Blog entries

Yahoo! Intermitent Connectivity Issues Again...

Michael Weisel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:27:31 +0100

Just received the following from the Yahoo! Postmaster team.

"We're seeing intermittent connectivity issues across our yahoo.com MXes starting early this morning.

If you are suddenly seeing queues to Yahoo! Mail, please stay tuned for updates and please refrain (at least for now) from contacting our Postmaster team about any deferral issues you started experiencing today. We're doing our best to get this resolved ASAP."

I will update again once I receive an update.

Gold Lasso Partners With LiveClicker Making Video In Email Possible

Elie Ashery — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:34:56 +0100

With the exception of GoodMail's Certified Video service, LiveClicker is the only technology I have seen that allows marketers to easily bring full motion picture to email (excluding sound). I liked LiveClicker's technology so much that I decided to partner them. This partnership will allow Gold Lasso's clients easily leverage true video in email technology exchanging the simulated video control click-through image for something that's truly engaging.

The best thing aRead More...

Email Marketing's Biggest Secret

Elie Ashery — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:50:20 +0100

Watch Gold Lasso's video Email Marketing's Biggest Secret and learn a guaranteed yet least used tactic to lift your conversion rates. More videos to come.

Spamhaus DBL (Domain Block List) Coming March 1st

Michael Weisel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:23:06 +0100

Spamhaus (A nonprofit organization that maintains Real-time Anti-spam Protection) has announced on their website, that their new DBL (Domain Block List) will be launched on March 1st, 2010. The below is taken from Spamhaus's FAQ regarding the DBL:

"What is the DBL? - The Spamhaus Domain Block List (DBL) is a realtime database of domains of spam landing pages and spam-sources, including known spammers, spam gangs, phishers, spam operations and virus/malware related services. DBL listingRead More...

Are Yahoo!'s MTA Connectivity Issues Over Yet?

Michael Weisel — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:57:30 +0100

There has been a small buzz growing about Yahoo!’s recent connectivity issues. Because sending to Yahoo! is so important to email marketers, I want to clarify some of the key points. For those of you who are reading this blog for the first time in a while, you may be unaware of any connectivity issues at all. So let me provide a brief recap to get everyone up to speed.

Yahoo! has been experiencing intermittent connectivity issues since January 26th, 2010. Therefore, when you sendRead More...

Mazel Tov to Goodmail and Microsoft!!

Michael Weisel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:42:15 +0100

It looks as though Goodmail has inked a deal with Microsoft that will go in to effect on or around the 17th of February. This is exciting news not only for the two companies involved but email marketers (who qualify) who have had deliverability issues with Microsoft in the past. I look forward to hearing more about this as it completely develops.

Thanks @LenShneyder from Pivotal Veracity for reporting it here:

Click here For more information about becoming Goodmail cRead More...

First Yahoo, Now AOL is having Error Code Issues

Michael Weisel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:41:44 +0100

AOL is currently experiencing issues which are causing incorrect error codes to be issued. This is an issue on AOL's side and they are currently working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We will keep you updated as soon as they have a resolution. Here is what the AOL Postmaster Blog is reporting...

"We are at present issuing a "451 4.3.0 <invaliduser@aol.com>: Temporary lookup failure" which should be read as "User not known". This is transient and weRead More...

Guess who is having low connectivity issues again?

Michael Weisel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:43:25 +0100

Guess who's back, back again? Yahoo connectivity issues are back, tell a friend...

It looks as though the connectivity issue has once again reared it's ugly head for Yahoo. At least this time the SMTP error message is different (if that helps.) Our clients can follow this developing story in the Gold Lasso Client Portal. Good luck to Yahoo on getting this resolved permanently and putting this all behind them.

Below is the message that I received from the Read More...

Message, List, and Campaign Archiving now Available in Gold Lasso's eLoop

Michael Weisel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:34:05 +0100

Message, List, and Campaign Archiving now Available in Gold Lasso's eLoop

Can't see this email? Click here to view in your browser.

January 27, 2009

DeRead More...

Yahoo Mail Servers Experiencing MTA Connectivity Issues Today 01/26/2010

Michael Weisel — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:56:04 +0100

This was posted today...

tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ymailadmin/message/17

If you're seeing some queuing in your outbounds today when sending to Y! users, we're currently experiencing low connectivity across our MTAs, which started this morning. We're working to get things back to normal. The SMTP error message being generated by the issue should be: "420 Resources unavailable temporarily. Please try later hostname>" Our apologies for the inconvenience.

