InfoBusiness 2.0

Special Report:

5 Simple Ways To Avoid Getting

An Avalanche of Spam

 

As you probably already know from firsthand experience, once you’re on a spammer’s list, it’s next to impossible to get off. And changing your e-mail address can be a major inconvenience especially if you rely on it to stay in touch with important business and personal contacts.

 

To reduce the chances of your e-mail address getting spammed, here are 5 simple preventative measures you can take that will go a long way in keeping not-so-delicious spam out of your in-box.

 

 

1. Use a disposable e-mail address.

 

If you buy products online or occasionally subscribe to websites that interest you, chances are you’re going to get spammed.

 

To avoid your main e-mail address from ending up on their broadcast list, set up a free Internet e-mail address with Hotmail or Juno and use it when buying or opting in to online newsletters. You can also use a throwaway e-mail address when making purchases or subscribing to newsletters (see #4 below).

 

 

2. Pay attention to check boxes that automatically opt you in.

 

Whenever you subscribe to a website or make a purchase online, be very watchful of small, pre-checked boxes that say, “Yes! I want to receive offers from third party companies.”

 

If you do not un-check the box to opt-out, your e-mail address can (and will) be sold to every online advertiser.  To avoid this from happening, simply take a closer look at every online form you fill out. 

 

 

3. Don’t use your main e-mail address on your website, web forums, or newsgroups.

Spammers have special programs that can glean e-mail addresses from websites without your permission. If you are posting to a web forum or newsgroup, use your disposable e-mail address instead of your main e-mail address.

If you want to post an e-mail address on your home page, use “info@” and have all replies forwarded to a folder in your in-box that won’t interfere with your main address.

4. Create throwaway e-mail accounts.

If you own a web domain, all mail going to an address at your domain is probably set up to come directly to you by default.  For example, an e-mail addressed to anything@yourdomain.com will be delivered to your in-box.

This is a great way to fight spam without missing out on important e-mails you want to get. The next time you sign up for a newsletter, use the title of the website in your e-mail address. For example, if the website is titled “successsecrets.com”, enter “successsecrets@yourdomain.com” as your e-mail address. If you get spammed, look at what address the spam was sent to.

If successsecrets@yourdomain.com shows up as the original recipient, you know the source since that e-mail address was unique to that web site. Now you can easily stop the spam by making any e-mail sent to that address bounce back to the sender.

 

5. Don’t open, reply to or try to opt-out of obvious spam e-mails.

Opening, replying to, or even clicking a bogus opt-out link in an obvious spam e-mail signals that your e-mail address is active, and more spam will follow.

The only time it is safe to click on the opt-out link or reply to the e-mail is when the message was sent from a company you know or do business with (for example, a company that you purchase from or a newsletter you subscribed to).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 13:11 and is filed under business, it. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.