Spammers use "spider software" to crawl web and harvest email address, so if you have a personal or company website that has your email posted on it, sooner or later a spam spider is going to grab your address and add it to mill. Likewise when you sign up to take online surveys or receive email newsletters, you are potentially exposing yourself to spammers.

How can you reduce amount of spam you get? Many people think that you can't fight spam, so you should just accept it and move on. In other words, you can not fight Borg, so smile and be assimilated into fold. While spam is hard to eliminate, there are things you can do to lessen amount of spam you receive and it's impact on your daily business life.

First, stop clicking on "unsubscribe" links at bottom of spam emails. While some of links are valid and will get you removed from spammer's lists, other are actually there just to let spammer know that your address is valid. Click link to unsubscribe and you might actually see amount of spam you receive increase.

Second, it's a good idea to have at least two e-mail addresses. Use one for personal or business use, and other for surveys and online purchases.

Third, consider installing a spam blocking software on your computer or company network. There are a variety of spam blocking applications on market that range in price from free to a hundred bucks. Though none of them will completely eliminate spam, they can greatly reduce volume you receive. Search Web for "spam filter" and investigate ones that you feel are right for you.

Your Internet Service Provider should also offer an anti-spam application, but be careful how you use it. I have a client who recently increased sensitivity of their ISP spam blocker to point that nothing was getting delivered to their company email accounts, including their own company newsletter. They had effectively built an email brick wall that stopped spam and everything else. Not a good idea.

Before investing in a commercial spam blocker you might also try adjusting email filtering settings in your email software. Microsoft Outlook, for example, lets you set rules for handling incoming mail. The same is true with Outlook Express, Eudora, and Apple's Mail OSX. Each have built-in filtering features that can help eliminate unwanted email by parameters you set.

One thing to remember is that if spam didn't work, it would quickly go away. In other words, if spammers weren't profiting from sending unwanted emails they would go do something else.

Probably become a telemarketer or credit card debt collector.

Whether you use a commercial product or rely on your existing email software to filter out spam, just be careful that you don't batten down hatches so tight that you no longer receive any email at all.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

TOP TEN STOPS:

1.STOP placing your entire e-mail database or lists into To or Cc fields As previously stated, some people place all their email addresses in To or Cc field. There are two disadvantages to this: (a) recipient knows you have sent same message to a large amount of people, and (b) you are publicizing someone else's email address without their permission.

2.STOP using sarcasm and humor in some e-mails Without face to face communications your joke or statement may be viewed with disapproval or even worse – you may hurt someone’s feelings. Genuine intimacy with our fellow human beings is a rare commodity these days – and many people who shy away from intimacy hide behind veil of humor. If it doesn’t buy you anything, then don’t say or write it.

3.STOP opening e-mails with a “fwd” or “fw” in subject matter These types of e-mails create a huge amount of pollution. The messages are typically laced with multiple forwarded subjects not to mention including each person’s e-mail list that decided to hit reply or forward to original message.

4.STOP using ALL CAPS or CAPS LOCK in your messages USING ALL CAPS MAKES IT LOOK LIKE YOU'RE YELLING! TRY READING THE WHOLE SCREEN LIKE THIS – NOT EASY TO DO!

5.STOP writing anything you don’t want shared in public Never assume your email messages are private or that they can be read by only recipient. Face fact, sending e-mails is just like having a “LIVE” microphone around a politician. 6.STOP changing e-mails addresses every so often Much of our Internet pollution is due to people changing e-mail addresses every so often. Many people have to change due to high amount of spam that they receive. Others change because of all new ISP that just came out. Yet, messaging everyone in world about a new address, again, pollutes electronic traffic, not to mention everyone needs to update their database.

7.STOP sending unnecessary attached files Sending some attachments can annoy friends, family, and clients. Many files may even seize their e-mail system. Compress attachments and only send them when they are necessary and productive. Or, load you attachment onto a website and direct your recipients to view document using a URL link instead.

8.STOP sending messages with a typical spam title in subject matter A relative every once in awhile sends a message and in subject field it says “Hi.” Great . . . especially considering “hi” is one of most recognizable spam subject titles. Spammers use basic titles in their subject lines that are designed to create curiosity with recipient so they’ll open or forward message. Amazingly enough, we use some of same titles in our legitimate e-mails. Another way spammers infiltrate is to misspell words in subject line. Watch out for specific subject titles such as Urgent, Important, Sunday, Your Message, Invoice, Send Card To, Your Account; or any subject fields that are misspelled.

9.STOP passing along virus alerts E-mail users are still forwarding virus alerts – thinking that by sending these they’ll save some poor soul from a for-sure computer melt down. The fact is some virus alerts have embedded viruses in them. If you receive a virus alert, delete it without opening it or forwarding it. Check main homepage of your virus protection software often. Keep an eye on your favorite television news station or Internet news station like CNN or Fox News for your official virus alerts.

10.STOP replying to spam Each time you reply to spam or hit unsubscribe, you are confirming that your email address is “live.” Authenticating this will only create even more spam. Just hit delete button or use email software to remove spam.

The Internet and E-mail is everything they said it was going to be. People all around world are using this medium to connect and communicate with others. The “Net” has certainly changed how we live, work and play. Even Senior Citizens are now jumping in at a unprecedented rate of activity. Before they can speak, our children now have a mouse in their hand. Major corporate aircraft now have a mouse for pilot and one for co-pilot located on cockpit consoles.

As Net continues to evolve, so do we as users utilizing latest and greatest types of technology. Because of this wonderful phenomenon, we have no idea of what it will be like in ten years or how we‘ll all be affected by this incredible medium. We have just barely scratched “tip” of iceberg. Yet, we have a duty to safeguard and defend Internets unique makeup.

Become a solution to pollution by implementing ideas and suggestions found in this article. Start now on road of increasing your awareness and reducing huge amount of Internet pollution that we deal with on a daily basis.

If you have questions about this article or would like to schedule a training in regards to “E-Mail Essentials,” leadership, customer service or sales matters, contact Chuck directly or you may view all his speaking topics at: http://www.enspiron.cc opics.asp View other articles by Chuck at http://enspiron.cc/articles.asp