Just to add to my answer - regarding outgoing email limits - contacting tech support at a particular service provider should give you that providers current policy. Most have a maximum for simultaneous as well as per hour sends. Typically this would be 20 - 50 at a time, or 500 per hour, or some mix. Again though, ISPs can and do change their policies when it suits them and they don’t contact all of their clients in advance.

If you are trying to learn what rules Yahoo or any major ISP has for detecting spam, you’re going to continue to be hard pressed to learn the answer. While major ISPs are all hoping to have an established set of benchmarks that says “this is spam”, the actual methods used on the internal server level are typically considered proprietary unless they use an open source solution, and even then, the big players would most likely either modify the open source technology or supplement it in some secret way, simply because they don’t want spammers to find holes in the system.

The other fact to remember is that spammers are always trying to find workarounds so the ISPs, no matter what their policy was yesterday, will always attempt to improve their detection methods today, in the hopes of a more secure tomorrow. And let’s not forget that every provider has their own methods - some overlay other ISP policies, some are unique to each ISP.

I think what it comes down to is not how they handle and treat header identity such as through Domain Keys, or whether they use a comparison to their own database of open relay flagged domains (the way ORDB.org used to), but instead - what are the best practices for someone who runs mail servers?

It’s always my opinion that whether it’s the IT staff that maintains the mail servers, or the marketing team responsible for the content of the email - if they’re not following industry best practices, they’re leaving themselves vulnerable to being blocked.

To this end I would suggest exploring MAAWG (The Messaging Anti Abuse Working Group). They’re made up of some of the biggest players including Yahoo, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Google, McAfee, Symantec, Microsoft and about a hundred other message handling (web, email, mobile) organizations on a global scale.

They have a number of best practices documents online at
http://www.maawg.org/about/publishedDocuments

Hope this helps!

Alan

It is not good they automatically opt you into it, but if used correctly, (ie one campaign for the search network and a seperate one just for the content network), the content network can be very profitable.

Okay - so I owe you one for being reactionary to your posts! Yet we’re talking about two very completely different markets here. Arguing about Apples and Oranges.

As much as I do honestly appreciate “balance” in views, I still stand firm in that statements you make, such as “No sound business owner will ever make a major decision based upon someone he found in the yellow pages, that’s ridiculous.” you are completely ignoring (or not aware of) the billions of dollars every year that small, medium, and world class Fortune 100 companies spend on direct advertising. And you do so even having worked for such companies as BBDO!

You’re a savvy smart and thoughtful purchaser. You take the time to research before you spend. You have the patience and willingness to speak to other people before you make a decision to choose a provider of services. But do you honestly do that with every single purchase you make? Is it really necessary?

In the year 2008, a very smart, and wise way to find a reliable and trustworthy place to make purchases is the web. You can search on Google, click through to a web site, and evaluate a company at that web site. You don’t need to talk to ten people if the web sites you visit are well designed and communicate the information you need.

Here’s one very great example of a business scenario where the web has PROVEN that it is not necessary, to use old-school research to find a business, and to kill your statement that people who base a decision on an advertisement are “foolish”…

My client, Key Maps, of Texas - they became my client in 1997 or 98 (yeah it’s been a long time). I built their web site - www.KeyMaps.com ten years ago. It’s not the prettiest site on earth. It uses 10 year old technology.

So anyhow, they sell maps. Street maps and wall maps. Of Texas roads. That’s their business. They’re not the only company that sells Texas maps.

Now, they were by far not a brand new business when they first hired me all those years ago. They have a store that people can walk into. And they distribute maps wholesale to retail stores across Texas. Great people work there, selling maps that people rely on every day to find their way around Texas.

Mark, their web site has sold so many maps that it’s in the high 7 figures. Millions of dollars in sales of $19.95 street maps through their web site. People find them at Google - people who had never heard of Key Maps, Inc. before. People who need maps.

