An interesting day in terms of technical support and helping IT companies workout how email is pointed around the world from server to server, IP Address to IP address. I have found that over the 12 years in the email business that there are many email problems that can be found quickly . . once you know where to look.

We operate thousands of emails on our servers and our spam filtering service has taught me much about mail servers and MX records too. Today we received a call from an IT company setting up a cloud solution for a company. They were looking for advice on how to insert A Records and MX Records and then looking at how long it takes to come into place etc.

We were able to help them out quickly and the final comment was . “ah that’s amazing.brilliant, Thanks”. I was glad to help (and the invoice is emailed already by pdf !)

Now the interesting part for me was that for one company cloud solutions and email management seems a very complex issue and yet for others its just a case of asking the right person.  This is about the third time in a month that I find business offering solutions that they dont seem to really understand fully and the worst part about it is that it is the Client that suffers.

So my point, If you have email problems, ask the right people. Call Dave Jordan of Cada Media Ltd today on 053 9430748

Wow what fun we have with sending mail via the various broadband providers in Ireland. As you might be aware receiving an email is usually no problem and people get mail via the email provider, so Eircom customers get mail from mail.eircom.net and most companies get mail from mail.companydomain.ie etc. I have spoken about this before arising in questions about which smtp server to use etc

Sending mail is different.

In order to cut down on bandwidth that they must carry and deal with spam etc many operators in Ireland have restricted the use of their Out Going Mail Server to cut down on the traffic that in theory should be travelling via the mail provider.

So if you are a Three Broadband user and are using Eircom for mail and wish to send mail using Outlook Express etc then try the following setting to send mail.

mail.relay.3ireland.ie

This must be set as your Outgoing mail server in your email program, usually in Tools ->Accounts -> Setting ->Servers – Outgoing mail

Hope this helps, as I see from doing Google search many have answered that it can not be done.

We would like to inform all our clients on our business hosting packs that we have put a limit on the number of outgoing emails to avoid them being “ear-marked” as amateur spammers!

Example:

If you are using an email program like Outlook Express, Thunder Bird you will be writing an email and then adding in multiple email address and sometimes up to 40 or 50 email addresses in one go.

Then the email sent and the internet service provider, such as eircom see’s your one small email address sending out 60 emails and marks it as a spam attempt.

With spam on the ever increase it is getting harder and harder to find a hosting business like us or an internet service provider to allow you to do this.

What are your options:

Constant Contact is a brilliant online service that allow you to create these newsletter and email them out to your subscribers.

Remember the word subscribers means that they subscribe to your email, sending out emails to a list to people to have not got the opportunity to unsubscribe is called Spamming!

Yes, you are a spammer and you didn’t know it so the next time you are talking about emailing your clients or sending out an ezine, think again about your legal obligations in sending electronic mail

You are supposed to send out emails to a list of people using a special program or facility that allows multiple emails and allows this opt in, opt out feature.

Any questions, just send me an email, just one, not 20 !!

Had an interesting conversation with a client last week about how the effect of having no email for a 24 hour period effected this business. I should add that this was just 1 email address, the info@ address the business uses.

I should paint a picture a little clearer, this is a small rural business in the west of Ireland, 3 people, 1 in the office and 2 out on site working with clients in a service industry.

Whilst some work was been carried out on their website/hosting by ourselves we had some downtime. (I have to put my hand up and say that it was from our part that they emails were being queued on the server, meaning they were not being pushed through to their office pc, but waiting to be pushed towards them)

So we started work on this hosting/email facility for this one email address at about 3 in the afternoon and we had hoped it was sorted by about 6pm that evening but alas now we know that it was still not functioning the next morning and that afternoon too. Once we twigged what it was we were able to rectify it and they got the emails, minus the spam etc etc.

What did we learn?

1, that we now have a new procedure in place to make sure the email set up is signed off

2, that a business not having email, even for 1 day, with 1 email address, can be considered closed down!

Yes, we got a call from the client stating that people will think they are closed down and that in a recession not to have your emails responded to is very serious to a business. I agreed and we have resolved the matter now and all is well, but I really was able to see if from a customers point of view too.

Are you answering your emails?

Do you only answer your email at 9am, 13:00 and then again at 17:00?

The recession has meant that we all assume that if we dont hear back from a business that they have gone out of business.

Conclusion: Answer your emails and do it sooner than your competitor will.

(I’m learning too here folks, I’m not the fastest when relying to people either!)

We have been supplying spam filters to our clients for a long time now, but since the global recession has kicked in we’ve seen a huge increase in the volumes of spam going through of servers, eating the band width and consuming huge processing time, not to mention squatting on Gigabytes of our server space.

Because of this we have been working on creating a product to help our clients and to help ourselves on the amount of administration that it is taking each day to help clear valid emails and block unwanted ones.

Self Service is the norm these days in supermarkets, petrol stations and now in email filtering systems, allowing our clients log into their own Email Filtering Control Panel and manage emails they need to receive and leave the ones that could contain a virus or spam that will waste their valuable time.

Once they log into our secure system, the menu system allows the user to tweak their email filter to make it strong or to allow certain emails through or IP addresses. The great think about this is that it really puts the keys back in the administrators hands. You can create and update White Lists and Black Lists to suit your needs.

