The are two factors that can conspire to frustrate an email marketer's efforts. One is the ease with which people can subscribe to an email newsletter, the other is the ease with which they can set their spam filter to block them.

There is an argument that says you should make it as easy as possible for people to sign-up: just collect their email addresses and do not trouble them for anything further. That could be a missed opportunity, but it could also create a problem later if they sign-up on a whim having seen something that was only of interest at that moment in time. I know, I do that all the time.

You can easily create channels or topics so subscribers can choose which of your messages they wish to read. If you do that and stick to them in future mailings - and there are systems that will help you - you will keep their interest. If you don't, you risk losing their interest over time until you send something you really want them to read only by then they are already filtering you out.

My argument, therefore, is that you should make it as easy as possible to unsubscribe: it is counter-productive not to do so. If you don't offer an obvious and easy way out, human nature means they will take the next easiest method which is to block all your messages using a spam filter.

Email has revolutionised communications in speed and utility, but we haven't yet come to terms with the speed with which we can fall into the many pitfalls. We seem to be a society that skim-reads everything, that wants news delivered in sound-bites, and that has developed a short attention span. So, if you're still reading this, please let me explain the consequences so far as email is concerned. Skim-reading an email can mean that you completely miss the point, or that you perhaps take offence where none was intended. Replying in haste will mean you have not given enough thought to your reply or not expressed yourself carefully enough or clearly enough. Combine the two, skim-reading with hasty replies, and you have the potential to end a fruitful business relationship, or even your employment.

A new approach to standard email phishing scams has been reported targeting senior executives in California, coining a new term in the process - whaling. Whaling, then, is for phishing scams that target big fish. This particular email appears to come from a court in California and includes the target's name, company, and phone number to give it an air of authenticity. There are some useful lessons we can all pick up from this.

Mark founded Cyberpoint back in March 1995 when he realised how important the Internet was to become, and he has been fully vindicated in that confidence.

The other great hazard on the Internet are the scams. They are many and varied, and all intended to separate you from your money.

Everyone needs an anti-spam strategy. Here are some measures you can take to minimise the disruption to your business that spam can cause.

Measure 1

Netiquette is an informal set of "Rules of the Road" for the Internet. Follow the rules and avoid incidents that may harm your business. Here are some of the more important ones.

History could record e-mail as the greatest invention of the modern era for all the difference it might make to our lives.

Have a look at the emails in your in-box. What do you notice? If they're anything like mine, you'll see a hopeless mixture of senders' names and subject headings. It's very hard sometimes to sort the wheat from the chaff, even after the spam filter has done its bit. Now think how your emails will look in someone else's in-box. Is it clear to them who they are from? It is clear to them what they are about? How many emails do you see that just have someone's first name as the sender? Not very useful, is it? Or the sender's name isn't a name at all, just some cryptic words that mean lot to the sender but nothing at all to the recipient.