You realize that it's important for visitors to your Website
to be able to contact you by Email, and you want to provide
easy Email access for customers and potential customers.
Somehow though, you need to protect yourself from a ton of
unwanted junk mail (Spam) arriving in your inbox. With a
little forethought you can minimize your vulnerability.
There are people who compile Email addresses just for the
purposes of selling them to spammers. It's hard to control
Spam when this happens. To fight back against Spam, the first
step is finding out how the spammers got your Email address in
the first place.
A wise Internet marketer uses a Website host provider that
allows unlimited Email addresses or aliases. An alias refers
to an alternate email address that forwards email to your real
address. When you use an alias, you're 'real' Email address
doesn't have to be generally available and susceptible to
Spam. If you have several employees in your company, you will
need multiple aliases.
You have to provide a contact Email address when you register
your domain name. If you use your real Email address, then
it's readily available to everyone, and that means the
spammers too. When you set up your domain, use a portable
Email address, for example Hotmail. If you have multiple
domains, you should use an alias (domains@domain.com) on your
primary domain for all registrations . This allows your email
software to filter and save any legitimate Emails that come to
the alias from your registrar's domain.
You are asking for problems if you use your real Email address
when filling out a Web form or when you subscribe to a
newsletter. It's better to create an Email address that is
unique for each Website or newsletter. In fact, many Email
users create a customized email address for each newsletter
they receive, or for each Website that they filled in a form.
If for example, you subscribe to a newsletter from
Greatideas.com (fictitious site name) create an Email address
of "greatideas.com@yourdomain.com", and route the email that
this address receives to your real Email address. That way you
will always know where the Email originated. If that address
starts getting Spam or junk mail, you can simply filter it out
with your software. Use a unique Email address if you submit
to search engines or free-for- all pages (FFA.s).
Your own Website can be the biggest source of Email addresses
used by junk mailers. Many Websites list multiple Emails in
their contact details, and any time an Email appears on your
site in plain text, even hidden in a Javascript or form field,
that address can be captured.
If you want to avoid being the victim of spammers, always
think about where and how your Email address is broadcast and
consider if you are making it easy to be a victim of unwanted
junk mail.
Scott F. Geld is the Director of Marketing for
MarketingBlaster.com, a company providing targeted traffic and
direct leads starting at only $5. For more info:
http://www.MarketingBlaster.com
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