How to Stop Spam Mail

By Herman Drost
Posted Tuesday, December 7, 2004

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)