Online Business Freedom

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I wanted to give another update on my article marketing efforts in the hopes that someone reading this post may find an answer to a question they may have.

Until a few days ago I was frustrated because I was getting stonewalled while using an article submission software called Artemis Pro to submit articles to ezine publishers.

I tried using my Internet Provider’s SMTP (which is necessary for Artemis Pro) but I wasn’t getting any of my articles emailed.

So I took the advice of a couple of smart Internet Marketers who had solved this problem already (Robert Phillips and Jim Sansi) and used PostCast Server to email my articles en masse.

PostCast Server is a freeware that replaces your ISP’s SMTP server, and works on all Windows computers.

When installed, this program sends messages directly from your computer to the recipients so you can bypass your Internet Provider’s SMTP.

I thought this would solve my problem, but for some reason, I still wasn’t able to deliver my articles. And I was getting aggravated because I wasn’t able to exploit perhaps the most powerful organic traffic generating tactic — article marketing.

So after doing some more research, I realized with a groan and a slap to the forehead what the problem was. (Sometimes I hate being “non-techie!”)

My port 25 was blocked.

What’s a port 25 you ask?

Your port 25 is your outbound email server, and with large Internet Services, it is usually blocked to decrease the amount of spam, by not allowing you to send out email messages of more than 20 or so at a time, or more than a certain number per hour.

But sometimes, when you DO want to deliver genuine, non spammy content, a blocked port 25 prevents you from doing so.

Like in the case of emailing a large amount of article submissions to ezine publishers.

(Here is the article on the PostCast website that tells you everything you need to know about Port 25 Blocking and what to do about it —

http://www.postcastserver.com/help/Port_25_Blocking.aspx)

This is the test I ran to see if my Port 25 was blocked:

“You can also see if the port is blocked by running a telnet command:

Press Start/Run and enter:

telnet://[emailserver]:25

Replace [emailserver] with the address of any external e-mail server.

For example: mx1.hotmail.com
mail.telenet.net.au

Do not use your ISP’s e-mail server address. If the port is not blocked, you should receive a response starting with the ‘220 ‘ string.”

After running the test, my telnet box just disappeared.

There was no mention of a ‘220 string’ or anything like that, so I knew my Port 25 was blocked.

I called up my Internet Provider and asked them, per the Port 25 article I just shared with you…

1. Can my ISP give me access to your SOCKS Proxy Server?

WARNING - The following is a bit techie, but I felt it was appropriate to add this definition in.

According to Wikipedia — SOCKS is an Internet protocol that allows client-server applications to transparently use the services of a network firewall. SOCKS is an abbreviation for “SOCKetS” [1].

Clients behind a firewall, needing to access exterior servers, may connect to a SOCKS proxy server instead. Such proxy server controls the eligibility of the client to access the external server and passes the request on to the server.

SOCKS can also be used in the opposite way, allowing the clients outside the firewall (”exterior clients”) to connect to servers inside the firewall (internal servers).

However, my Internet Service said they didn’t have a SOCKS proxy server, so I moved on to the next question.

(Your Internet Service may have a SOCKS proxy server and asking them that question may be the solution for you. It just wasn’t for me.)

2. Can you unblock my Port 25?

This simple question is what did it.

In reading some entries about this same problem from other Internet Marketers, I thought that getting my Port 25 unblocked would be a monumental task. But they actually suggested it FIRST, and it only took 30 seconds or so for them to do it.

After they finished what they had to do on their side, they simply had me unplug my router for 15 seconds, plug it back in, and I was ready to go. Can you say easy?

My third option would have been to switch ISP’s but since I got my problem solved, I didn’t need to explore this route.

I submitted my first article to around 1600 ezine publishers — where I encountered another set of interesting challenges and unexpected rewards.

But that story will have to wait for next time, so stay tuned.

I hope this entry helps anyone encountering these same kinds of problems.

The bottom line is, Internet Marketing is a non-stop learning experience, and it’s exhilarating to learn and apply the tools needed to be successful.

I hope you feel the same way about your journey.

-James D. Lee

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