What’s the best way to avoid having your website email assaulted by automated spam?
ANSWER: Don’t display your email in plain text on your website.
What!?
That’s right. Spambots scour the web just looking for text that reads mailto:xxxxxx@xxxx.com. Use a contact form instead. Whether you use PHP, Coldfusion, Python or another scripting language to power your form, they all can process the email on the server’s side, so you don’t have to post your email in plain view. Also, contact forms allow users who may not have email clients on their computer to contact you.
An alternative to a contact form is to ENCRYPT YOUR EMAIL, so spambots can’t read it. There are many ways to do this (some ways work better than others). A Google search for “email obfuscation” should turn up several techniques… or consult your local web nerd. Hello!
Avoid using common words like “info” or “information” or “contact” or your name in your email address. One way spambots “discover” your email is what I call the “pull a number from the hat” method. Basically, if they don’t first find your email sitting pretty on one of your web pages, they have a laundry list of commonly used words that they tack together with your domain name (e.g. contact@yourdomain.com or info@yourdomain.com). Or if they find your name on the web page, they’ll give your-name@yourdomain.com a try. It’s not difficult for an automated spambot to generate dozens of variations on your email address, and, if luck is on their side, one will be correct.
Also, don’t use your website email address for your personal email. BEWARE when a website requires you to give your email address to register or get information. Read their privacy policy first.