Examiner.com Guide
Lately, I have been having the most success with a site called the Examiner.com. They pay so good, I get the equivalent to a full time job paycheck but I only spend 20 minutes writing each article and I write 1 or 2 a day. It is so much fun there and I really love it. The hardest part about the job is filling out the application but if you know me you'll know that I have tricks up my sleeve to help you. Contact me if you want me to recommend you to write for the Examiner. If you are recommended by a writer in good standing your application will be reviewed within days as opposed to weeks. You can use my name Rachel Ellis at the bottom where it asks you how did you hear about this position. Click the following link to see my actual Examiner application that I submitted to get hired. If you need help or have any additional questions feel free to email me. Here are my articles on Examiner.com I am the Jacksonville Celebrity Headlines Examiner click here to view my work.
Examiner.com Guide FAQs
Why should I apply to write for Examiner.com? What makes it better than other writing sites?
Examiner is awesome! I can tell you what I know about it. I have been there for 2 years and I average about $1,000.00 a month but it gets higher each month so it's really based on how much work you do. Here is a recent payment proof. They pay much better than AC, for instance AC pays .01 per 8 page views while Examiner pays .01 per 1 page view. This may not sound that great but the real difference is that somehow they get your articles to appear #1 in Google searches. I've had a lot of mine turn up as first when you google the topic. Update: the pay scale has been changed a bit. Examiner still pays the most as far as page views go but it has been lowered. Here is a recent screenshot to give you an idea.
Why should I apply to write for Examiner.com? What makes it better than other writing sites?
Examiner is awesome! I can tell you what I know about it. I have been there for 2 years and I average about $1,000.00 a month but it gets higher each month so it's really based on how much work you do. Here is a recent payment proof. They pay much better than AC, for instance AC pays .01 per 8 page views while Examiner pays .01 per 1 page view. This may not sound that great but the real difference is that somehow they get your articles to appear #1 in Google searches. I've had a lot of mine turn up as first when you google the topic. Update: the pay scale has been changed a bit. Examiner still pays the most as far as page views go but it has been lowered. Here is a recent screenshot to give you an idea.
I've seen blog posts saying you're required to write 3-4 articles per week. Is that true?
First of all yes, you have to write a minimum of 2 articles a week but your articles only have to be about 150 words long. So it literally takes me 20 mins to crank out each article. The first week it took me 1 hour because I was obsessing.
How long do the articles have to be?
A minimum of 150 words but the articles could be longer. Examiner prefers them to be short as opposed to long essay-like types. You can also break a long article up into 2-3 shorter articles.
Can you use something that has been paid/published on AC?
You can use AC articles or any other articles that you have published elsewhere. You can also publish your Examiner articles elsewhere, like to AC for performance payments or Bukisa.
Do the articles go through a submission process like on AC or do they go live as soon as you hit submit? How picky are they?
At first you will go through a hiring process, they make it a little hard to get in but once you are hired you do not have to submit the articles for approval, they will go live immediately. The first sample article is the only one you'll have to show them.
One blog said they do regular phone consultations with you, do they really call?
They have never ever called me on the phone. On the application you will have to put your phone number down but they have never actually called me.
Why don't I earn as much as you do?
This is the question that I am asked the most. So here is the answer and I hope it makes sense. When you open up a newspaper it is broken down into sections. There is the front page news, sports, politics, classifieds, etc. Most people read the front page but not many people read the classified section. If you want a lot of people to read your story you are going to want to pick a subject that would appear on the front page instead of one that is lost in the classified section. That is the difference between writing about celebrity news in any city as opposed to writing about opera in Madison, Wisconsin. Don't limit yourself to such a narrow category.
So, when picking the topic that you want to cover choose a popular subject like sports, crime news, politics or any form of entertainment news. It's okay to be localized, I am the Jacksonville Celebrity Headlines Examiner and I can write about any celebrity but if I was The Jacksonville Vegan Examiner I probably would not get as many hits.
Going with deciding on a topic, how tightly do you have to stick to your subject?
Celebrity news is where the money is, I have no idea what others earn but yes, you are allowed to veer off of your subject. I think I would strictly write about your chosen topic for the first week to be safe but after that they don't monitor you at all. For instance, if you wanna cover health then if someone famous dies, is dying or is diagnosed with something you can use their high profile name to get page views for your article. I see it done all the time. There are people who write about pregnancy and write about every famous person who is pregnant. It's the same idea and yes it is allowed.
Should I apply to be a local examiner or a national examiner?
