Newsletter Spam Filters

It's hard to get your email through to clients, friends and family with all the Spam Filtering going on these days. If you are a Home Based Business owner that sends out a newsletter regularly you'll want to keep the following tips in mind to make certain your Work At Home Newsletter is getting through all the Spam Filters.

Spam is defiantly a problem. At one time I was receiving almost 300 per day, spending a good part an hour sifting through the mass of junk was more than I could tolerate. So I too enlisted the help of a Spam Filter - Spam Arrest.

I do worry about losing out on emails that are important and interesting, but this is the price we all have to pay for those Spammers that have abused and are abusing the Internet.

Most Spam Filters use a Blacklist - these are clusters of email addresses and domain names that are known for sending out a lot of Spam. Recipients of Spam generate most Blacklists'. So your newsletter could fall victim to a click happy Spam identifier that clicks your email into the dreaded Blacklist vault.

Spam Assassin, Cloudmark's SpamNet and Spam Arrest all use different methods of blocking spam. Spam Assassin uses a point system to conclude whether or not an email is Spam. If your Newsletter scores high it will surely be treated as spam and blocked. SpamNet blocks Spam two ways; the first, filters email based on keywords like "Free", and the second allows users to mark email and submit identified Spam to be blocked to other users of SpamNet.

My personal favorite is Spam Arrest, because it offers you total control over your inbox. You can decide who is allowed to send you email by importing your personal address book, or entering your known and approved contact addresses directly into the system.

Emails from unknown senders will receive an auto-reply message containing a "challenge" -- if or when the sender completes the challenge (the response), their email is forwarded to your inbox, and they are then added to your authorized sender list.

The challenge is easy for people, but impossible for automated systems (i.e. spambots) to complete.

The Spam Arrest challenge/response system effectively blocks all the spam while still allowing friends, family and trusted contacts to email you without the risk of being filtered out by imprecise software systems.

So How Do You Keep Your Newsletter From Being Blocked?

Here are some tips to help your Newsletter reach your subscribers:

DO NOT send your newsletter unsolicited. Be sure your customers have requested to be on your subscriber distribution list - using an auto responder, like Aweber, that requires your subscribers to opt-in and confirm that then have requested your Newsletter will help keep you off the blacklists.

Use your Newsletter's name in the subject line. Your subscribers should recognize your Newsletters name. Using subject lines that are full of hype and so called trigger words may get your Newsletter blocked by the Spam filters.

NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS. This will surely get the Spam filter red flags raised and your email forwarded to the dreaded blacklists.

Words like "Free", "Limited Offer", "Money" even "home business" will engage most Spam filters.

The simplest words like "remove" should be avoided as well. Use "unsubscribe" in your directions to subscribers that want to stop receiving your Newsletter.

Spammers most often use free email addresses - so you should avoid using them at all costs. Send your Newsletter from a reputable domain name - one that matches your own website would be best.

Never send attachments with your Newsletter. Attachments put a fear in most email recipients and will tag your email as Spam.

Your Newsletter will most likely have words within the text that trigger Spam filters - these words like "Free" and "Home Business" can be easily disguised by adding a period or hyphen between two letters - do not over do it though. It will not be long before this tactic will be a trigger for the top Spam filters, so keep up with all aspects of the best Spam filters so your Newsletter will reach your subscribers.

Copyright 2005 - Tim Somers, 3G Enterprises, LLC