Study: 50pct of All Email Spam Comes From Only 20 ISPs

Featured Home Page Discussion Study: 50pct of All Email Spam Comes From Only 20 ISPs
 4:33 pm on Mar 18, 2013 (gmt 0)
About 50% of all junk mail on the net emerges from just 20 internet service providers (ISPs), a study has found.

The survey of more than 42,000 ISPs tried to map the net's "bad neighbourhoods" to help pinpoint sources of malicious mail.Study: 50pct of All Email Spam Comes From Only 20 ISPs [bbc.co.uk]

Many of these networks were concentrated in India, Vietnam and Brazil. On the net's most crime-ridden network - Spectranet in Nigeria - 62% of all the addresses controlled by that ISP were seen to be sending out spam.

Networks involved in malicious activity also tended to specialise in one particular sort of malicious message or attack, he discovered. For instance, the majority of phishing attacks came from ISPs based in the US. By contrast, spammers tend to favour Asian ISPs. Indian ISP BSNL topped the list of spam sources in the study.

 9:19 pm on Mar 18, 2013 (gmt 0)

This is nothing new. I've been routinely blocking all these countries (plus Turkey, China, Russia and Taiwan) from every server I have set up for the last decade.

 9:21 pm on Mar 18, 2013 (gmt 0) 9:46 pm on Mar 18, 2013 (gmt 0)
That list probably includes the top 20 most popular free mail services. On one site we have a sign up form for a free service and the subscriber needs to validate their email. So many people have so many different email addresses... if they don't receive their confirmation mail they sign up using another email address and so on. Some don't even remember their correct addresses.

Billions of dollars worth of data wasted in spam traffic and all they have to do is stop providing free mail services. What's wrong with the mailbox that one's ISP provides with their internet service?

 8:48 am on Mar 19, 2013 (gmt 0)
What's wrong with the mailbox that one's ISP provides with their internet service?
Most people will change their ISP at least once every few years.
 9:02 am on Mar 19, 2013 (gmt 0)

What's wrong with the mailbox that one's ISP provides with their internet service?

The free services are usually pretty effective and block bulk mailings from their accounts. On the other hand my original ISP regularly had its IP addresses blacklisted because it did sweet F.A. about botnets using its cusomters' infected machines.
 10:04 am on Mar 19, 2013 (gmt 0)
Most people will change their ISP at least once every few years.

Most people change their free mail service more regularly to get away from spam.

 11:49 am on Mar 19, 2013 (gmt 0)
Almost everyone I know has had the same free email address for years, apart from one or two who switched away from Hotmail at some point.

My ISP had its mail server blacklisted for being an open relay.

 8:43 pm on Mar 19, 2013 (gmt 0)
Almost everyone I know has had the same free email address for years

Sure, so do I. But I keep that one for elite contacts. Anything used for general business and correspondence needs to be disposable and is.

 10:29 pm on Mar 19, 2013 (gmt 0)
The e-mail address you get from your ISP changes every time the ISP gets a new owner-- and no, they don't auto-forward. The old address simply disappears. If the phone company worked that way you'd have to tell everyone a new number every other year. The preceding sentence probably had a lot more meaning ten years ago when people didn't change cell providers every five minutes with accompanying change in entire number, possibly including area code. But still.

This is a major annoyance when sites insist on using your e-mail address as your account name. Let's see now, did I join this service when I was on AOL, or Cox, or something dot edu, or...

 6:20 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
@lucy24 - When I sign up to siteA, I create a disposable email from one of our domains that uses siteA@ - if you find spam going to that address you know where it came from. NO, it's not enough to have one or two disposable email accounts, I want to know exactly who lies and who tells the truth "We will never sell or trade your email address... honest".... we'll see.

Waste of time? Not at all: less than 60 seconds to log in to server, create new email, forward that to a "personal" email address and finish the sign up to siteA. The tricky part is replying to those using an email client that doesn't really have those credentials but it's very rare that a siteA type site is going to need replies; like this very forum, the email account is just for notifications.

Spam it, sell it or spoof it, I'll delete it. Anyone remember a time when some sites wouldn't accept signups from email addresses that weren't major ISPs? I don't feel like I missed anything by not having signed up to them, matter of fact, I'm pretty comfortable with it.

 11:50 pm on Mar 25, 2013 (gmt 0)
anyone remember a time when some sites wouldn't accept signups from email addresses?

