How to Add Support@wbdoyle.com to Your White List

What is a White List? Here are instructions to help make sure email gets through to you.

Unsolicited, unwanted advertising eMail, commonly known as "spam", has become a big problem. It's reached such proportions that most eMail services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have put some sort of blocking or filtering system in place or begun relying on self-proclaimed blacklists to tell the good guys from the bad.

We at wbdoyle.com applaud their intention to protect you from spam, but everyone agrees that the current systems for stopping spam are far from a perfect solution. They often block eMail that you've requested, but that fits somebody's idea of what spam looks like. The more responsible anti-spam activists are working hard to cut down on these "false positives", but in the mean time, you might unexpectedly find you're not getting your wbdoyle.com welcome email or member updates.

As it happens, there's something you can do to keep your wbdoyle.com emails from falling into the false positive trap. You can fight the blacklists with a "White List". White List us now, before your delivery is interrupted.

Of course, every eMail system is different. Below are instructions for some of the more popular ones. If yours isn't here, please contact your ISP's customer service folks for their instructions.

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If you are using spam blockers such as SpamArrest, Earthlink, SpamBully, FilterMy, KnowSpam, etc., make sure to take the necessary steps to ensure emails from support@wbdoyle.com go through. If you do not receive your welcome email, please check your trash/spam folders.

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First, add the address: support@wbdoyle.com to your address book.

Next, follow the instructions for your eMail provider or software listed below. Use the drop-down menu to quickly jump to these instructions:

Mail Programs like Eudora, Outlook/Express etc.AOLYahoo MailHotmail

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Many popular eMail programs, including Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, and Netscape Mail, don't provide a convenient way for you to White List the folks you want to receive email from. If you're using this sort of email system and you either aren't getting your wbdoyle.com member email or want to make sure you continue to receive your email in the future, you can do something about it.

Contact the customer service people or the Postmaster at the company that provides your eMail or Internet connection (your ISP). Explain to them that wbdoyle.com email is email that you asked for and value. Ask them if they can White List the email. They'll probably ask you for some information about us. Here's what to tell them:

• Sending Address: If they ask for our address, give them the address support@wbdoyle.com as the email.
  
  
• Domain: If they need to know the domain we're mailing from, tell them :
  @wbdoyle.com
  
  
• IP Address: If they ask for our sending IP address, tell them:
  74.52.59.66

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	If you're using AOL, you can ensure that your wbdoyle.com correspondence is delivered to your Inbox by setting your Mail Controls. Here's how:
Go to Keyword Mail Controls. Select the screen name we're sending your wbdoyle.com emails to. Click Customize Mail Controls For This Screen Name.
For AOL version 9.0: You need to add our sending address to your "People I Know" list. Open your latest wbdoyle.com email. Click the Add Address button (over on the right) to add  support@wbdoyle.com to your "People I Know" list. For AOL version 8.0: Select Allow eMail from all AOL members, email addresses and domains. Click Next until the Save button shows up at the bottom. Click Save. For AOL version 7.0: In the section for "exclusion and inclusion parameters", include this domain: wbdoyle.com

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To ensure that your wbdoyle.com email is delivered to your Yahoo Inbox (not the Bulk Mail folder), you can instruct Yahoo to filter it to your Inbox. Here's how:

Open your Yahoo mailbox. Click Mail Options. Click Filters. Next, click Add Filter. In the top row, labeled From header: make sure contains is selected in the pull-down menu. Click in the text box next to that pull-down menu, then enter the address in the "From" line of your most recent wbdoyle.com. At the bottom, where it says Move the message to:, select Inbox from the pull-down menu. Click the Add Filter button again.

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	If you are using Hotmail, you can ensure that wbdoyle.com email is delivered to your Inbox by adding our "From" address to your Safe List. Here's how:
Click the Options tab. Select Safe List. (It's under the heading Mail Handling.) In the space provided, enter the address in the "From" line of your most recent wbdoyle.com email. Click Add. When you see the address you entered in the Safe List box, click OK.

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Thank you for White Listing wbdoyle.com.

A few months ago, America Online (AOL) released its brand new AOL Version 9. (Have you noticed all the TV ads?) AOL expects that up to 50% of their users will be using the new version by the end of December 2003.

The biggest new feature with AOL 9 is its aggressive method of reducing unsolicited e-mail (sp^m) for its users. Basically, AOL wants users to customize their own inboxes and view or receive only the messages that they choose.

