How to Stop Spam Mail by Herman Drost

How to Stop Spam Mail by Herman Drost

Part 1 of this article (www.isitebuild.com/organizedemail)
discussed how to efficiently organize your email so you can
spend more time on building a profitable business.

One of the most annoying aspects of dealing with incoming email
is spam mail (unsolicited email). It fills up your email box, takes
up your precious time, and seems to only get worse. You may even
delete your personal or business email that was mistaken for
spam mail.

This could result in lost business to you.

In Part 2 of this article you will discover solutions to help
you stop spam mail. This allows you to spend more time
building a profitable business.

Apart from just hitting the delete button each day here are some
timesaving solutions:

1. Use the filters or the message rules of your email client.

a) In outlook express (since it is the most popular email
client) go to tools - message rules - mail - mail rules - new

b) Under "select conditions for your rule", check "where the
subject line contains specific words".

c) Under "select the actions for your rule" check "delete it".

d) Under "rule description" click on "contains specific words"
- enter words or phrases that you never wish to receive again.

e) Under "name of rule" provide an appropriate name for the rule
ie JUNK.

f) Click OK

Creating this JUNK rule will automatically delete emails
containing the specific words or phrases you entered.

There are many other rules you can apply (ie move certain
messages to specific folders automatically), depending on what
you need.

Here are a couple of web sites that list phrases and keywords
frequently used in spam mail:

http://www.sv-cs.com/spam.html
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm

2. Use anti-spam software.

You can install software either on your computer (client side)
or on your web host (server side).

a) Client Side - software that resides on your computer.

Mailwasher (www.mailwasher.net) - provides an easy way to check
and manage your emails before you download them.

There are free and paid versions of mailwasher.

Spamkiller (http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/msk/default.asp)

Features:

*Block emails using both lists and preset filters
*Update internal filters automatically
*Filter MSN/Hotmail, POP3 and MAPI email
*Create custom filters
*Quarantine spam mail outside of your inbox
*Import "friends" automatically into your safe list
*Monitor and filter multiple email accounts
*Fight back against spammers

Paid version only.

b) Server Side - software that resides on your server. This
means the spam mail will be deleted before it makes it to your inbox.

Ask your web host what spam mail software they carry and how to
implement it. My web host uses spamassassin.

Spamassassin (www.spamassassin.org) this is a mail filter widely
used by ISPs to identify spam mail before it reaches your inbox.
Check with your web host if it is already installed.

The spam-identification tactics used include:

header analysis - identifies spammers using tricks to mask their
identities in the email header.

text analysis - identifies characteristic styles used by
spammers in the body of the email.

3) Get a free SpamCheck Report

Here is a FREE test you can do to make sure your newsletter gets
through to your subscribers and is not stopped by spam
software. Just send your newsletter to
spamcheck-webselling83@sitesell.net and you'll get back a full
SpamCheck Report in seconds.

Make sure TEST starts the subject line or it will be ignored.

Now your readers can stay out of the "Junk Mail Folder."

Use these techniques and tools to remove spam mail before it gets to
you. You will gain more time and be able to concentrate more
effectively on your business.
About the Author
Herman Drost is the author of the NEW ebook
"101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site"
a powerful guide for attracting 1000s of visitors to your web site.
http://www.isitebuild.com/web-site-promotion
Subscribe to his Marketing Tips newsletter for more original
articles. mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com. You can read more
of his in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles

The Anti-Spam Zealots who went to the FTC Spam Forum by John Calder

The Anti-Spam Zealots who went to the FTC Spam Forum by John Calder

On the three days from April 30 through Friday, May 2, 2003,
the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) held a "Spam Forum" in
Washington, D.C.

According to the FTC website, the purpose of this forum was
"to address the proliferation of unsolicited commercial e-mail
and to explore the technical, legal, and financial issues
associated with it."

While the FTC and other government entities try to figure out
how they can legally address the Spam issue, they are doing so
without consulting with those of us who run small businesses
online. Of the 97 people who spoke at the forum, the majority
was technicians and lawyers who represent the ISP's and
Anti-Spam companies. A few of the people even represented
large bulk email companies.

Forum participants could not even agree on a proper definition
of "spam" --- yet they propose that they are the best qualified
to help write the laws that will eliminate spam?

My question is this, who represented the small business owner
and the small publishers at the FTC spam forum? No one really.
It was not because the small business segment did not have
representatives willing to speak on their behalf. In fact,
both I-Cop.org and OMPUAC.org --- both of whom represent
small online businesses --- had petitioned to have their
representatives speak at the forum, but both were turned
down.

