How to Avoid Blacklists

A blacklist in Internet terms is a list that contains the email addresses and websites of known spammers and troublemakers. If you are on a blacklist you'll have a lot of headaches trying to get off the list. For the most part it's hard to get on the major blacklists, which are used by many email scanners. Whether you're trying to avoid the major blacklists or someone's personal blacklist, there are a few simple things that you can remember to keep yourself safe.

Instructions

1. Don't send spam. Usually it is major spammers who get on blacklists. But don't become a spammer at all. If someone or someplace is offering you money or anything else to send or forward email, just say no. Even if you think you are being clever, there's a good chance you will get caught and at the very least blocked. Some spammers even pay fines and go to jail.

2. Keep your email chain simple. What this means is to send email from your email account. Don't forward to countless email addresses and systems so that email systems have no idea where the original email came from. Emails that seem to come from nowhere set off red lights.

3. Keep your subject lines simple and avoid phrases that are common to spam and junk. Avoid phrases about money and even subjects that contain the word "spam." Also avoid offensive or foul language in your subject lines.

4. Use a trusted host for email. You can use Yahoo or AOL or other popular email providers but using a long string of random characters as a username might appear suspicious. Generally, use reputable email providers and not ones that pop up overnight.

5. Don't try to avoid spam lists. Any tricks you can think of to avoid spam lists just trigger spam responses and are more likely to put you on a blacklist.

6. Don't send lots of email to lots of people. Don't send messages unsolicited to people, but especially don't send out messages to hundreds or thousands of people, unless they have subscribed to a list and have been verified.