Sure do. In fact we used to reject mail sent from web forms using Hotmail addresses. Even today, if someone is using a free mail service, we realise that they are not using their domain mail address and probably have many different disposable email addresses. So many in some cases that it takes weeks for them to find your support response.

If your clientele are companies, allowing them to use disposable email addresses for purchases and support is an absolute waste of time. How in the blazes will they ever get proper support and be advised of critical software updates?

With ISPs the old address can disappear

Not if they are using an email based on their domain. After all, if your clients have web sites and email @ their domain, why settle for anything else. What else can they expect when seeking your expert advice at the expense of your time? So they should at least use a legitimate email address.

 12:44 am on Mar 26, 2013 (gmt 0)
After all, if your clients have web sites and email @ their domain, why settle for anything else.
This only works if the person at the receiving end can get your mail. I remember when I first registered my domain name I was told-- by a fellow human, not by the host-- that I wouldn't be able to use it for e-mail because it wasn't an ISP. Remember when cyberpromo sprouted a dozen new aliases every other day? ISPs simply slammed their doors and would accept mail only from known domains, which mostly meant fellow ISPs.

Except, of course, for services like AOL that fought spam with one hand while handing out unrestricted free trial accounts with the other. Sigh. I can remember people getting banned from forums and coming back half an hour later with a new name and IP after, presumably, pawing through that week's trash and fishing out the latest Free Trial CD.

 8:09 am on Mar 26, 2013 (gmt 0)
@lucy24 - I remember when I first registered my domain name I was told When was that, back in the 90s? I remember hearing the same advice back then but in the last few years it hasn't been an issue for any of ours.
 9:03 am on Mar 26, 2013 (gmt 0)
More recent than that-- but the person I heard it from had had her own domain for a lot longer, so she may have been going by early experience. (I just looked it up. She goes back to 1999. Things were different then.)

I've never tried sending e-mail from my own domain, though. I only use it for incoming-- and not much of that.

If nothing else, it prevents the ghastly blunder of forgetting to set one of your addresses to auto-forward. See, ahem, unrelated thread elsewhere in foo.

 

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MakeupAlley.com - Google AdSense Case Study Website Teardown!

Featured Home Page Discussion This 42 message thread spans 2 pages: 42 ( [1] 2 )  > >   MakeupAlley.com - AdSense Case Study Website Teardown!
Finding Out What Accounts for 50% Earnings Increase 10:48 pm on Mar 21, 2013 (gmt 0)
Latest post [adsense.blogspot.ie] at Official AdSense Blog announces newest case study, MakeUpAlley.com [makeupalley.com]Case Study PDF here. [services.google.com]

The results are pretty dramatic, although a before and after screenshot would be helpful to see the previous ad placements. Archive.org has a record but it's not apparent where the ads were placed from their snapshot. Archive.org snapshot here:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/r.cgi?f=89&d=4557249&url=http://web.archive.org/web/20110426015647/http://makeupalley.com/ [web.archive.org]

A side by side review shows that the new MUA site only has two navigation choices in the nav bar, compared with eight choices last year. Site visitors are now funneled to the Product Reviews section (an obvious money page section) and the forums. Fonts and layout look identical.

Gone is the link to the Links section and the link to Favorites is also removed. Somewhat redundant so no surprise. Also gone are links to MY MUA, Swap, Mail, and Diary. What they did to the navbar was create a tighter focus on driving site visitors to the money pages and to their community (content creation & site stickiness).

Clicking through to the Product Reviews section and doing a side by side review reveals a web page layout that is essentially the same. The site is supposed to be highly successful.

What do you think? Big change? Meh? Any lessons here?

Goals
? Improve user experience
? Increase user engagement

Approach
? Revamped landing page with simplified design
? Grouped, highlighted affiliate links,related content
? Made product ratings, reviews stand out
? Reorganized AdSense ad units
? Used Google Analytics to conduct A/B test

Results
? 171% increase in on-site interactions
? 21% more clicks on affiliate links
? 50% lift in AdSense revenue

 12:22 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0) 12:39 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
I'll have to look at it when I have time to create an account - I'm still flabbergasted that you can't see most of the site without registering.
 12:45 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
It probably helps that they are begging for ad attention. I visited the site and was greeted with the following message:

It seems you are blocking ads for this site.

Please be aware that MakeupAlley relies on advertising as an income. To support MakeupAlley you don't have to disable your ad blocker completely but only for this site.

