Zookoda enables bloggers to:
- Manage e-mail newsletter subscribers (that's different than an RSS feed, as you the blogger can control which of your posts actually go out to your newsletter subscribers);
- Enhance your blog with dynamic custom newsletter subscription forms that enable you to build a visitor base (once I get my Zookoda up and running, I'll put a badge in my sidebar for you to click on);
- Design eye-catching newletters to match your blog design (or, in my case, to look better than my plain old blog design);
- Schedule recurring broadcasts for each day, week or month;
- View real-time open, bounce, click and unsubscribe reports (and make up naughty names to call unsubscribers);
- Access mobile users by emailing blog content in text format (while my iPhone and Rex's Blackberry both view HTML just fine, sometimes it's just quicker and easier to read a text).
The way I intend to use Zookoda is not so much to reach my existing readers, but to get new readers interested. I've complained before that my friends and family don't really "get" my blogging. While I write all about the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, the reality of it is that each of them drops by my blog about once a year to see what's new...luckily, they drop by my house a lot more often, but that's probably thanks to Rex's cooking. Anyway, the lack of "friends & family traffic" to my blog has nothing to do with their level of interest....while they might benefit from an RSS feed, they would have to know what an RSS feed is, wouldn't they? With Zookoda I can contact my friends and family with only the specific blog posts that are most relevant to their lives. Zookoda gives me complete control over all my e-mail "marketing," so I can leave Grammy and Grandmom off the nipple piercing and sex scandal distribution lists.
Then there's the "blogging business" application of Zookoda, which means I can promote my blog to potential new readers by sending one-off promotional emails. Roxiticus Desperate Housewives currently maintains online directories of the Best of the Roxiticus Valley: Mendham NJ, Bernardsville NJ, Chester NJ, Far Hills NJ, Peapack-Gladstone NJ, Morris and Somerset County NJ (see "Best of" Links in the sidebar). The directories include restaurant reviews, shopping, kid stuff, summer camp, lots and lots of merchants who are included free of charge. Here's the kicker: most of them don't even know about all the free publicity they're getting from Roxiticus Desperate Housewives. If I can find the time to get serious about it, Zookoda enables me to send an e-mail blast out to the owners of the restaurants, shops, and services in the Best of the Roxiticus Valley. If I have dinner at Sammy's in Mendham NJ or the Limestone Cafe in Peapack NJ, I can blog about it the next day and send a Zookoda e-mail to the owner the next day.
Rex is going to be all over Zookoda. We actually use something similar (but not FREE, FREE, FREE) in our investment banking business communications. It is a service called Constant Contact (which Brent and I jokingly call Constant Comment) that enables businesses to send out regular e-mail communications to clients and/or prospects. The interesting concept for me is that Rex has been thinking about starting an investment banking blog for our company, and we could probably use Zookoda to blast out his valuation insights.
And here's a little tease for all of my most loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers... if you sign up for my Zookoda newsletter, you'll be the first to know when I introduce my new self-hosted WordPress MU community....coming in late July or early August 2008....don't let it pass you by, sign up now!
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