If you've never done any email marketing before, here are some quick tips for starting and growing your permission-based email list.

Getting Prepared
Before you can start collecting emails and sending newsletters, there are a few things you'll want to plan:

* Consider how much time you really have to send emails. Don't be over ambitious, then lose steam later. If you can't send emails every week or month, there's nothing wrong with sending it every quarter. Set your expectations low at first, until you get the hang of sending regular campaigns (this is one reason MailChimp doesn't charge monthly fees).
* What will you call your newsletter? If you're just starting off, and you're not sure how much time you'll have to devote to email marketing, call it your "Quarterly Update" or something like that. At MailChimp, we have a "tips and tricks" newsletter that we call "The MonkeyWrench." You can keep it simple, or create a whole look and feel for your newsletters.
* You may want to setup different mailing lists. Don't just assume someone that wants a quarterly newsletter about your company also wants daily email coupons. Setup different lists for people with different interests. Example lists might include: Monthly Newsletter, Special Offers, Media Relations, Internal Announcements, and Letter from the President. You can setup as many lists as you want in MailChimp.
* Who will your emails come from? Will it come from "Acme Banana Marketing Department?" or from "John Smith"? Some experts recommend making your newsletters personal. For example, use "I" more than "we." Whatever you decide to do, you'll want to setup an email address for your "reply-to:" field in MailChimp. If you don't have an IT group who can do this for you, you can probably do it yourself through your ISP's admin area (or wherever you bought your company's domain name and setup your email addresses). Hint: you don't have to setup a full blown email account. Most ISPs offer free "email alias" accounts, where all messages are simply forwarded to one of your existing accounts. For example, you can setup "newsletter@acme-bananas.com" to forward emails to "john@acme-bananas.com"
* One thing that really gets people to sign up for lists: free prizes. But this is a permission-based email list, and you really want to send to people who truly want to hear from you. So there's no need to get extravagant. Give away a company t-shirt or something simple like that. If you give away a Playstation 3, you'll attract tons of useless signups (who will later forget opting in, and report you for spamming).
* Create an "Email Marketing Calendar" for yourself. Just a bulletpoint list of email newsletters you'll send this year. Each month has different holidays, which means different useful tips you could send to your customers. You could even go ahead and create the entire year's worth of email newsletters in MailChimp, and save them all as drafts. You never know when an idea for your Thanksgiving newsletter will hit you.

Setup Your Lists

* Sign up for a MailChimp account (free), and setup a list. We'll walk you through the process with our 5-step wizard. You can setup infinitely many lists on MailChimp with infinitely many members. Some people wonder if there's a catch. Nope. Your lists are safe with us, and always kept private. We just charge you whenever you actually send campaigns to your list (about a penny or three per recipient).
* For every list you setup in MailChimp, we'll automatically generate a signup form that you can add to your website (we'll provide all the sample code you need).
* Jot down the URL of your signup form. Invite all your customers to go to that URL and subscribe (did you offer a free prize?).

Practice Signing Up and Opting Out

* Practice. You might want to add yourself to your list, and get some co-workers to sign up too. Send some practice emails, and have people unsubscribe from your list. See how the entire opt-in, opt-out process works.
* You might find that you need to change some wording on your welcome emails and thank-you screens.
* Try replying to your newsletter, too. Make sure your reply-to email address works.

Start Collecting Addresses

* Send out personal, one-to-one emails to all your clients, and ask them to please signup to your newsletter.
* Link to your signup form from every page of your website (or embed the form).
* Place a link to your email signup form in your email signature (ask everyone in your company to do it too)
* Link to your signup form in all the invoices your company sends
* Post free whitepapers or helpful articles on your site, and ask people to "signup for our email tips" on the landing page (and don't forget to place a link inside the whitepaper).
* In your "Contact Us" form on your website, add a checkbox to "signup for our newsletter"
* Add an "opt-in for our newsletter" checkbox in your e-commerce checkout page. You can link your shopping cart to a MailChimp list via our API.

