Zookoda Migration Wizard FAQ

What is the Zookoda migration wizard?

The Zookoda email marketing service owned by IZEA (formerly PayPerPost) is officially being put "on-ice." This migration wizard is a special service from FeedBlitz for Zookoda users to simplify transferring their blog-based email marketing newsletters from Zookoda to FeedBlitz, if they wish to do so.

The Zookoda migration wizard can be found here. You will need a valid FeedBlitz account to access it; FeedBlitz account registration is here.

What does it do?

It scans the publisher's Zookoda account and looks for "broadcasts" that can be brought into FeedBlitz. With the publisher's approval, the migration wizard automatically sets up Newsletters, mailing schedules for recurring and non-recurring Zookoda broadcasts. It also converts Zookoda email HTML templates for use by FeedBlitz.

It also has a no-obligation reporting facility that allows you to see what it is going to do before you commit.

What will a publisher have to do after running the wizard?

The key item is to fine-tune imported email templates, as this will be used during the subscriber import process to format the opt-out messages we send to imported subscribers. In all likelihood there will be text in the template that isn't necessary in FeedBlitz, such as the "recent articles" zooloop. This can be simply deleted using the FeedBlitz WYSIWYG template editor.

After that, the publisher can import their subscribers using the standard screens at Newsletters | Subscribers. Publsihers should also suspend their automatic Zookoda distribution to avoid subscribers being accidentally mailed the same content twice, by Zookoda and FeedBlitz. Finally, publishers should update their sites with the FeedBlitz subscription form.

What are the key benefits of switching to FeedBlitz?

FeedBlitz is the leading independent blog to email service. Publishers switching to FeedBlitz form Zookoda benefit from our better deliverability, as well as the continued investment in the service over the years. In brief, some key benefits compared to Zookoda are:

• Subscribers can subscribe via Twitter and IM as well as email;
• Email article content can be more than 750 characters;
• More scheduling choices, including "Express" and manual "on-demand"
• Automatic table of contents generation;
• Integrated surveys and autoresponders;
• Graphical HTML template editor;
• More comprehensive reporting;
• Newsflash segmented email blasts;
• Sender ID, SPF and DKIM authentication;
• Subscription notifications;
• Unsubscribe surveys;
• ... and much more

FeedBlitz also imports any images used in your templates and adds them to your personal image library; this ensures that your Newsletter's graphic look and feel is kept after Zookoda's servers are stopped and images served from them become unavailable.

Are there things that Zookoda did that FeedBlitz doesn't?

The most significant difference is that Zookoda has more flexibility on scheduling. The import wizard therefore converts the Zookoda schedules like this:

• Weekly schedules with one or two days selected are converted to a FeedBlitz weekly distribution on the first day selected;
• Weekly schedules with more than two days are converted to daily schedules.
• Monthly schedules are converted as is.

In addition, Zookoda broadcasts with character limits of 700 or more are converted to send the entire article (750 was the most Zookoda allowed). Limits of 699 or less are imported as is, but benefit from FeedBlitz's smarter HTML parser to include images in the mailings to subscribers.

The FeedBlitz web site is very different, isn't it?

Yes, it is - FeedBlitz is a much more powerful service and there are many more options. But the import wizard automates the vast majority of what you need to do up front, so all you need to do is tweak the template (Newsletters | Settings | Email Templates) and import your subscribers (Newsletters | Subscribers | Import). Zookodans can explore FeedBlitz's other features later if they wish.

Almost everything else you want to do around managing your email revolves around the Newsletter tab, which is the best place to start exploring.

Is this Wizard supported by Zookoda?

No. Contact FeedBlitz support with Zookoda to FeedBlitz related migration issues. The migration wizard is provided "as is" and, like the rest of FeedBlitz, governed by our terms of service and privacy policy.

Start Your Zookoda Transfer Now

The Zookoda migration wizard can be found here. You will need a valid FeedBlitz account to access it; FeedBlitz account registration is here.