Email is quickly becoming the standard means of communication between businesses, associates, and even friends. Although many people have been using the Internet and email for years, there are thousands of new users on the Internet every day. With cheap web hosting, free email services, and blogging, getting your own piece 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 get off to a good start, here are some easy steps to take 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: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc. If you create an email account with less obvious combinations of your name plus a few numbers, you’re more likely not to find your way onto one of these lists.
Please treat your personal email address with care. Only give your personal email address to close friends and family you trust. Provide your direct business email only to customers and other contacts you trust to use your address only for legitimate business purposes.
Use different accounts for different features. Create different aliases with your company domain name or create some free accounts from free email servers like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Excite, etc. Use an account you are not interested in to post on forums or discussion groups. Use another to subscribe to newsletters and newsgroups. When any of these addresses start getting too much spam, just delete the account and switch to a different one.
Remove your email address from your website. Between blogs and cheap web space, it seems like everyone has their own cyberspace. Before linking to your email address on your site, remember that spammers have bots that harvest these addresses. They’ll even find addresses printed in plain text. Consider using a web-based form for communication from your website, or place your address as a gif or jpeg.
DO NOT open, reply to or buy spam. Interacting with spam in any of these ways tells the spammer that your address is not only valid, but also active. Do not reply with “unsubscribe” in the subject line, or click any links to remove your name from the database, both of which are common tactics to confirm your email address. Remember, because email is so cheap to send, spam can be profitable even if only a small percentage of people buy what you’re selling. Don’t support what you’re trying to stop.
Finally, Filter your incoming email using filtering software. Even if you religiously protect your email address, you’re still likely to get spam. Filtering software is usually inexpensive and effective, but there are some important features to consider with any filtering package:
o Make sure you can control what goes into your inbox and what gets deleted. The best programs create a spam folder for you to review before permanently deleting the emails.
o Software must block images from incoming emails. Many jpegs in spam actually hide the code that notifies the spammer when the email is viewed. Image blocking will not only keep offensive content off your screen, it will also help prevent more spam in the future.
o Choose software that provides updates: As new spam techniques are created and proliferate, filtering software must keep up.
While removing spam from reaching your email address is nearly impossible, following these simple steps will mean you spend less time removing spam from your inbox, giving you more time for the important stuff. life, like reading this article. .