The writer’s strike in Hollywood seems to be an amusing turn of events in Tinsletown for us Brits across the pond.  After all, our view of the LA film system is in summertime a bunch of remakes/action movies and in the winter, films targeted towards children.  With American television also known for its ‘repeat’ factor rather than its output of original programming, many people may think, so what?

But there is something at stake here.  The writers are the base of the creative industry.  No matter how many great actors or super directors there are out there, it is the writer that gets the ball rolling.  That amazing film started off in the mind of someone attached to a computer screen.  It went through countless rejections and then finally got picked up.  Months, even years later it is on the screen.  Usually by now the writer has been factored out of the equation, but everyone else is getting their share of the cake.

I hope the writers win the terms of their strike.  However, as big business has the deeper pockets, I do not hold out much hope for them.

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This entry was written by Molly Darvall, she is a regular poster to London blog and Pet Haven. Molly is slowly becoming an authority on eyebag surgery . View her blog here.

When you’re using email to market your product or services your content should contain three basic elements:

1.It should be useful and/or informative for the reader

2.It should give something of value in terms of promotional offer on your product/services

3.It should low-sell your product/services

You can create the articles yourself, using themes that match up with the products you sell (without mentioning them), and which deal with issues that the people who buy your products/services are concerned with.  There are also a number of places where you can get free articles that you could use as content for your email marketing campaign.  These aren’t original but often you can use them as long as the writer’s name remains on them.  Read any small print regarding usage of the articles before sending them out in your email so that you know you’re not breaking any copyright laws.  Another idea would be to pay a writer to produce some of these for you.  This is an email newsletter so you could keep them short – perhaps a couple of 100 word tips and a 250 word short article, or one slightly longer article of 400 words and a tip.  By offering this useful information that’s related to your business area, but not selling anything, you are telling your client that you’re not just out to take their money, but you’re interested enough in them to spend the resources compiling a newsletter that they’ll find interesting.  You’re also lowering the possibility that they’re going to unsubscribe from your mailing list! 

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Put all of the tip and some of the article in the email, and link back to your website so that you can get subscribers to visit the site.  You should also put a linked line that says “for more tips click here” and for more articles click here” and have these linked up to the tips and articles pages in your website.  Having an area for these (that’s not linked anywhere from the homepage or it wouldn’t be a subscriber only feature) not only means that you can get your subscribers to visit the site, but also that the search engines will recognize the content exists and that seldom hurts any site!

Each newsletter you send out ought to have some promotion attached to it that’s not given to anyone but your subscribers.  It’s like a loyalty bonus.  The thing about this is that it should only be available for a limited period of time, or be valid for only the first x number of subscribers.  The reason for this is that it creates “shortage” and people are more likely to react earlier if they think it will run out, and also your next newsletter will contain a new subscriber only offer. 

Lastly it shouldn’t be a “Buy me!  Buy me!  Buy me!” publication.  If it is, you aren’t likely to get your subscribers to read it, and any that do are likely to unsubscribe because there’s nothing of value in it.  It’s just junk mail that they signed up for, and they can soon stop that.  Your email is there to promote your products/services, but it must be in a low key way.  It’s a great way to advertising new products and link to where the subscribers can go and find out more information, but don’t use up 1000 words describing it – just give the main features and the link.  Highlight one product as your “product of the month” or product of the week” and write the key features about that product – you could even link a promotion to that buy 2 get 1 free for example.   Keep all self-promotion to a minimum – a “This email is sent to you by the friendly helpful folk at XXX” and a link to your site is enough, especially if you’re also highlighting a specific product within the email.

Email newsletters are a great marketing tool but make sure that they follow the three guidelines above and avoid becoming written infomercials that subscribers will tune out.

News reports about Victoria Beckham having been advised to put on weight are a welcome sight in a culture where emphasis is on how great people look when they are pencil lead slim.  The fashion world is obsessed with making garments that use as little fabric as possible therefore creating >  Our magazines flaunt celebrities, such as Ms Beckham, as being stylish and having a great body – what body?  There is no body!  It’s little more than a skeleton covered in skin!  But unfortunately it’s also what is considered by those who judge such things as being beautiful. 

The call for Victoria to gain weight in the time leading up to the much awaited Spice Girl reunion tour on the grounds that her current weight isn’t healthy enough to sustain the stresses she will put on it during the tour is evidence that the >  Whilst being overweight isn’t good for you, looking like your addicted to liposuction isn't either.  What a wonderful message to send out to the youngsters who will once again use the Spice Girls as role models.

Botox and too many bones visible isn’t what’s required to be healthy, that’s the message that’s being sent out here.  Looking good is only part of it, you also have to look healthy and eat enough to create the energy you need to live a normal life.  That means that you eat nutritionally correct and not just pick at bits of lettuce with a hint of extra virgin olive oil.  You need to eat some fats – OK so careful on the saturated fats and definitely no trans fats, but your body does require a little fat.  You need protein.  You need carbs.  You need fresh fruit and veggies.  You also need to enjoy what you eat, just not too much! 

Everything should be in moderation and now that the word is out that Victoria Beckham isn’t currently at a weight that’s healthy enough  for her body to sustain the demands of the tour, this is a great time for other role models to start rethinking their public diet plans, and showing how they can become better ambassadors for healthy living.  I’m sure most of them get a kick out of the photos in the magazines, but I’m also sure they’d get a much longer thrill from knowing they have paved the way for a generation of healthy girls who know how to eat nutritiously as well as look good.

How sad and tragic the death of 6 year old Guy Davies is.  My heart goes out not only to his mother, but also to the driver of the car who may have been expected to be driving careful enough not to hit anyone on the road, but who would also not expect to find a child on the motorway in the first place.  However there are many people who live in close vicinity to main roads, many of them families with small children so it’s a wonder that this isn’t a more common occurrence. 

There ought to be a way of sheltering residential areas from the dangers associated with motorway vehicles, whether it is by financing additional security measures so block off the major roads from the nearby homes so that children aren’t able to just wander out into the road.  The amount of financial resource that this would take is likely to be as great as the amount of time it would take to assess which areas of the busiest motorways need to be isolated from the residential areas first, but as little Guy’s death has proved, it’s something that’s needing to be looked at.

Finally we seem to be progressing with the site. This is what I'm going to change next the insurance cat page