© Copyright 2003 (c) Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

You've likely been plagued to some extent by junk email that
unscrupulous marketers send indiscriminately to millions of
email accounts. Unfortunately, the more Internet marketing
you do, the more spam you'll be deleting from your Inbox.
I've had as many as 300 uninvited emails show up in a single
day. That's more than frustrating, it's maddening!

Fortunately, more and more ISP's are fighting back by using
spam filters to lessen the amount of junk that reached their
customers. From that perspective, spam filters are a welcome
addition to the Internet world.

Although I'm thrilled that filters cut down on Inbox
garbage, and save time anddelete' finger overuse; they also
present a potentially serious problem to honest email
marketers.

If your outgoing messages aren't reaching your ezine
subscribers, that means they're not getting what they signed
up for, and you're losing income. That's a problem.

For example, until recently, my Net Profits Coach eZine
messages had a fairly consistent rate of undelivered
messages,  between 1.3 and 1.5 percent.  Over the last
couple of months however, I noticed that the number of
'undeliverables' was slowly but steadily increasing .

One may think that 1.3 percent isn't too high a number, and
not worth your concern. However, if you're the one 'percent'
eagerly anticipating the arrival of your favorite ezine
which then doesn't arrive, that number takes on a much
larger meaning.

When the NPC's percentage of undelivered messages reached an
all time high of 2.6, and hundreds of subscribers missed
out, I knew it was time to tackle the problem.

Fortunately, my answer was close at hand.

The best way to avoid getting caught up in the filters, is
to use a list server that incorporates a spam
analyzer to check your messages. Both Aweber and Ken Evoy's
Site Build It! use the Spam Assasin(tm) technology.  Spam
Assasin(tm) is a scoring system that instantly lets you know
whether your ezine message might be filtered. The analyzer
goes through your message and then returns a report that
displays key areas that might be caught in filters.

Most ISP's using the  Spam Assasin(tm) software allow
anything with a score under 5 to pass through. Aweber's
autoresponder service flags messages with scores over 5 by
highlighting them in red. The red flag is linked to a list
of terms and phrases that the software found objectionable,
giving you the opportunity to refine your message and reduce
your score.

Using the analyzer made such a difference to the NPC's rate
of undeliverables. I was able to get it down to 0.6 percent,
and I know that if I pay more attention to avoiding
spam-type phrases, that number will go even lower.

So, are your messages reaching your customers, or are
they getting caught up in spam filters? Don't sweat great
drops of blood over your hard work and then let it become
cyberspatial flotsam. Use an analyzer.

As the old saying goes - the mail must go through!

Rosalind Gardner is the best-selling author of 'The Super Affiliate
Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff
Online. Her incredible online success  has been profiled in numerous
popular publications including 'Secrets to Their Success', 'Small
Business Opportunities, 'Six Figure Income' and 'Revenue' magazine. To
learn how you too can grow your own lucrative eBusiness, please visit:
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