Answer: Yes. But there are ways of cutting it down.

1. Hide your email address so it can't be "harvested" by spam robots. You can do this simply by replacing @ symbol with special Unicode symbol @ Browsers will display it as normal. Robots that search web for e-mail addresses won't be able to recognise it as an e-mail address. Robots are getting more sophisticated - I "cloak" or hide my complete address on every web page. Email Scramble is an easy-to-use program that will produce code for you, ready to paste into your web page. Read more details at http://www.firstwebbuilder.co.uk/info/escramble.html

2. Set up filters in your email program. I KNOW I don't want a mortgage or a new credit card, as well as less pleasant offerings, so I filter any messages containing those words straight into my Trash. Check your email program's help file for instructions on how to filter out messages that you know you don't want.

1. Make your site a valuable resource.

Provide your visitors with your own articles, resources, or tutorials. Strive to make your site #1 resource in your field of expertise, and continue to keep your site updated with new information.

2. Ask your visitors to bookmark your site.

3. Add things to your site to make your site more interactive and engaging to your visitors such as your own polls where your visitors can see results in real time, sports or news tickers, quizzes, or chat rooms.

4. Invite your visitors to add their own content to your site such as articles they have written.

5. Add a guestbook to your site.

Your guestbook will keep your visitors coming back to your site by allowing them to post and respond to messages, and can also provide you with valuable feedback that you can use to make your site better, correct problems with your site, and increase your sales.