Examiner question

[jwinter]

I write for Examiner and, until recently, did very little work there. I'm trying to take advantage of the site and promoting my skills through the reader base there. I came across a question and was hoping some older and wiser Examiners can help. Before I ask, yes I looked it up, but the answer is sort of vague over there.

I know we can put links (and are encouraged to do so) in our articles. Can we put links to our own publications? If we have a book on Kindle or a site that offers ebooks, can we promote them or link to them as long as they relate to the topic?

Edited to add.... Before I forget. Is there anything against promoting our links on Pinterest or similar sites?

[Rikki]

Can't tell you much about Examiner except that I stopped writing there when they changed the TOU to say they owned our articles and our pictures.

I promote my YCN articles on Pinterest, and have never had a problem, as long as it has a nice picture. I always identify it as an article in the comment, like "Article: How to Grow Tomatoes" and put a short blurb so people will know what they are clicking through to. Since YCN doesn't let us see our stats, I have no idea if people are clicking through or not.

[jwinter]

Yeah, I have a lot of ideas for Examiner, but I'm just not sure that my rev share would be worth it there and if it would better served on another site. What I would like to do is put 3 links in the articles I complete. One to my own work on one of my blogs, one to a service I offer, and one to a product or service I have reviewed and am affiliated with. Someone told me to skip Examiner and take the work to Squidoo. I'm just not sure if they will allow all that now since there were some rumors a few weeks ago regarding changes in their TOS.

[Rikki]

They seem to change the TOS like I change my undies. I got in at the beginning, when they were paying $10/1000 PVs and every pic on a slideshow counted as a PV. I stayed until they were down to $7/1000 and slideshows didn't count, but then they started laying claim to my work, and I quit. They wouldn't take my stuff down. People say they still get my Examiner articles sometimes, so they may still be making money on them, but I sure don't.

[jwinter]

That's what I've been hearing a lot lately. I think after work tonight, I'll put in some solid research on the best rev share for my needs.

[MoneyMakinMama]

Originally Posted by Rikki

Since YCN doesn't let us see our stats, I have no idea if people are clicking through or not.

Would Google's URL shortener help (goo.gl)? If you create the shortened link while logged into your Google account, you can always go back and see how many clicks it got.

[Ella R.]

Originally Posted by Rikki

They seem to change the TOS like I change my undies. I got in at the beginning, when they were paying $10/1000 PVs and every pic on a slideshow counted as a PV. I stayed until they were down to $7/1000 and slideshows didn't count, but then they started laying claim to my work, and I quit. They wouldn't take my stuff down. People say they still get my Examiner articles sometimes, so they may still be making money on them, but I sure don't.

Ha! yeah..I stopped writing for them a long time ago because it just wasn't worth my time. I emailed them a few times about taking my picture and bio off the site, but they've never responded. Really annoyed me..still annoys me actually. Maybe I'll contact them again.