Protect Your Real Estate Website from Spam

Everyone who uses the internet hates spam, but not everyone knows how to block it. In the real estate business, it’s vital for an agent website to minimize the chances of getting spam. CAPTCHA is a good way to block spam content, but there are some things you need to keep in mind to make sure that you use this feature properly.

If you don’t know much about CAPTCHA or how it can benefit your real estate website, here are some notes to help you:

• CAPTCHA means Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. It’s basically designed to control what kind of information can be submitted to a website by giving and grading tests that are designed to be answered correctly by humans. The most common type of test shows a distorted text that only a person can read and retype. However, there are other kinds of tests, which you’ll learn about in a while.
• CAPTCHA helps the flow of feedback. As a real estate agent, you want potential clients to be able to reach you instantly through your website or other social media marketing channels. CAPTCHA ensures that instead of repeatedly getting random spam comments with links to other sites, you get genuine comments from people interested in your listings. Want to make an online poll on what kind of offerings interest buyers the most? Use CAPTCHA since it prevents spambots from voting. You’ll be sure to get feedback only from real people!
• Learn which blogging services offer CAPTCHA. If you have a real estate Wordpress site, you’re in for a treat. You can download a zip file reCAPTCHA which you can use with WordPress. After unzipping the download, simply add it to your plug in directory so you can have a reCAPTCHA widget on your blog.  Feel free to contact Support or call us at 1.800.492.6777 x 560 for more details.
• CAPTCHA is meant to enhance user experience. CAPTCHA is great but don’t use it on every page of your website. Learn which pages need the most security and use CAPTCHA there. Spam is annoying, but too many CAPTCHA confirmations can be off-putting.
• Use alternative tests. Not everyone relies on sight alone when they use the internet. For users with vision problems, it’s best to offer an alternative like sound CAPTCHAs. This is also in accordance with Section 508, the Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that digital technology be equally accessible to those with special needs.
• Perfect security is a myth. As technology evolves, it’s certain that ways to bypass the CAPTCHA system will also be developed. It’s impossible to achieve 100% protection, but think of it this way: you can make it very difficult for spambots and email worms to get into your website. The idea here is the saying that crime doesn’t pay. The more effort it takes to abuse your real estate website, the more chances that people won’t bother.

Just remember, there’s no way to ensure that someone won’t outsmart security programs, but you can always rely on frequently randomized and varied CAPTCHA tests.

Getting a lot of spam? Contact Support or call 1.800.492.6777 x 560 on how to add a CAPTCHA feature on your Agent Image website.