Send Your First Email

* Once your list is built up a little, you can send your first campaign.
* Coming up with content for your first-ever newsletter can be hard. Here are some ideas for you:
o Conduct a poll, using an online survey tool like SurveyMonkey.com (no relation to MailChimp). SurveyMonkey is simple and affordable. Build an online survey, and it'll generate a link that you can insert into your emails.
o Showcase one of your customers (Customer of the month) or introduce your audience to a member of your team.
o Provide some useful tips for your customers
o Start an "Ask the Expert" column, and answer a common question you get from customers
o Got any whitepapers you can link to from your website?
o You can have a little fun, too. Include a funny photo, joke, or story somewhere in the newsletter. Show them you're human too.
* Whenever you build your HTML email newsletters, you can get nice, high-quality stock photos for $1 each at websites like istockphoto.com and luckyoliver.com.

Check Your Reports

After you send your first campaign, you should check your stats.

* How many people opened your email? Your first email campaign will show something really high, like 60-80% opens. But that number will level out to something like 20-30% average over time.
* How many people clicked?
* What kinds of links did people click the most? How-to links? Fun links? Informative article links? Learn what your audience likes.
* Check your bouncebacks, too.
* In general, you'll want to get a feel for your overall stats. Learn what your "normal" open, click, and bounce rates are. Sometimes, you'll see big spikes or dips in opens, and you'll want to investigate what caused it. You can't do that without knowing what your average is.

If you're new to email marketing, you're probably excited about sending out lots of emails to your customers. But before you dive right in and start "blasting out campaigns," we've put together a list of common mistakes that we see "beginners" and "rookies" make when they first get into email marketing...

Mistake: Not understanding the definition of spam

If you stumble upon a website, and you think the president of that company could use your services, you can send her a personally written email introducing yourself. That's not spam. That's what email is for. On the other hand, if you "stumble" upon 50 websites (or hire an intern to "stumble" upon 50 websites for you), and you gather the emails of 50 presidents into a list and blast an unsolicited email out to all of them at once, that's spam. Yes, even if you think the email is relevant to them.

Spam is sending bulk, unsolicited email.

If you find yourself struggling with this definition, trust us. Email marketing is not for you. You're going to find yourself struggling through all kinds of blacklisting, spam filtering, reputation, and deliverability problems. It's not worth it. Only send to people who gave you permission to email them. Email's for staying in touch with customers and people you know. Use other forms of marketing to "get the word out" to people who don't know you yet.

Mistake: Assuming You Still Have Permission

Some people think, "This is a list of customers who have purchased something from my store, so I have a right to send them email." But how would you like it if the owner of that 7-11 store, where you bought a gallon of milk three years ago, showed up at your door? You'd call the cops, wouldn't you?

So if you suddenly send a customer (who purchased something from you 2 years ago, and never heard from you since) an email newsletter out of the blue, how do you expect that customer to react? They'd call the SpamCops. Or, they'd click the "Report Spam" button, or "This is Junk" button in their email program. Know what happens next? A complaint gets sent to their ISP, along with a copy of your email. If they get enough complaints, they'll start blocking all future emails from you, and all future emails that include your company name in it (even if you didn't send the message!).

Just because someone's a customer, it doesn't mean he wants your email marketing. A customer list is a good start, though. You can email them, and politely ask them if they'd like to subscribe to your newsletters, or to subscribe for "special email offers." If you don't even have a customer list to start with, click here for some tips on growing a permission list.

Mistake: Confusing "Transactional" emails with "Email Marketing"

Got a list of customers who have purchased products from your e-commerce store? They'll be expecting email receipts, and email shipping notifications. Those are "transactional" emails. By the way, those emails should be sent from your own server.

When you send email newsletters, coupons, and promotions, those are "marketing" or "commercial" emails. The rules are different with commercial email. If you were to send "commercial email" to a list of people without their permission, that's "unsolicited bulk email," otherwise known as spam. Understand where that line is drawn, because if you cross it, you can expect a call from the FTC for violating their CAN-SPAM law.

