Ezine Publishers Avoid the Filtering Traps & Get Your Ezine Into Your Reader's Hands
So you think all of your subscribers are receiving
your ezine? Better think again. With the rise of
Spam filtering software, both by ISP's and end users,
odds are your ezine may be getting deleted before
it's even delivered to your subscribers. There are two main types of filters: those installed
on the end user's computer and server side programs
used by Internet Service Providers. The most popular
program used is http://SpamAssassin.org So what does this mean to you as a publisher? If
you want to make sure your ezine is being read
you'll want to pay close attention to the tips
given here. After all, do you spend your time
writing a good ezine just to have it sent to
the trash? I didn't think so. Spam filters work by counting the words in your ezine that fall on
their "target lists," each of which has been assigned a numeric
value. After they're done "scanning" your email, they
add up your score. If your total value is above
a set number, it is determined to be "spam" and
sent to the trash bin. Gone forever, and your
subscribers are none the wiser. Filters search
the message, the header, the subject line and
looks at the formatting as well. To see what
Spam Assassin looks at go to....
http://www.spamassassin.org/tests.html I personally use filtering software due to the
hundreds of unsolicited messages I receive daily. But I
always go through the "trash bin" first and
glance through it before hitting the delete key
to make sure it hasn't captured something I want
or need. The problem is that most users
of filtering software either
don't want to spend the time, or don't know how
to check it to see what was "killed." So
many of them may be missing your ezine, even
though they have subscribed to receive it. Now do you see how tough it is just getting
your ezine into the hands of your subscribers?
The trick is to be "smarter" then the filters and
utilize some of the great free tools that have
sprung up to help publishers with this exact
problem. Before sending out your next issue, run it through
one of these free checkers to see if it will make
it past the filters and find out what your ezines
total score is along with tips on how to improve. 1) SiteSell Spam Check
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com Go to the above url or submit your ezine to
mailto:spamcheck@sitesell.net with the word TEST
in all caps before your ezine name in the subject
line. Example: TEST Merle's Mission Ezine 2) Lyris Content Checker
http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker/ Runs your ezine through a battery of tests used
by "Spam Assassin." Paste your ezine into the
web based form, hit submit and the results
will be emailed to you. 3) AssuranceSys.com- If you don't mind parting
with some of your cash, Assurance Systems will
run a variety of tests for you and let you know
how your ezine stacks up against the filters and
if you've been blacklisted. Check them out at
http://AssuranceSys.com So what's considered "bad" to filtering software
and what can you do to reduce your score? I thought
you'd never ask. Here are some tips to help: 1) Be careful with your subject line- Avoid
the word free or using all caps or excessive
punctuation. 2) Using a lot of fancy HTML formatting can
hurt you. Many filters will kill HTML emails
as a given mistaking them for viruses. 3) A larger size can actually help you. Anywhere
from 20k to 40K is good and will actually subtract
bad points from your total score. 4) Blocking: Make sure your IP address is not
being blacklisted. This can happen if your site
is hosted on an open relay or you're sharing an
IP address with someone who is a known spammer.
You don't want to get yourself blacklisted so
be careful here. 5) Avoid the use of the words free, click here,
remove, spam, and any others known to be on
the list. This is pretty hard. Some publishers
have resorted to putting * or ^ in exchange for
letters. For example fr^e or Sp*m- It's highly
debatable if this will work or not since most
filters will be catching on to this technique
soon if they haven't already. 6) Set up free accounts at Yahoo and Hotmail
and subscribe to your own ezine and monitor the
boxes to see if your ezine is making it through
their filters. For further tips I recommend the following resources: "Avoid the Spam Filter Trap"
http://assurance.sys.com/f/avoid-spam-filter-trap.pdf "List of Filtering Trigger Words"
http://www.iprofitsystems.com/articles/spamfilters.html "20 Ways Opt in Emailers can Outsmart Spam Filters"
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter-avoidance.htm Nice list of trigger words here:
http://www.sv-cs.spam.html As you can see, publishing an ezine and getting it
to your subscribers is no longer an easy task. One
practice that has been adopted by some publishers is
to send a follow-up email after your ezine has gone out,
stating that it has been sent, including a url
where your subscribers can go to read the issue online. I do this
and every week that link registers 50 to 100 clicks,
so obviously a lot of people aren't getting it
the first time. There's also a new service called Habeas.com which
is a whitelisting tool. For a large sum of cash
they'll give you a line of code to add to your
email headers which guarantees your message will
pass through the filters. They have special
relationships with ISP's and mail filters that
recognize the header labeling you a "good guy."
It's not inexpensive. Visit their site for more
info on how it works at http://habeas.com There's no way to beat filtering, but by being
informed and knowing what you're up against and
how to improve, you'll stand a much better chance
of getting your ezine where it needs to be. And
that's why you started publishing in the 1st place,
isn't it?
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