Ok, so you want to start selling advertising on your site or you have dabbled into the networks like Rightmedia, Adsence and Advertising.com, but that is not enough as you are seeing your competitors displaying dynamic creative and known advertisers. And you are thinking, “What do they have that we don’t to attract the big advertisers with cool creatives?”, but you do not know where to start. Well, this is the time where you can either turn your site into money maker or just a branding tool which shows limited redirected advertisements. Relax, it is not as hard as you might believe, as this process is best started with a Media Kit. A Media Kit is a tool that is used by advertisers and agencies to learn about your site, what is can offer in the way of ad types, sizes, limitations and possible cost tables. By this, the Media Planner (ad buyer) can easily view your site like a preverbal Menu with everything laid out for them to decide if they want to pitch you to their advertiser or their boss (usually a Media Director). With a Media Kit, you can briefly and cleanly put your site out there to the world that it is not only a great site, but a vital one if an advertiser want to get at the users who frequent your site. Media Kits usually come in two versions or a hybrid of both which are a Downloadable or a web based Media Kit :

Downloadable Media Kit: The downloadable media kit is usually in a word or PDF format and is a time tested tool which is usually emailed or placed online through a link. The Downloadable Media Kit contains information about the site, related brands and successes, but more importantly, it provides case studies. By providing case studies it gives the Media Planner the tools to help sell and explain why they want to advertise on the site. As with all case studies, they can be in just about any format, but the sleeker and prettier the better as you have to remember they have to be written to the least common denominator. I am not saying Media Planners are a little “slow”, but as with web content, build it as if the reader is from another planet. Remember, you have no idea who will be reading this so provide lots of pretty pics and supported numbers as with most buys the document will be selling your site, not you. Here are a few examples of downloadable media kits: Naylor Networks, USA Today.

Website Media Kit: With any website, research is started on the site in question or on a search engine and what better way to get at the Media planner than through the site they are researching. By placing your media kit online you can not only sell to Planners, but it can also help with your SEO as it is crawlable, but more on that in another blog. Online Media Kits ensure that Media Planners can not only provide them with the same website data as with a Downloadable Media Kit, but you can also include live examples of past campaigns, dynamic placements and colorful success stories. Some sites, provide Ad Galleries, Awards, Videos and even live chat areas with whom the Media Planner can speak to a “live” salesperson. All this is cool, but what is also cool is to make sure all the pages are tracked with your ad server as you can then see what and where people are seeing your Media get not only your latest requirements and specs of what your site will and will not accept. Here is an example of one of my favorite web Media Kits:Cnet with both a trackable and dynamic web kit with creative examples and even a gallery: CNET Networks. The Nation is a bit simple, but it is quite clean and brief.

Here is my take on the Pros and Cons for both types of Media Kits:

Downloadable Media Kit
Pros: Easily printable, easy to read for non-web savvy advertisers, customizable for effective visualization, one place to update, one document to rule them all
Cons: Not dynamic, not search able for searchers, difficult to update, pages trackable, limited success examples

Website Media Kits
Pros: Search engine searchable, one place update, multiple versions depending on the searchers location and language, dynamic, live ad examples
Cons: Hard to update, not printable, can get easily lost

Bottom line: When thinking about getting media planners, be it at an agency or a direct advertiser, it is wise to provide both versions, but focus on the web version as it is both dynamic and easy for them to digest. Since Planners usually do not make the decision to place advertisements, they have to sell them to their boss and the advertiser, so the use of the stats, images and creative examples is what help them sell you.

Media Kit: Cost and pricing index:Ok, you got what is “should” be in the Media Kit in both a downloadable and website version, but now you have to start asking about pricing. Yes, I know it is hard to quantify just what is your site’s real estate worth to an advertiser, but I’ll leave that for yet another blog.