Students Of Success

If you talk to anyone who uses email, spam is something that is frequently on there mind. How often is it that you open your inbox checking for an email from your mom, and you end up with emails with subjective titles involving animals, and foreign objects.

There are ways to fight back against Spam, and one of the most popular is through the use of a spam filtering service. There is all different types of spam, and surprisingly not all of them involve email. Most spamming involves the advertising or otherwise promotion of a product, however this is not true in some cases.

Most common types of spamming include: Email spam, Link spam and search engine spam.

Email Spam is the simple act of sending out massive amounts of ‘junk email’ to anyone and everyone, in order to promote a product. Often times spamming has been exploited by more ‘undergorund’ industries such as the adult industry, but it would be unfair to say that other industries haven’t used it as well.

Link Spam is a form of spamming or spamdexing that recently became publicized most often when targeting the increasingly popular weblogs. Weblogs is one of the biggest problems, however link spam also affects guestbooks, and online discussion boards. The purpose behind spamming these various places, is to display hyperlinks to a various page or product, which helps both with user exposure and search engine popularity.

Search engine spam is usually closely related with the above “link spam”, as it is the process of creating countless numbers of pages, that populate search engines. Often times these pages will be full of garbage text and have no real value on there own. When a user visits them, they will either be re-directed to a completely different page, often times on another domain, or show prominent advertising.

Everyone can take their part in removing spam. The easiest way for a general user to not encourage spam, is not to use it. Spammers only spam, because it must be effective, otherwise they would find something better to do with their time. It is also recommended to get various levels of personal spam protection, which is often times included with anti-virus software. 3rd party solutions such as Hotmail, have very good spam detection, however often times spam will leak in, and in that case you can help hotmail out by notifying them of the occurence, so that they can better help protect you next time.

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the article, this caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Spam Filtering Services - www.spam-filtering-services.com, which is the best site on the internet for all Spam related information.

The web is experiencing an online revolution in the making with Web 2.0; it is simply and powerfully restructuring it, making information more personalised and centralised.

Since the advent of the internet every user wanted a more personalised environment and this now comes in the guise of Web 2.0, with RSS feeds added, read and tracked right from your favourite search engines’ home page.

RSS is still in its infancy but it seems as if it will become an important component in the success of Web 2.0 as businesses take advantage of giving control to users. RSS is helping the web distribute content in an organised way and, over the next few years, I believe RSS will definitely be seen on every website and blog.

Using RSS, search engines return search results on specific keywords, connecting users with the information they want to read. This process of syndicating content from other websites by displaying RSS feeds is definately catching on with the ability to deliver fresh news to their users as it happens.

Not only are the big companies using RSS to get ahead of the competition but smaller firms like ours are also using it to the fullest extent for ourselves and our clients.

Media Director of V9 Design & Build, providing both local and outsourcing web and SEO services: we provide both brochureware and custom-designed websites, with tasteful design and branding, professional design and build, proven and successful SEO and e-marketing, e-commerce-driven database integration and content management systems.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an increasingly popular marketing method to syndicate real estate website content for clients and prospective clients. RSS enables distribution of website content to third-party websites and RSS news readers.

Newsreader (or feedreader) use is growing rapidly. Newsreader software allows users to grab RSS feeds from various sites and display them to read and use. If you have a My Yahoo! or My MSN page, then chances are, you are already using RSS! The customized items you choose for those pages are syndicated RSS feeds from various news and information sources.

For real estate agents and professionals, RSS has many uses. For example, someone looking for a house or a place to rent can simply use an agent’s RSS feed to keep up with the latest listings. If they see an interesting item, they can click directly to the website for more information. Mortgage brokers can quickly and easily alert RSS subscribers of rate changes or other news.

Some other uses for real estate RSS feeds include: featured homes and commercial properties, rental properties, announcing open houses, virtual tours, mortgage rates, news & announcements, and e-newsletters.

RSS is extremely targeted because it is user-controlled and, unlike e-mail, it has a 100% delivery rate. Unfortunately, e-mail is quickly losing its marketing power due to e-mail filters and recent anti-spam legislation. Also, an RSS feed is simpler to maintian than an e-mail list. There is no address lists to maintain and no software needed to send messages, and no risk of spam problems.

RSS can also help with the marketing of your website though traditional search engines.

Because your website (through RSS feeds) has more “fresh” content, your website will be indexed more frequently by search engine spiders. Therefore, anything that you add to your website will be picked up by search engines that much faster.

RSS is a growing technology that should be taken seriously. Start early and reap the benefits of RSS marketing today!

S.R. Daley is the web developer for http://www.myrealtyfeed.com, a service that allows real estate professionals to create, maintain and promote multiple RSS feeds with a simple web interface.

