Simple but not always great

The easiest tack to take is to just create an email link. But that can open the door to an awful lot of unwanted spammy attention. If you’re going to use a simple mailto link on your site, at least consider mangling it a bit so it’s not so easily spotted.

Contact forms can carry extra weight

A secure form (be sure your web developer creates one that can’t be easily hijacked) has two key benefits:

• It keeps your email address securely hidden from the casual (and possibly nefarious) browser
• It can be configured to ask an array of targeted questions that can give you a jump-start in communicating with your prospective clients

What’s a poor form to do?

The down side of forms is that the same autobots that haunt blog comments will inevitably find their way to your contact form. Forget that fact that one person in a thousand will ever click on their nonsensical emanations; those odds sound good to them. So there’s a few options.

• You can have your form programmed to discard any posts with links. Of course, if your target audience might need to communicate this it’s not so helpful.
• You can employ some variety of CAPTCHA wherein someone wanting to communicate with you must type in a word or two before the form can be submitted. Not so onerous, but consider your demographic and if their sophistication/online-experience level might be atypically low (or their impatience level might be especially high).

Back to basics

Discarding forms altogether, you can write out your email address like “john at company dot com”. Again, you need to weigh the sophistication of your audience (will they understand?) as well as the potential annoyance (will they bother to type out the email themselves)?

Full circle

There’s no purely “right answer” here and the sand (and trends) are always shifting. Take a moment to re-read my article on how to reduce spam to see if it gives you any ideas. Some good spam filter software (or a catch-all Google Mail address) might solve some issues.

In the end you’ll need to consider your needs and your audience’s needs and reach an accommodation that strikes a happy balance.

Three times someone wrote to me — people that I know in two cases, the 3rd was a local small business I patronize — and they addressed the email to or cc to from 13 to about 88 people.

I have my own friends, plus I tweet

That email was important. And you were so thoughtful so as to include me — albeit so very visibly — in your group of people you really care about. But I don’t know them. And now they can see my own email address, out there all naked and unhidden. I know that since I like you I’d probably like your friends — but maybe not.

And I do have plenty of friends. And I use Twitter and other social media all the time. I know how to socialize. So even though I’m sure they’re all great, don’t give my email address away like that. Please?

Maybe you’ve heard of these malware and spybot computer things?

I know that you keep your computer up to date with patches and anti-virals and all the other de-germing stuff you have to do with PCs. Damn hackers and script kiddies. But maybe some of your friends are not so careful? And maybe you just slapped my email address right into the middle of your cousin Andy’s machine (he’s the one who has to call you about how to print out screenshots, remember?) and I just know he’s probably got a zillion keytrackers and address-book harvesters running rampant. So, let’s just not do that again, okay?

You’ve got to protect your own reputation, too

I mean, web servers start seeing you sending out those mass emails, gives them pause, right? They know that that’s what the bad folks do, sending out emails to 20 or 50 or 100 people. So maybe they look a little harder at what you’re up to. And maybe they put you on a list of people that could be a little “iffy”. You don’t want to even go there.

Next time: stop, check, think before you press “send”

This is what I’d love you to do. It’s not a big hassle, really. And it would make it even more obvious what a smart person you are. And you are, of course, since you’re my friend.

• If you’re sending out notices regularly, and you’re a business, check into a service that will make sure you do it right, and professionally. I love MailChimp. They have great online tools, helps, and tracking for feedback. (You don’t want to guess about these things.) Other options are Emma and ConstantContact.
• Kind of chatty? Think about a blog. That way I can subscribe to you and you don’t even have to worry about telling me when you have your next great idea or need to pass along that newsflash.

Otherwise, this is it:

• Become friends with the BCC field in your email program. Put me and all your other BFFs in the BCC field. (Stands for “blind carbon copy” — crazy antiquated term, but it works.) And in the TO field, put your own email address.

Now you’re emailing everyone the right way. And because you’re my friend, I want the best for you.

But if your install isn’t up to date — if you’re running an older version — you might want to read this post from HQ that makes an interesting point about car thefts, The Club, and lojack methods.

Afterwards, come back and mull over this quote:

A stitch in time saves nine. Upgrading is a known quantity of work, and one that the WordPress community has tried its darndest to make as easy as possible with one-click upgrades. Fixing a hacked blog, on the other hand, is quite hard. Upgrading is taking your vitamins; fixing a hack is open heart surgery. (This is true of cost, as well.)