Mistake: Being in a rush

The biggest mistakes happen when marketers "have to get this campaign out yesterday!" They don't do the proper design and coding. They don't think through the content. They don't plan their subject lines (perhaps the most important factor in your open rate!). They don't make sure their list is clean, and totally opt-in. They ask the sales team, "Hey everyone, I'm blasting out an email. Gimme all your contact lists!" What happens next? Broken emails go out to lots of people who never opted in, who forgot who you are, don't remember ever signing up for your emails, or who haven't heard from you in years. So what do they do? They click the "this is junk" button in their email program (studies show that anywhere from 10%-30% of recipients have done this, even to emails they requested, thinking it was the only effective way to "unsubscribe" from a list). Then what happens? Alerts get sent to their ISPs, who in turn blacklist the sender for spamming.

Slow down. Take a deep breath. Email marketing is not the same as sending a quick email to a buddy. It takes a good amount of planning, testing, and measuring. You should never be in a rush when it comes to email marketing. Email marketing's about relationships with customers. You don't rush relationships.

Mistake: Assuming people remember who you are

We've seen some marketers who created nice email signup forms a long time ago, and are only just now getting around to sending emails. Even though they responsibly acquired every recipient's permission before sending, those recipients forgot signing up. So when they suddenly get a full blown email newsletter "out of the blue," they report the sender for spamming. This happens way more often than you think. A lot of email experts say that permission goes stale after only 6 months. If you're not regularly contacting your list, assume the old emails have already forgotten you. You'll need to send them a "remember me?" email. Here's some information on how to do that, and here's a real life example of a good re-introduction campaign.

Mistake: Purchasing email lists

By now, everyone should know better than to buy a list of "30 million opt-in emails" via some sketchy piece of spam they got from some 3rd world country. That's pretty obvious. But there are people out there who still believe that if you "pay good money" for a list, and the seller says it's "opt-in" then it must be spam-free. The first thing you need to know is that we don't care who sold you the list. It's not allowed on MailChimp. MailChimp is only for sending to customers who opted-in with you. The second thing you need to know is that "opt-in" means absolutely nothing if they didn't opt-in with you. If someone "opted-in" for emails from a real estate website, that doesn't mean they want emails from every single real estate agent in the city. Before you purchase any lists, make sure you understand how the list was told what they were opting-in to. Then, don't use that list on MailChimp. Ever.
Mistake: Not double-checking your client's list before sending to it

This one mostly applies to agencies sending on behalf of their clients. We've seen some people send email marketing campaigns to lists that are obviously not permission-based. You're breaking our terms of use, and the CAN-SPAM law when you do that. Yes, you can be held liable for spam when sending on behalf of someone else. Did you build a website for a local dry cleaner? Did they ask you to handle their email marketing "e-blast" too? Ask them how they got the list, and if it's permission based or not. If it's a small shop, but their list is 25,000 recipients, use some common sense. If you send a campaign for a client to a bad list, they'll get tons of spam complaints, and we'll be forced to shut down their account. That doesn't look good for you or your client. Always ask them how they got their lists. You know when something's fishy.

Mistake: Thinking "BLAST" instead of "Relationship"

We always cringe when someone asks us if we can help them "blast" an email out to people. For one, the word "blast" should only be used for missiles and tanks. Not permission marketing. Secondly, when people say "blast," it usually means they think email is just a way to shoot out a bunch of emails, whether people want to hear from them or not. Email is all about getting permission from customers, sending them stuff they want to read, and listening to their feedback (either directly from them, or via open and click reports). You don't just blast and walk away. It's a long term relationship.

Mistake: Writing content like a used car salesman

Since email can be so affordable, it's often the first attempt at "real" marketing that small businesses make. Unfortunately, small businesses aren't always experts when it comes to writing good content. Instead of thinking, "Hmm, how would XYZ company write this email?" you should stop and ask, "Hmm, what would my customers find useful in my email?" Don't use pushy sales copy, like "BUY NOW!!!!" or "LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!" In email, using ALL CAPS is the equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs. It's obnoxious. Spam filters will penalize you for screaming, using pushy sales copy, using bright red fonts, too many exclamation points, and other spammy content. For more information, read "How Spam Filters Think"

Mistake: Not testing your campaign in different email programs

HTML emails look different, depending on which email program you use to view it. Just because it looks good in the preview window, or when you send a test to yourself, it doesn't mean it'll look like that for all your recipients. You really need to setup a few accounts with free email services like Yahoo!, MSN, Hotmail, and Gmail. If possible, setup "home accounts" like with AOL, Earthlink, Comcast, and Roadrunner. Test on different computers and operating systems, like Macs and PCs. If you don't have the budget to build test computers (who does?) just enlist a few volunteers at the office, or family and friends. Send them tests, and ask if they can tell you if the email looked weird in their programs. You might want to try MailChimp's Inbox Inspector tool. You click one button, and we'll give you screenshots of your campaign in all the major email programs, and we test it in all the major spam filters.