This article may be republished without changing the content and the bio box.

You just sat at your desk, opened your email account and what do you get? First there is some anonymous donkey from an anonymous and anything but respectable mortgage lender telling you that they can arrange your finance at 3% and all you need to do now that your application is approved is to sign along the dotted line and get in touch with them. This is despite the fact that you have never heard of them or even approached them – ever!.

Next we have luscious Lucy asking you if you remember her from when you last met. Her email tells you that she still loves you and she has sent you her personal photos just for your eyes only. Well, you certainly made the right impression there didn’t you. No, don’t click on the click on the link or the attachment……..

Just as your thoughts start to wander and you begin to imagine Lucy in her long fur coat and fish net stockings you have another email. This is one you can’t afford to miss out on. Viagra. You need viagra for Lucy. She needs you. What luck. After much deliberation you decide to pass on the viagra but no sooner have you passed it by……..whats this? someone else is there at the ready with - sildenafil citrate. Oh but hang on, doesn’t the box look the same as the one in the last email? Its viagra again. By now any thoughts of rampant fun with the luscious Lucy are becoming jaded. Just what else could be in the remaining 120 emails you have to sift through.

The next half an hour is spent sifting through emails from important people wanting to show you how to make millions on the internet and others bombarding you with products and ezines about the latest online dating clubs. Someone even wants to sell you some cut price tampax – and your male!

Finally, you are nearly there. So far you have recovered one invoice from all the emails and notification from someone asking about the return of their water filter which you are unsure about. In fact you don’t even remember their water filter. The email opens and this one is from the desk of President Mbongo Bungo Esq a Nigerian Oil Company director. This could be promising. There is talk of money. Not a few hundred or several thousand either but real money. This guy is loaded…wow…this is the one.

Or maybe not

Tip: Fed up with all the day to crap of junk mail I changed all the email addresses on my websites to forms. I set scripts on my servers that report the users directly to their ISP for abuse. Finally, all incoming mail goes into my junk box not my incoming mailbox. This makes it easy to dump all in one go. I then scan through it in less than a couple of minutes and I mercilessly trash the lot. Most people I know and deal with are on my preference list anyway.

How much is your time worth? There is something wrong with your business if you are paranoid about losing an email enquiry and having to find the time to sift through hundreds of emails. Get organised and work smart. You will be glad that you did.

From http://www.birminghamuk.com the Voice of the West Midlands..

Weekly, I keep an eye to the horizon to assess new developments
in the Internet environment. In noting the changes, I sometimes
begin to feel overwhelmed by feelings of doom.

The S~P~A~M problem is one such item that leaves me at times
in much distress. I fear the trends of the ISP’s in their
efforts to get control of the S~P~A~M situation.

The ISP’s are pushed and prodded by the ISP’s customers as they
begin to feel overwhelmed by the volume of unappreciated UCE
email.

Now and again, companies spring up to promise a new technology
to combat the growing problems faced by the ISP’s and their
customers.

Early on, the promising technologies included blacklists and
email filters. I say “early on” because I have been fighting
to overcome S~P~A~M filters for the last five years. The people
who receive mail from me in the form of ezines or newsletters
have ALL double-opted-in to receive my publications.

The sad thing is that as long as I have been publishing an
ezine, I have had subscribers who could not receive my
publications due to email filters.

Just a few months ago, I was feeling very depressed about the
future or lack of a future for email. It seems that the filters
are becoming so intrusive that very few emails will actually
reach their actual and intended recipients. And it seems the
problem will only get worse.

Now, we have a company offering a new solution that is almost
more Draconian than email filters. Habeas, Inc. has created
an email header and filters to assure that the people doing
the mailings are authorized to do so by the anti-S~P~A~M
zealots, a.k.a. the Habeas, Inc. accountant.

Habeas believes that online commercial enterprises should pay
them a fee to guarantee that their email will be delivered to
those who have asked to receive mail from them.

Personally, I am hoping someone will use the one keyword that
has most damaged the Internet to damage the future of the
Habeas concept. That one word is “free”.

Think about this. If someone was to feel secure enough to
stand up to the Habeas saber rattling about Copyrights and
Patents, and to offer a very similar service for FREE, then
we can as a community destroy the pay-to-send-email concept
before it has a chance to build any real momentum.

Today I read a small story about a email hoax perpetuated by
a student at Yale University:

http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=22111

The interesting thing that came out of this story is that the
Yale Administration came up with a simple solution to this
problem. They have directed their IT department to add a link
to every email that shows the URL where the official copy of
the email being sent can be seen on the secured Yale website.

The solution is that if the link does not appear with the email
pointing to where the communication can be seen on the Yale
website, then the reader is to assume that the email is a hoax.

Interesting, eh?