 1:16 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Well, I will go back to what I said about RealCarTips.com. They made changes that work to appeal to their most profitable segment of the audiance.

A person who wants to buy wants to know "Am I looking at the right product?", "Is this product well rated/good?" And "Oh look, a place to buy it..."

Before, the page was set to appeal to everyone - be they lookie loos or actual shoppers - and when you aim to please everyone, you don't really please anyone. The new page is geared almost exclusivly to a shopper who is already into the sales process and just needs confirmation to buy.

Lesson: pick your best (read most profitable) audience and please them the best. Ad income will increase because they will buy.

 1:55 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
The new page is geared almost exclusivly to a shopper who is already into the sales process and just needs confirmation to buy.
IBAs and geo-targeting rather defeat that on the site though..I visited 10 different pages and each time got adsense for Ski resorts or ski equipement ( in French from French advertisers <= who really push their stuff at end of season..I have not been looking at ski resorts or related sites )..saw only one adsense ad for cosmetics ( top banner spot..each time for the same budget French cosmetic site ) ..actually their links to ebay were the most "in your face" things I noticed..

Colour scheme is very well suited to the subject ..and the ads delivered ( image ads blend well with it ) ..simple to navigate ( as far as one can do so before hitting the "register wall" )..clear..good choice of sizes via the "switcher" in the footer..

Obviously aiming for the under 40 audience..( font size is a little small for over 40s ..yes I see the font size switcher ..but I'd put it at the top too )..easy to see why it would be "sticky" for its target audience..

The community aspect of it works well, I can imagine ( and from thread lengths there it appears to be the case ) that the visitors comments, reviews and dialogues sell it for many..

Only see a button to pinterest..no facebook "like" ..and definitely no G+ ..button choices make sense for their market ..

Didn't read anything of what G said about it..just assessed it as a male visitor with design background and knowledge of the womens fashion* and accessories market would..

*I have some apparel sites..mainly womens stuff , my designs / brand..luxury / expensive..I do not run adsense on them..

 2:31 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
IBAs and geo-targeting rather defeat that on the site though..

...just assessed it as a male visitor

Ahh, but see, this page of not for you. You mean nothing to it and so they don't cater to you (no offense, although if you are working a metrosexual thing... ;) ). This page is for tech savvy, young, female and on the verge of being ready to buy makeup. The IBAs would be for makeup. They would have already done their lookie loo reasearch, so their IBA would reflect that. I am not saying it works for every visitor. I am saying in only works for the ones who are ready to buy. And that is who you want anyway.

 3:04 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

Agree with you on the IBAs ( and no I haven't got the legs for other than "metro french" ..nor the interests, I'm one of the small number of designers of womens wear who are only interested in women..:)..the aggressive geo-targeting by G is a shame though..it seems 90% of the time to over ride even IBAs..( for me the adsense on the BBC is always for "expat investment opportunities" and QROPS..

I suspect that even if I suggested to my wife to surf for an hour or so, and then visit makeupalley, that our IP showing on G's radar, would still result in adsense for French ski resorts and kit ( which will be hyped until after easter ) in most of the ad slots available on that site..

G being too simplistic..

Ads relevant to the site subject ( remember the "good old days" of site relevant ads, prior to IBAs and re-targeting ) ..would do better for G and MUA..particularly when one considers just what the annual spend is in France on cosmetics and fashion etc ( one of the highest per capita spends in these consumer sectors in the world ) ..and where L'Or?al and other major cosmetic groups and fashion companies are based..

The site works well though, despite G's sledgehammer approach to geography..congrats to MUA inc ( if it is anyone here, or if they read this at some point :) even the "registration nag" is probably an extremely efficient "hook" to keep the visitors coming back once they have given details ( we, here, are far more reticent about doing so than the average website's visitors, particularly in MUA's demographic )..well put together, and, as you said, tight and focused..

 4:47 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Results

? 21% more clicks on affiliate links
? 50% lift in AdSense revenue

anyone notice if there were affiliate links on pages with adsense?

 5:03 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
So these sites are supposed to be the "role models" for guidance. Right? Otherwise why feature them?

No arrows.

Guess they're one of the 5000 bottom of the barrel.

 11:50 am on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Thanks hannamyluv, I think you zeroed in on one of the major reasons why the site improved its earnings. The official Google Case Study PDFs are short on details. It's really nice to dig down and find the real reasons some of these sites are doing better! :)
 1:01 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Please be aware that MakeupAlley relies on advertising as an income. To support MakeupAlley you don't have to disable your ad blocker completely but only for this site. Surely, one could construed that it was bringing attention to the adverts, or even hinting to click on them.

