The Plain English Guide

Stop Your Emails Going to Spam

You sent the quote. You sent the invoice. You sent the friendly follow up. And then nothing. You assumed they went cold. They did not. Your email went to spam, and you never knew. This guide explains exactly why it happens and how to fix it yourself, in plain English, with no jargon and no computer science degree required.

Buy the guide £39

Instant PDF download, sent straight to your inbox. Read it on any device. No subscription, no nonsense.

For Small Business Owners

Stop Your Emails Going to Spam

The plain English guide to SPF, DKIM, DMARC and getting your email into the inbox.

By Virtually Rory

The problem you cannot see

When an email lands in spam, it happens silently. No bounce, no warning, no little red flag. The person almost never looks in their spam folder, so your quote, your invoice or your contact form enquiry simply vanishes, and you carry on assuming the lead went quiet. Most small business owners have no idea this is even happening to them. They blame themselves, the client, or a slow month. The real culprit is usually three small things sitting quietly in the background, either doing their job or quietly costing you work. One quote or invoice lost to a spam folder costs you more than this guide ever will.

What is inside

Written as though explained over a cup of tea. Eleven chapters that take you from no idea to genuinely understanding your own setup, plus a bonus provider walkthrough, a glossary, a printable health check and a tear out cheat sheet. Here is every chapter.

Confused by the jargon? Start with the post office.

Inside, I explain SPF, DKIM and DMARC using one simple running analogy: the post office. The approved van, the wax seal, the instructions for what to do with a dodgy letter. If you understand how a letter gets delivered, you already understand how your email works. The acronyms stop being scary about three pages in.

01

Why This Matters

What deliverability actually means, what it quietly costs you, and why Gmail and Microsoft keep getting stricter. Real examples of businesses losing work without knowing.

02

How Email Actually Works

Domains, DNS and email servers explained gently, with no code, so the rest of the guide makes sense.

03

SPF Explained

Your approved senders list, decoded line by line, with the common mistakes and how to check yours.

04

DKIM Explained

The tamper proof seal on your email, how the keys work, and how to set it up on the main providers.

05

DMARC Explained

What to do when checks fail, how to read the reports, and the safe three stage path to full protection.

06

The Complete Email Health Check

A full checklist you can run this afternoon with free tools, including a printable version to keep.

07

Common Deliverability Problems

The problems people ask about most, each with its symptoms, likely cause, and exact fix.

08

When Authentication Isn't the Problem

Sender reputation, list hygiene, blacklists and why hosting email so often struggles. The other half of deliverability.

09

Tools Worth Using

The free tools worth knowing, what each does well, and when to reach for it.

10

Email Deliverability Myths

The widely repeated beliefs that waste time or quietly do harm, cleared up.

11

Your Action Plan

A staged plan from a 30 minute audit to a 90 day routine, so you know exactly what to do and when.

Plus, included free

  • Bonus chapter: step by step provider walkthroughs for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and MailerLite
  • A plain English glossary of every term used
  • A printable email health check to work through and keep
  • A one page tear out cheat sheet to pin up after any change

What you will be able to do by the end

Understand exactly why your emails sometimes go to spam, and explain it to anyone
Run a full health check on your own domain in an afternoon, using only free tools
Read your own SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and spot what is broken
Fix the most common problems yourself, with confidence and without guessing
Know precisely what to ask your web host or IT person when a job is genuinely fiddly
Stop being sold things you do not need, and stop ignoring things you do

Is this guide for you?

Written for you if

  • You run a small business, are a sole trader, freelancer, consultant or coach
  • You are a virtual assistant or run any kind of service business
  • You send email from your own domain and want it to actually arrive
  • You have heard of SPF, DKIM or DMARC and want them explained without jargon
  • You would rather understand your own setup than hand over money in the dark

Probably not for you if

  • You are an enterprise IT team or a full time email engineer
  • You manage authentication across hundreds of domains
  • You already live in DMARC reports for a living and want deep technical specs

Why trust me with this

I am Rory. I fix email deliverability for small businesses for a living, the silent contact forms, the invoices that never arrive, the newsletters going to spam. I have seen every one of these problems land real businesses in trouble, and I have fixed them quietly and quickly more times than I can count. I wrote this guide because the same questions came up again and again, and because almost everything written about SPF, DKIM and DMARC is either too shallow to help or so technical it is useless to a business owner. So I wrote it all down once, properly, in plain English.

CPD accredited · SVA Approved Member · ICO registered (ZB747045) · Professional indemnity and cyber insured

Quick questions

What exactly do I get?

A 44 page PDF guide, sent to your inbox straight after payment. Eleven chapters, a bonus provider walkthrough for Google, Microsoft and MailerLite, a glossary, a printable health check and a one page cheat sheet. Yours to keep, read on any device, and print.

Do I need to be technical?

Not at all. It assumes no technical background and explains every term in plain English, from what a DNS record is upwards. I show you exactly where to look in your domain settings, whether that is somewhere like 123 Reg, IONOS, GoDaddy or Cloudflare, so you are never clicking around in the dark. If you can follow a recipe, you can follow this.

Will this turn me into an expert?

It will make you understand your own setup, spot the common mistakes, and know exactly what to ask for. For the genuinely fiddly bits, like walking DMARC to full enforcement, I also offer a done for you fix if you would rather hand it over.

Is it up to date?

Yes. It covers the current Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft sender requirements, including the 2024 and 2025 rule changes, and the latest provider setup steps.

How do I get it after paying?

The PDF is emailed to you automatically as an attachment the moment your payment goes through. No waiting, no separate download account to set up.

What if it does not help?

If the guide genuinely is not what you needed, reply to the delivery email and we will sort it out. I would rather you were happy than hold onto £39.

Understand it once, and stop guessing

Read it this afternoon. Check your own domain by tonight. Never look at a "delivered" notification the same way again.

Buy the guide £39 · instantly sent by email.

Would rather just hand it over?

Some people read the guide and decide they would rather not touch DNS at all. That is exactly what my done for you deliverability fix is for. You send me access, I make all the changes, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MailerLite authentication, the lot, and I confirm when it is sorted.

See the fix service