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Article Series: Web Hosting
Teach Me Web Hosting Essentials
Web
Hosting: Get Rid of that SPAM
Anyone who has ever had an email account does
not need spam explained to him or her. It is the menace that
clogs up your email account and takes up steals megabytes of
bandwidth daily. And the more active your email account is,
the more spam finds its way in. Many of us get thousands of
spam messages a day. This is why it is important to makes sure
that you conquer that spam with the right web host.
While user friendly website tools and services are important
to consider, email delivery and receipt is critical
to your growing business. When choosing a web hosting service, be sure
that their Terms of Service / Acceptable Use Policy includes
a specifically worded provision for blocking spam. How well
do they fight spammers? Do they have controls in place to block
spammers from using their servers to produce spam? You should
look for controls against many aspects of spamming.
The most basic of these is the prevention of receiving spam.
It sounds obvious and because most potential investors overlook
it, it is often left out of most policies and leaves you vulnerable.
Your web host should prevent your email account from receiving
bulk email by any means. This means that spammers should not
be able to reach you through email, http, or any other route.
Spam
does not just include email. Often times, if not properly
protected, your website can also fall prey to unscrupulous
spammers. Make sure that your web host provides protection
from your site being linked to from a site that advertises
through spam. This is a good way to turn potential customers
off. No one wants to do business on a website when it puts
their own computer and email inbox in jeopardy.
Although you may not be involved in spamming, you should make
sure that your web host takes a firm stance against other websites
promoting spamming. This helps keep the population of spammers
controlled as much as possible. Your policy should enumerate
punishments for violators of the anti spamming agreement, which
will ultimately result in the immediate termination of their
account, the barring of that offender from using your web host
in the future, and the report of the violation and termination
to the proper authorities.
It is important that your web host take strong action against
any spammers it may be harboring unknowingly. You do not want
to end up in the all too common situation where you find that
your emails to others are being blocked because your web host
is on a blacklist because other people’s anti spam protection
services have identified your host as a spammer. Do your research.
Visit sites like www.dnsstuff.com or www.spamhaus.org to make
sure that your site has not been blacklisted before you invest
in them.
Even the most vigilant spam guard can fail to protect you
from the ever-changing tactics of hi-tech spammers and your
email box can quickly flood with unsolicited mail. Your web
host should also maintain an abuse help desk on a 24-hour basis.
It should also be easy for you to contact a real human being
to explain the problem to. When they receive a report of abuse,
they should take steps to alleviate the problem within at least
two hours.
While it is good to have a web host that is committed to protecting
your account from spamming, there is a downside of spam filtering.
Many find that email that they want and need is filtered out
in addition to their spam. The most common victims are email
newsletters. Like spam, these are mass mailed and many servers
automatically block them without providing the recipient the
opportunity of viewing the email. Customers never even know
that they have been sent. Even personal communication and one-on-one
email can be lost through overzealous spam control. According
to an article in Time Magazine, spam filters block 40% to 70%
of all email. While it is not always possible, look for a web
host that provides a spam blocker that sends potential spam
to a special folder where you can delete them without opening
them or mark important newsletters as ‘not spam’.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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