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^m 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 s^bscribers will think you have stopped
publishing your Newsletter.

What can you do about it?

Here are some tips to avoid sp^m filters:

(1) Post your Newsletter online and then email your
s^bscribers to tell them that the latest issue is now
available online.

(2) 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 fr^e
service listed at the end of this article - it will
flag any words in your Newsletter that trigger
anti-sp^m filters.

(3) 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...'

(4) 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.

(5) Include the word 'Newsletter' in the subject line
of your email - this will help the filters identify
your email as non-sp^m.

(6) Avoid whole words in upper case. In many
Newsletters the headers are capitalized - this will
trigger the filters.

(7) 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
(Sp^mCheck gave this article a score of 1.9).

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
s^bscribers.

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Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3

years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this

simple technique to build a successful online business. Click

here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/

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