Jerod Morris

Session: Getting to the Front Page: Make Your Own Breaks! [WordPress Track, Intermediate Level]

When Jerod Morris spent $10 to buy a domain to create a blog that he had convinced his boss he needed as a "test bed for SEO", he had no idea that his passion for sports would shine through the billions of pages on Internet and get noticed. The breaks he got included being featured on both online and print stories in major newspapers, being the center of a sports media debate about bloggers vs. mainstream media that led to a television appearance, and frequent trips to the front page of Digg.Com. In this session, the creator of MidwestSportsFans.com, Jerod Morris, will talk about his experiences with topics including: blogger vs. mainstream media tension, attracting media references and links, the technical demands of high traffic loads, monetization, and hackers and security. On more than one occasion he has had to call his then boss and now business partner and say, “Are you sitting down?”

About Jerod Morris

Jerod Morris is an SEO consultant, blog strategist, and professional blogger who joined Orangecast in 2008. In his first month on the job, Jerod started a blog to serve as a sandbox for SEO and social media strategy. Being a diehard sports fan born in Indiana, it was no surpise that the blog he created was called Midwest Sports Fans.

Since its inception, MidwestSportsFans.Com has seen an average of 5,000 unique daily visitors, broke the 3 million pageview mark in less than two years, and has gained over 40,000 links from sources such as The New York Post, the Chicago Sun Times, and ESPN.

In June of 2009, Jerod published a post called “The Curious Case of Raul Ibanez…” which ended up being the catalyst for a huge debate on bloggers versus the mainstream media. In addition to several radio and podcast appearances, Jerod was a guest on ESPN’s Outside the Lines to discuss his post and the blogger/MSM debate. Jerod also is one of the few bloggers to have hex named after him.

In addition to MidwestSportsFans.com, Jerod founded the music site IndieChristmas.com and is the Managing Editor for CorporateComplianceInsights.com.