My Emails Are Not Being Delivered. Black Lists and White Lists Explained

by: Karen Fegarty
Please consider the following article for publication.My Emails Are Not Being Delivered. Black Lists and White Lists Explained.by Karen FegartyOver 40% of all emails within your marketing campaignare not being delivered. You may not even be aware of this,as many ISPs will not send back a bounce message. In factif you are sending messages to AOL customers, AOL is now blocking over 80% of the messages that come into their servers.One of the main reasons that this is occurring is that yourIP or Domain may be Black Listed. All major ISP's and many corporateemail systems now check against Black Lists and will refuseto deliver any emails that come from an IP that is BlackListed. But what exactly is a Black List? DNS black lists are lists of domains and IP's that are knownto originate Spam. Many anti-spam software programs used bycorporations and ISP's use these lists to control Spam byrefusing any email that originates from one of these domainsor IPs. Unfortunately there are many instances of false positives as there are few checks and often little objectivity when listinga particular IP. In order for a black list to know that a domain is sending Spam, the offence must be reported . It may take only one report via a web form for you to be listed.You may be listed maliciously through one complaint of a client, or that of a competitor. Many Black Lists, as well, will list not only the IP that is suspected as spamming, but willlist any IPs in that range of addresses. If someone using thesame Internet provider as you is accused of spamming and is placedon a Black List, you may be listed as well. DNS blacklists are usually maintained by anti-spam organizationsor by individuals.What are some of the most popular Black Lists that ISPs are using?Some of these include:MAPS - http://www.mail-abuse.com/Spam Cop - http://www.spamcop.net/SpamHaus - http://www.spamhaus.org/SPEWS.org - http://www.spews.org/ORDB.org - Open Relay Database - http://www.ordb.org/How do I know if I am on a Black List?Unfortunately, you really can't be 100% sure if you havebeen black listed. You may be on someone's black list and not even know it. There are, however, ways to checkmost of the lists.One way is to check your server log when sending yourcampaigns. You will often see an email bounce notice indicating that the message has bounced because you are on a particular black list.Many of the major black lists also allow you to enter your IPinto a form on their site. These checks will tell youwhether you appear, or not, on their list.A useful tool, is the Black List Monitor. http://www.blacklistmonitor.com - It automatically checksyour IP against most of the major Black Lists and tells you which ones you are listed on. It also gives you helpin getting removed. All your IPs are constantly monitoredfor any changes, listings, or delistings.But what is a White List and how can this help?Many corporations and ISPs will create a white list. Thisis a list of trusted IP addresses that they feel confidentwill not send spam to their customers. If your IP is listed on a particular white list then your email messages will be delivered to the destination email address. It isimportant for reputable marketers to work with the majorISP's such as AOL to ensure that you are on their white list.For most, it can be a lengthy process, but well worth yourefforts. Other third-party email certification programs now exist.Bonded sender www.bondedsender.com is one such agency. By joiningBonded Sender, senders improve deliverability rates and differentiate their brand. Senders go through a formalapplication process, adhere to email standards and posta bond against potential complaints. Major ISPs such asMSN/Hotmail now check against Bond Sender's white list and allow these email to pass. Knowing if you are on a black list, getting removed if youare and getting established on white lists is criticalif you are email marketing. The more messages delivered equalsmore sales!