The Launching of Nile Kinnick

Nile Kinnick played football at the University of Iowa in the late 1930s.  He went on to break many Iowa Hawkeye football records on his way to winning the 1939 Heisman Trophy. But there was more to Nile Kinnick than just football.  And Tom Lidd did an excellent job of telling the full story in his book NILE.

Having discovered this novel one weekend while doing research, I was quick to purchase it. I also wrote a blog post about it on the Iowa Hawkeyes Blog. In that post, I made an open offer to help the author promote and sell the book. As luck should have it, Tom was a reader of the blog and sent me an email stating an interest in my offer.

Over the next several months, Tom and I exchanged several emails and ideas back and forth on how to promote his book. Th overall goal is to have the book turned into a screenplay, so having a web presence could only help acheive that goal. And believe me, this novel will make a fantastic movie.

read more...

5 Ways to Use LinkedIn like a Nerd Would

LinkedIn is a popular social network of over 35,000,000+ experienced professionals from around the world. It is a social media tool that allows individuals and businesses a ways to find and collaborate with other qualified professionals. LinkedIn allows users to build a profile that summarizes their experience and expertise, and then share it with other users. Simply put, Linked in is a very powerful tool to inform the world about your own brand of Nerdness.

There are many ways that companies can use LinkedIn to help their cause. Several Entrepreneurs like Guy Kawasaki and Chris Pirillo have written several articles about the benefits and ways to use LinkedIn. The site even features a blog dedicated to the success stories of its users on how they made it work for them. So, we decided to come up with our own list of reasons individuals and companies should use and embrace the powerful online networking tool. Here are 5 ways to use LinkedIn like a nerd would:

1. To Brand Yourself or Your Business. Having a strong brand goes a long way, but it takes a lot to build up a brand and get it strong. A company has to develop credibility in its field and appear to have a strong presence. Having a strong network helps promote your brand. LinkedIn only reinforces the branding you’re doing elsewhere and helps increase your visibility.

2. Market Analysis and Research. Doing research is common for nerds. Every company and individual would benefit from doing more nerd-like research. And LinkedIn is a network that provides a plethora of information to research. It is a great way to analyze and benmark the markert. It is a great way to get to know a company or client and gauge its health. Not to mention, it is a great way to see what competitors are doing. On top of getting valid factual information, you also get other people's opinions through answers and recommendations. Use the vast amounts of information LinkedIn provides to your benefit.

read more...

8 Nerd-Recommended Do-It-Yourself SEO Tips

With the economy on a roller coaster ride as of late, small businesses are looking for things to cut out of the budget. Unfortunately for some of us nerds that make a living on the web, one of the areas getting trimmed from the budget is website optimization.

It takes a great deal of time and patience to see the true benefits and ROI from search engine optimization efforts. And when money is tight, time and patience tend to be in short supply. As a result, website tweaking and perfecting takes a back seat.

Optimizing a website for search engines is in a companies best interest, even without a budget to hire a professional to do it properly. Tough times require slashing budgets and cutting corners, but there are things that companies and individuals can do to stay competitive without spending much money or time at all.

To help companies and individuals on a tight budget, here is a list of 8 nerd-recommended do-it-yourself SEO tips that will help ensure your website competes in seach rankings even when you are on a budget. We haven't reinvented the SEO wheel here with any of these tips, but we have made them fairly basic and easy to understand, and they are all things people can do on their own.

read more...

Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference Wrap-up

The AZ Entrepreneurship Conference was designed to help build the entrepreneurial community in Arizona. It is a way for entrepreneurs and investors to meet each other, connect with resources, and gather information. Some of us nerds attened the event and were very impressed with the people and energy, and that's a hard thing to admit for an anti-social computer nerd.

The format was no different than any other conference, but the energy and optimism floating through the air were. The conference was a refreshing change of pace for this nerd, and for the city of Phoenix as a whole. Despite all the economic doom and gloom headlines floating around these days, it was clear that everyone understood that there was no way to jump start the economy without the people that gathered at this conference and we all accepted that responsibility with open arms.

#AZEC featured several awesome speakers who crushed it in every single way. The first stand-out presentation was by Bill Reichert from Garage Technology Ventures. Bill talked about the 10 rules for entrepreneurs and investors, and I felt compelled to write them down. 1) The point is to Create Value, 2) establish a brilliant team to work with, 3) create a Mantra instead of a mission statement, 4) Get Going; get going as soon as possible, 5) Bootstrap it, 6) have a Global Strategy from day one, 7) be a Fast Adapter, not a first mover, 8) Everyone Sells, 9) Change Takes Time, progress is slower than you think, 10) People Trump Technology. Bill was an amazing source of information, and helped to get everyone pumped early on.

read more...

PodCamp AZ 2008 - Nov. 1-2, 2008

Tomorrow, we are attending PodCampAZ. PodCamp is a FREE BarCamp-style community, an ad-hoc gathering with discussions, demos and interaction from participants for podcasters and listeners, bloggers and readers, and anyone interested in New Media. That's a mouthful, but if you break it down, it equates to a bunch of nerds getting together to collaborate on ideas. That sounds like an awesome weekend. So, we signed up.

read more...