Avoiding Blacklisting: Making Sure Your Email Gets Through
by: Karen Fegarty
We all know that email is probably todayกs most popular way to advertise. Every day our inboxes are filled with messages from people who want our businesswhether we asked for the contact or not. Email is todayกs biggest communication factor; but why shouldn’t it be? Itกs all but free to use, and itกs almost instantaneous.
But there is one problem with advertising via email that you may not think of very often: blacklisting. All it takes is one complaint, and your ISP or domain name can be put on someoneกs black list. If you’re on the black list, your emails are not getting throughand neither is your advertising message.
So how big of a problem is this? Well, AOL, one of the worldกs biggest Internet service providers, winds up blocking a whopping 80% of messages to its subscribers due to blacklising. Your email could be the most legitimate message ever sent, but if one person forgets they signed up or decides to complain, you could be blacklisted. And for your business, the resulting slump in sales can be devastating.
What is a blacklist, exactly? A blacklist is a database of known Internet addresses (or IPs) used by individuals or companies sending spam. Various ISPกs and bandwidth providers subscribe to these blacklist databases in order to filter out spam sent across their network or to their subscribers. Companies like AOL, MSN, and Yahoo all have very strict policies on spam, so many wellintended, legitimate emails never get through.
So how can you be sure you haven’t been blacklisted? Unfortunately, you really can’t be 100% sure. You may be on someoneกs black list and not even know it, and be added to and removed from black lists at the drop of a hat. The only way to prevent being blacklisted unfairly is to use todayกs technology to keep track of it all. There is cuttingedge software technology available that checks all the major black lists like Spamcop, MAPS, and SPAMHaus to ensure your domain or ISP hasn’t been added.
Taking a few moments to understand and solve your potential blacklisting problem can mean a world of difference in your bottom line.
About The Author
Author Karen Fegarty is with MailWorkZ the creator of Black List Monitor advanced service that continuously checks all the major blacklists for you, and then some. Don’t be treated unfairly! Keep a handle on who may have you blacklisted. Get a free trial and find out more at http://www.blacklistmonitor.com.
This article was posted on June 21, 2004
by Karen Fegarty