A Media page, sometimes called a Press or News page, a Press Kit, or a Media Kit is a page of your website designed as a specific marketing tool for those people who want to learn more about you, but also (and especially) those who want to write about you. Whether you’ll selling a product or a service, or yourself as an expert, a Media page is a great addition to your website.  I work with many authors designing their author websites and they often have interviews, or book reviews, or pieces they’ve written for others that are a perfect fit for a page like this, but they don’t always think to showcase them in this way, and I always encourage them to do so.

If a journalist wants to write about you, it would be a tragedy if they can’t find the information they need and choose to write about someone else instead. Reporters, researchers, editors and producers regularly trawl the web looking for people to interview on a variety of topics. They are busy people who will naturally gravitate towards those websites which make it easy for them to get the information they need quickly & seamlessly.

Here’s some off-the-record advice from a professional journalist:

“Writing, more often than not — and especially for the internet — means that time is of the essence when it comes to finding sources and information, especially if I’m working on a news piece that must be finished and posted as soon as possible. Because of that, a good web presence is invaluable for people and organizations that I’d like to contact — and that means more than simply ‘have your email address somewhere on the site.’

Selfishly, what I’d look for on a well thought-out site would be contact information — email, definitely, but also a phone number or some kind of social media presence to act as an alternative avenue of contact. Having some kind of biography is a plus, especially one that clearly identifies your current position or project in a way that I can repurpose in my piece to give some context to who the quote is from and why that person is worth paying attention to. And, ideally, there would be a headshot or photograph of some sort available for press, in case such a thing is needed, with — and this is increasingly important these days — a credit for the photographer.”

With all that in mind, here’s what I recommend that you include on your website’s media page:

1. Contact Info. It doesn’t matter if you already have a Contact page, or even if your contact information is in the footer of every page of your site, it’s in your best interest to make it very easy for people to contact you using their method of choice. Ideally you have both an email and a phone number, and if relevant, a mailing address. If you don’t want to give out your personal email, create a new one just for this purpose that you’ll check regularly. You can even create a new, free phone number where people can leave messages that will get transcribed into an email using Google Voice. Remember to also include links to your social media profiles as those are methods of contacting you as well. If you have a publicist, include that information along with instructions about who should contact you vs who should contact your publicist.
2. Your Bio. I wrote about what to include in your website bio, and this calls for the short-and-sweet version that gives the major highlights. Make sure it includes your value statement. If what you’re doing relates to current events, or if you’re an expert on a particular topic, make sure that’s clear.
3. Links to Articles About You. If you’ve been interviewed or quoted in an article, link to it. If you’ve done a guest blog post for someone, link to it. If there’s a video about you, link to it. If you’ve won an award, link to it. You get the idea. And include the logos of the sites that cover you, especially if they’re impressive.
4. Your Headshot. I wrote about the value of a great headshot for your website, and the reasons remain numerous to have a good one, not just for your website, but so that when you’re featured anywhere online you look professional. Include both high and low-res versions for download.
5. Relevant Graphics or Logos. If you’re an author, include a high-res download of your book cover. If you’re a business owner, include your logo. If you sell products, include images of them.
6. Endorsements. This is a great place to include your best reviews & testimonials.
7. Vital Statistics. If you’re selling a product or a book, include the specifics about it such as the title, ISBN, number of pages, available formats, publisher, purchase venues, etc…
8. Interview Topics. You know what you’re all about better than anyone, as well as what you consider most important about your brand, so provide some questions and answers that can be lifted directly into a story about you, or can act as seed information for a journalist.
9. Press Releases. If you have any, provide links to them here.

Even if you do not have much to share on a media page currently, include what you do have and add to it over time.