Get more Examiner.com pageviews: Focus more on content than comments - and here are my Top 10 keywords
The piece is so old I can't even find it.
Apply to Write for Examiner.com here now...
Just as well, because in this article I'm going to offer the exact opposite advice, namely, if you're looking to bring in page views to your Examiner.com articles or other articles you write across the web, don't spend a ton of time on the comments or comment moderation.
Hopefully most sites will pick up on the reader comment moderation technique that other big websites use -- you know the ones that let users give thumbs down or thumbs up to comments that are just out in left field, and are then brought to the attention of the editors.
Why I Stopped Reading 90% of My Comments
I found that comment moderation is such a time-consuming job -- pouring over comments that most of the time aren't helpful.
Granted, sometimes you get some gems that help you correct a mistake made in an article, or with helpful links that give you more info.
But other times you'll get less helpful stuff from idiots hiding behind keyboards that want to make insulting comments because they think they're getting away with it. They'll attack your writing because they think it will hurt you, blah, blah, blah...get you all riled up and focused not on creating more content, which is where the money lies.
Basically, I'd thank them in my head for the page view and move on, wishing I hadn't read it in the first place. So I stopped and focused on writing more.
Writing More Content Pays Off
At least it did yesterday, when I pulled in around 60 bucks from my Examiner.com pieces.
I don't really know which one got the most traffic -- I can suspect from just viewing the number (not content) of the contents that piece that hit -- because I also stopped worrying about taking the time to drop Google Analytics code into each piece.
Like one guy just commented on this blog (a comment I actually read that actually made it through this blog, one that I've tightened the comment policy from anonymous to at least those with a Google account) -- sometimes it's good not to have the stats code in the Examiner pieces so you won't spend time comparing stat counts and fretting.
My Top 10 Traffic-Getting Keywords from Examiner.com
So it's a good thing I at least have stat-tracking Google Analytics code in a good portion of my Examiner articles -- and that's what gave me a great look at what my top keywords have been since 9/2009 (when I began writing for them) till today, April 7, 2010.
If this doesn't tell us what works well for getting traffic, I don't know what does:
| keyword | Visits | Pages/Visit | Avg. Time on Site | % New Visits | Bounce Rate |
| 1 | youtube.com | 117,447 1.20 00:00:22 96.96% 86.10% | ||
| 2 | youtube | 29,340 1.16 00:00:23 97.33% 88.03% | ||
| 3 | tiger woods latest | 27,843 1.33 00:00:58 86.23% 80.70% | ||
| 4 | tmz.com | 23,965 1.42 00:01:14 83.87% 75.48% | ||
| 5 | loleini tonga | 18,724 1.18 00:00:29 92.09% 85.41% | ||
| 6 | tiger woods | 15,561 1.23 00:00:25 68.11% 80.71% | ||
| 7 | rachel uchitel wikipedia | 13,139 1.14 00:00:19 92.98% 89.47% | ||
| 8 | tyra banks weight loss | 10,545 1.10 00:00:17 96.79% 92.20% | ||
| 9 | brittany murphy funeral | 10,519 1.25 00:00:30 91.21% 82.82% | ||
| 10 | tmz | 9,970 1.24 00:00:34 87.65% 82.78% | ||
Comments
Have you noticed that Examiner.com stats seem to be frozen in place? In the last 24 hours I've noticed they have not changed. I used to get between 1000-1500 page views per day and now the stats have not moved not even the averages in over 24 hours. Very odd. Ever run into this?
It's too bad because I think I'm a pretty good writer and I've gotten a lot of compliments about my writing style too.
Oh well, I guess I'll just spend the time developing content for my own blog instead of their site.
I really like you're blog and I'm happy I came across it! I can't believe you've earned that much. Wow! I'm fascinated. I hope one day I can earn as much as you have.. I know I'm definitely on my way!
TriNi @ Make Money Online Free
You know Examiner.com had changed the way they show pageviews, only updating our stats the following day.
They used to update them during the day.
But that's why I like using Google Analytics within my articles, because they update during the day -- and you can see what's hitting and what's not.
Trini - Sorry you didn't get into Examiner. Hopefully writing on your own site will work well for you.
First, I'd suggest reading all these tips I've written about Examiner.com and how to get traffic.
Come back and post more comments/questions and I'll answer what I can.