So far we’ve discussed the pros and cons of a national title and a local title, and we’ve talked about choosing a niche. There’s a lot of information in those two articles and it still might be difficult to understand. So today I’m going to use my own Examiner.com titles as examples as some of the good, the bad, and the very ugly title choices you can make.
National Coast to Coast AM Examiner – This is my most productive title and it’s about as broad as you can get. Coast to Coast AM is a nightly radio program, seven nights a week, and they cover everything from politics to the paranormal with lots of internationally known guests. I could write five or six articles a day on this title if I had the time.
This title offers a good mix of news and evergreen content which is a big plus. I have at least one article a day hit Google News and while GN doesn’t necessarily send me a lot of traffic, that GN feed gets picked up by dozens of other blogs and websites who then either link to or syndicate my article.
Plus, with the evergreen content I publish, I have plenty of relevant content to send readers to when they come for that news article. I sometimes have twice as many pageviews as I do visitors.
National Whitley Strieber Examiner – On the other hand, I’m also the National Whitley Strieber Examiner and this title’s a big dud. While Strieber is popular in some circles, he just doesn’t have enough relevant activity to keep me in content. Most of what Whitley does is taken directly from Coast to Coast AM.
Note: I could probably do more with this Strieber title (and eventually I will) because using his name in a title does bring in more traffic. Right now, though, I’m not crazy about some of the things he does on his blog so everything I write turns to crap.
National Alex Jones Examiner – I picked up the Alex Jones title early on because he’s a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM, he’s very popular in a lot of circles and he also covers a wide range of topics so I knew I’d have plenty to write about. Currently, this is my second top producer and I suspect it will beat out Coast to Coast AM once I really start digging into some of the topics. Again, I could publish five or six articles a day on this title and never run out of things to write about, and there’s a good mix of news and evergreen content.
National Astrology & Paranormal Examiner, National Non-traditional religions Examiner – Both very broad titles and they’re areas I’m interested in. I just picked these titles up recently so I don’t have much content in either one. But I chose these because they give me a place to write about news and evergreen content that won’t fit under Alex Jones or Coast to Coast AM.
National Cocktail Party Examiner – For me, this is a big dud. I was writing a bunch of cocktail recipe articles for another title and someone at Examiner HQ saw the traffic. They contacted me and asked if I’d like to be the National Cocktail Party Examiner and I said sure, I’ll give it a shot. Well, it’s not really a topic I enjoy. I don’t drink much and I live in a dry state so it’s not really a topic I can get into. And with Examiner, you have to write a lot of articles to make any money so you darn well better enjoy what you’re writing about.
National Podcast Examiner – I thought this would be a great title and it probably could be. However, you can’t embed a podcast on Examiner.com’s site. Plus, I already spend hours each week listening to Coast to Coast AM and Alex Jones.
Berea Food Examiner – This was the very first title I took on because, at the time, Examiner.com was looking for local content. But, as I explained earlier, I live in a very small, rural community with few restaurants, there are only a handful of festivals a year, and it’s a dry area. There’s just not enough to write about and there isn’t enough local traffic to make it worth my time.
If you’re using Examiner.com to earn money
I use Examiner.com primarily to earn money with my writing. As a side benefit, I also get a lot of promotional benefit from it for my writing service and I have plenty of content to link to for writing samples. If you’re using Examiner.com to make money then you want to choose broad topics so you have plenty of content ideas, and popular topics so you can attract lots of traffic. Some of my best guest blogging gigs have come from other bloggers who read my Examiner.com articles.
If you’re trying to promote your blog
If you’re using Examiner.com to promote your blog then you need to realize that any money you make from Examiner.com is just extra gravy and then stop worrying about it. You need to focus on choosing a title that will target the audience you want to target instead of worrying about writing for page views.
Yes, more page views means more traffic back to your blog, but, like any other kind of online promotion, you should be more interested in the quality of traffic than the quantity.
That said, if you have a blog focused locally, then you’ll most likely get better results with a local Examiner title.
If you’re trying to promote your small local business
Again, it’s not the quantity of traffic your Examiner.com title brings in that you should be concerned about – it’s the quality.
Writing under a national title is, in some ways, more difficult than a local title. First, you have competition within Examiner.com. If you’re writing under a popular title like celebrity or political news, you’re going to have to be the first out of the chute if you want your article to hit Google News.
You also have intense competition from hundreds of bloggers and news sites. So yeah, there’s a lot of opportunity with a national title, but there’s also a lot more competition.
Whether you go national or local, it all comes down to choosing a title that’s broad enough to allow you to take advantage of those less-competitive news stories when they happen and still have plenty of evergreen content to bring readers to your page all year round.
If you’re just writing because you love writing
If you’re just writing for Examiner.com because you love to write then please go read someone else’s blog until you can be honest with yourself and with me. Writing for Examiner.com is not easy and making money online with any type of writing takes focus and commitment.
There are only three reasons anyone goes through the pain and agony of writing for Examiner.com: They want to make money, they want the exposure, or they want to promote something. If you’re hear reading this article, then you’re obviously not satisfied with your results – which means you’re in it for something other than the “joy of writing.”
The only way to choose the best Examiner.com title to get the results you want is to be honest about the results you want!
