Protecting Your Business from Spam

Even being as careful as possible with my e-mail address, I still used to receive more than 100 e-mail messages a day, which is no exaggeration. Only about 10% of those emails were from everybody that I knew and the rest of the messages were unwanted emailspam. And Im sure you may relate to my frustration. It is estimated that over seventy-six billion unwanted e-mail messages were delivered in 2003, costing businesses more than $10 billion each year.

So How Do They Get Our Email Addresses?

In making online purchases, you should always realize that your e-mail address could be given or sold, regardless of what the merchants privacy policy may state. Even filling out an online survey or registering your email address to become a member of a web page is subject to having your electronic mail address given away. Also, there are spider programs that spammers make use of that search the web and harvest e-mail addresses, much like search engine spiders do when they gain web site understanding.

Tips To Avoid Getting Spam

1. Dont Click "Unsubscribe": On the bottom of some spam emails you will find an Unsubscribe hyperlink. Some of these are legitimate links, while others are tools to indicate that your electronic mail address is valid. Unsubscribing could actually result in taking more unwanted email.

2. Spam Filtering: Some ISPs or domain services carry spam filtering options, and there are filters and rules you might use in some electronic mail programs (i.e. Microsoft Outlook, Eudora and Apples Mail OSX). While no spam filtering program might eliminate spam completely, it might greatly reduce the amount of spam you receive. But you must be careful in using any sort of spam filtering mechanism, as you may ultimately filter out some of your wanted e-mail.

3. Get Two Email Addresses: Use your primary email address for business or personal utilize, and the other for generating online purchases and for filling out website registration acquired skill .

4. Update Your Web Site: The best overall solution is to have all the people contact you through a form on your website, as your electronic mail address is not so easily revealed. If you must have direct links to your e-mail address on your website , ruminate on having a link that simply reads "email" or "contact" instead of spelling it out on a web page.

There are many simple methods that you can use to help reduce the amount of spam coming through to your business. By using these tips, you will not only save yourself time and funds , but you will ultimately send a strong communication to the people send unwanted e mail.