Plesk 12

How to Reduce SPAM and Protect your Reputation

Dealing with email sent to non-existent mailboxes

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Reducing SPAM and protecting your email reputation is an ongoing project, your job is never done. There are however some tricks, and this is one of them.

Spammers send emails to non-existent email addresses all the time. It’s part of their strategy. Here’s why.

Let’s imagine you have setup a mailbox for your domain, john.doe@yoursite.co.uk.

All email sent to john.doe@yoursite.co.uk will arrive at your inbox. So far, so good. So… What happens to emails sent to test@yoursite.co.uk?

This is determined in your Mail Settings in the Plesk panel. There’s three options.

1) Catch-all method: If you have setup a catchall to john.doe@yoursite.co.uk, then emails sent to test@yoursite.co.uk (and in fact any email for anyone@yoursite.co.uk) will arrive in your inbox – it won’t take long to fill this mailbox with this catchall email spam.

2) Forward to address method: To prevent john.doe@yoursite.co.uk filling up with spam, you may choose to send all your spam emails to an old Gmail account, john.doe@gmail.com. Great, no spam for your john.doe@yoursite.co.uk mailbox! Well, not so great i’m afraid. This is potentially disastrous. Now Google will receive all your spam, sent from @yoursite.co.uk – it won’t be long before your domain name and IP are blocked on the global blacklists. A nightmare to clear up.

Here’s the solution you have been waiting for.

3) Reject method: Using this method, the spam emails are not delivered at all. The connection attempt is rejected at the SMTP server level. No email to deliver, no email to bounce. This is the recommended and best method for dealing with emails sent to non-existent mailboxes – and it’s really easy to do.

Time to login to your Plesk Panel and set this up

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This will not eliminate all SPAM emails, nor will it guarantee your domain/IP will never be blacklisted, but, it definitely helps. If you do not “Reject” then SPAM and blacklisting is eventually inevitable.

Google Has Started Giving A Ranking Boost To HTTPS/SSL Sites

It’s official. Every site needs SSL. If you do not have SSL, it’s time to get it.

GoogleSSLAdding HTTPS to your website using a 2048 bit SSL certificate will cause Google to give your site a “ranking boost” against your non-SSL counterparts.

To be exact, Google said it carries “less weight than other signals such as high-quality content.” Based on their tests, Google says it has an impact on “fewer than 1% of global queries” but said they “may decide to strengthen” the signal because they want to “encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.”. This was announced by Google last year and there are signs that this signal is strengthening.

We all know how important security is. Prior to Google’s “HTTPS Everywhere” drive, there were more generic reasons why you would need to install SSL.

  • eCommerce web sites definitely needed SSL. Your customers will no doubt enter personal information (such as name, address, email) to sign up to your service. Even if you do not accept payments on your site and use an external payment provider, it is still essential that you protect your customers personal data and passwords.
  • Sites with a login form that require a username and password. Any site that requires a visitor to login – such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or a community Forum. Why? Because generally people use the same password across many sites (I know, it’s bad, but they do) and you have to protect their details from being leaked. As time progresses, people will simply avoid sites that do not use SSL/HTTPS.
  • Sites with forms where visitors would type personal information. If you have a contact form where visitors will type their name, address, telephone and email then an SSL with protect their data. You are more likely to get leads if you use SSL.

We Make Requisition and Installation of SSL Easy

You quite likely do not have the time or inclination to work out what you need to do to acquire, install and activate SSL on your website. That’s where we come in. All you need to do is order the certificate.

We will generate the CSR, acquire the SSL certificate and Install/Activate it. You do not need to do anything. It’s time to boost your site ranking and protect your visitors.

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Plesk 12 – Setting Up Your Email

How to Setup Email Services for your Web Site

Screen Shot 2015-06-03 at 12.28.22Your Web Hosting Service comes equipped with the very latest in email technology. It’s very easy to use if you use the RoundCube Webmail service as you do not need to configure or install anything.

However, many clients prefer to use their own local email client and for this reason we have created a number of setup guides for the most popular applications.

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook Express

Mozilla Thunderbird

Apple Mail

Apple iPhone or iPad

Email Port Settings

How to add Web Site Builder to your Hosting Plan

How to Upgrade Web Presence Builder

All Hosting Plans come equipped with a fully functional version of the Web Presence Builder Trial installed. This enables you to try the product before you commit.

To publish a site built using the Web Presence Builder Trial, you will need to upgrade your Hosting Plan to include a Web Presence Builder license. Login to your Client Area and follow the instructions below.

How to Order an SSL Certificate for your Website

How to add SSL Security to your Hosted Domain

Adding an SSL Certificate to your hosting service could not be easier. You don’t need to worry about the technicalities of generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) or even installing the certificate, we do all of that for you. All you need to do is order the certificate.