Like I said, a few months ago, I felt very pessimistic about
the future of email. These days, my outlook is not nearly so
bad.

When I realized that I would change the format of my own
publication, I also realized that I would move the publication
to my own mail server and I would also send two copies of the
ezine. The first copy would be a full HTML copy of the ezine,
and the second copy will consist of only a link to the URL
where one can view the ezine online. The second mailing is
only for those whose ISP blocked the original mailing.

Imagine that. There are in fact ways out there to conquer the
email hoax perpetrators and there are ways out there to conquer
the email filtering software. And finally, there is in fact a
way to defeat the Habeas, Inc. pay-to-send-email program.

The future does not look so dim anymore.

Copyright Bill Platt - All Rights Reserved

Bill Platt is the owner of http://www.LinksAndTraffic.com

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Using spam filters is another very effective way of combating spam or junk mail. These programs use some keywords like ‘guaranteed’, ‘free’, etc and block any email with those words in them. But this has the disadvantage of sometimes blocking even important mails from your contacts and preventing those senders from sending mails to your address again. The way out is to use add-on spam filters which allow you to control the content that should be allowed into your inbox. This will save you a lot of time and energy as you no longer will have go through each and every email before identifying it as spam and eliminating it.

Spam filters can be installed on any computer system and aim at filtering junk and getting only relevant information to the user.

Setting up a simple spam filter can be very easy. Identify the section ‘filters’ in your email program and create a new filter. Lay down the rules or filter conditions for the new folder. These can be the parameters under which an email would be marked as spam and deleted from your inbox. If you prefer to look at the filtered mail before deleting it, you can choose the option to move it to another folder once it is filtered. Once you save the changes you have made in the new filter, it will be active.

You have a new variety of spam filters in the market now which are called ‘smarter filters’. While these fight and prevent spam very effectively, setting it up is a very complex process and is recommended only for technical experts.

New generation spam filters are different from traditional ones in that they go in for statistical data rather features of spam. These filters decide on spam by analyzing the entire email and comparing it with other already identified spam mails. The error margin for these filters is almost zero as more than 99% of scams are identified and eliminated through this method.

Stop Spam provides detailed information on Stop Spam, Spam Filters, Spam Blockers, Anti Spam Software and more. Stop Spam is affiliated with Free Spam Filters.

With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week it’s getting tougher for consumers to make informed choices in their purchases.

There are 3 basic types of spam filters:

1. Integrated

2. Standalone

3. Online

We’ll look at each type of spam filter and at the end you should be able to decide what spam filter is right for you.

Integrated spam filters

This type of spam filtering software is the most common. Once installed it sits “on top” of your existing email software and installs a new set of buttons into your email software. In future when you collect email you’ll see options for marking email as Spam, marking the email as Not Spam, Bounce the email back to sender, etc. The description and position of these buttons varies from one product to the next but their purpose remains the same.

Most integrated spam filters automatically place suspected junk email into a separate folder on your PC for you to review or delete later on.

The newer integrated spam filters are also “intelligent”. They can basically learn the difference between what is spam and what is not and delete the junk email you don’t want.

The most popular integrated spam filters are:

• iHate Spam

• Spambully

• Spam Inspector

Integrated spam filters are most popular amongst people who want a one click solution to collecting their personal email and filtering junk email at the same time.

Advantages:

One click solution.

Disadvantages:

Software specific. Some work with Outlook and Outlook Express only.

Standalone spam filters

These are less common than their integarted counterparts but that doesn’t make them any less useful. A standalone spam filter is basically a separate piece of software installed on your PC that you use to check your email for spam.

Standalone filters have the big advantage of being able to preview your email on the mail server before it’s downloaded to your PC. This one single feature has the huge benefit of allowing you to just download the email that you want as opposed to downloading all of your email, including the spam, and then sorting through it.

Using a standalone spam filter is a little more work simply because it’s a separate piece of software that you have to run before you open up your email software. Most standalone filters do allow you to configure them so that your standard email application is opened once you’ve chosen what spam to filter. This suits some people and not others.

The most popular standalone spam filter is:

Mailwasher Pro

Advantages:

Doesn’t rely on specific email applications to work properly.

Disadvantages:

Two step process. Load standalone filter and then your email application.

Online spam filters

There are really two types of online spam filters. One is for business use and one is for home use. A typical example of a business type product is iHate Spam server edition where the software deletes junk email directly from the mail server before the end user even sees it. Large companies employ this type of technology.

Home users will be using Spam Arrest or similar. Spam Arrest offers an inventive solution to spam whereby any email sent to the users account has a challenge request sent back to it which the sender must authenticate. The automatic junk email software used by spammers can’t currently deal with this type of response. Any failure to authenticate the challenge email results in the junk email being left to die in cyberspace. A user is authenticated with Spam Arrest only once for security just to make sure the software doesn’t become a nuisance.

