A Beginners Guide to Email Blacklists

Words to strike fear into the heart of any



Email Marketer

"You've been blacklisted."

What Does this Mean?


Basically your sending IP address has been listed by a



popular blacklist as likely to send Spam and therefore



they have listed your email address on their



"blacklist."

Once this occurs, mail administrators



and individuals that use this list as an IP block list will



not take receipt of your email, send it to a junk folder,



delete it etc.

Who Manages These Blacklists and why



do they think I send Spam when we are fully Can Spam



Compliant?


Spam like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If an



independent group thinks that your message has some



spammy characteristics they may or may not add you to



their list. A number of the blacklists select with an



algorithm that is independent of human selection.



Bottom line selection can be arbitrary and every



legitimate marketer should be aware of this potential



delivery rate pitfall.

What are the main Blacklists?

There are hundreds of blacklists out



there, however there are 10 or so that are used the



most by mail administrators;


1.Open Relay Database


2.Spam and Open Relay Blocking System


3.Spam Prevention Early Warning System


4.Vipul's Razor


5.Pyzor


6.Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse


7.Spamhaus


8.SpamCop Blocking List


9.MAPS


10.SpamFire

Each of these uses a slightly different



technology to identify spam; it's a very useful way for



diligent mail administrators to control incoming



email.

How do I check if I am Blacklisted?


We recommend testing an independent email delivery



service. One that offers a powerful free trial is



http://www.emailreach.com


Here you can test your mail server against the most



popular blacklists and ensure that currently you are not



listed as spam.

What Do I Do If I think I am



Blacklisted?


First of all check if you are or not. Use a service like



www.emailreach.com. Once confirmed that you have

been wrongly assigned as spam there are number of



things you can do. We strongly recommend you



working to understand what characteristic caused you



to be listed, and working to remove this trait from your



campaigns. Typical issues are incorrect mail



administrator settings, using a non-dedicated



deployment machine, sending large volumes of mail in



short periods. Once this is corrected reach out to the



blacklist and request to be whitelisted. This often is



easier if a third party request on your behalf.



Whitelisting takes time far better to avoid blacklists in



the first place.

How Often Should I check my email



reputation with the Blacklists?


We recommend you testing with the primary blacklists



at least twice a month.

What other types of delivery issues can



my email encounter?


Apart from being listed with Blacklists another key area



of issue are ISP level filters and mail administrator



software and hardware for email delivery. Consumers



also have a myriad of anti spam software installed on



their machines that blocks valid email.

For More on Blacklists read

http://www.sorbs.net/

http://razor.sourceforge.net/

http://www.ordb.org/

http://www.spamhaus.org/

http://www.emailreach.com/