How to Write for Examiner.com

Examiner.com is a highly-selective, high-quality news aggregator and content mill. Writers ("Examiners") must apply for a specific topic and be accepted. They can only write in their own topic area. All articles are reviewed and scored by the staff. 

Most Examiners are local reporters. For example, there is a Palo Alto Floral Design Examiner, a San Jose Restaurant Examiner, and so forth.

But not everyone who writes for Examiner.com is a reporter and not everyone is local. For example, I'm the National Home Gadgets Examiner. There is also a National Motocycle Examiner, National Green Living Examiner, National Housing Examiner, and many more.

If you'd like to apply to become an Examiner, I invite you to go to my referral link and register as a user. Then click on "Become an Examiner." You'll get a chance to choose from among the available topics.

Do a good job on your application, but don't stress over it. And don't delay. You don't want your topic to be assigned to someone else while you are creating the world's greatest application.

Good luck!

Once you're accepted, Examiner.com will let you know their writing guidelines. You won't have an individual editor, but Examiner.com offers plenty of instruction and support, so don't worry. If you have questions, try the Forums. People are very friendly there. Of course you're welcome to ask me as well. I'm friendly too. The best way to reach me is through my own blog, The Gadget Tree.

In the rest of this article, I'll offer a few tips I've learned along the way.

Every article you write will be given a score from 1 to 8. If the score is below 3, it will not be published. Competent, careful writers will score between 6 and 8 nearly all the time. Here are some quick reminders, but be sure to read Examiner's own guidelines.

1. Use at least 150 words.
2. No English usage errors. No typos.
3. Only the first word of the title should be capitalized.
4. Format your articles well and don't use too much boldface. No all-caps.
5. Check that any links you add really work.
6. Stay on topic.

Each time you write an article, before you can submit it, you will be required to link to two other Examiner articles.

I found this difficult at first, so let me walk you through how to do it.

First step: find an article you want to link to. Then, in the box provided (you'll know it when you get there), start typing in the exact title of the article. It is case sensitive.

The computer is searching for the article as you type. Once it starts finding articles with the same name as the one you want, it'll offer you a list to choose from. Click on the article you want to link to.

You get paid extra for slideshows, so if you can find five relevant images, create a slideshow with them.

There are several advantages to publishing often:

1. It seems to drive more traffic to all your articles if you have recently published.
2. As long as you publish once a month, you continue to earn money on all your articles. If you quit Examiner.com or get eliminated for not being productive, you lose that.
3. Examiner.com pays well compared to other content mills, so it deserves a good effort.

I hope this article has given you the information you need to decide whether you'd like to write for Examiner.com. My own experience has been positive. The site is professional and mercifully free of spam. I'm proud of the citizen journalists I see there and I'm glad to be in their company.

'See you on Examiner.com!