Mistake: Using an unrecognizable "From" or "Subject" line

When you open your email program, there's always a lot of spam waiting for you, right? How do you quickly sift through the junk? You look at From: fields and Subject lines. Your company name should be in your From: field, and, if possible, work it into your Subject line too. Make your email instantly recognizable. If you put your personal name in the from: field, and use a subject line like, "Free Shipping for Mother's Day!" they'll just think it's another piece of spam.

Mistake: Bad first impression

What do you do when you meet someone new? You shake his hand, and you introduce yourself. So why do so many newbie marketers send their very first email campaign to their customers with subject lines, like "AMAZING OFFER INSIDE! OPEN NOW!"

You never get a 2nd chance to make a good first impression. When people sign up for your email newsletter, send them a "Welcome Email." It should introduce yourself to them, let them know what kind of content you'll be sending, and how often to expect it. Other things you might include in your welcome email include:

* A link to your online archive of email newsletters (so they can see past issues)
* A request for them to add you to their address book, or trusted senders list (so you won't get accidentally spam filtered)
* Your contact information

Mistake: Thinking you can design your own HTML emails

Desiging and coding HTML emails is not easy. If you can't code web pages "from scratch" (in a plain old fashioned text editor) you cannot code HTML email. You have to be an expert at HTML coding, and you have to know all the rules. That way, you'll know which rules to break in order to make HTML emails work. If you have no idea what the difference is between inline CSS and embedded CSS, how will you understand that embedded CSS only works if it's embedded below the < BODY> tag? Furthermore, how will you understand that webmail clients strip all CSS, unless it's inline? If your only experience coding HTML is from clicking "Export as Web Page" from Microsoft Word, don't try to code your own HTML email. Use our built-in templates. They take into consideration all the insane little details that you have to know in order to make HTML emails work in all the major email programs. Plus, they're beautiful, and can be customized to match any brand.

Customize and personalize it for maximum impact

Build your fully customizable emails using the built-in Photo Editor, eMail Editor, Color Manager (new!) and Theme Manager (new!). Use your company colors, logos, signatures, images, taglines and more in every email you send. Use your clients' names and more in the subject line and body of every email using eMail Merge and the insert default values tool. High Impact eMail 4.0 Professional allows you to schedule your emails using the eMail Scheduler.



Look professional without the professional price

The intuitive interface leads you from start to finish—no coding or design experience necessary. Accomplish the look and feel of a professional design service in half the time and 1/10th the cost. With 1,100+ professionally designed templates to choose from, even a computer novice can look like a professional emarketer in only minutes. Get In SyncSM technology also ensures your lists are fully up to date, just like a professional list manager. Use the 1MB ReadyShare hosting service to upload and store hundreds of images, logos, PDFS, documents and more.

Save time

Don't waste time formatting and editing emails from scratch. High Impact eMail is the fastest and simplest do-it-yourself email marketing tool available today. Get creative, get noticed, and start seeing results with just a few simple clicks. It's really this simple:

Create and send eye-catching HTML email campaigns in minutes!



Collect email addresses of your site visitors with a "join my list" signup on your website. Then, easily create and send compelling email newsletters, promotions and announcements to keep them coming back.


KEY FEATURES

Add a visitor signup to your website
Import in-house permission-based names
Includes 50 professional templates
Use templates as is or easily customize to match your brand
Add a "forward to friend" to every email
Manages and hosts your subscriber list

Constant Contact is easy and affordable -- TRY IT FREE and see for yourself.

