Every email is constantly scrutinized to see whether it is spam, virus, or just a normal email. With the constant demand for email security, Blacklist was developed. On a short note, a Blacklist is a list of people, companies or organizations that for some reason have been denied a particular privilege. In terms of emails, a spam blacklist is a list of emails who have possibly broken the rules of conduct and will therefore will be constantly blocked until removed from the list. So how you find out if you’ve been blacklisted?
Upon sending your email and it being blocked by a Blacklist provider, some lucky individuals will be informed with an automated response email explaining that their message has been blocked. However, it’s unlikely you will receive such a response. The only way you will figure out if you are being blocked, is when you talk to your customers and they say, “I did not receive that email”. This can be a costly thing when your business relies on steady communication with your costumers.
Please note that the biggest danger is the reputation a blacklisting can have on your domain. It may go on to affect not only your email, but other’s in your organization as well as your webpage.
Luckily many website services were created to scan blacklists to determine whether or not your domain is free to send email or not. Examples of these websites include Mxtoolbox.com, blacklistcheck.com, and whatismyip.com, which are all free to use. Once you have determined that you are on a “Black List”, you need to correct the problem, then contact the blacklist administrator requesting that your domain be removed from the list. This process can sometimes go easily, but it can also be costly depending on the Blacklist Company involved. Now it’s time to avoid being victimized…
To protect yourself from becoming blacklisted or to resolve such an issue, make sure your email’s domain is not sending spam. The best way to avoid sending spam is to ensure your machine has dependable anti-virus software installed and that it is up to date. Secondly, if you own the server on which your domain resides, make sure this also has anti-virus protection. Lastly, never send group emails to more then 15-20 emails at once. A large outgoing mail flow to multiple accounts can be flagged as spam.
If you need to send a large quantity of mail like this, consider a third party email client, such as Constant Contact. These platforms are set up to send emails out to multiple contacts. Their basis is that upon sending an email, you have permission to email each and every contact you add to your (Constant Contact) contacts database.
In short, use your personal and work email accounts carefully and for more of one-on-one and small group communication and ensure your computers andservers are secure. We can never be too careful!