Is Your Website Blacklisted?

A blacklist, as the name implies, is a list of people or companies who have met with the disapproval of others. In the online world a blacklist refers to those people who have been marked as responsible for generating spam in a very big way. Blacklists are also known as blocklists.

Blacklists are used to combat spam in a very specific way. When spam is reported to one of the relevant spam fighting organizations the IP address the spam originated from is added to a banned or blacklisted IP addresslist. An IP address is the unique location of you or your website on the Internet - think of it as your "home address" online. To put it simply every www.domain.com Internet address has a matching IP address. Any email coming from your website domain also has a corresponding IP address. If your IP address is present on a blacklist then you're potentially wasting your time sending email to customers.

Why are you wasting your time? Modern spam blockers come with the most common blacklists installed and/or allow you to import updated blacklists into your spam blocker. This allows to you block a huge amount of spam but you may also, potentially, block legitimate email. Blacklists are not foolproof.

There are two types of IP address:

Dynamic - changes every time you connect to the Internet. Most commonly used for dialup Internet access. Spammers love these because they're very hard to track and 100% disposable.

Fixed/Static - All websites, most large companies and some individuals use fixed IP addresses. This can cause huge problems if they're reported for spamming.

When an IP address (dynamic or fixed ) is reported for sending spam it's added to a blacklist. There are three different types of blacklists:

Temporary An IP address placed on a temporary blacklist will have email coming from that IP address blocked for several hours. After a few hours the offending IP address is removed from the blacklist.

Permanent When an IP address is added to a permanent blacklist any email server configured to block email from this list will never receive email from that range of IP addresses again.

Comprehensive This is the most damaging of blacklists. Not only does it block a single IP address it also blocks the IP addresses next to it. For example if the IP address 192.156.66.67 was added to a comprehensive blacklist then all IP addresses close to 192.156.66.67 will also be blocked. This can be a huge problem for those website owners using virtual hosting because if your host has ever appeared on a blacklist then you're also on the same blacklist, by default, because of the shared hosting from the same IP range. It's important for all website owners to check whether or not they're on a blacklist. You'll need your IP address (available from your webhost) and you can check your blacklist status at: www.mail-abuse.org/cgi-bin/lookup

Blacklists are a necessary evil due to the volume of spam being sent each day but are not an exact science. Take a few moments from your day and ensure that your website or email address is not being blocked

About the Author:
Niall Roche
Posted: 20-09-2005
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

It Is Important For You To Choose the Right Anti-Spam Program

Tips on how to protect yourself from spam.

When it comes to anti spam programs and the general war against spam, there are many different programs types to choose from. When it comes to the safety of your computer, one of the best ways to ensure that you don't get one is to avoid getting and opening spam emails. Spam emails often contain viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware that can potentially damage your computer to no ends or simply make using your computer extremely frustrating. There are however many different ways that you can combat spam and that is what this article is about.

If you are interested in stopping spam from ripping your computer to shreds, you can start by getting some general information on spam in the first place. You should also realize that there is more than one way that you can get trapped by spam. You can get much information about spam on the internet. This makes sense since it is through the internet that spam attacks you.

You can use just about any anti spam program when it comes to your home personal computer. However, if you are running a business you may need a bit more protection. Spam filters alone will not help you as you will likely be getting hundreds of emails a day. It helps to post your email as a direct link on your website rather than posting it because that is how spammer's software will find you. You can also use various anti spam software programs that will sift through them for you so that you don't have to.

You can also use various different email exchange programs or disposable email programs. What makes these disposable email addresses so useful in fighting spam is that once they receive a certain number of spams, these email addresses simply self destruct. This may sound silly since you are probably wondering how this will benefit you since you have to likely change your email address all of the time. This is where disposable emails and email exchanges get interesting. When you sign up for a disposable email address you are given one email address in specific to work with and a user name. Your email address is based on your user name. It's that simple.

You are then required to enter keywords that will allow your email service provider to latch on to these keywords so that you can receive emails from trusted friends etc. these keywords can be their names or anything else that you come up with. When you give out your email address, it is only those that contain your keywords in the subject line or return address that are able to get through to your inbox. Your other emails are then sent to another email address that constantly changes for your perusal. If they are not picked up after a certain period of time, the email address simply deletes itself.

About the Author:
By Abbas Abedi-To make all aspect of life easier you might take a look at my blog http://self---help.blogspot.com title="Self Help">Self Help
Submitted on 2006-11-30
Article Source: http://www.articlesarea.com/

How to Avoid Spam Complaints in your Emails

Spam filters are responsible for deleting a high percentage of legitimate business emails from people who have no wish to spam. Here are some tips to avoid spam complaints in your emails or ezine.

Avoid the following triggers in your emails.

1. Excessive use of ALL CAPITALS in the subject line and body of your email.

2. The use of words like "free"(used alone or in combination with words like "trial","money", "quote", "sample", "membership", "access" etc.) Other more obvious word to avoid include "sex", "XXX","spam", "$$$", "checks", "money", "extra income", "as seen on TV". Even seemingly harmless word such as "search engine listings", "cable converter", and "reverses aging" will get you in trouble.

3. Excessive use of exclamation marks "!!!"

Tips for Staying on the Right Side of Spam Filters

1. Use words like "news", "newsletter", "list" in your subject line.

2. Say how often your ezine is published in the subject line - weekly, monthly.

3. Put date of newsletter in subject line.

4. Put issue number in the subject line.

5. Ensure your newsletter is a proper ezine with some substance in the text.

To help identify spam in your emails/ezines use the following spam checker always before you send anything out.

http://www.merchant-account-service.com/stop_spam_mail.html

Above all, use your common sense. We know what spam looks like, so avoid anything that resembles it in your ezine.

(C) John Lynch

About the Author:
John Lynch
Learn how to Make Money Online by subscribing to Free 6-part 'Internet Marketing Explained' mini course. Get 6 free Internet Marketing E-books; free autoresponder; and free trial top-notch website. http://www.merchant-account-service.com/internet_marketing_explained.html
This article was posted on November 05, 2005
Article Source: articlecity