all of the premium options. I love this site and use it for ALL of my photo editing/graphic needs.
So, first things first: you need a blank canvas to work on. Under the design tab, use the 8X10 canvas; that way you have a whole piece of paper to work with and can print it out nicely without any issues for handing out at conferences and such!
Second: I started by playing around with a layout and color scheme by just placing different shapes around the canvas and labeling them. It’s so important to create a media kit that has the same aesthetics as your blog so that your branding is clear. Focus on using the same colors and fonts as your blog and only use 2-3 colors and 2-3 fonts so that it doesn’t get too confusing.
Third: Start filling in your information that you collected from part one! Be sure to include graphics like your social media icons (I literally took screen shots of mine off my blog and inserted them that way) and logos from companies you worked with.
Fourth: When you get it perfected, it’s time to save! Save that baby as a JPEG and make sure you convert it to PDF format as well. Companies REALLY like having pdfs to look at; they are easy to view in all operating systems.
Fifth: BEFORE you exit out of your picmonkey creation, go through and delete all the stats you put in and save it again! This will be your “template.” Picmonkey flattens your images when you save them; so you won’t be able to go through and just change the text on it. By saving a blank template, you are saving yourself from having to create it from scratch all over again; you just have to upload the picture and put the new numbers in! I can’t stress how important this is to making your life easy! I doubled my page views last month, so I had to update my media kit right away to reflect that. It was easy to do with my blank template!
Are you feeling confident about creating your own media kit now? YOU SHOULD BE! You can do it; I totally believe in you!
Next week, I’ll post part three of this series and share what you can do with your media kit and how to use it with brands!
What else do you want to learn about media kits? Have you used one with a brand before?
