I’ve included in the this post a photo of my February 2010 Examiner.com thus far (only from the Cleveland Pop Culture page) I also write for two National positions on Examiner — the Christian TV and Christian Music writer national positions.
Those made $475.64 and $6.35 thus far this month, respectively.
Apply to write for Examiner.com here now…
I haven’t written that music on the Christian Music position as much as the other two yet.
And since one of my commentators below asked for info about my stats, I’ve included this pic below for my most-updated stats across all my Examiner articles (the ones I remembered to drop the Google Analytics code into, at least) for the past month.
So you can see how Examiner traffic isn’t the same as when I first wrote this piece, but I’m thankful for still getting some payments coming in.
Plus, I have no idea how the bounce rate and hits versus unique visitors factors into our pay rate.
Examiner doesn’t tell us that.
Click the pics to expand and view:
Examiner.com Pay Rate is Great – Examiner.com not a scam nor a fraud – I write for Examiner and have made $2,289 in 20 days in September 2009 — Check here for updates on my future earnings and income from Examiner.com
For those of you who read my writing regularly know that I sus out the “Google Home Income” scams and such stealing money from consumers — claiming that you can just pay $1.89 for some kit or application and learn how to make money online.
Those scammers end up charging people $80 per month that is usually hidden away in the fine print — and people Google what the charges were and find out it was a scam, forcing them to cancel their credit and debit cards. (Hopefully most people check into it before they turn over their credit card numbers to the scammers.)
Anyway, the best non-scam, non-fraud writing opportunity God has blessed me with lately is Examiner.com — I applied FOR FREE to write for Examiner.com after Cliff Bryan left me a comment at the post I wrote called ▷▷▷▷▷▷▷How Much Does Examiner.com Pay Writers? $500 for One Guy in 2 Days, Some Examiners Make $8,000 Per Month – Not a Scam or Hoax | PAULA NEAL MOONEY.
He was the only Examiner writer who admitted to making serious monies with them — and on his word I went ahead and applied.
As you can see from my earlier versions of that post, most people claimed they didn’t make any money writing for Examiner.com — so I stayed away from it for a while.
But I noticed that Google News loves Examiner, so I did more research and after Cliff’s comment, I applied for FREE to Examiner.com and am so thankful to the Lord, our Keeper, that I was able to become their Cleveland Pop Culture Examiner writer.
The key is to write stuff people want to read — check Google Trends, Twitter trending topics and stuff like that daily, hourly even — but also write from the heart what people want to read. Learn a little SEO but don’t overdo it. Always include a pic with your articles — they might show up high in Google and Google News, and people like to click on pics! Be prolific and see what works. I’ve been putting up 7 articles per day some days.
When you apply to Examiner.com for a paying job, you DON’T HAVE TO GIVE ANY CREDIT CARD NUMBER, YOU PAY NOTHING…
So that’s one way you know it’s not a scam over at Examiner.com — you don’t have to give them anything.
The only thing they want to see are writing samples — and my suggestion is that you send them your best.
Apply to write for Examiner.com here now…
I think the first things I sent them was one of my blog posts about Lil Wayne kissing Baby, and then my channel manager at Examiner asked for a second sample that wasn’t written so much like a “blogger” but more like an objective news item.
So I forwarded over one of my Associated Content pieces about Beyonce losing weight on the Master Cleanser diet, and that one is well-traveled and has tons of comments and probably showed them I could write like a reporter and draw viewers.
It’s been such the blessing to get that job.
I can’t tell you.
Anyway, Examiner’s not a fraud or scam — I read that some of the top Examiner’s make around $8,000 per month — and I can see why. They probably write in the Pop Culture segment as well.
So pray and try not to be pigeonholed into a segment that you can’t branch out into. Examiner will ask you what your area of expertise you want to write within, and then if you get accepted to write for them, they’ll assign you a category.
Oh yeah, don’t forget to search for “Paula Mooney” down at the bottom of the job application as the person who referred you, because if you make it in, you get $50 for every person you refer that gets accepted.
Examiner.com Pays for Your Background Check…
…when you apply to them, so you don’t have to pay one thin dime for anything.
Of course, I gave them my SSN# in order to perform the background check on me.
Examiner.com doesn’t check credit or anything like that — I believe they just want to know if you have any felonies or anything.
