About a year ago I wrote an article titled 'Winning\rThe War On Sp^m'. Unfortunately, the war on sp^m is\rnot being won at all.

In fact, the problem is now so serious that sp^m is\rshaping up to be the greatest threat to online\rmarketing.

The threat comes not from sp^mmers themselves, but\rfrom the filters that are being used to block them.

These filters are hitting hard at the very core of\recommerce - Ezine Publishing.

Anti-sp^m filters operate at two levels: (i)\rclient-side programs that reside on individual\rcomputers and (ii) server-side programs that ISPs are\rusing to block incoming sp^m.

The problem is that the filters are now so sensitive\rthey are blocking even the most innocent of\rNewsletters.

For example, if your Newsletter contains the words\r'remove', 'unsubscribe' or 'click here' it will\rtrigger anti-sp^m filters in many of the programs that\rare now being used by ISPs.

The result?

Your Ezine is zapped, deleted - and a large percentage\rof your s^bscribers will think you have stopped\rpublishing your Newsletter.

What can you do about it?

Here are some tips to avoid sp^m filters:

(1) Post your Newsletter online and then email your\rs^bscribers to tell them that the latest issue is now\ravailable online.

(2) In your Newsletter carefully avoid (both in the\rsubject line and the body text) all words that are\rlikely to trigger anti-sp^m filters. Use the fr^e\rservice listed at the end of this article - it will\rflag any words in your Newsletter that trigger\ranti-sp^m filters.

(3) Instead of saying 'to unsubscribe' (which is a\rphrase commonly found in sp^m), say 'If you no longer\rwish to receive...' or 'If you wish to leave this\rmailing list...' or 'To take yourself off this\rlist...'

(4) If there are trigger words that you simply cannot\ravoid, you can disguise them using carets (^) or other\rsymbols. The 'F' word would become fr^e and the 'U'\rword would become uns^bscribe.

(5) Include the word 'Newsletter' in the subject line\rof your email - this will help the filters identify\ryour email as non-sp^m.

(6) Avoid whole words in upper case. In many\rNewsletters the headers are capitalized - this will\rtrigger the filters.

(7) If your Newsletter contains ads, scrutinize them\rcarefully - ezine ads, by definition, contain words\rfrequently used by sp^mmers.

Here is a fr^e service that will help you avoid sp^m\rfilters. Before you mail out your Newsletter, just\rsend a copy of it to the email address below with TEST\rin the subject line: mailto:spamcheck@sitesell.net

Within a few seconds you'll receive a report that\ranalyses your Newsletter and gives you a score (0 to\r5=no problems 12-16=over the limit for most ISPs).

If you write articles, it's worth submitting them to\rthis test as well, together with your Resource Box\r(Sp^mCheck gave this article a score of 1.9).

Sp^mCheck is operated by Sp^mAssassin, a filter that\ris widely used by ISPs - so this is a good test of\rwhether your Newsletter will get through to your\rs^bscribers.

------------------------------------------------------------\rMichael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3\ryears. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this\rsimple technique to build a successful online business. Click\rhere to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/\r------------------------------------------------------------