This comment was posted on another forum but I found it helpful:
Lauren Carter September 30, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I freelance primarily for newspapers, magazines, corporate clients and musicians. I don’t have any experience with Examiner.com, but I joined Associated Content in 2005 and since then have written about 70 articles. I do no promotion of my articles but have averaged very high page views due to high search engine rankings and links from forums and popular websites. I usually write for them when I have an idea I don’t think will fit any of the publications I normally write for, or I think of something I can churn out fairly quickly. Sometimes they have calls for content that pay a specified amount up front in addition to residual income earned from page views. The upfront pay usually averages between $4 and $10. The most I’ve ever made up front is $12. It’s by no means a way to make a living, at least not for me, but the residual income (about $50 per month) is nice.

I think that for new writers, it’s helpful to have writing samples online, especially if they’re of good quality, and a little extra cash probably doesn’t hurt either.