The most popular online spam filter is:

Spam Arrest

Advantages:

Users are guaranteed to only receive the email that they want or requested.

Disadvantages:

Any techncial problems with the Spam Arrest server and you have no defense against spam.

This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews and tests spam filters.

SPAM! You hear about it all the time. But what exactly is it?

SPAM is ANY unsolicited or unwanted message received via email. It is untargeted, and sent to people who have expressed no interest in receiving info on your product or service.

When a SPAM complaint is filed, it is up to the ISP and web-hosting companies to determine what is and is not, SPAM. Often providers terminate website or dial up access based on just one complaint. Providers must strictly enforce their terms or they will face action by their upstream providers.

Normally, the email addresses that make up SPAM mailing lists are picked at random. A good example of this are the CD’s you see advertised with millions of email addresses. Do NOT buy these. These are emails harvested off the internet and you will be spamming these people.

Sometimes people new to the internet believe that since email is free, they should blast out their ads to as many people as possible. After all, the more mail that goes out, the better the chances of getting a sale.

The reality is very different. People sending out millions of email this way usually get only a few orders, if any. More importantly, they get many recipients upset by sending out this unwelcome message. Normally the offender’s ISP will immediately shut him down, usually without asking questions first.

The best way to protect yourself is to be very careful of who you send your email to. You also need to be aware of what your follow up messages to people should contain. They MUST have:

Valid “from” address

Valid “reply to” address

Valid sender information including the name of the company or individual that sent the message

Valid removal instructions to instantly remove any individual upon request. This is VERY important!

If all these are present, and the mail is sent with the prior permission from the recipient, then the mail being sent in not SPAM.

Of course in the real world, things aren’t always so cut and dry.

For instance, what if it’s a one time mailing. You would have no need to put removal instructions, right? Wrong. This would be considered SPAM.

How about if you visit a person’s website and you mail them individually saying, “I visited your website and see you might be in need of my service”. This too, is considered SPAM.

Remember, be smart when you contact people!

You will probably never be able to totally protect yourself from SPAM complaints. Just take precautions in sending email and have procedures in place to deal with SPAM complaints. Once an abuse is reported, you can be certain that your host, internet provider, and others have received the same complaint. If you have a website, you should make sure your abuse@yourdomainname.com is working.

When a complaint is received, reply to the letter and include all addresses that also received the original complaint. Address the individual by their name, and provide a copy of the original request with date and other supporting information.

Tell the user that you have processed their removal instructions, and that the letter was requested and not SPAM. Be brief. Also, make sure you reference the URL where you post your terms of service and the URL where the user agreed to receive your mail.

Be sure you send the letter to all of the addresses listed in the original complaint immediately. Some providers will shut down a site as soon as a complaint is received so make sure you act fast.

To run an effective email campaign, be sure you send your mail to targeted prospects and avoid spamming internet users. Correct email marketing can produce amazing results and increase your bottom line dramatically, while SPAM will only lead to problems.

By: Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com

It seems like the volume of email spam has doubled in the last month. Increasingly, we receive daily emails for better mortgage rates, pharmaceutical discounts, and offers to enlarge body parts we don’t even have.

The next generation of sophisticated tools is available to email spammers. Hidden code can be embedded into email allowing the sender to track it. A “spam beacon” lets the sender know that this is a valid, live, email address. The sender can also tell if you’ve opened the email before you tossed it. “Nearly half of all spam is bugged with so-called “spam beacons” for tracking users who open junk mail, said e-mail filtering firm MX.”

The latest email scams have also evolved. The newest scams are called phishing attacks. Spammers copy and paste web coding, making their email message appear to be official. They provide links to “look alike” websites where they try to trick you into revealing your personal financial information, by asking you to update an account such as Ebay, PayPal or CitiBank (or other well known entities). Phishing attacks are successful 5% of the time.

The primary motivation behind these emails is identity theft. Scammers are looking to get you to their website and get your information. If the authenticity of the sender is questionable, call the company that sent the email. Most business email will also contain a phone number.

Earthlink is trying to address this problem by releasing new software. Its latest anti-spam software is available to both members and non-members. The software installs with Internet Explorer and automatically downloads a list of known “scam” websites. If you surf over to a site on the list, you will receive a warning.

Given the large volume of unsolicited email that must be sorted through and deleted daily by businesses, do not rely on email as your primary vehicle of communication. If the information is time sensitive, it’s best to follow up with a phone call.

About The Author

MARKETING COORDINATOR and WEBSITE DESIGNER-Radha Khalsa, has extensive experience in the areas of marketing analysis, strategic planning and project management.

info@khalsaweb.com