FREE Trial Email Marketing

Too often, people forget they're anonymous in the internet world. Your friends and colleagues might know you as being a tireless worker, a great friend and loving parent, but I don't know that. To me, you're just a font. You're a font in an email, or in a forum post. If you give me access to your website, then you're whatever impression the website creates. But largely, you're anonymous. So if you want to establish trust in your internet business dealings, make it your goal to paint a professional image via email.


I'm a copywriter, so I'm constantly combing the web for possible clients and cohorts. Recently I've encountered some internet personalities who have left me scratching my head in puzzlement. Might we have had a fruitful business relationship? I'll never know, because within days of crossing paths, they managed to display one of the "Scary Seven" - that is, the seven quickest ways to scare people away by email. Let's review them now.


Scare Tactic 1. Send an email from a cryptic address. There's nothing that says 'unprofessional' like an email inquiry from "Binky24" or "Shanaynay_7". Email addresses like this strike me as being one of two things: 1. someone young and foolish, or 2. a spammer. I understand if you don't have a website up and running yet; after all, as a writer, many people contact me to help them get their businesses started. But at the very least, reveal your first and last name. Provide contact information, and a brief background. If no one knows who you are, it's not likely they'll do business with you.


Scare Tactic 2. Send an email that contains virtually no information. Yesterday I responded to a post on Craigslist that requested an editor. In my email, I gave my name, contact info, a little background information and directed the potential client to my website. I asked a few questions about their needs. In response, I got one line, and a very uninformative one at that. Do you see why I don't plan to contact this person again?


Scare Tactic 3. Send too many emails! Want to make people think you have absolutely zero going on? Then send someone a barrage of email after having just met. I recently got an onslaught of emails from a potential client - NINE in total, over the course of a day. YIKES! This is a busy world. People don't have time to pore through your information. Organize your thoughts, and send in ONE email- maybe two, max.


Scare Tactic 4. Send emails of a personal nature. Never, EVER send email jokes or personal anecdotes to someone you plan on doing business with over the internet. I don't care how promising the initial phone conversation was or how "friendly" they seem. This behavior screams unprofessional, and can even be a bit disturbing. Many marketers swap information, and this is fine. But it should be done in moderation. There's a fine line between helpful information exchange and email harassment. Don't cross it.


Scare Tactic 5. Send out a group email, and forget to blind copy. I recently signed on to work for a company that contracts out writers. I liked the spirit in which business was being conducted and the site owner's honest approach. But there is such a thing as too much honesty. The first project came through via email - and I could see the name of EVERY writer who was competing with me for work! Not only does this have trouble written all over it, but no one wants their email address shared. A Privacy Policy is the hallmark of a real business. Implement one, and assure people their information is safe with your company.


Scare Tactic 6. Send an email that you haven't proofread. We're all in a hurry, it's true. But haste makes waste! If you request information on "barbecue girls," you might just get some unexpected feedback! Double-checking your message can ensure that the recipient can respond properly. Ultimately, you'll get an answer to the question you asked - and not one you didn't.


Scare Tactic 7. Send an email that's either too enthusiastic, or too austere. People are people - and I've encountered personalities from both ends of the spectrum. Those who are "SO EXCITED to make your acquaintance that they CAN'T STOP SHOUTING!!!!!!" and those who apparently are so wrapped up in themselves that they can't spare a courteous hello. My advice: take the middle ground. Keep it friendly yet professional, and don't go to extremes in your correspondence.


Don't want to frighten people away with your email? Then avoid the "Scary Seven!" Above all, discuss the who, what, when, where, how and why of your message, and be sure to include any information that will help your future colleague get to know you better - a website link, some articles you've written, your resume, etc. Don't be overly pushy on email, and avoid over- or under-communicating. In time, you'll get the feel for the type of emails people respond to. And once that happens, you're on your way to cultivating fruitful internet business relationships!

Emails are an essential medium of communication in the fast track world of today. Be it for our personal or for business purposes, emails are indispensable. Loss of emails can bring about anything from a minor loss to devastation, depending on the need of the user. Hence, data recovery vis a vis emails is an absolute must, especially if emails are essential communication tools for one’s business. Data recovery softwares are a viable and dependable option when it comes to effective email recovery.
Data recovery softwares function differently for different types of files, which are:

* Outlook PST Files
* Outlook Express DBX Files
* Web Mail


Outlook PST Files

PST Files are very complex. So, once data is lost from these files, it is important to recover the data as well as repair them. To recover data the files themselves, these softwares are very helpful. Good software is equipped to repair and restore data from damaged or corrupted Microsoft Outlook file.

