As a content creator, you deal with a lot of spam

Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 10:57 am

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I’ve noticed over the years of being a content creator that you deal with a lot of spam. From emails to messages/DM’s or even contact form spam if you have a website.

I’ve been dealing a lot with the latter as of late. I’ll get more into that in a little bit.

If you’re running your website solo (like I am) there are a few tools you can look into. These may vary by your website hosting provider and the software you used to design it. But there are still a few things you can set up.

I’ve dealt with some odd Contact us messages

Since I have a contact form on my website I’ve had a lot of odd emails that aren’t sent out. I’ve had things from get-rich-quick plans to buying followers, or marketing lists.

The craziest thus far had to be a random long-winded email from (a suspected bot) about being a lonely young woman from Eastern Europe ( I don’t recall which country) looking for love. It went as far as to state that she would make a good wife because she could keep house.

I had to laugh at that. Yet I could see someone falling for the email and replying back.

Use a reCAPTCHA on contact forms

This is a quick and easy solution to help cut down on spam messages. You can set these up on many contact forms. If you are creating a contact form using a third-party website they should allow you to add one. Recaptcha usually have you check a box to state you are human or may have you solve a math problem.

one of my favorite tools to combat spam

I know that spam emails or contact us form messages will never be fully eliminated because if they are sent by a person they still can end up in your inbox.

One of the tools I love to use is Clean Talk.

Clean Talk works with a variety of websites. I’m using WordPress for my site. They offer a plugin. I will admit that Clean Talk is a fee-based product. it’s reasonably priced and can be purchased for multiple websites or a single site. They offer a few different software options.

I love the ease of use and that it can be set up quickly. You can set up white/personal lists and black lists to block countries or IP addresses. You can also customize other settings.

You can check out a previous post to see a bit more about this.

you can set up an email spam blocker

Depending on your hosting provider you can set up a spam blocker. If you use the email provided with your hosting plan. I found that Inmotion hosting has a good spam filter.

As I mentioned before not all spam filters are foolproof but it’s a start.

Strong security software helps too

If you have strong security settings this may also combat some spam. A good firewall is important.

Again I give you Clean Talk Security. They offer a plugin for WordPress.This is again a fee-based program but for me, it’s been worth it. It offers a malware scanner a firewall and brute force protection. You can also set up custom settings to block specific countries from trying to log in to your site.

I love this because I can view all my blocked or denied emails that weren’t sent to me. It allows you to allow them or delete them. You can also add the IP addresses to your blacklist. By default, it blocks IP addresses if they fail to log in with the correct password or user name.

I will admit there is a bit of a learning curve but once you understand how to use the dashboard your set.

how to weed out spam in other places

You can be sent spam messages via social media as well. I get them weekly asking if I’d like to try X product, be a model, or even showcase bananas for dogs (which I don’t own.)

Most times you can block the profile that reaches out to you. If you are sent a message on Facebook Messenger you can also mark it as spam. You can also block the profile if you like. The same goes for Instagram.

We may never be able to get rid of spam altogether but we can try to cut down on it. I hope these tips helped.

What are some of your favorite ways to combat spam messages?