Examiner.com

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inkkognito

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I sorta thought there would be a thread for this already, but I searched and found nada. Anyone here write for Examiner.com? Skyraven, I think you do? Anyone else? Anyone care to share their experience and if it's worthwhile financially? I'm not looking to get rich from it, but I don't want to only make pennies. Any opinions would be most appreciated!
 

Skyraven

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Hi ink. I do work for them and for a while I was not too happy. I just got a paypal payment with incentives for last month. About $30 for my short articles. I keep them to about 400 words or less. I'm also not great at writing to increase marketing and that's a problem for me. I have an guide there for questions and he sends out several emails a week with ideas for boosting page views. Its all about the page views really.
I've done well because I put up articles about twice a week and then get the word out here, on twitter and on plurk. I've also added links to the site with my blog addy's as well on my personal email so that people can check out my work.
As a financial thing, I don't know. Examiner.com gets thousands of page views a day and some of the other examiners are very popular. I just started in late Oct. So I haven't had much time to build up my readership. Slow going for me.
I've been thinking about sending an email out to friends and family every time I have a new article coming out. Maybe for 2009.
 

inkkognito

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Hmmmm, sounds like something I might be able to link up with my blog and websites as they both get decent page views. If I can route some traffic, might make it worth while. I submitted for two categories and I missed their phone call this past week so I'll be taking to them soon and deciding which one I want to go for. Worth a shot anyway. Thanks for the input!
 

Skyraven

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no problem. They do get a lot of exposure. I think you can get some traffic going. I'm starting out so it'll take me time to get things going. :) Glad to help.
 

inkkognito

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Just talked to them today on the phone and I'll be doing Orlando travel...woo hoo! That will be a good fit for my blog and one of my websites; I should be able to route some good traffic. My husband's part-time job ends Jan. 1, so I am looking for ways to fill some of that void. Even if this isn't a lot, every little bit helps.
 

Skyraven

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Cool! I hope you like it! It sounds like a good fit for you since you do all the cruise stuff! :)
 

inkkognito

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Exactly! My castawayclub.com website gets really good traffic and I'm semi-known in the online Disney community so I'm hoping I can translate that into page views. Plus I'm a travel & theme park fanatic and love to write about those topics anyway, but I don't get to do that much for magazine markets. At worst it will be a therapeutic outlet : ) The other topic I considered was pets, but I thought travel would get better traffic.

I was quite surprised that they require a background check!
 

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Barb, thanks for starting this thread! I hadn't heard about examiner.com until I saw it.

I sent in my app a week ago or so. Just wondering how long the process took from when you applied to when you were contacted and got the gig.

Congrats! Let us know how it goes.

Heidi (the one with only one 'd')
 

Thrillride

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Hi Guys,

I'm the San Francisco Gardening Examiner at Examiner.com. I just got started there, but so far, I'm really enjoying it. I know a couple of other writers over there, as well. It's great exposure and helps build a platform if that's what you're looking for.

Thrill
 
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inkkognito

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Heidi, they actually took quite a while. I think they're in a growth spurt so they tend to get backed up. At first they responded quickly (I think it was with a phone call) to say they would be back in touch. Then it was probably at least a month before they touched base again. They do a phone interview, and you get good email support when they hire you. I'm really enjoying my experience with them. The money isn't huge, but I'm quickly building up a good readership so I think it will soon be on a par with my blog. I can knock the articles out really fast, so I'm really glad I signed up with them.
 

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Thrill, that's awesome!

Barb, thanks for the info. I haven't gotten a call yet, unless they didn't even leave a message. I'm wondering because it says they will get in touch within 5 biz days and it's been 2 weeks now.

I'll hold tight, maybe check in a couple days to see what's up. Seems a lot of the sites are behind in responding lately.

Heidi
 

HeidiW

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Whoo hoo! As of yesterday I'm the Tucson Pets Examiner! They don't even have a site for Tucson yet, but are going to house it in the Phoenix section. I'm so excited!

Thanks again Barb for your original post.

Heidi
 

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They don't even have a site for Tucson yet, but are going to house it in the Phoenix section.

I'm curious whether you suggested your location. They don't have a location near me, but frankly, I was surprised they didn't. There are plenty of larger towns near me. I wonder if I could propose something to them?

Congrats!
 

inkkognito

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Cress, it's possible I could ask my channel contact. What are the towns and how close are you? I can send him an email if you're like because I know they are doing a lot of recruiting generally now.

And big congrats Heidi!!!
 

HeidiW

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I'm curious whether you suggested your location. They don't have a location near me, but frankly, I was surprised they didn't. There are plenty of larger towns near me. I wonder if I could propose something to them?

Congrats!
I originally sent them a message asking if they knew when they'd be opening the Tucson market, and got no response. So I went ahead and applied for a national position but also explained the Tucson roles I'd be interested in for when that opens. I guess they decided to just incorporate Tucson into Phoenix rather than not having it. So go for it!

Heidi
 

Skyraven

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Heidi - Congratulations! Way to go on taking the initiative. Sometimes we can find opportunities by just asking for them. :)
 

moth

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Thrill and Heidi, big huge congrats! I'm so happy for both of you! :D
 

caseyquinn

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Yea i noticed that as well :) since i am in charlotte the header is always charlotte even if i go and read an article from another city - thanks for reading!

we should set up an examiner group help each other out as we all get started!
 

caseyquinn

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Good question :) perhaps form like a yahoo group and whenever you post send out a notice and everyone in the group goes to check it out, post comments, etc? or we create like an examiner thread like did update your blog today thread?
 
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