Jan 09 2006
As a web developer, it's my job to ensure that our clients are getting the most out of the site we develop for them by making sure that the site functions well and gets them the results they're looking for. Part of that, even if in a miniscule way, includes making it difficult for spammers to harvest their email addresses. When it comes to putting an email address on a website, it's not too difficult a task to set up a barrier of any kind to keep the junk mail out and the legit mail in. But it's part of what we do here at 420 Design. And it should be what all serious developers with any amount of interest for their clients should be doing.
Yet I see it all the time... A new site pops up, a quick peek at the source code and voila! There it is, ready for many a spambot to pick up and send you offers on cheap Viagra: Email me! Spam me! Even sites with great design and clean code fall into this trap. It makes me wonder how much spam that email address is getting? And if a particular website gets a significant amount of traffic... ouch! Sure, there are spam blockers on people's computers and on host servers, but somehow junk email gets through. And having your email address exposed on your site is like waving a huge chunk of fish in the middle of shark-infested waters. So what are your options? After all, you have to have some way for a prospect or customer to contact you other than a phone number or a mailing address. There may be several options, but here are two that have worked best for us and/or our clients.
Use a form
It requires a little bit more out of your prospect or customer, but it works. At least, it works when it's done correctly. Some forms still show email addresses just as if they were a simple link on a webpage, so be sure to be on a lookout for that.
Encrypt the email link
There are many, many scripts available online that will encrypt an email address so spambots can't quickly harvest it. Be aware though, that spammers are getting sneakier and some spambots have been known to find a way through anyway. Usually by decrypting the email link. Don't let your web developer just settle for a script that will turn your email into a string of ASCII characters - this has been known to fail in the battle against spam. No solution is full-proof just yet. But there are definitely ways to keep spam email at bay. And again, there are probably several other options to keep your email address safe. Be sure to discuss them with your web developer, or give us a call.