YES - even with Google Maps and MapQuest. Even with GPS devices in cars. People still search for, and click through to buy hand-held fold out maps. And guess what - because Key Maps does such a stellar job at making their maps, because they offer superior customer service after the sale, because their site is easy to navigate, (fairly anyhow), many of those customers who found them the first time by searching on Google, ARE now repeat customers. The web site did the old school footwork in concert with the staff at the company.

Every single day, millions of people all over the world DO make buying decisions based on advertisements. If they didn’t BBDO, Hill & Knowlton, Porter Novelli, Ogilvy would not have nearly as much business as they do.

Sure, a LOT of what agencies and firms like those do is help build brand awareness, and not help build direct sales. Yet brand awareness DOES lead to sales, Mark. New business sales. That’s what it’s designed to do.

Every day, billions are spent by people who search for something at Google, click through to a web site, and make a purchase. I’ve managed web sites for hundreds of clients - I never keep track of the total - but back at ANT Internet, while we had clients like Princess Cruises, Fortunoff, Weight Watchers International, Starkist Tuna, 90% of our clients were small business owners. Since then, most of my work as an independent consultant was also for small business owners.

When you need a house painter, you may talk with your friends and colleagues to find that painter. Or you may actually go on the web. Why is the web as good as word of mouth for things like this? Because you can reach a much larger audience. A much wider prospective client base than you can trying to build your business purely by word of mouth. And that web site is an amazingly powerful way for you to communicate why someone should hire you instead of the next guy. If it’s designed right. And if it showcases your work.

So okay - Flash would be a GREAT way to present a portfolio of work. As you well know… Imagine having a Flash virtual walk-through of a house, before it was painted and after. Imagine using Flash to choose colors for YOUR house’s paint scheme! My God, the possibilities with Flash are simply phenomenal.

Related to this blog post, however, my point is that if you want your web site to be PROPERLY indexed at Google,

If you need your web site to be found at Google, because as a small business owner you don’t have the time to spend hours a week networking and personally pounding the pavement for sales, because you’re too busy working 12 hour days just to keep your business open, you need a web site.

If you can have your web site properly indexed at Google, that listing can do that pounding of the virtual pavement for you. So in those scenarios, Flash is a very bad choice.

I see it all of the time in business, those who rely upon technology for attracting new business. Vs sound basic selling practices.
Developing new relationships, clients as in pounding on doors, using phones, talking, smiling in person, carousing with prospective clients. Point of Purchase vs Houdini practices.

Over sitting on your butt and waiting for this magical client to show up on your front door loaded with cash. That is foolish. We can become too reliant upon these great new technologies and forget that selling ( and that is what we are talking about here ) is as old as the hills. Word of mouth is probably the strongest motivator for any prospective new client, ” How did you get there, who did you use ?” Trump to Madonna. No sound business owner will ever make a major decision based upon someone he found in the yellow pages, that’s ridiculous. That is like passing your money under the door to some stranger & preying. We build up relationships over time. Does he pay, is he a bullshitter, you had to wait how long to paid ? Track records. You will never get a major client based purely upon your google listing, ever!

Yes, 95% of what we All do is for small business owners. SEO applies 90 % of the time, I freak when I do not get a high listing, because I am small. Yet I m always learning, and some day I too as you would love a client such as Young & Rubicam, J Walter Thomson, Porter Novelli, Olgivy & Mather, where they are so huge, SEO is meaningless.

I am trying to learn and give balance & honesty to your post, and say that there is Absolutely nothing wrong with flash. I have taken 3 years off from learning it only to find out today that ALL of the really huge boys rely it. That there is a time and a reason for everything.
That was my enlightenment for today.
I am going to make a flash file today for the first time in 3 years, that the water is fine !

Yet I am never a fool, I will still Keyword and Meta tag, Everything. Old lessons learned are exreamly valuable. I will probably make a guised xhtml framework with assorted H1, H2 tags, I will make related links, etc . . .

I thank you for teaching me the merits of SEO, yet it is not the end all.
Balance is everything !

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