Microsoft Outlook stores email messages, contacts, notes and folders on the local drive as a .pst file. The Outlook recovery software scans the damaged .pst file and extracts and saves information in a new usable .pst file, enabling PST Recovery.

The key features of good PST files recovery software are:

* Providing PST Recovery from folders, calendars, contacts, tasks, notes.
* Repairing even the password protected files
* Restoration of formatting from RTF and HTML messages
* Recovering data from encrypted files
* Providing support to repair .pst files.
* Recovering deleted email attachments.


Outlook Express DBX Files

Good recovery software can scan, extract and save emails form .dbx files in which Microsoft Outlook Express stores messages and folders in the local drive. It should also be allowed to retrieve accidentally deleted messages from the ‘Deleted Items’ folder in Outlook Express. The .dbx files also need to be repaired so as to enable smooth functioning subsequently.

The key features of good DBX files recovery software are:

* Providing Mail Recovery from Outlook Express dbx files.
* Providing deleted email recovery of dbx files from corrupt media, such as floppy disks, Zip disks, CD ROMs, etc.
* Provides Mailbox repair of dbx files.
* Support to repair dbx files within a size limitation.
* Recovering deleted email attachments.
* Enabling the recovered messages to be opened directly in MS Outlook Express.
* Enabling recovered messages to be saved in the *.eml file format on any (including network) disks visible by the host operating system.
* Enabling message source view.


Web Mail

In order to access a web based email program like Yahoo or Hotmail, one has to use the Internet Browser to log onto a remote computer which stores the emails. When mails from it are deleted, they cannot be recovered. Hence, data recovery software is required to retrieve that data. It is a very complicated procedure, and only messages that have been opened already can be retrieved using a good software.

As the old and clichéd adage goes, prevention I better than cure. So, it is advised that a lot of care be taken. After all, loss of important mails can spell disaster for your business.

No doubt about it.

"Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens to
paralyze and ultimately destroy the email system as it
currently exists on the Internet.

Anyone with an email address can attest to the fact that
the avalanche of Spam has only increased in the last year
and shows no sign of stopping.

However, the current system many Internet Service
Providers (ISP's) use to deal with Spam may just destroy
the Internet's email system long before the spammers do.

Now, I won't deny that the weight of the Spam on any
ISP's resources can rate very significant.


It's been estimated that between 30-60% of all email now
sent is Spam!

This means that 30-60% an ISP's system resources
(bandwidth, hardware, system maintenance) go towards
delivering messages nobody wants to receive.

Out of self-defense, many ISP's turn to third party
services like SpamCop, SPEWS (Spam Prevention Early
Warning System), and SpamHaus to help them identify
sources of spam and block the messages before their email
systems get clogged.

No Trial - No Defense - Guilty!

In theory, it's a great system.

In practice, it creates a situation resembling a witch
hunt where the accused gets burned at the stake without a
trial, let alone the ability to face their accuser.
Here's how the system works.

Let's say a business habitually sends legitimate email to
its customers or prospects who asked to receive the
email.

As long as nobody complains, life proceeds as normal.

But then let's say one of those people forgets they opted
in to the business's email list and reports an email
message as spam to one of the services I mentioned above.


Result: the business gets blacklisted by one or more of
these services and ISP's in turn automatically block
email (legitimate email) sent by the business to its
customers and opt-in subscribers.

To make matters even worse, nobody at these anti-spam
services bothers to let the business know they've been
blacklisted.

When the business finally discovers their status and
tries to contact SpamCop, SPEWS or SpamHaus, the real fun
begins.

If the business does discover which service(s)
blacklisted them, they'll find they can't call anyone on
the phone to discuss the problem.

They also discover these services are totally unregulated
and there is no higher court of appeals.

Any email responses from these services often contain a
smug attitude of assumed guilt that scoffs at your claims
of innocence.

