The Blocklist Monitor Tool, believe it or not, monitors your IP addresses and lets you know immediately when you are blocklisted. It will also tell you where you are blocklisted and what to do to get your presumably pristine IP address of these dreaded lists.
ISPs use blocklists to help them determine if specific IP addresses should be blocked. Since even the most legitimate of email marketers can end up on these bad guy lists, it's a no-brainer to monitor this nasty little issue.
"But wait," you say. "My email service provider monitors this stuff for me." That may be true and certainly good service providers will attend to this issue. However, if deliverability is a concern (and we assume it is or you wouldn't be reading this review), it may be worth your while to back up your monitoring efforts with a tool such as this one, which you can try out gratis at the site.
Messaging News is an online trade publicaton covering the technology of email and instant messaging. You can find all kinds of deliverability facts, figures and information here, such as the latest news on the adoption of Microsoft's Sender ID Framework (SIDF) and Yahoo's DomainKeys Identified Mail. At the time of writing, IronPort reported that 35% of all Internet email is now authenticated using SIDF, 9% of all Internet email is now using DKIM, 75% of all Fortune 100 companies use SIDF for marketing-related email and 45% use DKIM, 9 of the top 10 most phished domains use SIDF and 5 out of 10 use DKIM. You need to know this.
Want to check out the "pedigree" of a potential Internet marketing partner... or your own organization? Enter an IP address or a hostname to find out which blacklists (if any) list it. You'll be provided with links to those blacklists for further exploration. At this site you'll also find links to track, search and check IP addresses through a variety of different no-cost and fee-based resources. Good to know.
Sender ID Framework (SIDF) is an email authentication technology that works similarly to SPF (Sender Policy Framework) in that it verifies the domain name/IP address from which email is sent and compares the information to that domain's SPF records in order to authenticate the email's origins. Microsoft worked with the creators of the SPF system to develop their Sender ID Framework technology, but eventually technical differences and patent controversies caused the two to part ways, and Microsoft went solo with Sender ID Framework. This tool will assist you in setting up your SIDF and SPF records. If they are already set up, it will allow you to verify their contents. Because SIDF compares the actual email address(es) from which your email is sent, rather than SPF's comparison of all the details found in the "sender envelope", it's a good idea to make sure all your i's are dotted and your t's are crossed for Microsoft's SIDF as well... especially when you realize that Microsoft alerts Hotmail users with a "this email cannot be authenticated" flag on every email that does not have its SIDF configured.
Silverpop's white papers are downloaded more than 2,000 times every month. These oft-updated works are an excellent source for the inside skinny on email marketing in general and topical deliverability issues in particular. At the time of writing, we found "Deliverability: What the Pros Already Know", which shares some of the easiest and most important things email marketers can do to ensure deliverability; "Contrasting Email Deliverability in the United Kingdom and United States", which outlines what marketers should bear in mind depending on the distribution of their recipients across national boundaries; and "Measure your Deliverability IQ", which does just that.
Just the facts, ma'am, about this email marketing problem so controversial we don't dare spell out its name, lest our email to you be filtered. Looking for the lowdown on unsolicited commercial email (UCE)? This no-frills site provides listings of all spam laws in the United States, Europe and other countries, as well as links to relevant cases and articles. You'll also find a comprehensive list of additional sites devoted to current legal and preventative measures. It's quick, lean and mean, brought to you by David E. Sorkin, Associate Professor of Law, at The John Marshall Law School, at the the Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law.
You can get personalized book suggestions online, so isn't it about time you can personalize your junk email filtering system? If you use Outlook 2000 or Outlook XP, you can easily try out this open-source, no-cost technology. Once installed, SpamBayes will attempt to classify incoming email messages as "spam," "ham," (good, non-spam email) or "unsure." This means you can have spam or unsure messages automatically filtered away in different mail folders for later review.
First, SpamBayes must be trained by each user to identify spam and ham. Essentially, you show SpamBayes a pile of email that you like (ham) and a pile you don't like (spam). The technology will then analyze the piles for clues as to what makes the spam and ham different - wording, mailer headers, content style, etc. The system then uses these clues to examine new messages and classifies them accordingly. You train the system as you use it, so it will increasingly become more familiar with the kind of email you want to receive - and the kind that you don't.
It's a very good idea to run your email marketing message through a spam check before you send it out. The most reliable check should be sent from the email server that will be sending your email. If you use an email service provider, it may offer this service to you. At this site, you can check the body of your message for any errors or red flags by cutting and pasting the HTML code of your message into the form provided. If you are sending a text email, simply cut and paste the text itself. In seconds, you'll receive a spam score and recommendations on how to reduce the likelihood of your email being filtered. Make the changes, and be sure to test your email again to confirm that you've done everything correctly and that your score has been lowered. The lower the score, the more likely it is that your email will pass through most filters.
It's unanimous; we all hate spam. The nastiest side effect of signing up for email lists and filling out forms is potential misuse of that email address. Spamex allows the user to create disposable email addresses. When surfing, Spamex appears as a link in the tool bar. When signing up for a newsletter or entering a sweepstakes, just create a disposable Spamex address. The email sent to that disposable address will be forwarded to your "real" email address. Once the disposable address serves its purpose, just turn it off. You can figure out just how much spam is costing your company with the handy Spam Cost Calculator. Personal accounts are free; contact the company for enterprise pricing.
Here's how Sender Policy Framework (SPF) works: A website owner identifies her email-sending servers in her DSN record. She then sends emails as usual, and on the receiving end her return address details (also called the "sender envelope") are compared to what is registered in her DNS record. If everything checks out, emails are presumed to be from the authorized sender and they go through. If the records don't match, the email is identified as a spoof or forgery and stopped in its tracks. The SPF Wizard at this site will walk you through the process of creating and setting up SPF records for your domain in just a few minutes. You are asked to enter your domain name and then identify all the possible mail servers at that domain. It asks a few slightly technical questions about your mail sending habits (you may want to have an IT person confirm your answers). Then it configures your DNS records. Take that newly configured information to the company managing your domain to publish it. Simple, quick and essential if you are sending marketing emails of any kind.