Examiner Update

Well, if you didn't read my first impressions of Examiner, take a look here. I wasn't terribly impressed at first, but I have to say that my original impression has changed pretty dramatically. I'm actually doing fairly well there, surprisingly. For residual income I tried Bukisa and it was a complete waste of time. I tried AC and I make a modest amount every month from stuff I wrote ages ago, so it's fine. With Suite101 I make a reliable, steady income and get to pick my article topics within my category. With eHow I'm doing relatively well. But with Examiner, well, I may have finally found a site that agrees with me.

Most residual sites take a couple of months before the traffic builds and you make the payout amount. After that you can usually count on ongoing revenue even if you stop writing. With Examiner, I made the payout before the first month was over. This month, I've already made well over the payout. In fact, I've almost made the payout just with today's revenues. Today is a total freakish day, but a weird article that I wrote for them in the wee, boring hours of the morning has gone completely insane and has brought in thousands of views already. I'm not complaining.

So, here's a basic pro and con list for Examiner based on my month and a half there so far:

Pros
With a PR of 7, it's indexed quickly and well.
There's no bitchy editor to deal with- you can write whatever you want for the most part.
The income seems to be building more quickly than most residual sites.
You aren't dependent on ad clicks- it's based on page views and how long people stay on your pages.
There is no minimum length for the articles- having 150 words is perfectly acceptable.
You can delete comments. A couple of crazies have commented, and I got rid of that stuff pretty quickly. Crazy is actually fine, but crazy directed at me is just wrong.

Cons
There aren't any upfront payments- it's residuals only.
It isn't exactly prestigious. I don't give a rat's about that much anymore, but some people do.
You have to update often to keep traffic steady. They want three to four articles a week, and I've found that it takes that many to keep traffic coming in steadily.
They make you submit a picture of yourself, and they post it at the top of every article. That was a major con to me and I almost didn't accept because of it. No one needs to see that.

So, it's been pretty decent so far. Even my lack of enthusiasm for the site and my bare minimum of effort has produced decent results, so that's a pretty good sign. Of course, it could all take a left turn and end up like Today.com. Shiver.