I have noticed quite a bit of spam advertising in comments on different blogs. Is there anything we can do to prevent this? Is there anything a person can do to Outlook to make sure the real spam goes to the junk email bin and the good emails go to the inbox?
Yes and yes. For some, blog spam has become a real problem. Fortunately for me I have seen little of it on my own blog, but I have seen a ton of it on other blogs. I'm not sure why one person gets hammered with it and another does not, but I'm thinking it has more to do with the post topics. For instance, when I posted about anything medical, I saw my blog getting spam comments about diet pills or sexual enhancement drugs. Now that may just be a coincidence, but spammers in general use bots to send out their messages. Therefore, keywords are selected on a blog to make the spam more "topic specific" and first appear to be a relevant comment when in fact it's nothing more than an annoying form of an advertisement gimmick. Blogger has taken recent measures to help eliminate spam and give bloggers some control of who and how comments can be posted to their blogs. It's called "Word Verification for Comments" and more information can be found at here.
For e-mail spam in Outlook, you can adjust some settings to help filler out the junk. The best spam filter system is done on the network's server which would mean your ISP would need to help you out, but for the sake of your question, we are going to focus on filtering out spam on the users end using just the Outlook program. It can automatically move spam from your Inbox to your Deleted Items folder or to any other folder you specify. Outlook creates a folder called Junk Mail, where you can move junk e-mail and then review it before deleting. Or you can have junk e-mail delivered to your Inbox, but color coded so you can easily identify it. The list of terms that Outlook uses to filter suspected junk e-mail messages can be found in a file named Filters.txt. You can also filter messages based on the e-mail addresses of junk and adult content senders, allowing you to move or delete all future messages from a particular sender. You can review the Junk Senders list and add and remove e-mail addresses from it. For more information on this and the step-by-step instructions, just open Outlook and type in the keyword "spam filter" in the help section of Outlook.
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You have an extremely successful blog. Any advice for us new Bloggers or even for those who have been blogging for a while?
Thanks, but I'm not sure it's as successful as some other blogs. I think the best advice I can give to a new or veteran blogger is...blog because you HAVE something to say, not because you WANT something to say. I see too many blogs with nonsense posts about nothing other than what the person ate for lunch. It doesn't make for good reading material. Personally I am more inclined to read and return to a blog that has some sort of theme or purpose. There are so many blogs out there which are just personal diaries and sometimes that can be entertaining to see, but unless I actually know the person, I tend to not care about their personal trials and tribulations of everyday life. I think you should blog about what you are passionate about. For me that is technology and of course I have other interests that I blog about too, but it really does show when a writer is passionate about what they are talking about. Their enthusiasm and energy comes thru to the reader in their words. That to me makes for a good blog. Plus creative post topics, a little humor and a hidden talent for writing also helps.
One of my own secret trips that I can give people is to link back to other bloggers. Be kind to them and open to their different points of views. You will see they will return that same respect and curtsey to you. I devote a section on my site for every person who stops by my blog and leaves a comment. As a thank you and a way to expand my "blog community", I add a link to their blog. It's also a good way for me to easily find their blog and visit there too. Lastly, keep in mind that it's "quality and not quantity" that makes a successful blog. If you can update your blog daily, that's great but if you feel obligated to post something/anything, then perhaps you are posting too frequently. For me, I never like to make blogging feel like a chore. I do it because I like it and I feel I have something to share. When blogging feels more like work and less like fun to me, then that is the day I quit.
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