While the crackdown is a noble endeavor, it puts legitimate e-mail publishers in the crossfire -- people like us who have worked hard to ensure that everyone on our list has opted-in and given us permission to contact them repeatedly.

To make sure that your AOL subscribers are receiving YOUR e-mails, here are a few things you should know.

1. All Your Graphics Are Blocked by Default
AOL has taken the drastic measure of blocking all graphics from being displayed in HTML e-mails, as well as deactivating the links for any new messages sent to an AOL 9 inbox. The system is also designed to "learn" what messages are repeatedly marked as sp^m, and they will eventually be sent to the junk folder automatically, once it maps the user's behavior.

When an e-mail is received in AOL 9, users have to click a link at the top of each message to view any graphics within your e-mail ("Show Images & Enable Links"). If this action is not taken, images (e.g. pictures, logos) and links will not be displayed or enabled.

2. Your Open Rates Are Likely Affected
If your e-mail publishing system uses "open tracking" to count how many people open your e-mails, you will start seeing lower numbers because the new AOL 9 also blocks open tracking tools by default. (Read on to learn how to improve your results.)

3. Ask Your Subs to Add You To Their Address Book
At the top of each issue you send, remind those AOL folks to put you in their AOL address book. For example, "AOL 9 users: Please add Alexandria@EzineQueen.com to your address book so you'll be sure to receive every issue of our e-zine".

Once a user puts you in her address book, all your future e-mails will automatically show images and functioning links. This will also allow the e-mail to be tracked properly as "opened" on your end.

4. Make Sure Your FROM Address is Consistent
This shouldn't be a problem unless your list server/e-mail publishing program generates a different FROM address with each e-mail you send. For example, today I got an issue of an e-zine with this FROM address:16863-return-90-86968736@lb.bcentral.com. But when I looked at the LAST issue of the same e-zine two weeks ago, the return address had some different numbers in there.

This is BAD, because even if the AOL user adds you to her address book, every issue you send will be categorized as from a new sender. By having a consistent FROM address, you'll allow your AOL 9 subscribers to add your e-mail address into their address book, and all future e-mails you send will be easily received and tracked.

NOTE: There is a difference between your actual FROM address and what some call the from LABEL. My e-zine's actual FROM address is Alexandria@EzineQueen.com, but it's labeled as from "E-zine Queen".

If you use Outlook or Eudora, you know what I mean. In your inbox list, you see all the from LABELS and not the actual e-mail addresses. For example, you see "John Smith" instead of jsmith2000@hotmail.com.

AOL does NOT show its users your from label, it only shows your true FROM address. You can usually access and change these settings in your e-mail publishing program. If you're not sure how to do this, talk with your vendor.

5. Bottom Line: Never Rely on Images to Convey Your Message
You can be sure that not all your AOL users will bother to put you in their address book, or understand how easy it is to do.

So here's the bottom line: Have fun with graphics and images in your HTML e-zine, but never rely on them to get your message across. Once each issue is complete and ready to send, look at it and pretend all the graphics are gone. Can your readers still instantly recognize it's a publication? Do they see it's from you? Is it obvious to them this is what they signed up for? If not, be sure to add text at the top to make things crystal clear.

I also recommend that if you don't have AOL yourself, get an account and put that e-mail address on your subscriber list. This will allow you to see how the new AOL 9 works and how your e-zine appears.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning manual, “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.” To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ezinequeen.com.

If you're like me, you've been frustrated that your legitimate emails are being blocked by overly aggressive spam filters.

Over the years, I've noticed a disturbing trend... a growing number of my newsletter subscribers were not getting their issues in their email inbox.

But one day, my mastermind group discovered a soon-to-be released system on how to tweak my email software and bulletproof my emails from just about any spam filter.

It's called Market Through Spam Filters ... a system developed by Canadian brothers Jonathan and Andrew Hook. What's fascinating is they offer a service that actually filters spam emails. In other words, these guys are the enemy of spammers. For some reason, they decided to expose the secrets of spam filters (and I'm super happy they did).

In less time than it took me to finish my Egg Drop soup at my local Chinese restaurant, I was armed with dozens of simple strategies and ideas to bulletproof my emails from even the most aggressive spam filter.

Just moments after tweaking my email software, I more than tripled my response. In fact, I'm now getting emails from old subscribers asking where I've been!

If you're frustrated having your legitimate emails filtered, you might try out these 7 simple strategies revealed in their system:

1) Don't offer an unsubscribe option
Phrases like “To Be Removed, Please...” flags your email as spam to even the weakest spam filters.

