
Paul M. Banks
Founder, Owner, Editor, Publisher

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About me
Content Producer and Manager. SEO, A.I. and Digital Marketing Specialist. MBA. NFL, College Football, Premier League and Cubs Expert.
Education

Fulbright Foundation
2006 - 2007Fellowship Mass Communication/Media Studies
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1996 - 1999Bachelor of Science - BS PSYCHOLOGYActivities and Societies: Daily Illini sports reporter and sports columnist. Pre-Law Club Vice President

Loyola University Chicago
2004 - 2006Master of Business Administration - MBA Specialization in Marketing
Experience

The Sports Bank LLC.
Feb 2008 - nowFounder, Owner, Editor, PublisherProduces and manages a 30,000+ page website partnered with newsnow.co.uk annually generating hundreds of thousands of unique visitors.Consistently earning Google Impact Search Awards for generating 60,000+ clicks from organic search within a 28 day period. Manages online advertising in several forms including: contextual, native, sponsored content, programmatic, display and affiliate. Partner with numerous link building agencies including Link Builders, Better Collective, Link Publishers, Collaborator and Bazoom Group.Maintains direct buy advertising deals with numerous brand name partners, including Betway, Paramount+, Chrono 24, Sports Betting Dime, Bet QL, FanDuel and DraftKings. Supervises and manages a team of freelance writers.Regularly promotes the site in guest appearances on numerous ESPN, NBC, CBS and FOX Sports television and radio stations nationwide. Publishes sponsored content for major brands including Verizon, Nike and Luminox. Promotes all content, both sponsored and organic on social media. Content has been cited and linked in major news outlets worldwide including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, ESPN, FOX, CCTV, Yahoo! News and NFL Network.Installs and maintains numerous plug-ins for the purpose of optimizing site SEO capabilities and CMS performance.Additional Experience: Contributing Editor to the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. Consistently produces articles for the IBWAA newsletter. Show less

Chicago Tribune Media Group
Jun 2010 - Oct 2022Reporter, Blog Network ManagerCreated and managed search engine optimized content, written in AP style, for multiple outlets under the Tribune Co. umbrella.Wrote and produced cover stories on major news events, including: 2016 Presidential Election, World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Final, Cotton Bowl, College Football Playoff, Final Four, National Championship and NFL Draft.Conducted extensive interviews, on site, during strongly attended press conferences carried live on national television. Consistently won "Post of the Month" and "Most Viewed Posts" awards at Chicago Now. Show less

Vox
Jun 2017 - Jan 2022Podcast HostCo-hosted "Let's Get Weird, Sports" podcast, hosted on "Hammer & Rails," one of the highest traffic websites within the SB Nation community.Peformed ad reads for VOX Media, and their partners, to help ramp up the monetization capacity and potential of the show.

CBS Sports
Aug 2017 - Dec 2019Radio ReporterCBS Sports "Eye on College Football" Reporter for 2017-2019 seasons. Provided live updates from the press box for nationally relevant Northwestern Wildcats games.Conducted statistical analysis within a high pressure atmosphere that often required the need for complete improvisation.Produced in game reports within a very short window of turnaround time.

Gold Card Auctions
Feb 2020 - May 2022Features WriterCreated, curated and aggregated content pertaining to the billion-dollar industries of trading cards, sports betting, cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Wrote with an editorial focus on investment analysis of all subject matter. Created and edited copy that facilitated affiliate marketing deals. Conducted extensive market research on multiple topics. Interviewed numerous experts in the fields of investing, collectibles and memorabilia.

Sports Illustrated
Mar 2020 - Oct 2020Content WriterProvided unique content, feature writing and reporting in hybrid role for "Inside the Dodgers," the Los Angeles Dodgers focused website in the Sports Illustrated family of publications. Role spanned the entire 2020 World Series title winning season, with articles covering a multitude of topics beyond the scope of Major League Baseball. Conducted exclusive interviews with numerous leading personalities within the sports and entertainment industries.

Primewines.com, MPW Inc.
Nov 2023 - Jan 2024Digital ManagerUtilized Prompt Engineering, via ChatGPT to analyze e-commerce solutions in Shopify and Ship Station.Led SEO, Tech Support and Inventory Analysis initiatives which contributed to the firm’s all-time top year in sales and revenue.Provided one-on-one tech support and customer service to the company's leading clients.

Outlier
Feb 2024 - Jul 2024Generative A.I. and Large Language Model Trainer• Training large language models in the creative writing and media domains by engineering prompts and evaluating system outputs.• Reviewing, editing and approving LLM prompts constructed by peer consultants.• Extracting data from images, charts and infographics; utilizing A.I. to convert extracted data into JSON and CSV outputs.

USA TODAY Sports Media Group
Feb 2024 - nowContributing Editor• Works cross-functionally publishing news and feature stories for Ravens Wire, USA Today's Baltimore Ravens page, which is syndicated by McClatchy, MSN and Yahoo Sports. • Consistently earning output-based bonuses for producing AP style written content that consistently dominates SERPs.

RG
Jul 2024 - nowLink Builder, News ReporterIncreased publication's domain rating, SEO presence and SERP rankings by generating back-linked citations from high authority news websites.Produced exclusive interviews and breaking news articles from attending events as credentialed media, and working remotely with trusted insider sources. Consistently set new publication benchmarks for website traffic, social media engagement and link referral incentives
Licenses & Certifications
- View certificate

ChatGPT Advanced Data Analysis
Vanderbilt UniversityMay 2024 - View certificate

Prompt Engineering Certificate (ChatGPT)
PromptmasterJan 2024 - View certificate

Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT
Vanderbilt UniversityApr 2024 - View certificate

Introduction to Google SEO
University of California, DavisSept 2023 
Cisco Certified Network Associate
CiscoDec 2002- View certificate

Increase SEO Traffic with WordPress
CourseraJul 2023 - View certificate

Prompt Engineering Specialization
Vanderbilt UniversityMay 2024 - View certificate

Trustworthy Generative AI
Vanderbilt UniversityMay 2024
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