366 Days at Examiner.com

April 6 marked my first anniversary as a contributor at Examiner.com.

In those 52 weeks, I have published 178 articles --almost one every other day, despite a few dry periods -- most of them interviews with public officials, authors, pundits, and educators.  According to statistics kept by Examiner.com, these articles have generated 25,274 page views.  Last year's page view count of 18,251 compared to a Charlottesville average of 1,617 -- that is, the average number of page views generated by other Charlottesville Examiners.

I became the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner on something of a lark.  I happened across another local Examiner's page and spotted the "write for us" link and followed it.

I'm glad I did, because it forced me to be a more aggressive reporter than I have been as a blogger.  I can't imagine so aggressively pursuing some of the interviews I did for this blog alone, which lacks the institutional support (and, dare I say it? credibility) that Examiner.com has.

Social Times reported at the end of December:

Local news network Examiner.com is closing out 2010 with two significant milestones: It posted article No. 1 million for the year earlier this month, and it set site records for monthly unique visitors and total page views in November, tallying 22.4 million and 63.1 million, respectively, according to Omniture.

And according to comScore, the site’s traffic rose 19 percent in November compared with October, making Examiner.com the No. 83 domain in the United States and No. 7 in the general news subcategory, ahead of brands including Fox News, BBC News, USA Today, and NBC Local Media.

I've noticed the site has had a makeover in the past few days, which gives it a cleaner look that seems easier to navigate.

Blogging is fine, in its way, and it allows me a more personal take on culture and current affairs, as well as a wide berth in terms of topics and voice.  Examiner.com requires more discipline and a more narrow focus, both of which I can appreciate.

We'll see if, by April 6 of next year, whether that results in more page views and lots of "likes."

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