With that, and the invalid privacy policy, I am surprised Google didn't thoroughly check out the site before telling the world about it.

 1:54 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Surely, one could construed that it was bringing attention to the adverts, or even hinting to click on them.
That's the impression it left on me too. Using the Firefox add-on RequestPolicy when I arrive on the site the page is totally non-functional until I allow a call to an external resource that presumably feeds their CSS. From that point the page renders properly but I still would have to allow another call to Adsense to see the ads (I didn't in spite of the puppy-eyed plea).

I can understand a warning message indicating that proper site functionality requires javascript to be enabled. However they are not concerned about that. Instead the immediate emphasis is on the ads.

I thought I've read in these forums before that it's a violation of Adsense TOS to beg for attention on your ads? But this is a google sanctioned case study so I guess not huh?

jpch

msg:4557418

 2:54 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
I wonder if they are a Premium Publisher and have been granted so sort of pass on the notice about ads? I would think the Privacy Policy would have to comply regardless of being a Premium Publisher or not.

My take away - very sloppy work on Google's part to feature a site with such obvious questions that aren't explained or answered by Google.

 4:26 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Nice thread.

I find it difficult to get by because I'm not part of that niche. I find it as a website I would never build, it goes against many things I believe in, in terms of web design. I really don't see (good) content it's just a few lines and then user generated content but it makes sense in that way. Weird.

But as the previous example the ads became really visible to me after the third click inside the site.

 4:34 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
I actually think all that is beside the point. Their biggest plus is that they are capturing the user at almost the perfect time in the buying cycle. That's always going to be the best kind of site for AdSense, whether you're about makeup, cars, or trips to DisneyWorld.

I also admire that they've obviously built their own gated community. Probly don't care much about Google updates at all.

 5:11 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Great. Now makeup adds are following me around.
 6:06 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Their biggest plus is that they are capturing the user at almost the perfect time in the buying cycle.

Agreed. Lines up with the old saying that it's not about how much traffic but what kind of traffic. Focusing on quantity of traffic at the expense of actively cultivating traffic on the buy cycle can slow down monetization.

...the ads became really visible to me after the third click inside the site.

Is that a coincidence or is it possibly a way to cultivate higher paying clicks, return visits, and decrease bounce rates?

 8:16 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Surely, one could construed that it was bringing attention to the adverts, or even hinting to click on them.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing and the way it's worded I think it's a violation of the AdSense policy that plainly states you can't entice people to click the ads.

However, only people with ad blockers are seeing this message and based on tests I ran in the past the odds of getting people to either enable javascript or disable the ad blocker are pretty small, they tend to just go away.

However, this site is a real estrogen magnet and if you're looking for that stuff and this site fit the niche you needed I can see people disabling ad blockers just for that site.

However, I would reword the message more to fit within the AdSense guidelines like my message that simply stated that the site required javasscript enabled and ad blockers disabled in order to view all of the content as some content was being delivered via ad networks and other feeds that were being disabled inadvertently as technical collateral damage. Basically, if you wanted the full experience, you needed to disable all blocking technology.

Then I shifted gears for a while and simply blocked the site altogether when ad blocking was enabled vs. putting up a big message on the site to see if that would cause higher engagement and it got about the same results as a message on the page.

But I never enticed anyone to click the ads whatsoever and find their wording over the top by pointing out they use those ads to earn revenue which could be a factor in some of the increase in AdSense via "tip" clicking assuming ad blocking is being disabled.

 9:41 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
What I find weird: blocking those that block ads from accessing our sites.

Esp. when it's established you cannot make them stop blocking ads, then why bother: just let them have the content the cost to us in negligible to let them have it anyway. And there is a benefit in it for us in letting them have it: the potential referral they might make elsewhere to you if if only 1 in milion does it it's better than nothing...

 10:01 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
ust let them have the content the cost to us in negligible to let them have it anyway.

I think you miss the point that often on this type of site that the ads themselves ARE the content. Give you a quick for instance in that a page about WHERE TO BUY CAMERAS with reviews and such can only direct you to the locations selling the cameras if you have ads enabled making the page completely useless without the ads which is why I blocked it entirely as an experiment.

Likewise, if you land on a page about Philedelphia Plumbers why in the heck would you block ads from local plumbers when it is actually the valuable content you seek!

