How can
you stop the unsolicited, bulk commercial email we call spam?
Well, lets
be honest - you can't. Not entirely. But it's easy to avoid
as much as 90% the of spam you get. Let me explain...
Fixing
The Leaks Is Better Than Bailing Out
Although
there are many spam filtering applications available, they take
time to set up, have to be constantly adjusted, and more often
than not cause as many problems as they solve.
The simple
fact is that to filter out ALL spam, you're also going to inadvertently
filter out some of the legitimate email you WANT to read.
It's unavoidable.
No spam filter will ever be infallible.
Relying
on a spam filter is a bit like bailing water out of a leaky
boat instead of plugging the holes.
Until you
fix the leaks, you're fighting a constant battle to stay afloat.
And if you don't bail fast enough, you'll sink!
In the context
of spam, fixing the leaks means preventing your addresses from
getting into the spammer's grubby little hands in the first
place.
Spam
Bots Are Your Number One Enemy!
Spam Bots
trawl the net much like search engine spiders. The big difference
is that they only record the email addresses found on a Web
page.
They create
huge lists of addresses which are used to send spam.
But it doesn't
end there ...
These lists
are often sold to many other spammers, as well as the naive
and misled who believe they're buying opt-in lists.
Spam Bots
are the #1 reason why webmasters are drowning in spam!
It's
Easy To Fight Back When You Know How!
All you
need to do is encode all your email addresses into HTML
so that spam bots can't read them.
If they
can't read your address, they can't add it to their list.
As it's
HTML, encoded addresses will display and behave exactly the
same on a Web page as those written in regular Roman text.
Here's a
quick way you can do it:
Every word
has vowels, so instead of encoding all the letters, we can simplify
things by only translating the vowels, the "@" and the "com"
in your email address, plus the "mailto:" portion of the link.
Your address
will still be totally unreadable to a spam bot.
Special
Code To Instantly Hide Your Email Addresses
I've encoded
all the essential elements for you so you can refer to them
whenever needed.
The format
of the code is:
[Ampersand][Hash][ASCII
Number][Semicolon]
a = &
#
97 ;
Unfortunately,
since some email clients automatically translate the code, I've
had to put a PERIOD (.) in the middle of each code character
BEFORE the ASCII number, to prevent translation.
Delete
the periods before using the any of the code below:
mailto:
= &#.109;&#.97;&#.105;&#.108;&#.116;&#.111;:
@ = &#.64;
com = &#.99;&#.111;&#.109;
a = &#.97;
e = &#.101;
i = &#.105;
o = &#.111;
u = &#.117;
For example,
"@nowsell.com" (my domain) would become:
@nowsell.com
Let's break
that down so you can see it more easily:
[@][n][o][w][s][e][l][l][.][c][o][m]
@
n o
w s e
l l .
c o
m
Note: Some
people simply replace the "@" in their address with the code
version. I don't think that's sufficient. Spammers only have
to teach the software to recognize that one coded letter and
your sunk. Also, some spam bots search for the "mailto" link
because whatever follows must be an email address, so I recommend
you encode that too.
<---
Power Tip --- >
If you use several different addresses in the form of "something@yourdomain.com,"
leave the "something" portion of the email address unencoded.
You can then use the "search and replace" function of a text
or HTML editor to update all the addresses on your site at once.
Search for "@yourdomain.com" and then "mailto:" replacing each
with the encoded versions.
<--- Power Tip --- >
Get
Smart And Protect Your Web Site
Kill spam
at the root. Protect your Web site from the scourge of the spam
bots and you'll dramatically reduce the amount of spam you get.
If you find the code difficult, use software like mine to do
it all for you. But whatever you do, you MUST encode all of
your email addresses ... Now!
© 2002 Azam
Corry "Do it Better. Do it Faster. Do it Right!"
Online since
1998, Azam Corry can help you succeed. No-Bull
Marketing Help, Tools & Resources: http://NowSell.com/?encode2
Reprint Rights eBooks
& Packages: http://eBookSaver.com/?encode2
|
