How To Avoid Having Filters Eat Your Emails

Youve probably read 1000 times that the moneys in the list. If youre an Internet or email marketer, thats only partly true. The truth is that the money is in properly written emails, that get delivered to your list members. That last part is what most online marketers are missing!

An article in the June 2004 issue of Time Magazine reported that 40% to 70% of email sent to the four major ISPs is deleted at the server. Those ISPs are MSN (including Hotmail), Yahoo, Earthlink and AOL. That simply means that theres a very good chance that your legitimate email is not getting through to those subscribers using those ISPs.

The bottom line for you and I as email marketers is that building huge opt-in lists, seeking JVs, or publishing an ezine is largely futile, unless you correct the above problem first.

So how do you correct the problem Many people who send emails know that many ISPs score emails as they arrive at the server. Email that scores above a certain score is identified as probable spam, and is deleted. So, many of us go through our email messages before sending them out and delete or modify trigger words.

Ill let you in on a big secret. Most of the words that you see cleverly disguised (often with extra spaces or characters) arent what causes most of the problem. Its combinations of words that causes the problem. Its those combinations of words and a few other major mistakes that gets your email killed.

To find out what those major mistakes are, you can get a free report called The 21 Deadliest Spam Filter Violations here:

The typical ezine that I see makes over half of these mistakes every issue. Does yours

There are two major things that you can do to avoid having your emails eaten by the filters.

The first one is to have your list members white list you or add you to their address book when they first subscribe. Right on your confirmation page, instruct them to add your from email address to their address book or to their approved list. How they do this is different for each ISP. Generally adding the from name and/or email address to their address book or approved list will do the trick. Also tell them to periodically look through their junk email folder to confirm that your email is getting through. If they want what youre sending them, they will do this. Often moving an email into the inbox will cause the system to stop filtering your email too.

You can also tell new list members to do this in the confirmation email, but thats a little late, since they may never get that email.

The second thing you can do is run every email that you plan on broadcasting (or even some personal emails) through a system that scores the email. Email above some magic score (around 5 at many ISPs) is guaranteed to be deleted.

There are a lot of tools for scoring your emails. The one that I prefer is called E-filtrate. You can check it out at:

which is where you can also get the report mentioned above.

What I like about E-filtrate is that its a browser-based system that allows you to score an email, suggests 3-7 substitutes for each trigger word (that you can make right within the program), and even allows you to do test sends to confirm that your email will get through.

The system also allows you to check to see if your domain/IP is blacklisted. If your domain is blacklisted, then all email from that domain is blocked by certain ISPs. So you could have a perfect email, and it could still not get through. The solution there is to get the domain de-listed or to send from a different domain.

Once you have a reliable system in place for quality controlling your email communications, *then* youre ready to put your list building on steroids. Then youre ready to set up all kinds of joint ventures, and benefit from that huge, responsive list.

Implement the simple steps outlined above today and youll be pleasantly surprised. Something this simple can multiply your profits many times over. It can actually be the one thing that turns a struggling business into a major success ;-)

About The Author

Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, network marketing trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple SYSTEMS. An example of such a system can be studied and duplicated at:

Creating Demand With Email Newsletters

Youve launched your web site. Youve implemented a public relations campaign and spent oodles of money advertising in trade journals, magazines and newspapers. But your sites daily visitors are still in single digits and your sales are...well lets just say that early retirement is no longer an option.

Now what

Perhaps its time to try email marketing. Or, to be specific, an email newsletter. After all, they require minimal effort to produce, and are proven to increase sales.

Of course, there are many other reasons why email newsletters make good business sense. Heres just a few of them:

You can create a marketing campaign on a shoestring budget.
You can measure the results and find out what works and what doesnt.
You can build a personal relationship with a large group of people.
Your subscribers pick YOU when they opt-in to your list.
You can track customer behavior.
You can collect user information for specific, targeted campaigns...the list goes on and on.

So what are you waiting for. Its time to take the next step and put the power of email newsletters to work for you.

Starting Your Email Newsletter Campaign

Before you start any type of marketing or advertising campaign, you need a plan. This is equally true for email newsletters. You dont have to put together a 200-plus page document outlining all your goals and objectives, but you do need to define some basics before you begin.

Get to know your audience. Its not enough to say, theyre people who like widgets. Take your cue from magazine publishers. They know exactly who their target audience is, how much money they earn, what social group they fit into and what motivates them to buy. Find out who your customers are, then tailor your newsletter around their needs and desires.
Check out your competition. Yes, you do have competition. Find out what theyre doing by investing some time to research their product or service. What could you do better Is there a gap in their service you could fill
Identify your newsletters purpose. What do you hope to achieve with your newsletter. Do you want to give your subscribers information about your product to help them make purchasing decisions If so, you must first help them find out more about your product by letting them see how it can make them smarter, healthier, wealthier, or more successful. Or do you want to position yourself as an expert in your field Your goal here is to provide your subscribers with well-written articles that address issues in your industry. Whatever your objectives, your strategy must focus on your goals.

Creating Content

Now you know what you want your campaign to achieve, its time to start thinking about content. This is usually where the faint hearted run for cover. Fear not. Creating content isnt as difficult as it first appears. Below are different methods you can employ to keep your newsletter content fresh, relevant and on target.

Write it yourself. By far the cheapest approach in the long term is to write it yourself. If you enjoy writing and if you have lots of ideas for content, then this may be the best option. Only you can decide.
Hire Writers to Write for You. If youre not comfortable writing content yourself, you may want to consider hiring a professional writer to write it for you. There are plenty of freelance writers who specialize in writing newsletter articles. Youll find several at
Get Content from Online Article Directories. A low-cost option is to get content from article directories, such as , , and . Articles posted on these sites are generally free, as long as you include the writers byline when you publish.

Design your template

Just as a magazine has a certain look that will appeal to their subscribers, so must your email newsletter. Decide on a template design and stick with it so your subscribers know what to expect with each issue. Think about how magazines and newspapers have regular columns in each issue. Split your newsletter into bite sized pieces so the content is easier for readers to digest.

HTML or Plain Text Its really a matter of personal preference, and what you think will most appeal to your readers. The jury is still out on whether one sells better than the other, but if in doubt offer two lists: one in plain text and one in HTML. Then let your subscribers decide.

Ready, Set, GO

Youve defined your objectives, secured your content and designed your newsletter. Now all you need to do is put it together and launch it to your customers. For this you need a mailing list. Begin with your own in-house list-made up of people who have specifically requested to receive information from you. Set up a sign-up form on every page of your web site, advertise your newsletter in online ezine directories or in other newsletters, and announce your newsletter in your signature file--the tagline that is, or should be, attached to every email you send.

However you choose to build your list, dont ever, ever become a spammer. Never send your newsletter to anyone who hasnt specifically requested to receive it. Remember, Can-spam regulations require every marketing email to include an opt-out provision and a valid physical address. If you ignore these rules, you do so at your own risk.

Email newsletters, are possibly one of the most effective marketing tools available to online businesses. Exploit this opportunity and youre almost guaranteed to pull targeted customers to your site, create demand for your product, gather customer data and secure your companys success.

About The Author

Julia is an independent copywriter and consultant specializing in advertising and search engine marketing services. To learn more about how Julia can help boost your companys profits visit her site at . You may also like to sign up for Marketing Works! Julias monthly ezine. Visit to sign up or email Julia for details.