Is Your Ezine Being Zapped?
About a year ago I wrote an article titled ´Winning The War On Sp^m´. Unfortunately, the war on sp^m is not being won at all.
In fact, the problem is now so serious that sp^am is shaping up to be the greatest threat to online marketing.
The threat comes not from sp^mmers themselves, but from the filters that are being used to block them.
These filters are hitting hard at the very core of ecommerce - Ezine Publishing.
Anti-sp^m filters operate at two levels: (i) client-side programs that reside on individual computers and (ii) server-side programs that ISPs are using to block incoming sp^m.
The problem is that the filters are now so sensitive they are blocking even the most innocent of Newsletters.
For example, if your Newsletter contains the words ´remove´, ´unsubscribe´ or ´click here´ it will trigger anti-sp^m filters in many of the programs that are now being used by ISPs.
The result?
Your Ezine is zapped, deleted - and a large percentage of your subscribers will think you have stopped publishing your Newsletter.
What can you do about it?
Here are some tips to avoid sp^m filters:
- Post your Newsletter online and then email your subscribers to tell them that the latest issue is now available online.
- In your Newsletter carefully avoid (both in the subject line and the body text) all words that are likely to trigger anti-sp^m filters. Use the free service listed at the end of this article - it will flag any words in your Newsletter that trigger anti-sp^m filters.
- Instead of saying ´to unsubscribe´ (which is a phrase commonly found in sp^m), say ´If you no longer wish to receive...´ or ´If you wish to leave this mailing list...´ or ´To take yourself off this list...´
- If there are trigger words that you simply cannot avoid, you can disguise them using carets (^) or other symbols. The ´F´ word would become fr^e and the ´U´ word would become uns^bscribe.
- Include the word ´Newsletter´ in the subject line of your email - this will help the filters identify your email as non-sp^m.
- Avoid whole words in upper case. In many Newsletters the headers are capitalized - this will trigger the filters.
- If your Newsletter contains ads, scrutinize them carefully - ezine ads, by definition, contain words frequently used by sp^mmers.
Here is a fr^e service that will help you avoid sp^m filters. Before you mail out your Newsletter, just send a copy of it to the email address below with TEST in the subject line: mailto:spamcheck@sitesell.net
Within a few seconds you´ll receive a report that analyses your Newsletter and gives you a score (0 to 5=no problems 12-16=over the limit for most ISPs).
If you write articles, it´s worth submitting them to this test as well, together with your Resource Box (I just sent this article to Sp^mCheck and got a score of 4.6).
Sp^mCheck is operated by Sp^mAssassin, a filter that is widely used by ISPs - so this is a good test of whether your Newsletter will get through to your subscribers.
© 2002 by Michael Southon
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