Have you noticed lately that the amount of junk mail has actually decreased in your mailbox? Mine has. It took a while to realize it, and credit card offers not withstanding, the amount of other unsolicited mail has dramatically increased in the past year or two. Chalk that up to the cost of stamps and the economic advantage of sending email which has unfortunately more than made up for it. With the cost of computers and high speed connections going down, I suppose it was inevitable, but is anyone actually answering the solicitations for amorous relationships, anatomy modifications, and get rich quick schemes? If so I wish they would stop, so it all dries up sooner rather than later. The improper use of e-mail is giving what otherwise would be a very elegant and cost effective communication and advertising medium a bad wrap.

As a small business owner, here are some things you can do to stay on the good side of all of us, while getting a lot more bang for your marketing buck. The CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) provides some clear, logical, and even courteous guidelines (laws) on the sending of commercial e-mail.

1.You must use accurate “To" and “From" fields as well as routing, domain and e-mail addresses. No pseudo-names, or forwarding through another server to hide your identity.

2.The subject line can not mislead the recipient about the content of your message

3.You must give your recipients an opt-out method via electronic means (i.e. right now and up to 30 days from now) such as cancellation link, return e-mail address etc. and you must honor those requests within 10 days.

4.All commercial e-mail must include a valid postal address and be clearly identified as commercial or advertisement.

Additional provisions: No “harvesting" of email addresses from websites, web services, “dictionary attack" or other automated means of generating addresses. Use addresses that have been offered with a clear understanding of your intended usage, then stick to it and provide both meaningful content and a way for your recipients to cancel easily and immediately.

As for limiting what we ourselves receive, a simple call or visit to your ISP website can update you on the various tools they offer to filter unsolicited mail. Commercial software offered by Norton, McAfee and others can provide additional protection as well. Guard your e-mail address. Use a “free" email address such as Hotmail or Yahoo when surfing and save your business e-mail for business relationships, and those you know and trust.

If you are a small business, the proper use of e-mail can be financially very rewarding. It can provide highly relevant and timely information to a targeted and even eager audience. It’s a shame that as in other parts of life there are those that seem to delight in turning a good thing bad. If you are tempted to click on that unsolicited mail promising overnight riches or romance, use the forward key instead, and send it directly to the FTC compliance watchdogs at spam@uce.gov. They exist to enforce these laws and if your inbox is like mine, it looks like they could use a little help. You can also learn more about this law at www.ftc.org.