Right now they’ve got Examiner.com in editions in states all across the nation, including Cleveland, Columbus, DC, San Francisco — you name it — and the National edition and they are adding new cities all the time so check for yours:
Apply to write for Examiner.com here now…
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Well I am a real Examiner writer and I have been writing for them since September 2009 and I have been paid — just like many other Examiner writers.
I wrote for examiner for over one year and had 4 columns–I was never paid, first they said that they had a bad pay pal account email for me. I decided not to write any more articles until I got paid, Examiner is saying that because I did not write while I was waiting to get paid for 90 days that I will not get paid at all. When I complained about this on their community boards they shut me out of the community and they still have not paid me.
Per one of their employees in another blog Examiner routinely froze the counter for 30 minutes each day around lunch time–just when everyone at work would be checking in the ex employee reports that staff also cut the actual number of fews down to avoid paying examiners for their hard work while they make a profit off the advertisements placed on our pages.
I really don’t know how they sleep at night. Do I believe all of the wonderful testimonies by examiners that happen to show up right after any title that says Examiner Scam-no I do not–These comments are most likely placed there by examiners employees.
Yes, that’s a good point, John.
I’ve noticed the referral money is about $200 or so per month at times over the amount I am expecting — so, for example, if I know all my articles across all my Examiner channels should bring me at least $1,300 for one month, I may end up getting around $1,500 in my PayPal account. So yes, there are always a few referrals coming in for the people who get accepted. But you know what? I don’t know how much of that money is also attributed to the incentives program — so I don’t really know the total breakdown of referrals versus incentives because I haven’t calculated it all out.
They actually stopped doing the $5 per application referral program that they used to, but it looks like it must be local incentives money mixed in with referral money. I haven’t gone thru the trouble of trying to calculate it all out — nor do I know if we know all the complex calculations — I just thank God for whatever ends up in my accounts!
Paula,
I think it’s important to tell people not necessarily what you make from writing, but what percentage of that monthly income is from referrals to Examiner.com? I see links all over your article here that are referral links, and since Examiner.com pays $50 for each person you refer, this could fudge your figures quite a bit…
I am just going to start writing for them. I know I won’t make much (if anything) but I am completely and totally broke and unemployed now anyhow (and have been for a quite a while). I have never worked as a writer before but i have been told I am a good writer and, by professors in college, that I should be one so I figure I might as well take advantage of that. I am doing this mostly because I will get to write about something I care about and am involved in anyhow in my personal time without getting paid. Mostly though, I am doing it to put it on my resume so I can prove I DO work – even if it is only part-time so I can’t be discriminated against for being unemployed. My articles will be online with my name and my picture so I can prove that I am working. This way I can still look for a “real” job but I am hoping this will eventually open the doors to something else. Hey, it is better than being completely unemployed and having nothing right???? I think in todays economy, even though we don’t like it, sometimes we have to almost give some of our work away for free to get somewhere else. I do like writing and researching so it comes naturally to me for the most part. I just hope I do it right and people read my page. I would rather get networking and contacts from this than a ton of money (which is ironic because money is what I really need) – but it will be nice to be working AT ALL – in some capacity -again. The contract is confusing but as far as I tell what I write still belongs to ME right? So I can still put it up on my personal blog (which is similar subject) if I want right? Thanks for the page on the tips btw.
I am looking forward to articles for the Examiner!
Here’s a bunch of Examiner.com-traffic getting tips I wrote, and although some stuff has changed because we don’t have as much access to our HTML, you can still use a lot of the tips.
For example, you don’t put Google Analytics code in the same way I describe in that old article, but you can still study it in the ways I suggested to try and get more hits.
I have a question for all the Examiner writers. How much effort do you put in to marketing your writing? What methods do you use? I am posting links to my articles on Facebook and Twitter, and I’m creating a blog related to my Examiner topic (domestic adoption) that I’ll link to my index page. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks!
My only problem with this is that they are asking for my criminal background and to check that out they need my social security number and I’m not trying to get my identification stolen from me. is that something they ask?
How is the Examiner treating you after the REVISED version on the Drupal platform ? Still making cash $, ….probably not
HOW ON EARTH do you make that much money? I have been writing there for a week and a half and have made like $3!!
Paula,
I appreciate that you were so open with all of your earnings and stats. I started with Examiner about the same time you did, but have a fairly small local niche, so your numbers represent a distant dream!
I had seen your name on the Google Wave group, but I don’t think I ever saw anything that you had posted. I am delighted for your sake that you were out there making it work in a much bigger way than any of us imagined. Good for you.