Updated!
Someone chats with the 17 year old hacker who hacked his blog and asks why.

And one thing I adore about Twitter is its simplicity and flexibility.

But now that Twitter’s become a known entity to most people — gaining visibility during the US 2008 election process, through several catastrophes and tweeted-about gaffes, and most notably during the #iranelection news — it seems people with outdated sales-push mentalities are multiplying on Twitter, their accounts propagating like mushrooms during a wet spring.

Take the tweet in the graphic, above. Zoonini (gifted Montreal web designer, Kathryn Presner) mentioned skydiving in a tweet and immediately an “adventure expert” followed her. Last night I tweeted about a CMS (content management system) I’d purchased and I wake to two follows by other CMS developers. (At least these follows are more plausible.)

push is so past

But these all these actions operate on the premise that one can push, shove, foist oneself upon another Twitterer. They’ll search in Twitter for (their) industry-related keywords and follow anyone they find. Or, on the bottom rung, there’s the “make easy money” dreck who will follow anyone with a pulse. And I expect they anticipate a reflexive follow-back. But why would I do that? Why would I endure their “noise”?

voluntarily vexed?

Picture the most annoying, loud-mouthed, self-obsessed salesperson you’ve ever had to suffer. Okay. Clear your head. Now picture yourself at a distance from that person, and imagine yourself walking closer and closer to them. They’re getting louder. Their words are grating. A headache is ensuing. You’re asking “why? why am I doing this to myself?”

This is why I don’t follow salespeople on Twitter, or anyone else who has nothing to offer but their self-concerned, “let me get you to do this” blather. Just like I ignore TV commercials, billboards, bus stop advertising (etc.).

it’s about giving

Twitter at its best is giving. It’s human. It’s people that want to share their passion in an honest way. And themselves. Their frustrations and triumphs. It’s Chris Brogan and Havi Brooks dozens of others who don’t try to spin it. Kinda like love: let me see what you’re like (don’t stalk me) and maybe a deeper relationship (or a business contact) will evolve.

Skitch (Mac only)

Skitch is my favorite screenshot software. I use it to show draft sketches and designs to clients. It’s easy to upload to their server (or put in an email or IM or blog, should I want to) and I can either point to the item directly or I can choose to allow comments.

There are several easy-to-do, intuitive editing features built in like resizing and annotating.

Jing (Windows or Mac)

Jing comes from the people who make Camtasia and SnagIt, two well-known commercial softwares for Windows PCs. But Jing is free and allows for both screenshots and screen video capture. You can upload your screenshots easily to their server and (with the paid version) your videos can be sent to Vimeo, Facebook, or YouTube.

Watch the movies

Both are downloaded softwares that you install on your machine. As with all software, be sure to follow good practices when trying something out; just because it works well for us (and lots of others) doesn’t mean it’s a good choice for you.

But take a moment and watch the movies on both sites. It might be just the productivity kick (and frustration reducer) you’ve been looking for.

These are some things that are really bad ideas:

• Use your pet’s or family members’ names or nicknames.
• Use a word in the dictionary.
• Use less than 8 characters.
• Use anything that makes sense as you look at it.
• Use only one or two passwords for everything.

These are much better ideas:

• Use a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers and even some other characters.
• Use more than 8 characters.
• Change your passwords regularly.
• Hide any reminders in a safe, secure place and share critical information with your executor.

How are you handling your passwords now? Think of all the decisions that could be made by others should access fall into the wrong hands. Never be too friendly when your safety and identity and security are at risk.

Password generator

For further study: who’s using Twitter?

A whole lot of companies

The US government

Who’s using Twitter but doesn’t get it?

For further study: good posts or sites about Twitter

The official Twitter blog

TwitTown, an unofficial community and forum

Five ways to gather and report news with Twitter

Five things to do as a new Twitter user

An example of when a press release was redundant

Mistakes one shouldn’t make with Twitter and branding

Twitter is the ham radio of the internet

How a premier strategist in consumer connections uses Twitter

Why one fellow follows 10,000 people

A nicely comprehensive intro and guide to Twitter

Twitter and identity, with an interesting punchline

One person’s observations on Twitter’s usefulness outside the niche

Seven good tips for new Twitter users

An example of using twitter for reputation management and another post on keeping on top of tweets when you’re a conference speaker

101 Everyday Uses for Twitter

For further study: Twitter applications, spin-offs, and “mashups”

These are for your own review and enlightenment. Many may be in testing mode. No guarantees provided.

