As good as your online campaign might be, you'll accomplish nothing if messages wind up in spam folders alongside pitches for counterfeit watches and herbal remedies of dubious merit. Neil Anuskiewicz claims it's easy to avoid this fate by establishing an SPF (sender policy framework). Don't let the techno-jargon scare you. In layman's terms, it works similarly to the authentication process a merchant uses for credit-card transactions, and assures Internet and email providers like AOL or Gmail that you are who you say you are. All told, an SPF vastly improves the chances that your message will go straight to a recipient's inbox.

Getting one is not only simple, says Anuskiewicz, it's free. You can use the setup wizard at sites like this, which walks you through each step, or you can create a manual record with your domain name registrar or hosting provider. Another option is delegating the task to your email administrator. A few things to keep in mind:

• You can't create an SPF with a free email provider like Gmail or Yahoo. This means you'll need a personalized domain name. They're inexpensive and there's a payoff: An email from sales@yourcompanyname.com has much more credibility than yourcompanyname@yahoo.com.
• Always use your domain name as the from address when you publish your SPF record. If you send email from sales@yourcompanyname.com, register the domain yourcompanyname.com.

The Po!nt: Setting up an SPF is a free and easy way to avoid the spam filter. If you don't have one, get one today.

Source: An unpublished article by Neil Anuskiewicz.

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article