SpamAssassin Bug

Michael Weisel — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:04:25 +0100

Originally Posted on January 5, 2010

If you are a frequent user of the “Check for Spam” button within the editor, you may have seen a new flag causing your SPAM score to go up drastically. The test name is called “FH_DATE_PAST_20XX” (wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/Rules/FH_DATE_PAST_20XX) and comes with a 3.4 point SPAM score. The details for the test states “The date is grossly in the future.” This high score is due to a bug in the SpamAssassin Read More...

Cox Communications – Blocking URL’s Within Message Body??

Michael Weisel — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:58:46 +0100

I was helping a client troubleshoot a deliverability issue with Cox Communication the other day and found something very odd. The issue was that all messages being sent to @cox.net recipients was never reaching the inbox. The messages were not being bounced back so there was no bounce error to reference back to and of course without that Tech Support is less opt to help troubleshoot. The messages do not appear to be blocked for domain or IP reasons, and it doesn’t seemRead More...

Maximizing Promotions with the 2009 Holiday Push

Elie Ashery — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:34:27 +0100

Here we are, well into the last quarter of 2009, and holiday-related marketing campaigns are well underway. Many of Gold Lasso’s clients have begun promoting sale dates, coupon codes, clear outs, special event dates such as VIP access to online sales and other year-end online campaigns. Meanwhile, some still have not begun their end of year planning. Start now, it’s not too late. Here are some tips to help organize your e-marketing strategies:

Coordinate online and oRead More...

New & Improved: A Rundown of Recently Added Features and Enhancements

Danielle Ashery — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:16:57 +0100

AddThis – Social Media/Sharing
Gold Lasso is very excited to announce our partnership with AddThis, the #1 bookmarking and sharing button on the Internet. This partnership enables us to offer Social Media Integration for your email campaigns. This integration is seamless, fully customizable and can be accessed through the new and improved toolbar within the HTML message editor.

RSS to Email
RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”) isRead More...

The Buzz on RSS-to-Email

Elie Ashery — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:14:42 +0100

Last week Gold Lasso featured a webinar discussing the benefits of RSS-to-Email. Thank you to everyone who participated and joined in the discussion afterwards. A complete recording of the Webinar is now available online, click here to review.

RSS-to-Email is a hot topic these days. Highlighted by Website Magazine in the article, E-Mail Marketing’s Future… Right Now, eLoop’s new feature is included in an overview of ESPs changing the email landscape. “This isRead More...

Social Media Insight: Encouraging Two-Way Dialogue in Email Marketing Programs

Yotam Derfler — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Recently Gold Lasso rolled out a social media feature for eLoop clients. A powerful tool, social media is a popular topic in interactive marketing. It offers unique opportunities for increasing the reach of an ordinary email campaign, exposing it to a much larger scale than other marketing methods. The potential for social media's impact on campaigns is exponential.

In order to ensure social media exposure from your email campaigns, it is important to incentivize the reader. CreRead More...

Custom DNS - Another Reason Why You Need It

Elie Ashery — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0100

Below is another example of how using a custom DNS with your email service provider can help increase trust and deliverability. In this example, TechTarget sent me an email to sign up for their Online ROI Summit. However when clicking on the link my email client warns me that the link could be fraud. Why? Because the link resolves through the email service providers domain instead of TechTarget. This is why custom DNS coupled with a unique IP is the gold standard for deliverability and tRead More...

RSS to Email & Automated Message Assembly

Elie Ashery — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:00:00 +0100

When most people think of mashups and automation with regards to email marketing, the thought of data sharing and intertwined applications usually come to mind. However, these terms can easily apply to messages even though most email marketers rarely take advantage of such mashup technologies. In fact, a large portion of email marketing budgets and time are spent performing message assembly and managing content. Dynamic content features have helped to alleviate some of the cRead More...

Q&A: What is Social Media Marketing and Why Should You Use It?

Elie Ashery — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:49:50 +0100

What is social media marketing (SMM)?

Social Media Marketing or SMM is the ability to successfully create dialogs with existing and new customers through social media networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Successful dialogs are created by identifying and reaching out to influencers – people who regularly share content and opinions. Continued personal engagement and targeted content with influencers are the biggest challenges with Social Media Marketing.

Read More...

Message Mashups and Automated Assembly

Elie Ashery — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:59:55 +0100