IS YOUR E-MAIL MISTAKEN FOR SPAM?

Thousands of small business webmasters briefly lose their domain names at expiration, due to a simple lack of understanding about the roles of three key players in the drama: domain name registrars, web hosts and internet service providers. Fortunately for most, they learn quickly how to save their web site from oblivion by using the 30 day redemption period for expired domain names enforced by ICANN. One simple solution is to extend domain registration for the maximum ten years. The other solution is to treat domain registrar data as the critical business element it is.

I Can't Remember Where I Purchased My Domain Name!

It wasn't until my third client had called asking how to regain control of her domain name that I realized that it was a common problem for small business webmasters to forget where they had registered their domains. WHOIS my registrar? Why didn't I get an email about renewal? Why did my site stop working today?

People rarely realize how important it is to keep their domain registrar notified of changes to their email address and and other contact information. The registrar will send renewal notifications to the email address last on file. For most domain owners, the only time they think about contacting a registrar is the day they reserve their domain name. If they move to a new city and get a new internet service provider, it doesn't occur to them that the old email address will change and that meeans that the registrar can no longer contact them through the previous address, or phone or fax as each of them change and we rarely notify the controller of our domain of those changes.

Sometimes the first indication a business owner will have that there is a problem is the day their web site stops working. If they failed to notify their domain registrar of changed email address, they may never have received their domain renewal notice. Since many registrars honor a 30 day "redemption period" allowing expired domains to be redeemed, it may be possible to save the registration within 30 days following expiration by contacting registrars during 30 day domain redemption periods.

The following URL leads to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (AKA ICANN) discussing the grace period and redemption period rules it enforces.

http://www.icann.org/bucharest/redemption-topic.htm

1. Don't use money in the subject line; e.g. Can we cut $500 from the budget? Many of your readers will have spam filters than kill off anything with a dollar sign in the subject line.
2. Don't include advertising words like best selling, cash, free, guaranteed, make money, opportunity, order, satisfied, saving or special offer. Such words are frequently used in spam subject lines. Keep in mind that they can easily sneak through: Can we free up some money from the budget?
3. Don't leave the subject field blank. Not only are you failing to capture your reader's attention, but this is a common spammer technique to trick you into opening the message.
4. Don't send work messages from private addresses like yahoo.com or aol.com. A significant percentage of all spam comes from such addresses.
5. Don't send unsolicited attachments. People have become very wary of them as many are infected with viruses or contain other malicious software.
6. DON'T SHOUT. Don't send a message in which the subject is in full capitals. This is a common sign of spam.
7. Don't use words that may have an inadvertent adult meaning.
8. Ensure that the date is set correctly on your computer as an incorrect or missing date is a common sign of forged e-mail headers -- another common spammer trick.

Armed with these tips, your e-mail should get through every time.
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You'll find many more helpful tips like this in Tim North's much applauded range of e-books. All come with a 90-day, money-back guarantee. http://www.scribe.com.au/ebooks.html
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