If you have an email that has been sent you but the spam filter has blocked it then you can log in, view it in the log of stopped emails and click on “release” and it will be pushed into your inbox as normal in a few minutes.

How to set up Spam Filtering ?

Basically just get in touch and if you are an existing client or if you not a client of ours and your website is hosted on another server just get your web designer or administrator of your domain name to make your MX Records point towards our filters. The MX records should be setup as follows:

Priority 10 = mx1.spamfilters.ie
Priority 20 = mx2.spamfilters.ie
Priority 30 = mx3.spamfilters.ie
Priority 40 = mx4.spamfilters.ie
Priority 50 = mx5.spamfilters.ie
Priority 60 = mx6.spamfilters.ie
Priority 70 = mx7.spamfilters.ie

As you can see the filtering get passed through more filtration sessions than a good whiskey, so image how great the results are on your inbox. These sessions are powerful servers that are updated and kept running 24/7 to examine the origin of emails,  see where they are being sent from, look and see if they are all being sent from the same IP address or computer. Often a pc can get a virus and it turns that PC into a Virus Sending Server. Our servers notice these type of emails and we block those dodgy emails before they arrive on your door.

The Control Panel lets you see exactly the amount of email we block each hour, To start email filtering your mail and stop the crap being delivered to your inbox and your staff’s inbox then call myself Dave Jordan and we can start clearing your email today.

Cada Media – Email Filtering Services – 053 9430748

We would like to inform all our clients that if you experience problems sending mail using your “pop” email account. That is using your mail that you have in Outlook or Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird then we recommend that you check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is the company who you get your broadband or internet from and ask them what their Outgoig mail servers are:

Samples of these would be

• Eircom = mail1.eircom.net
• Magnet = smtp.magnet.ie
• Imagine = mail.imagine.ie

Looking for information on how to set up your email then please see our support page on our main site.

Any questions just give me a call 053 9430748

I suppose that this is the obious but Spam is on the increase in these harder times as spammer use email to market their products online. We have had a number of clients on to us asking if we can stop it.

Yes.

We have spam filters on our servers that can block the unwanted and time wasting emails that are blocking most people inboxes. Just give us a call to find out how we can help your company g take control over your inbox. Call Dave or Roz on 053 9430748

Why use a Newsletter for your business?

This another one of the frequently asked questions we get asked about how to use the Internet for business.  A email newsletter is a fast, efficient, cheap method of communicating with your clients.

You don’t even need a website!

There are many types of newsletter systems available both as hosted (on your own website) or as stand alone applications hosted on someone else’s website. Here are a few links to get you started.

• www.newsweaver.ie
• www.toddle.com
• www.constantcontact.com

We offer our own hosted versions on our clients website that have no monthly bills, you simply type up the newsletter and send. The system takes care of the legal issues like having an unsubscribe option etc. Note our systems wont charge you a monthly fee or won’t charge you per email.

Remember these types of systems will give you great stats, they will let you know who looked at the newletter, what part of it they clicked on to return to your website and much more.

To find out how a newsletter email system can help your business, call Dave or Roz on 053 9430748

We have noticed that we are getting more and more requested from companies asking us to help remove their spam from their inboxes. Staff are wasting time each morning and afternoon going through up to 100 emails per day selling online drugs to relationship advice! (some are similar !)

Not only is this wasting time, but you as the owner of the business are also putting yourself in a legal situation with respect to the content you are making them view by asking them to use your company email. Does it say it in your employee contract? Nope! Most people overlook it.

Anyway . . We have the solution for your Spam Filter and Anti Virus Needs. Call Dave Jordan on 053-9430748 to more help and advice.

Tel: 053-9430748

We received an email from a very concerned client of ours this morning asking if their domain name was up for renewal as they have already paid for it just a few months ago. The email as you will read below is suggesting that we have sold our company to an Italian business.

An extract from the email = “Given the recent situation with your current provider selling their company to an Italian provider, we have heard that their existing customers are worried about the decrease in phone support and increase in pricing. As such we are happy to offer an Irish alternative.”

We have not, we have simply re-branded our company from The Web Guy to Cada Media this Summer. The sales person was actually referring to another business.

This is a disgrace, the implications are enormous for the Internet industry in Ireland. To add insult to injury the domain name in question is not actually due for renewal until 2009!

Poaching clients in this manner is a new approach for DigiWeb and their sales force.

If you receive an email from them please let us know.

Dave Jordan – Cada Media Ltd – 053-9430748

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From:* Real Name [mailto:sales_name_was_here@digiweb.ie]
*Sent:* Date- September 2008
*To:* Sales
*Subject:* Domain renewal & hosting services

Good Afternoon,

I notice that *your domain Real_Name_was_here.ie* is due for renewal on the 18th of October.

Given the recent situation with your current provider selling their company to an Italian provider, we have heard that their existing customers are worried about the decrease in phone support and increase in pricing. As such we are happy to offer an Irish alternative.

Digiweb are Ireland’s leading hosting company and as such can offer very competitive hosting prices with the knowledge that your domain is staying with 100% owned and managed Irish company.

You wouldn’t need to wait until 18th before transferring to us either as you can transfer at any time before then to start benefiting from the superior support and competitive pricing

Please feel free to use my contact details regarding any questions you may have.

Sales Digi Web

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