Examiner Review

As I've mentioned in passing, I've recently started a new online money making venture. After seven months plus of success on Ehow I decided it's time to start looking for a second online stream of passive residual income. That's where Examiner.com comes in.

I actually first heard of Examiner in the Ehow forums and decided to look into it. At first I didn't want to stretch myself too thin, but a few weeks ago I had a change of heart and realized if I want to make money online I need to have various streams of income in case something was to happen to one of them. So what do I think of Examiner so far?


Here's the basic premiss of Examiner.com: it's sort of like an online newspaper for cities across the US. Examiners (or writers) apply for a specific topic to write about and focus on relative issues in their city. For example, I'm the Baltimore Stay at Home Moms Examiner. So, I write about topics that Baltimore SAHMs would enjoy or find relative and hopefully search for the on the search engines, like Google. I've written about a unique and free Baltimore rainy day activity and published an article about being forced into becoming a SAHM because of the current state of the economy.
Some of my articles meerly mention Baltimore, but the content and information can be applied to any city. Such is the case for my articles on kid sun safety tips and teething pain relief.

What's it take to become an Examiner?

In order to become an Examiner for your city (there are also National Examiners) you must apply for an available position. There is a detailed application process that includes providing writing samples and story ideas. You must also agree to a background check. After all that, your application is reviewed and if Examiner.com likes what they see they may extend an invitation to you to become an Examiner. In most cases there is only one Examiner for a specific topic in each city. But in some cases, including mine, there are more than one which creates a little creative competition.

How does Examiner pay?

Examiner pays monthly as long as you pass the $25 minimum threshold, if not the money is carried over to the next month and so on until you make payout. Examiner pays you every time someone clicks on one of your articles. The current rate is about $10/1000 clicks which is 1 cent for every page view. I have to admit, the rate is low, but I'm trying to stick with it and if nothing else I am using some of my Examiner articles to drive traffic to my Ehow articles where the rate is usually much higher.

What are the benefits of Examiner

• Examiner articles can be and should be rather short - 300-500 words at most. The benefit to this is you can crank out an article in less than an hour.
  
• Examiner articles can be about anything that's relative to your topic.
  
• There's no minimum number of articles you must publish to remain an Examiner. If you have a busy week you don't have to publish anything, but if you have time, you can publish everyday or even more often than that.
  
• You can use your Examiner articles to drive traffic to your other web content such as blogs, ehow articles, and websites. The links must be relative to your article topic.
• The communication between the Examiner and the Examiners seems to be great. Every Examiner has a "channel manager" who they can directly contact about issues and with questions. Examiners are given feedback, suggestions, PR and marketing tools and ideas and as much support as they need in order to be successful.

What are the biggest differences between Examiner and Ehow?

• Examiner is PPC or Pay Per Click - Ehow pays writers when readers click on web ads
  
• Examiner is not in "how to format" - Ehow articles must be in "how to" format
  
• Examiner article titles can be search engine optimized - Ehow articles are limited to "how to" format
  
• Examiner communication with Examiners is strong - Ehow communication with writers struggles at times
  
• Examiner-Examiner interaction doesn't seem very strong - Ehow has very active forums
  
• Examiner focuses on local issues which limits your audience, but also your competition - Ehow articles appeal to anyone anywhere
  

Overall, I'd give Examiner a B+. I'm hoping to start making more money, but I realize Examiner has only been around since Fall 2008 and it takes time to get a website established and respected in the great big cyber world. I've made less than $2 with my five Examiner articles so far, but that's more that what I made when I had five articles on Ehow. I'll continue to keep you posted on my success on Examiner. In the meantime...

If you're interested in becoming an Examiner for your city or if you have any more questions email me at BaltimoreMoms@gmail.com and I'd be happy to help you.