Email is rapidly becoming the standard means of communication among businesses, associates, and even friends. While many people have now been using the internet and email for years, there are thousands of new users on the internet each day. With inexpensive web hosting, free email services, and the blog burst upon us, getting your own slice of the internet pie has never been easier.
Whether you're a seasoned professional looking for a refresher course, or you're new to the internet and email and want to start off right, here are some easy steps to follow to reduce the amount of spam you receive.
Don't choose an obvious email address. Spammers will generate lists of email addresses based on common names. A common list would be something like: nick@yahoo.com, nick1@yahoo.com, nick2@yahoo.com, etc. If you create an email account with less obvious combinations of your name plus some numbers, chances are better that you won't find your way onto one of these lists.
Treat your personal email address with care. Only give out your personal email address to close friends and family who you trust. Give your direct business email only to clients and other contacts you trust to only use your address for legitimate business purposes.
Use different accounts for different functions. Create different aliases with your business's domain name or create a few free accounts from free email servers like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Excite, etc. Use one account that you don't care about for posting to forums or discussion groups. Use another to subscribe to newsletters and newsgroups. When any of these addresses starts to get spammed too heavily, simply delete the account and switch to a different one.
Remove your email address from your website. Between blogs and cheap web space, it seems everyone has their own piece of cyberspace. Before you put a link to your email address on your site, remember that spammers have bots that harvest these addresses. They will even find addresses printed in plain text. Consider using a web-based form for communication from you website, or place your address as a gif or jpeg.
Do NOT open, respond to, or purchase from spam. Interacting with spam in any of these ways indicates to the spammer that not only is your address valid, it's also active. Do not respond with "unsubscribe" in the subject line, or click on any links to remove your name out of the database, as both of these are common ploys to confirm your email address. Remember, because sending email is so inexpensive, spamming can be profitable even if only a small percentage of people purchase what they're selling. Don't support what you're trying to stop.
Finally, Filter your incoming email using filtering software. Even if you guard your email address religiously, you'll likely still receive spam. Filtering software is usually inexpensive and effective, but there are some important features to consider with any filtering package:
? Make sure you can control what comes to your inbox and what gets deleted. The best programs create a spam folder for you to review before permanently deleting emails.
? The software should block images from incoming emails. Many jpegs in spam actually hide code that notifies the spammer when the email is viewed. Blocking images will not only keep offensive content off your screen but will also help prevent more spam in the future.
? Choose software that provides you with updates - as new spamming techniques are created and proliferated, filtering software should keep up.
While eliminating spam from coming to your email address is nigh unto impossible, following these simple steps will mean you'll have to spend less time deleting spam from your inbox, giving you more time for the important things of life ?- like reading this article.
Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10x marketing - More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. Find more information about how to 10x marketing at 10x marketing.
Trevor chicago limos ..Junk mail works. Why does it work? How does it... Read More
The Vandals are coming! And this time they're after your... Read More
While we all admit that unsolicited commercial email is a... Read More
Spam. Those annoying, time-consuming emails that clog your Inbox and... Read More
I imagine you have seen, heard about, or already know... Read More
RSS is the answer to the Spam epidemic of the... Read More
Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load... Read More
It absolutely amazes me how many people over-react to receiving... Read More
Unless the filters on your computer are really good, you're... Read More
Q: I am so sick of all the spam that... Read More
Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out... Read More
What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More
Block Spam and Other Email Threats From Entering Your Gateway... Read More
A friend asked me: I don't get it. Why do... Read More
You may have already received a do not spam list... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
Are you getting too much spam? We all are, but... Read More
No doubt about it."Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens to paralyze... Read More
In 1998, nearly 10% of all email traffic on the... Read More
Let me ask a couple of questions:If (potential) customers sends... Read More
6 August, 2004: Polesoft Inc., home of Professional anti spam... Read More
I'm sure you find spam just as frustrating and annoying... Read More
Death by spam is now possible with a new device... Read More
About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More
... and you'd better sit up and take notice! Customers... Read More
Baylis taxi from Midway ..A Privacy Policy can be defined as the policy under... Read More
There are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying... Read More
You are familiar with the software applications that you run... Read More
If you are buried in SPAM then you're not alone.... Read More
What is spam ? ... Read More
Before we start getting deep into the meat of this... Read More
Below is a letter I wrote to the following organizations:S.H.U.... Read More
Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out... Read More
It absolutely amazes me how many people over-react to receiving... Read More
Spam. Those annoying, time-consuming emails that clog your Inbox and... Read More
Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it... Read More
The Vandals are coming! And this time they're after your... Read More
I'm sure you find spam just as frustrating and annoying... Read More
Let me ask a couple of questions:If (potential) customers sends... Read More
I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet... Read More
For years I didn't worry much about spam.But lately it's... Read More
With SPAM being such a problem it might seem the... Read More
Google is engaged in a war. It is a war... Read More
We all hate spam and get way too much of... Read More
Spam can bring down your website faster than a speeding... Read More
Block Spam and Other Email Threats From Entering Your Gateway... Read More
When you receive an email telling you about a virus,... Read More
Junk mail works. Why does it work? How does it... Read More
You just sat at your desk, opened your email account... Read More
Will other spammers take heed? Don't count on it.Jeremy Jaynes... Read More
Spam Blocking |