Also, don't bother asking for the opportunity to face
your accuser in order to prove your innocence because
they get to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

Combining this attitude of assumed guilt with the
inability to prove your innocence creates a recipe for
disaster for every legitimate business.

Oh, by the way, while writing this article, I received 19
spam email messages through an ISP monitored by all 3
anti-spam services.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

In the end, the current system only creates opportunity
for abuse that targets legitimate businesses while the
real spammers just merrily keep sending their flood of
email.

Each day we all face the same challenge. Spam. It doesn't matter if you're a home computer user or the head of IT for a multinational limiting or totally preventing the distribution of junk email to your computer(s) is now a daily chore.

The sheer frustration that spam causes combined with the number of lost man hours adds up to junk email being a very real problem for all involved. You have to filter through all the junk to find your own personal or work email. This on its own is annoying enough. When you consider the security risks from spyware, trojans, diallers and attempted identity theft spam becomes much more than just an annoyance - it becomes a minefield for any computer user.

So what can you do to block spam? The first step each user should take is to simply limit the number of people who know your personal email address. If you have a work email address then just use it for work. For home users only distribute your email address to people you know and trust. This simple move can cut your spam problems by 50%.


But what about all those online forms I need to fill in? No problem. Use a free email service like Hotmail or Gmail for this purpose. Treat it as a throwaway account that you can use as a buffer between your true personal email address and the rest of the world. Let it fill up with junk email and then just login once a week and delete everything you see.

Your password. It's amazing how many people set the password for their email account to abc123 or something similar. These passwords are incredibly easy for spammers to guess and would give them easy access to your mail account. The password for your email account should follow corporate standards of being 6 - 8 characters long and be alphanumeric (a mixture of numbers and letters). Make it longer if you can. Using a weak password is just asking for trouble.

If you're already receiving a ton of spam then you'll need to invest in a spam blocker. There are free spam blockers you can download and also also their paid equivalents. A great spam blocker can cost you as little as $30 and you'll see an immediate reduction in the amount of spam you're receiving.

Over and above installing software on your computer (especially for Mac users as your choices are limited) you could sign up for one of the web based challenge response spam blockers like Mailblocks or SpamArrest. Both of these services are ideal for somebody who's on the move a lot. Also because they're web based there's no software to install so they're perfect for Mac or PocketPC/Palm users.

Taking a pro-active anti spam stance is the next step. If you get junk email from people then check the mail headers and report any offensive email to the hosting company or ISP involved. Never, ever reply to spam directly. This simply confirms to the spammer that your email address is active. Also never click on any hyperlinks in any junk email - this again confirms your existence and can lead to a virus being downloaded directly onto your PC. Filter the spam, report the abusers, delete the remaining junk email.

Spam can be stopped. Not by some corporate giant or genius programmer. It can be stopped by each of you individually. Spammers rely on the widespread availability of email addresses and for people to reply to these emails or click on the links within the emails. The sooner people stop reacting emotionally to spam and simply filter, report and delete the offensive mail itself the sooner the lucrative market of bulk email will dry up for the spammers.

I’m sure you find spam just as frustrating and annoying as I do. So I’ve done some investigation in how to report it to get these people hopefully in a bit of strife! And put spam to an end or at least lessen it ;-)
You see, I actually didn’t realize for a while I was actually making the situation worse. You ever receive those spam emails where you KNOW for sure you NEVER signed up to receive their emails and then they provide an unsubscribe link down the bottom?


Anyways, here I was clicking the unsubscribe button on all these annoying spam emails thinking I was getting my email address removed from their database where all I was doing was confirming that my email address was active and I was reading their spam emails.
Here is how YOU can report these spammers (and hopefully lessen the amount that drifts in and out of our inbox’s every day).
Report Spam Here:
http://www.spamcop.net/
It will show you how to get the details and IP addresses of the spammers to forward to SpamCop in order to file your report against them. Please make sure before doing this, that the email you report as spam “really” is spam and not something you joined on to receive. It's just as bad to falsely accuse someone of spam just as it is to receive spam!
Make sure before you join anyone’s mailing list that they have a privacy notice that allows you to unsubscribe at anytime you wish. And states clearly they will not rent nor share your email address with any third party.