Spam is defiantly a problem. At one time I was receiving almost 300 per day, spending a good part an hour sifting through mass of junk was more than I could tolerate. So I too enlisted help of a Spam Filter – Spam Arrest.

I do worry about losing out on emails that are important and interesting, but this is price we all have to pay for those Spammers that have abused and are abusing Internet.

Most Spam Filters use a Blacklist – these are clusters of email addresses and domain names that are known for sending out a lot of Spam. Recipients of Spam generate most Blacklists’. So your newsletter could fall victim to a click happy Spam identifier that clicks your email into dreaded Blacklist vault.

Spam Assassin, Cloudmark’s SpamNet and Spam Arrest all use different methods of blocking spam. Spam Assassin uses a point system to conclude whether or not an email is Spam. If your Newsletter scores high it will surely be treated as spam and blocked. SpamNet blocks Spam two ways; first, filters email based on keywords like “Free”, and second allows users to mark email and submit identified Spam to be blocked to other users of SpamNet.

My personal favorite is Spam Arrest, because it offers you total control over your inbox. You can decide who is allowed to send you email by importing your personal address book, or entering your known and approved contact addresses directly into system.

Emails from unknown senders will receive an auto-reply message containing a "challenge" -- if or when sender completes challenge (the response), their email is forwarded to your inbox, and they are then added to your authorized sender list.

Before your begin your idea marketing strategy, ask yourself these questions to determine what works best for you. Does your site’s URL have keywords in title to attract search engines? Is your site easy to navigate for beginners as well as those experienced? Do you capture e-mail addresses in an opt-in manner? These issues on a good starting point for your idea marketing Internet strategy.