 Being
online is invaluable to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
In today’s fast paced marketing environment businesses
all must have a website and being able to communicate with
their customers online. Getting feedback from customers
via email would be a great experience were it not for one
big problem, SPAM. According to a report from CNN back
in 2004, about 80% of all e-mail traffic in the United States
was spam, today that number is up to 90%. Read
some more startling statistics about spam.
For some business owners it sure has become a chore to cut down on unwanted spam. Many business owners are not always technically knowledgeable about what to do, and even if they have the knowledge, they don’t have the time to put all of the safeguards in place because they are busy running their business. It can also be rather daunting to spend time sorting through all of the spam that comes into your Inbox on a daily basis. It is almost impossible to eliminate spam from coming to your Inbox, that is not the promise of this article, instead we seek to provide you with tips, techniques and tools to help you stay informed so you can learn how to manage spam. We have provided a list of ten tips, techniques and tools which will help you cut down on spam. These methods have been tested and are been used by ReEmergence and many experts in the online industry.
- Customize your Junk E-mail Filter. The following programs all have some level of spam blocking. Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Mail, Netscape Messenger, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. Take the time to set up the level of filtering you want to have. If your filter defaults to Medium set it to High. This will block a lot of your unwanted spam but will also block some of your customer emails. It will help if you take the time to set up your customers, partners, and colleagues as safe email addresses so their mail will not be routed to your junk email box.
- Do not reply to any unsolicited email messages. Send unsolicited email directly to your Trash or Deleted mail folder. If the e-mail message came from a source that you signed up for or another reputable source (newsletter, etc.), then it's normally safe to use the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the e- mail. If you didn't solicit the e-mail and it's not a legitimate source (money requests, adult content, etc.), the unsubscribe mechanism could be used to validate your e-mail address and it could even be sold to other spammers.
- Be careful of who you give your email address to. If you are using a website and want to download a piece of software or get a free offer then you will most likely have to provide your email address. The key is to make sure you read their Disclosure, Privacy Policy or Terms of Use sections to find out about how they will use your email. Sometimes companies sell your email addresses to their partner companies. Sometimes these statements are hidden in the fine print but it is worth finding out how they will use your information so you are not surprised when you start getting spam from them.
- Do not use your business email address for personal use. This is a good follow-up to the previous tip. It is important that you keep your personal email and business email separate. Use an alternate e-mail address with Hotmail, Yahoo or another free e-mail service to sign up for offers, contests, etc.
- Do not put your personal email on your website. Spammers use automated tools to collect valid addresses from business websites, chat rooms and online directories. If your business requires you to provide an email address, consider using a second e-mail address for public correspondence such as info or support.
- Purchase and install software specifically designed to minimize or eliminate spam. There are literally more than a million websites selling products which promise to cut down on spam. We referred to a trusted resource for our recommended top picks, PC Magazine. PC Magazine's top picks are: Qurb, Postini, and Brightmail Anti-Spam. Download the Brightmail Trial software.
- Add a CAPTCHA
to your contact page on your website.
CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing
to make sure the response is not generated by a computer.
The process involves one computer (a server) asking a user
to complete a simple test which the computer is able to
generate and grade. Because other computers are unable to
solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution
is presumed to be human. Spam is not delivered manually.
There are many so-called spam robots (bots) which are spidering
the web in order to find forms. Whenever such robots finds
a web form it tries to post a spam message to it. The only
solution to protect your form is to add a verification image.
On your contact page the CAPTCHA would require potential
customers to type the letters of a distorted image, sometimes
with the addition of an obscured sequence of letters or
digits that appears on the screen. Although some newer technologies
are emerging CAPTCHA should work well for you now and you
should see a reduction in the amount of spam you are getting
in your mailbox from forms on your website.
- If you are a small business with your own mail server, have your IT person install a good spam filter. If you don’t have an IT firm who supports your business, it is important that you get one. It should be a part of your budget to have someone who can help you with these issues.
- If you are hosting with a third party company and are on a shared server you should check with your hosting company to ensure that they have available the latest spam filters and regularly upgrade their servers. Filters should also be available for clients to use on the server.
- Make sure you have latest
virus protection software installed. Packages like
McAfee and Norton also block viruses, trojans and malware
from infecting your email programs. They will quarantine
or prevent any unwanted email from even being delivered
to your Inbox. They work well with programs like Outlook
or Microsoft Mail which are installed on your computer.
So what's next? Try some of the
10 tips provided and let us know
how they have helped you. Also it is important to stay
Informed. Here are some ways to do that:
- Some of our elected officials have taken up the cause of reducing spam and have new pending legislation to address the issue. For information on one of these bills please go to the Federal Trade Commission website.
- The government wants your spam. You can forward unwanted or deceptive e-mails to spam@uce.gov, where federal regulators are creating a huge spam database to go after the most egregious marketers.
- Keep an eye on what your free email provider is doing to reduce spam. This information will be easily accessible on their website or in their current press releases so they will keep their customers informed.
For help with any of the issues in this article
contact ReEmergence. We consult with our clients on
issues affecting their growing business. To set up your
free 30-minute website evaluation contact the office at 281-205-0303.
We will evaluate some of the potential problems with your
website and provide you solutions to address them to improve
its effectiveness. |