FWIW, in most affiliate situations it's all ads, including the advertorial text being used from those advertisers, so why in the heck would you let them read the advertorial without actually being able to give the advertiser that created that content the ability to benefit from their content?

Not applicable to all sites, but applicable to many.

FYI, I got my kitchen remodeled on the cheap from a local vendor running a test ad in Facebook and had I blocked those ads I'd have never found the contractor I wanted and they did a fabulous job inexpensively and my neighbors come to look at our kitchen as an example and have even brought in other contractors to show them :)

Unlike any other form of print medium you can't block ads in newspapers, magazines, etc. unless some wacko cuts them out which I've witnessed thus depriving others of the experience.

Now I'm off to get a $5 cheesesteak sandwich that I saw advertised in an ad yesterday because I don't block them and am about to enjoy the benefits of seeing them..

 10:26 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
For all clarity: I'm not advocating blocking ads.

If the ads are the content, ...
That's wrong on so many levels. Anyway, nothing I ever want to make, run nor visit.
No matter what it pays.

Erku

msg:4557597

 10:43 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Very interesting. I am reading these comments and not have finished yet. But someone mentioned about relevant ads. while it's true that they are great, there is something you need to know.

Relevant ads usually = cheap ads
Behavioral and retargeted ads = more expensive clicks

on average.

We have had many relevant ads, but we had more clicks, cheaper clicks, less revenue and more traffic going out.

 10:51 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Server Time: almost 9 minutes late.

What is the purpose of displaying current date/time if it is incorrect?

 11:25 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Alexa traffic rank is 2,528 (US)

Google Adsense to monetize this level of visitors?

Bull#*$! all around...with that kind of traffic (?) I would expect every cosmetic company of the world to compete for advertisement slots paying REAL money instead of Adsense pennies.

Bull#*$!

 11:34 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Bull#*$! all around...with that kind of traffic (?) I would expect every cosmetic company of the world to compete for advertisement slots paying REAL money instead of Adsense pennies.

My BS alarm hasn't gone off, and I'm pretty sensitive to that kind of stuff.

AdSense ads are a whole lot easier to run than to have a separate set of employees to sell, manage and bill advertisers.

The site is pretty rudimentary, so I doubt any kind of advanced advertisement system has been implemented.

 11:39 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
They have plenty of affiliate ads too. I think their strategy is spot on (not all of us make "pennies" with our AdSense - and the cosmetic industry is pretty darn competitive)
 11:41 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
Alexa traffic rank is 2,528 (US)

A) Alexa does not mean anything. Nor does Compete, Quancast or any other of the "traffic reporting" sites. All they are good for is comparing one site to another in the same niche. Their reports are worthless beyond that. And, really, Alexa is the most worthless of the lot.

B) Ah, yeah, like top companies have a army of people who just search out good websites to work individual contracts with that they then have to manage after that? Because you know, they want to spend 100s of hours of manpower on that. And on the flip side, like a website like this wants to hire someone whose sole purpose is managing ads and seeking out new ads. You know, cold calling the top cosmetics companies in the world and hoping a secretary feels sorry for you that day. And, yep, I get that some companies would and do and are successful, but it does not make sense for all companies.

I would bet that site, even if it gets tons of traffic, is run by only a handful of inhouse people. I think that most people would be shocked at how many "top 5000" sites are run by no more than 1-10 people. Heck, if I remember correctly, Twitter is only run by about 300.

[edited by: hannamyluv at 11:49 pm (utc) on Mar 22, 2013]

[edited by: martinibuster at 1:47 am (utc) on Mar 23, 2013]
[edit reason] Edited for clarity. [/edit]

 11:52 pm on Mar 22, 2013 (gmt 0)
From reading it's threads ..I'd say.. that to it's audience.. it exudes "cred"..and I agree with everything hannamyluv posted in msg:4557612..
 12:22 am on Mar 23, 2013 (gmt 0)
On the relationship between number of staff and credibility:

I believe their is none. A one man shop can be just as good as a 30.000 bee shop.

However, I believe if you are running a website covering a certain industry (any industry) than it does add a lot to your credibilty if you actually are supported by the major players of that industry.

Support may come in various styles: Links, Advertisement, Social Media Recommendations, Collaborations, offline support etc. - Many activities may not be available to Google algorithmes because things do happen outside the Google world.

Therefore, anything Google does is flawed because Google does not take into account what happens in the real world!

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