Instead, use these unsubscribe options:
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:
http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?jAzMLGyMtEysjEx
"To unsubscribe go here"
"to be taken off our periodic mailings"
"to unsubscribe from this list"

... and here are unsubscribe sentences to avoid:
To Be Removed Visit: http://202.63.201.239/remove.html
"To Be Removed, Please click here"
"To be removed from future mailings"
"to unsubscribe from our list"

Bottom line:
Don’t use the word “remove” anywhere in your email message.

2) Watch your time
Double check the date and time on your computer sending emails.

Your recipient's email software sorts incoming mail by date and time. Spammers realize this and adjust their "time stamp" to get their emails displayed first. Yet spam filters frown upon emails dated too far in the future or past.

3) Send plain text... not HTML
When you send HTML email (instead of plain text), you raise a huge red flag to just about any spam filters.

Spammers send HTML emails to hide tracking codes and gather data without their recipient's permission.

Even worse, HTML email is one of the leading vehicles for spreading computer viruses. Even if you think your computer is virus-free, the last thing you want is to unknowingly infect your recipient's computers with your virus. And of course your message won't get read if a virus filter flags your email.

4) Bulletproof against identity theft
Spam is so prevalent because a large percentage of email servers (hardware and software used to launch your emails) are unknowingly set with "open relays."

In fact, a large percentage of spammers would be out of business if all internet service providers closed open relays.

Spammers troll the internet looking for vulnerable email servers set with open relays. When they find 'em, they quickly send thousands (even millions) of emails through an open relay 'til the internet service provider finds out about it (and ultimately shuts it down).

Solution: Always send your emails through a secured email server. This usually requires you to tweak your email software to "authenticate" that you're legit before you can send email. Ask your Internet Service Provider for details.

5) Watch your head(ers)
Headers include a quasi computer-coded briefing about the contents of your email. Most important, it records every path your email travels to reach your recipient's email inbox (including whether or not your email was delivered by an email server with open relays).

Pay attention to the content that's ultimately display in your email headers:
- Avoid ALL CAPS...
- Include a valid email address, and avoid assigning the sender/recipient (you) with accounts from Hotmail, Yahoo, or Juno...
- Make sure emails don't start with an "@" symbol...
- Never use the carbon copy (CC) function...
- Never leave the “from” field, “to” field, “subject” field, or the “body”
blank. Even mail servers without any real spam filtering block emails with empty fields.

6) Don't hide spam words
Most spammers use alternative letters in an attempt to trick spam filters (e.g. vi*gra or fr~e). Most spam filters catch on to these tricks and actually penalize the use of these special characters more than they do the actual word.

Many Junk and Adult Content filters work by looking for key words. This list is a description of exactly which words many filters look for and where the filters look for them.

FREE SPAM CHECKER SERVICE

Spam is a bigger and bigger problem nowadays. Recently Ralph Wilson, Paul Myers, and other Net marketing gurus have written about the problems that spam is causing honest, hard working Net marketers.

Actually, while spam is the fundamental root of our problems, the anti-spam measures that large ISPs and important free e-mail hosts (like Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail) undertake are what hurts legitimate Net marketers.

Much like tuna nets catch dolphins by mistake, their spam filters catch us. So the SpamCheck Tool is a quick way for honest marketers to make sure that their e-mails are less likely to be considered spam by ISPs, by Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail (which tosses you into their Junk folders) and even by individual filters set up by an ever-growing number of recipients around the world.

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Here's how it works...

STEP 1: Copy-and-paste your subject, but start your subject with the word "TEST" (without the quotes, in UPPER CASE) so that we know this is a test e-mail. (If the subject does NOT start with TEST, we'll assume it's REAL spam and delete it). Here's a sample subject...

TESTFlower-Lovers Ezine #007: Peonies for the Yukon

STEP 2: Copy-and-paste the rest of your e-zine and simply send it, exactly the way you would send it to your recipient, to...

spamcheck <-click to open your email program...

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You'll get a report back (in seconds, perhaps a few minutes if volume is heavy) telling you how good or bad your e-mail is, from a spam-detector's point of view. You will receive a full, free report of all corrections that you should make to your zine, in order to stay out of the junk folders. It does NOT, of course, actually comment on WHAT you write -- first, it's not that smart. And second, the actual content is YOUR business! ;-)

And remember, this SpamChecker is just one feature of the E-zine MailOut tool, which itself is merely one part of the entire system of Site Build It! tools... guaranteed to make any small business succeed online... in a tenth of the time ... at a tenth of price.

For more information about Site Build It!, please see...

Site Build It!