Email is the lifeline for a company and a means to communicate with your customers and to promote your services directly into their inboxes.
What happens if the lifeline abruptly cut off?
It’s known as IP blocklisting (formerly called IP blacklisting). It’s a technique used by network operators to stop IP addresses that they suspect are malicious or are sending spam.
According to Statista approximately half of emails is being categorized as spam, resulting in an erosion of trust among the public in email as a whole.
It’s costly for companies as well. Research shows that spam costs businesses more than $20 billion a year and reduces productivity.
With all these factors it is imperative to stay clear of the IP blocklist should be on the top of your list of priorities.
Not only does avoiding blocklists improve your ability to deliver emails however, it also helps improve the productivity of your staff and help your business save money.
This article will discuss:
What exactly is an IP blocklist and what is it to your company?
Signs of warning that you’ve been banned.
How do you determine whether your IP address or domain has been blocked
How can you avoid having the possibility of your domain or IP address from being blocked
How do you get rid of your IP address or domain from the blocklist
What does it mean when your IP address is blocked
What exactly is an IP blocklist? What is it to your company?
The term “IP blocklist” refers to the process of blocking an IP blocklist is a place where a network prevents any IP number or domain from sending email to them due to suspicion of sending malicious or spam-like content.
Being placed in an IP blocklist isn’t a random event. There are a variety of ways that you could end up being listed on the IP blocklist, such as:
An enormous increase in the size of your list: As with everything else that is organically produced the quality of your email list will expand over time, not in a single day. In the event that your mailing list expands by 100,000 subscribers within a short time and this causes alarm bells in your email provider and internet service providers. This could lead users to think that instead of acquiring subscribers naturally, you’ve purchased an email list, leading to a blocking list. Utilizing confirmed opt-ins is an excellent way to prove that your customers are genuine and not spammers, and using other anti-bot strategies like reCAPTCHA in the sign-up form will show that the legitimacy of your organic growth.
Spam complaints When you send unprofessional emails or overflow users’ mailboxes 50 emails every day, they could become angry and flag you as spam. If your customers start to mark the emails they receive as spam on a regular basis and start to complain, it could lead to the internet provider being suspicious of the content you send out or its quality. list of emails. If you have more issues with your Internet service provider receives from customers, the greater chance that you’ll be blocked. By adding confirmed opt-ins to your mailing list could aid in preventing complaints about spam.
Incorrect email addresses or lists In the event that your email lists aren’t kept up-to-date, and you’ve got spam or old addresses or send emails to them will be bounced. If your internet service provider finds that a large number of the emails you send are not working or going to a person who hasn’t signed up to receive your emails is an indication that you have an insufficient mail address database. This could lead to your IP address being blocked.
Compromised or infected websites or PCs If you’ve got your mail server located on the same IP that is used for traffic from your internal computers and websites , and one of your computers becomes infected or a site is compromised, it could be used to transmit massive quantities of spam, which can result in blocking the IP address. It is essential that the IP addresses for email are designated for exclusively for use.
The reasons mentioned above might not be the first things that comes to thoughts when you think of spam email. However, when you think about the entire purpose of blocklists is to deter suspicious spam and other malicious activities such as sending emails that are not authorized by the recipient and the motives behind being placed on a blocklist begin to seem more rational.
In any event, being added to an IP blocklist is never without proof.
Signs to alert you that your IP address is blocked
If your messages are being sent to the recipient’s “Spam” folder, or if they bounce back, you receive a message telling you that it could not be delivered. In certain cases it may state outright that you’ve been blocked and offer a clickable hyperlink to learn more about the situation.
This could be a sign of warning that you’ve been banned and you should verify and confirm the blocklist.
What can you do to determine if are blocked
It’s simple and there are a variety of websites that will examine your IP address and domain against a variety of whitelists and blocklists for example, DNSWL.
You can check out a number of websites that are public (for no cost) to find out whether your IP address is been blocked. Tools such as MXToolbox and multirbl.valli.org verify your IP or domain name against the known blocklists to find out whether your site is added to one.
How can you get rid of your IP address from the blocklist
If your IP address is blocked, getting it removed is a lengthy and challenging task, however it doesn’t have to be to be.
Many blocklists let you make a request to be removed any address that is listed provided you’ve resolved the issue that led to you being on the list in the initial in the first.
How can you prevent your IP address from being blocked
Each blocklist comes with its own set of criteria an IP address has to be able to meet prior to being added to it.
While some of the reasons are grounded in evidence or on behavior other reasons are focused on technical issues like inaccurate or insufficient DNS records.
Yet, the most popular methods to cause your IP to be listed on a blocklist is due to compromised servers or accounts and bad email practices. If you have evidence that suggests your accounts or servers are compromised, or you don’t have effective email collection practices in place There’s a good chance the IP you use will end up blocked.
Technical blocklists are often due to problems with the configuration of your mail server or DNS configuration. They are more difficult to detect for those with a non-technical eye.
The positive side is the fact that you can find best practices to follow to prevent IP blocklists from occurring. You must ensure that you:
Maintain your website’s software current: WordPress is one of the most widely used and thus most frequently targeted software. You must ensure that your website software is up-to-date, particularly the plug-ins you utilize.
Make use of a password manager as well as specific passwords for each website This will prevent your credentials from being used in the event that the website you’ve an account on is compromised.
Secure any forms you use to sign-up for emails or newsletters by using anti-bots such as ReCAPTCHA. This will ensure that automated processes do not poison your forms or the resulting information.
Confirm all email addresses using activation or opt-in links: Send an email to verify the address that needs to be clicked in order to activate. This will stop any automated process that is able to bypass the anti-bot mechanisms from signing-up with third-party email addresses.
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