PocketTweets lets you twitter using your iPhone

You can use these apps to twitter (and track the tweets you follow) using software on your computer instead of the web interface: Twhirl or TweetDeck or — a Firefox plugin, TwitterFox.

100 most popular Twitter mashups

Joblighted: tech jobs

TwitHire: jobs board

Twitter charts (see how much you tweet)

TwitterSnooze (temporarily quiet the loquacious twitterers you follow)

Twittervision (a bird’s eye view)

Twistori (”I love”, “I hate”, you fill in the blanks)

Tweetake (a back-up method)

Roomatic: start a themed chat atop Twitter

ReadWriteWeb’s take on the top 10 Twitter apps (as of 07/2007)

Monitter (monitor the twitterverse for a set of three keywords)

Automatically “tweet” your blog postings (though I don’t recommend this) by using: Twitpress or TwitThis or Twitterfeed.

TwitsLikeMe (find others with similar interests)

TweetWheel allows you to find out who knows who

TweetMyPage is a Firefox (browser) plug-in

TwitterCounter allows you to add your follower count to your blog

Holy cow: Twebinars are the latest craze.

RememberTheMilk has figured a way for you to send reminders to yourself using Twitter

First, I want to distinguish what I mean by “spam” as opposed to “another annoying email.” If you have an account at Macy’s or buy from Amazon.com or got some software from XYZDevelopers, and you checked (or didn’t uncheck) a box at some point that said “it’s okay to send me your newsletter and/or important news blasts,” that is not spam. All responsible emailers from responsible businesses have an “unsubscribe” link in their messages. Use it.

What to do if you’re getting it

So now we’re left with the cheap jewelry and the personal enhancers and wildly frisky people longing to meet you. Clearly spam. In this case the rule is quite different: never never never click “unsubscribe” in any of these emails. If you do, you’ve just done them a favor by confirming that there’s a real live pair of eyes at the other end and your email address will be even more deluged.

Mac people: If you’re using Apple Mail, consider turning off the “Display remote images..” setting in Viewing preferences. (Or choose a similar setting in whatever email you use.) And check into SpamSieve, which is a brilliant software. Simple, focused, almost entirely self-monitoring, and to-the-point.

How to avoid getting spam in the first place

The A number one bit of advice is never never never never put your email on your website. Have your web developer install a contact form. If you must display your email, have your web developer encode or otherwise obfuscate your email address. I would wager that about 100% of the spam received is received by people who put their bare naked email address on the web. Spambots are waiting to pounce.

I know this from personal experience because I’d adhered carefully to best practices with one of my email addresses but unbeknownst to me, it was put in a PDF that was posted to a web site (a business group I belonged to), and from there on out the jig was up.

Get a general-contact email address from GoogleMail

There are a lot of times when you need to sign up for a forum or a service and you’re not quite sure of their privacy rules. For example, I have an email I use for my accounting activities, and one or more of the services I’ve used decided to spread the joy by selling or sharing that email address. I’ve learned from that and now use a free Google Mail address for all sign-ups, registrations, services, etc. Not only do I have tons of space (very easily searchable, as you might expect from Google), but their email has very accurate spam-spotting algorithms and so I never have to have any of that download to my computer.

Infected friends

The recommendations above cover a lot of ground, but recognize that sometimes it’s out of your hands. You could have a friend or colleague with an infected PC and by virtue of being in their address book, your email address became compromised. The best thing you can do is to encourage your friends and associates to keep their patches and virus protection up to date (if they’re on Windows OS, especially) and to follow the simple recommendations listed above.

Spam is here to stay but there are ways to get above it!

My own inclinations are more adjectival and less portmanteau-ish but I was glad Shelly (@brassblogs) found this decisive snippet:

How should the term ‘website’ be written in official documents and on the web? Should it be website or web site, and should there be a capital W?

It always takes a little time for new words to settle to a standardized form. Our most recent dictionary, the revised 11th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, published in July 2004, shows website as the standard form, and future dictionaries will reflect this.

We recommend capital initials for Internet, World Wide Web, the Web, but not for individual sites.

Watch the demos to see how easy it is to manage this. You should get this even if you’re not a client! Works with Mac, Windows, and Linux machines.

We’ve been using this service for several years and found it utterly dependable. If you’re interested, there are free and pro and business account versions available. They can handle 2GB without even breaking a sweat. Pretty impressive.