Even though it would be TREMENDOUS to make that kind of money, I am not in a position to write that many articles every day. I do notice increased readership when I publish frequently, and I am still learning about the whole SEO aspect, so there is plenty of room for improvement on my end to grow the numbers.
Examiner certainly can bring in decent money if one is able to put all the pieces together for content, topic trending and SEO skills.
It is also true that the majority won’t be in the high-money category, but that is true in any field. There are the superstars who are several notches above the rest in their productivity (and thus their earnings.)
Ms. Mooney,
I saw your youtube video highlighting some of the money you have earned as as Examiner.com writer.
First of all, I am seriously thinking of becoming a writer on Examiner.com since I have received an invitation to do so. Secondly, I want to thank you for putting your video on the web, it is helpful for me in trying to gleen as much information as possible before I make a decision. I actually have written a book and the manuscript is currently with a publishing company. I have a contract with this publishing company and I am hoping that by this fall the book will be released. But in the interim I thought that I could write for Examiner and get some exposure and perhaps make some money at the same time.
Would you recommend Examiner.com? I appreciate your response and thank you in advance for any advice.
Have a terrific weekend!
Rex
Thanks; I didn’t know these pieces were out there.
I just found these other examiners mentioned in the “real” media:
(50 seconds into the video) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37987766#37987766
(3m:33sec into the video) http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/314148/july-01-2010/threatdown—dawn–actual-food—texas-gop
Forbes article http://blogs.forbes.com/bizblog/2010/06/30/examiners-rick-blair-wants-some-respect/
No need to put Paula down since she’s obviously doing something right in order to earn her good income. Her examiner site shows that she’s prolific and knows how to write for the web, which is a different beast from traditional/print writing, where you have mostly guaranteed rate. With online writing, as with most fields, if you’re good and you put in the time and effort, you will succeed. You’ll need to understand SEO and how to write in a way that assures your articles will be picked up by search engines and easily accessible to the folks searching for the info. However, if you’re just hoping to make easy money online by publishing only 3 articles, you will likely NOT be successful and continue to wonder why you only earned 14 cents. The people being so harsh and critical of online writing sites such as Examiner.com seem – to me – similar to those who complain about weight loss products. Any of those products, diets or workout routines would probably work IF YOU FOLLOW THROUGH and put in the necessary time, effort and brainpower (research). Using a workout video for 3 days and giving up because you haven’t lost 20 lbs is NEVER going to bring you to success in anything.
That local content rule isn’t even enforced fairly! I just looked at my local politics examiners, and it seems VERY FEW are actually posting stuff that happens IN ST. LOUIS!! I mean, wtf?
Hi just post you’re question and I’ll try and answer whatever I can. Thanks
I’m an examiner for Jacksonville’s Underground Music scene. I’ve only been writing for the Examiner for about a month. I had a few questions and was wondering if your expertise could help.
Thank you!
Just because you didn’t have success with Examiner doesn’t mean others are not. Examiner.com has been a God send for me and plenty of other writers.
The amounts I make from Examiner.com and post on this website and on paulamooney.blogspot.com are TRUE!
The above article is complete bullshit. I put 3 articles on the web, worked my way up to 14 cents and then the next day my pay was back down to a penny.
THIS IS A SCAM. THEY KNOW A LOT OF JOURNALISTS ARE OUT OF WORK AND IT’S THEIR WAY OF CAPITALIZING ON HUMAN MISERY. I HOPE EXAMINER.COM FAILS MISERABLY.
Well… I’m onboard and running. Your tips were helpful. I’m the NY Tech Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-48467-NY-Computers-Examiner Some of the standard concerns and complaints remain. (1) No oversight or editing
of content (2) Some of the requirements upon joining were hazy and vague On the + side page views were higher than expected for me. And Examiner has a Huge marketing blitz campaign running. But with that campaign, I hope their intent is to make Examiner more relevant and reliable. With proper editing that might become a reality. Examiner.Com was shown in the movie theater before the premier of Iron Man 2. IF you need to brush up on computer skills and need tips to make your work flow more effective at your work especially at a computer feel free to subscribe and as always God Bless to you all: http://www.examiner.com/x-48467-NY-Computers-Examiner
do you have to give out your SS number? they can really hurt you with that
I’ve been writing for Examiner.com for over a year. I used to make $35-50/month. It has steadily increased and I am set to make over $550 this month. I have not rec’d the Paypal pymt for last month yet, but it should be close to $225. I am happy with my side job! The background check is not a scam – they are legit.
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