There are 2 ways to go about applying and this is where people make their mistake. You can apply to be a local writer like me or a national writer in a more detailed subject. Always go for local they rarely hire Nationals unless you are famous or extremely well qualified. Also, they offer an option to make up your own topic, I would never opt for that because it seems to depend on luck - it is rare that they would start a new local subject just for you so my advice is to just pick something that is open in your state. You don't have to live in the exact city just stay within your state. I can help dig up some good open positions if you'd like, just tell me what state you live in and what topic you'd like to write about.
First of all yes, you have to write a minimum of 2 articles a week but your articles only have to be about 150 words long. So it literally takes me 20 mins to crank out each article. The first week it took me 1 hour because I was obsessing.
How long do the articles have to be?
A minimum of 150 words but the articles could be longer. Examiner prefers them to be short as opposed to long essay-like types. You can also break a long article up into 2-3 shorter articles.
Can you use something that has been paid/published on AC?
You can use AC articles or any other articles that you have published elsewhere. You can also publish your Examiner articles elsewhere, like to AC for performance payments or Bukisa.
Do the articles go through a submission process like on AC or do they go live as soon as you hit submit? How picky are they?
At first you will go through a hiring process, they make it a little hard to get in but once you are hired you do not have to submit the articles for approval, they will go live immediately. The first sample article is the only one you'll have to show them.
One blog said they do regular phone consultations with you, do they really call?
They have never ever called me on the phone. On the application you will have to put your phone number down but they have never actually called me.
Why don't I earn as much as you do?
This is the question that I am asked the most. So here is the answer and I hope it makes sense. When you open up a newspaper it is broken down into sections. There is the front page news, sports, politics, classifieds, etc. Most people read the front page but not many people read the classified section. If you want a lot of people to read your story you are going to want to pick a subject that would appear on the front page instead of one that is lost in the classified section. That is the difference between writing about celebrity news in any city as opposed to writing about opera in Madison, Wisconsin. Don't limit yourself to such a narrow category.
So, when picking the topic that you want to cover choose a popular subject like sports, crime news, politics or any form of entertainment news. It's okay to be localized, I am the Jacksonville Celebrity Headlines Examiner and I can write about any celebrity but if I was The Jacksonville Vegan Examiner I probably would not get as many hits.
Going with deciding on a topic, how tightly do you have to stick to your subject?
Celebrity news is where the money is, I have no idea what others earn but yes, you are allowed to veer off of your subject. I think I would strictly write about your chosen topic for the first week to be safe but after that they don't monitor you at all. For instance, if you wanna cover health then if someone famous dies, is dying or is diagnosed with something you can use their high profile name to get page views for your article. I see it done all the time. There are people who write about pregnancy and write about every famous person who is pregnant. It's the same idea and yes it is allowed.
Should I apply to be a local examiner or a national examiner?
There are 2 ways to go about applying and this is where people make their mistake. You can apply to be a local writer like me or a national writer in a more detailed subject. Always go for local they rarely hire Nationals unless you are famous or extremely well qualified. Also, they offer an option to make up your own topic, I would never opt for that because it seems to depend on luck - it is rare that they would start a new local subject just for you so my advice is to just pick something that is open in your state. You don't have to live in the exact city just stay within your state. I can help dig up some good open positions if you'd like, just tell me what state you live in and what topic you'd like to write about.
How do you know what to write about?
The biggest paying stories are (sad to say) the death stories. Timing is crucial. I hang out on Twitter all day because when something pops into the trending topics I go and write about it. Twitter is the fastest way that news travels it seems.
At the examiner are we supposed to use a real name or a user name / handle?
Over at the Examiner they use real names because it is sort of like a reporter or journalist job.
Over at the Examiner they use real names because it is sort of like a reporter or journalist job.
What will Examiner expect me to know about my city?
I live pretty far from Jacksonville, Florida but it was the closest to my city, plus I thought, "What in the world am I going to know about Jacksonville?", but you don't have to cover your particular city at all. I have not written anything about Jacksonville since I was hired so don't worry too much about local stuff. I think they just don't want 1,000 people covering celebrities so they only have one per city and I think they have about 100 cities listed. You can write about happenings in your city if you are so inclined to. I am going to begin covering some local stuff this month. If you are covering a celebrity topic you should write about upcoming concerts or movies in your area. I use ticketmaster or a local newspaper's website to stay in the loop of what is going on in my city. When you are writing about television shows be sure to write what local channel and time the show is on. You can find that info by visiting the channels website such as Fox Jacksonville.
