Any company that utilizes email marketing runs the risk of finding their domain address listed on a dreaded DNS block list. What this means is that your domain name has been flagged as a possible spammer and anyone whose email service uses that block list will not receive emails that you, or anyone in your organization, sends.
Now keep in mind that not everyone who relies on email marketing is a spammer. There are thousands of legitimate companies who rely on email to deliver information on savings, product announcements, newsletters, etc. to people on their subscriber list. Anyone who receives emails from daily deal or coupon sites benefit greatly from email marketing.
Unfortunately, there are times when an good email marketing looks bad to the anti-spam filters and the result is you have to restore your organization’s reputation.
Checking to see if you are on the block list
Before you spend any time clearing your domain name from the block lists, you need to check to see if you are on them.
The easiest way to do this is to visit http://mxtoolbox.com/ and enter your domain name in the text box provided and click the MX Lookup button. This will provide some basic information about your domain, but by clicking the Blacklist Check links that appear next to each hostname, you will be able to scan your domain against all of the known block lists (or blacklists as they are called here).
While MX Toolbox checks against some of the more well known block lists, it does not perform a comprehensive check default. The initial check only scans your domain (IP address) against 35 block lists. To obtain a more comprehensive scan, you will need to click on the Check All Blacklists link on the results page to check against 60 more block lists that the initial check did not scan.
If you are alerted to the fact that your domain appears on one or more of the block lists then you need to visit the web site of the block list you are on and take the necessary steps to clearing your company’s name. Tools that scan to see if you are listed, like MX Toolbox or http://www.dnsbl.info/ will not help you remove your domain. You will need to do this on your own.
Most of the time, having your domain removed from one or more of the block lists involves filling out a form that will submit your domain for review. The review can be either automated or manual. Most of the larger block lists will also automatically remove domains from their listing if there is no reported spam sent from that address for a period of time, usually three to five days; and no reputable block list will charge you to have your domain removed.
Be advised, however, that some domains may require much more effort to have their reputation restored. If your domain is linked to multiple incidents then the process may take longer to review and you may be required to submit evidence that you are not a spammer.
Staying off the lists
Once you find yourself on a block list you will have to spend time to have your domain name removed. It could be rather quick, but even if it is only a day that could have a negative effect on your business.
Of course it makes sense then to do what you can to keep your company’s domain off the lists in the first place. If you are concerned about this, check out a previous article titled 5 Simple Rules for Staying Off Blacklists to find out what may flag your company’s outgoing email as spam and how you can avoid it.
In addition to following the advice given in the aforementioned article, adding an anti-spam solution that also provides you with outgoing spam protection will go a long way in helping keep your company’s reputation with the DNS block lists, and your customers, as trustworthy as possible.
Have you ever found your organization added to a block list? If so, please share your story with us in the comment section below.
Removing Your Domain from a Block List
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