Ask Girl Geek: Preventing Spam to Website Email Addresses

I Got 5000 + Emails in a Single Day!

I was thrilled when I saw my Outlook downloading emails one afternoon. Had I run some killer newsletter that was bring such a response? Had my search engine optimization hit the gold mine? But when it got to over 5000 emails, I began to get suspicious.

Sure enough, I was getting spam emails that had backed up and clogged up my hosting server since 2005. So, if you've every gotten feedback that people cannot reach you through your email on your website, you too might have this problem.

The solution, log in to your control panel of your web hosting company and clear your email box of spam at least once a month. Often your hosting company supplies some sort of Spamblocker that you can add to prevent this from happening, or a way to route spam into a :blackhole or bounce them back to the sender.

Another way to prevent getting a lot of spam from your website email address is to not list is as a text link. For example, instead of me putting Annette@GirlGeekWebDesigns.com, I'd put Annette AT GirlGeekWebDesigns DOT com. Or, you could create the @ symbol as an image file and use that. That would confound the spammers out phishing for emails.

If you post an email on your website, some spam is inevitable, but you can prevent alot of it.

Thanks for Asking!

Annette Vaillancourt
Girl Geek Web Designs: Custom Web Design and SEO for Small Businesses on a Budget
Call for a Free Initial Consultation
1-877-866-4335