What if I just moved from another state? Should I write for the the state I grew up in or the one I just moved to?
I believe you would have to write for the state that you currently reside in.
I believe you would have to write for the state that you currently reside in.
Can you repost articles that you have originally written on Examiner to other sites like Associated Content?
You can repost your Examiner articles at Associated Content (AC) with no problems. As long as the other writing site doesn't require exclusive rights to your work you are free to repost your articles anywhere. I repost my stuff everywhere. I use Bukisa, Factoidz, Wikinut, Gather and a bunch of other places that will allow it.
How often do you get paid?
They pay once a month through Paypal, your payment will arrive on or around the 20th of each month. My first month I didn't really know what I was doing so I made $180.00 but now I make around $1,000.00 each month. Last month I made $800.00 for the month. It is just like Associated Content where you get paid 1 cent per 8 page views but at Examiner.com you get a little less than 1 cent for each page view plus Examiner ranks your articles to pop up as #1 in Google's search results. I don't know how they do it but they are good and I'm not complaining. I had 80,000 page views last month and I only work about 2 hours a day. All subjects are not created equal, I write about celebrities which is why my page views are so high.
I haven't been paid yet but it is the 20th of the month, what happened?
If you haven't been paid yet, did you meet the minimum of $20.00 for the month? If your account does not reach the minimum amount needed for withdrawal then your money will rollover to the following month. Examiner doesn't always pay on the 20th of the month but they usually pay within 7 days of the 20th if you have earned enough to cash out. Examiner always pays no matter what. In order to get paid you must actively contribute articles to Examiner. At least 1 article must be published a month if you wish to be paid for the previous month.
What if another examiner in another city already wrote about the story that I was going to write about?
What you are gonna wanna do is "copy" what the other examiners are doing to keep up. Not plagiarizing but just go with the flow to see what's hot and trending then write about it in your own words. You are allowed to cover the same stories that other examiners are covering. It's a good opportunity to link to your fellow examiners as well, Examiner.com loves it when you link to other examiners.
Can I write about more than one topic?
After you are at Examiner.com for about 3 months you can also get a second topic to write about. I think you will have to discuss that with your channel manager but I have definitely seen examiners with 2 different topics. I only have the one.
This Examiner guide has been so helpful can I sign up as your referral?
When you are ready to give Examiner a try then sign up through this link - Write for Examiner
New to Examiner.com FAQs
When I view your examiner page, I see on the right side a list of the websites you write for. How did you do that?
At the top right next to where it says comments you will see a tab that says "edit lists" that is where you can list other places you write.
Where are you allowed to get your pictures from for your Examiner articles?
You can use any picture that you find on Examiner you just need to credit where you got it from. All examiners post where they get their photos from beneath the photos so just copy and paste what they put. You can also use AP photos and Getty images and they have huge libraries.
What writing style should I use?
Always use the third person. I hate talking in the 3rd person but reporters are required to do so. I tend to write in a blogger style but I had to change my ways, it wasn't hard. You need to remember to present the facts, use links, use quotation marks, never write your opinion, and never use capital letters or exclamation points (unless it is a quote).
Does Examiner pay an upfront fee per article like Associated Content does?
When you are a local Examiner they do. Examiner pays $1.00 per article as long as they are localized (that just means you need to put the word "Jacksonville", or whatever your city is, within the first 100 words). They will pay you for the first 5 articles you write per week. It will not show up in your usage earnings. You will just get $20.00 extra when they pay you through Paypal each month.
I received a nasty comment on one of my articles how do you handle that?
This happens a lot to me, try not to interject your personal opinions in the article, if you write a more even-handed article you will get less of the negative comments. The people who leave nasty comments can be very offensive because they are protected by anonymity. I can't even repeat some of the names people have called me because I simply reported about a celebrity death which is part of my job. At first I took it personally but now I just delete the comments and forget about it. You are not the only examiner who gets mean comments on your articles, we all get them.
I don't know what to write about how do you come up with topics that yield high page views?
I have a couple of sources to share with you. First is google trends This page will show you the top 20 things that world is thinking about at any given hour. It is also good for finding keywords to use in your titles, they show you what people are googling. There is also Yahoo and Bing, I prefer to use Google but Yahoo and Bing pretty much do the same thing I just think Google is more up to the minute. I do like to check TMZ daily, not everything they write is newsworthy but I can validate most breaking stories. Twitter is great too.