You can read the list of the people who DID speak at the FTC
"Spam Forum" at:

http://www.theezine.net/ftc_spam_forum.shtml

Should you honestly believe the anti-spam profiteers had your
interests in mind when they had the opportunity to speak to
the FTC?

Here are some of the anti-spam profiteers who found
representation at the FTC "Spam Forum":

Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS)
SpamCon Foundation
SpamCop
The Spamhaus Project
Habeas

Even in the hallowed lists of the anti-spam zealots, the
profiteers aren't taken very seriously sometimes. When
addressing Anne P. Mitchell, Esq., CEO of Habeas, Inc.,
a member of the SPAM-L list suggested:

"What makes you think that 'we' trust Habeas any more than
any other organisation whose business model depends on
spam continuing to exist in order to stay in business."

Good point.

William Waggoner, founder of AAW Marketing LLC in Las Vegas,
Nevada, did actually support my own point of view. He suggested
at the "Spam Forum" that technology techniques like spam
filtering hurts even legitimate email marketers!

You know whom Mr. Waggoner was talking about. He was talking
about those e-mail marketers who have actually acquired
permission from the email recipient to send them commercial
email.

When someone in the forum audience laughed at his comment,
Waggoner fired back, "You think that's funny?"

So why did they laugh? This gets to the heart of why the FTC
Spam Forum was bad news for the legitimate email marketer. Many
anti-spam zealots do not believe that there is such a thing as
"legitimate commercial email!"

TERM: Double Opt-in - Requires a subscriber to request a
subscription and then to verify the intention to subscribe
by following a defined procedure.

Even if publishers who now require "double opt-in"
subscriptions were to ask for and keep records of "quadruple
opt-in" verifications from their subscribers, a lot of
anti-spam zealots would still cry foul!

Why else would the terms *s*u*b*s*c*r*i*b*e* and *u*n*s*u*b-
*s*c*r*i*b*e* be included in many spam filters with the implied
suggestion that email that carries this terminology MUST be
spam?

It does no good to be able to prove double opt-in to the ISP's
and the anti-spam zealots. Most presuppose that any commercial
email is likely to be spam.

The ISP's are honestly concerned with the cost of bandwidth in
association with email. Estimates have put the monthly cost of
spam to be $3 per month per email account. Thus, if ISP's can
reduce or eliminate spam, they can reduce their costs and
improve their profits.

ISP's who oppose all commercial email --- you know, the kind
who laugh at the suggestion that spam filters hurt "legitimate
email marketers" --- think one step further. They believe that
if they can eliminate all commercial email, then they can
significantly reduce their costs and significantly improve
their profits!

At every level of the Internet food-chain, people are concerned
with their own profits. The anti-spam zealots, who had the most
pronounced representation at the FTC spam forum, will profit
handsomely from the loss of commercial email... Or will they?

Without commercial enterprise on the Internet, will people
still be flocking to the web in the numbers they are today?

Recognizing the fact that the filtering industry is destroying
email commerce, people like Anne P. Mitchell of Habeas, Inc. have
come running to the assistance of online commercial businesses.
For a price, Habeas will "whitelist" your publication or email
--- or should I say for a hefty price, Habeas will "whitelist"
your email!

TERM: Whitelist - This is a kind of filter that suggests that
any email that meets the whitelist definitions will be
pre-verified (under the terms of the whitelist company)
as legitimate commercial email.

Habeas purports to offer a "value-added service" that will help
your outgoing email reach its destination unobstructed. Habeas
also purports its fees to be very reasonable --- up to $500 per
mailing list per year. Is $500 really a "reasonable" price? I
don't think so.

As consumers, we always think of the "spam war" as something
that addresses the unsolicited email from the p*o*r*n industry,
the nutritional products industry, and other fly-by-night
scammers.

Yet, when the people who are speaking on our behalf in the
halls of government think of the "spam war", they are thinking
of something else entirely. In fact, they are attempting to
remove the cash from the pockets of not only the spammers, but
also the small business people who employ legitimate email
marketing techniques.

Why do so many anti-spam zealots target all commercial email?
Simple, they want to put the cash where THEY think it belongs
--- into their own pockets!


About the Author
John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net. Subscribe Today and get real information YOU can use to help build your online business today! http://www.TheEzine.Net

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