Let’s say you have an employee that wants to send out a promotional email to thousands of customers using their company email address. They send it out and a day or two later you start noticing that you’re sending emails but they’re not being delivered. Perhaps you’re receiving bounce emails saying your server is blocked or clients are saying they’re not receiving your emails. The reason… SPAM. If you have to send an email to a large group of people I recommend using a service like MailChimp. Anytime you send a promotional email you are REQUIRED to have an unsubscribe link so customers can remove themselves from your mailing list. If you don’t include that a customer can report your email as spam and start a chain reaction that’s tough to stop.
Spam is a big problem. We all get it and it’s really annoying. When you’re the one sending the spam the internet has many tools to make sure you never send an email again. If someone marks an email from you as spam in Gmail that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up on a block list, but if multiple people in a short period of time mark your email as spam you can be in big trouble.
The Internet has numerous Domain Block Lists (DBL’s) that keep track of spammers IP addresses and domains. Block Lists are lists of IP addresses that have been reported and listed as “known” sources of spam. There are public and private blacklists. Public blacklists are published and made available to the public—many times as a free service, sometimes for a fee. There are hundreds of well-known public blacklists.
To get off a block list, or more typically multiple block lists you have to use some tools to find out who is blocking you and why. Below are some of my favorite tools to scan your domain name/IP address to see if it’s being blocked.
- MXToolbox Blacklist Check
- Spamhaus Blocklist Removal Center
- SpamCop Blocking List
- CBL (Composite Blocking List)
- Cisco IP and Domain Reputation Center
- RBLmon (Automated RBL Monitoring)
Depending on which block list you’re on the removal process varies. It’s best to first figure out who is blocking you and follow their instructions to remove you from the list. In addition to intentional
Is your email server getting blocked? I’ve been through this process before and I’ve helped many clients get off these block lists. Contact me today and I’d be happy to help you get your email server off these block lists and keep it off.
