Email is the lifeline of any business as it allows you to connect with your customers and to promote your offerings directly into their inboxes.
But what happens if that line is cut off suddenly?
It’s known as IP blocklisting (formerly called IP blacklisting). It’s a method employed by network operators to stop IP addresses that they believe are malicious or are sending spam.
According to Statista approximately half of emails is currently classified as spam, which has led to less trust from the public for email as a whole.
It’s expensive for businesses and businesses, too. Research shows that spam costs businesses over $20 billion each year and can reduce productivity.
In all of these instances to avoid the IP blocklist should be on the highest priority on your list.
Not only does avoiding blocking lists improves your ability to send emails however, it also helps improve the productivity of your staff and save your company money.
This article will be covering:
What exactly is an IP blocklist and what is it to your company?
Warning signs to let you know that you’ve been blocked.
How do you determine whether your IP address or domain has been blocked
How can you prevent an IP address, domain name or even your entire IP from being blocked
How do you remove your IP address and domain from the blocklist
What exactly is an IP blocklist? What is it to your company?
A IP blocklist is the place where the network stops the IP account or domain’s name from sending email to them due to suspicion of sending malicious or spam-like content.
Why is my IP address blocked?
The chance of being in an IP blocklist isn’t a random event. There are a variety of ways that you could be being listed on the IP blocklist. These include:
A massive increase in the size of your list: As with any other organic process an email list of high quality will expand over time, not in a single day. In the event that your mailing list grows by 100,000 subscribers within a short time and this causes alarms for your internet and email service providers. This could lead people to believe that instead of getting subscribers on your own, you’ve purchased an email list, leading to a blocked list. Confirmed opt-ins are an effective way to demonstrate 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 low-quality emails or clog the inbox of your customers 50 emails per day, they might become frustrated and label you spam. If your customers begin marking their emails as spam frequently this could result in an internet provider getting suspicious of the content you send out or its quality. list of emails. More complaints that your Internet service provider receives from customers, the greater chance you’ll get blocked. Incorporating confirmed opt-ins into your mailing list could assist in stopping complaints from spammers.
Incorrect email addresses or lists If your email addresses aren’t properly maintained and you have spam addresses or send emails to them will be bounced. If your internet service provider finds that a large number of your emails are not working or going to a person who hasn’t signed up to receive your emails is an indication that you’ve got an insufficient addresses list for email. This could lead to the IP address of your computer being blocked.
Computers infected or compromised websites If you’ve got your mail server running on the same IP as the traffic from your internal computers and websites , and one of your PCs gets infected, or a website becomes compromised, it could be used to transmit large amounts of spam. This can result in blocking the IP address. It is essential that the IP addresses for email are devoted to the use of only.
The above reasons might not be the first thing that occur to your the forefront when thinking about spam messages. However, when you think about the idea behind blocklists is to deter suspicious spam and other malicious activities that could include sending emails that are not authorized by the recipient The reasons for being added to a blocklist begin to seem more rational.
In any event, being placed on an IP blocklists is not an option without proof.
Alert signs that your IP address is blocked
If your emails are not being sent to the recipient’s “Spam” folder, or if they bounce back, you receive a message that says it was not delivered. In certain situations it may state outright that you’ve been blocked and offer a clickable hyperlink to get more details.
This could be a warning signal that you’ve been blocked and you should examine and confirm this.
How do you determine if you are blocked
The process is simple and there are numerous websites that will verify your IP address or domain against a variety of whitelists and blocklists for example, DNSWL.
There are a variety of open websites (for no cost) to find out whether your IP address has been blocked. Tools such as MXToolbox and multirbl.valli.org examine your IP address or domain name against the known blocklists to find out whether your site is added to one.
How do you get rid of your IP address from the blocklist
After your IP address has been blocked, getting it removed is a lengthy and challenging task, but it doesn’t need to be.
Many blocklists let you make a request for removal of your name from their list provided you’ve resolved the problem that put you on the list in the initial in the first.
How can you avoid having your IP address from being blocked
Each blocklist is unique and has its own rules an IP address must be able to meet prior to being added to it.
While some explanations are founded on proof or behaviour while others are based on technical issues like inaccurate or insufficient DNS records.
However, the most frequent methods to cause your IP to be listed in a blocklist are due to servers or accounts that have been compromised and bad email practices. If you have evidence that suggests your accounts or servers were compromised, or if you don’t have effective policies for collecting emails it’s likely that the IP you use will end up blocked.
Technical blocklists usually relate to problems with the configuration of your mail server or DNS configuration, and are difficult to identify for those with a non-technical eye.
The positive side is there’s best practices that you can use to prevent IP blocklists from occurring. Be sure to:
Maintain your website’s software current: WordPress is one of the most frequently utilized and hence most widely targeted software. You must ensure that your website software is up-to-date, particularly all plug-ins you utilize.
Make use of a password manager as well as distinct passwords for each website This will prevent your credentials from being used when the website you’ve an account on is compromised.
Make sure you protect any forms that are used 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.
Verify all email addresses with activation or opt-in links: Send an activation email with a verification link that has to be clicked in order for it to be activated. This will stop any automated process that is able to bypass any anti-bot mechanism from signing up with third-party email addresses.