I’ve never found a use for start pages and portals. Until Safari came out with a feature that allowed me to view a dozen of my most visited sties at a glance, I just set a blank page as my home page. However, I realize that many people have very different web browsing habits, and a lot of people find start pages really useful. One company that is trying to update the start page by making it social is ZooLoo. They’re a Phoenix, AZ based startup that, despite an unfortunate name that sounds like a bathroom at a wildlife park, is trying to own the market for customizable start pages. They’re competing with behemoths like Google and Facebook to be your home page, but they do have an advantage in that they’re laser focused on start pages and only start pages. They think if they can own that market, they can deliver lots of relevant advertising and make lots of money.
One of the things that makes ZooLoo stand out is that you can buy your own domain name to host your start page. That means that your ZooLoo page can be more than just your home page—it can also be an online résumé, portfolio, or other type of personal website. This requires a paid upgrade, which shows that ZooLoo isn’t putting all of its eggs in the advertising basket. I guess it’s working, because ZooLoo seems to be growing pretty quickly. They’re up to 24 employees, and according to this blog post, they’re looking to add some interns. In fact, they’re running a contest to select their newest PR/Marketing/Social Media Interns. Don’t worry, the prize is actually good (the internship is paid). The instructions for entering the contest are:
1. Create a video no longer than two minutes creatively explaining why you are the best candidate for the position. (If you want an idea of what we’re looking for, go here to view the top 7 from our last intern contest, and go here to see who received the position.) Post your videos to this blog post.
2. Build a Web site on ZooLoo to show us why you are the most qualified and that you have a good understanding of how the site works (don’t worry, it’s actually really easy!). Post your website’s URL to this post with your video and your contact info.
3. Email your resume to aaron@zooloo.com
4. All submissions are due by Monday, October 26. We will be conducting interviews that week.
It looks like fun, and if you have any questions you can contact aaron@zooloo.com. The internships will start in November and run for 3-6 months. They’re going to accommodate for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, so don’t worry about that.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Will you create a ZooLoo page?
Do I Know Anyone at ZooLoo? - Check LinkedIn | Check Facebook
Tags: Arizona, Internships, marketing, paid, public relations, social media, social networking
Thanks Willy – we have a really good opportunity here at ZooLoo for a undergraduate student to come in and contribute to ZooLoo’s success right away.
I also wanted to mention that what also differentiates ZooLoo from any other service out there besides are sweet homepage is that you can build your own website on your own domain name from ZooLoo. That’s why we call it the complete online experience – it’s more than just consuming and aggregating, it’s creating content.
Have a good one!