Mostly, I like to think about good marketing — advertising that sells a useful product or service. Heck, even Bud Light Platinum, which seems to be the child of Bud Ice and Bud Light.
However, there is another kind of advertising — unsolicted email advertising. Uh huh. SPAM.
Friends of mine have wondered why I get red-faced and irate at the very mention of Spam (not the canned meat product which can be yummy — try their new Spam & Sausage Jambalaya.)
The reason I get so angry is I get a large percentage of spam. Of 45 emails I received the other day, 15 are spam. What’s more, they aren’t 15 ususual supplements, Russian women wanting husbands, diamond non-stick frypans. No, they are the same few emails sent over and over seconds apart. For example, apparently, my accountant’s license has been revoked. A good thing too, because I have never been certified as a CPA nor even taken a course in accounting.
Moreover, my direct deposit to my local bank — the Federal Reserve Bank, maybe you’ve heard of it — has hit a glitch.
Some of these things don’t even have a link to the site selling whatever sleezy product they’re promoting.
Anyway, I recently began using MX Guarddog — a free spam filtering service. All they ask for their constant vigilance is one lousy text link from my site. Heck, I can give them that. Very gladly if their service works.
Go to their site for all the details. You can even test it out for an entire month without giving them that text link.
In my case, setup was pretty easy. I just had to figure out how to switch over my mail servers — MX servers — to MX Guarddog’s. So far, no spam has gotten through, but I’ll see how they do long term.
Some time, I’ll review the excellent history of Spam called Spam Kings. Turns out if you’re unscrupulous you can make a buck selling just about anything.