SPAM: Are you taking the Asterisk*?

By Michael Hopkins
Posted Tuesday, December 7, 2004

SP*M is the scourge of the Internet. Everyone hates SP*M. Even SPA*MERS hate SP*M!

For the average email user it's an annoyance. But for the Internet marketer it represents a serious threat. If you're sending ezines, autoresponder messages or solo ads as a means of building your business, then there's every chance that between 10% and 50% of your recipients never get your email.

It's the SP*M blockers you see.

More and more email users have installed SP*M blockers to prevent all the thrash from ever reaching their inbox. Likewise, an ever-increasing number of ISPs use similar technology to protect their users.

This represents a serious challenge to the legitimite marketer who's sending legitimite emails to legitimite opt-in recipients.

It's gotten to the point where I can't even spell the word SP*M in this article for fear it never reaches you. I should also avoid words like FR*E or M*NEY or OPP*RTUNITY or even something apparently harmless like CLICK BEL*W!!

In fact, there's so many things that will clock up points on the SP*M blocker's index, that it's getting near impossible for us to write anything in our emails. (If you're interested, you can see an extensive list of the kind of stuff that will earn you SP*MMER points at (http://spamassassin.org/tests.html).

So what can you do to get around this problem?

Simple. You've got to determine whether the emails you send out are going to pass the SP*M blockers criteria or not.

Here's how to do it without spending a penny...

1. Download and install Eudora email software from (http://eudora.com) (it's FR*E!).

2. Download and install Spamnix from (http://www.spamnix.com) (the FR*E version is fine).

3. Set up one of your existing email accounts in Eudora or create a new one especially for the purposes of testing your mails.

4. Every time you have an email ready to send to your opt-in subscribers, send a test copy to your email account in Eudora first. Spamnix will examine the mail and, if it looks like SP*M, it will filter it into a special folder it creates to handle this kind of thing. Spamnix will also tag a report on to the bottom of the message that shows you exactly what's wrong with your email to earn it such a poor reputation.

Now, all you have to do is tweak your message according to the Spamnix report and try again. Keep doing this until Spamnix no longer considers you a dirty rotten SP*MMER.

Because Spamnix uses the same criteria as just about every other SP*M blocking software, you can now be quite certain that your email will reach its intended recipients.

So, don't let those SP*MMERS drive you out of business. Take action today to ensure that their dodgy business practices are not costing you dearly.

And with that I've got to sign off... I've just received a H*T offer on how to make L*ADS of M*NEY selling VI*GRA to people with M*RTGAGES who W*RK from H*ME to pay off their CR*DIT C*RD B*LLS!

Or something.

About the Author
Michael Hopkins is owner of BizzyDays Ebook Publications. Visit now to download original ebooks for FREE at: (http://www.bizzydays.com) This article first appeared in Michael's newsletter 'Ebook Times'. To subscribe visit: (http://www.bizzydays.com/free_newsletter.htm)