Penny Haynes owns a successful online business that allows
ANYONE to create audio, video and images
and easily upload and post them to social media and social networking sites .
Her business is named The Commercial Creation Center http://www.CommercialCreationCenter.com
I met Penny when she signed up for my Ryze.com network and
after seeing that her business is cutting edge I asked her to do an
interview. The result is very informative and helpful.
Q:
What
is your family background?
A:
I am married with 2 children (one in college, one a senior in high school).
My husband raises squirrel hunting dogs, so we have 7 dogs and a kennel.
I met my husband while we were both ministers in a church. We were
asked to co-pastor the singles group, and ended up falling in love.
Q:
What is your background in computer programming?
A:
I had training in VB6, but experience in VBA, html, asp, sql, java and
MSAccess. But in order to complete this project myself, I had to learn
php, mySQL and really practice the VB6 I had learned (not too much different
than VBA).
I love the fact that, if I can dream it, I can find a programming language to probably create it. The problem is that I need to learn even more languages - like more about programming with xml, xslt, flash and more web-based programs. I just have to find a way to put more than 24 hours in a day and more than 7 days in a week to be able to do that.
Q: What would you have done on the web if you did not have the programming background?
A: I actually didn't program the Online Community Magazines, or all of the Commercial Creation Center. I was scared to take the plunge, so I used Rentacoder and other sites like that to find some other people to do it for me. It was frustrating, though. They never finished on time, and in the case of the Commercial Creation Center, QUIT before finishing it - which is why I had to take the plunge and learn the new languages and finish it all myself. But since I'm a newbie at some of these languages, I also rely on help from a technical advisor who has taken me under his wing. I refer to him as YODA, since he's my Jedi Master at all the vb6 stuff I don't know.
Q: When did you land on the Internet?
A:
My experience on the web really started in 2004 when I started creating,
selling and teaching others how to create and sell audio related products.
What started out as a digital download audio book store turned into an audio
teaching and production business. You can visit http://www.LearnAudioAndVideo.com
to see the 5 main multimedia-related courses I have taught.
Q:
What happened then?
A:
I jumped on Podcasting when it started at the end of 2004, and started
teaching others how to use audio, video and RSS feeds to increase their
search engine rankings. Due to my own business podcast, Brain Storm!
Business Podcast (http://www.BrainStormBusinessPodcast.com),
I was hired as the
Podcasting Consultant for Lifetime Television for Women in 2006. (By the
way, I'm in the midst of transitioning from an old feed to a new feed, so
the new feed only has a few posts on it. There are several years of
posts on the old feed.)
Q: You were on a roll with the emergence of podcasting. Tell us more.
A:
I then created the world's first turnkey niche podcast directory
software that anyone could own
(http://www.PodcastDirectories4Sale.com) .
The problem with Podcast Directories was that only people who knew how to
create podcasts could submit something. What about all of those people
out there who wanted to post something, but didn't know how?
Q:
Is that when you started Online Community Magazines?
A: Yes,
that was the next step (http://www.OnlineCommunityMagazines.com)
This is a combination podcast & blog directory that actually allows
people to create audio, video and images, gives them unlimited hosting and
their own Podcast or Blog page with RSS feed. It then takes everyone's
audio, video, text and image posts and creates a multimedia magazine from
it. It is a business opportunity intended for use with niche
communities as well as offline local geographical communities.
The offshoot of Online Community Magazines is the Commercial Creation Center
(CCC) software - that's the best part. It's the only multimedia
production suite created for novices, so simple that anyone, regardless of
experience, can be creating audio, video and images in minutes. It also
links to social media and social networking sites so they can quickly and
easily post their multimedia all over the net. It's the only software
of it's kind.
The Commercial Creation Center (http://www.CommercialCreationCenter.com)
lets people create podcasts, audio books, video tutorials, info products,
viral marketing videos, and more. I also offer free weekly classes for
people who sign up for the $19.99/month service, to help them create, upload
and post their multimedia content consistently. Then I offer free
monthly How To classes on different subjects - again only for active CCC
users/members. However, anyone can download the software for free and
try it for 3 days.
So, although my journey over the past 4 years has meandered, it has always
revolved around helping novices use audio and video to promote themselves on
the internet.
Q:
How do you get the world out there about your business?
A:
I get high search engine rankings the same way I always have.
Creating and syndicating RSS feeds with my keywords and links back to my
sites. I just Googled "commercial creation". I am #1
Google for “commercial creation” and I am mentioned four times on the
first Google page and I just went live 2 weeks ago. I'm going to
work on some other keywords now.
People
find out about me and then interview me, such as the interview done on the
CCC on Entrepreneur.com. I got a call yesterday from a woman who saw
it and called me, wanting to join to use my service.
Q:
Do you use social networking to help your site get seen?
A:
I use social networking to try and cross market. I'm working on a
joint venture with a coach who teaches ministers how to market their
message. The goal is for her clients to use the CCC to create, upload
and post multimedia marketing campaigns and she will teach them
everything else they need to know. In return, I would put up a partner
page for her on my site, sending interested people to her to be a part of
her coaching group.
Q:
What other techniques do you use to promote your business?
A:
I use email lists that I am a part of to promote it, and I have an affiliate
program. People can sign up for the CCC and become an affiliate at 25%
commission. I provide the banners with embedded affiliate links, and
an email affiliate link. I also put the link of our active affiliates AND
our active users on a page on our site as well. So I do everything I
can to promote anyone who uses my software and promotes my software.
Q:
Where do most of your sales originate?
A:
Most of my sales have been through networking and lists I belong to.
Most of those are clients who have taken my classes or hired me for
multimedia production work before, and really know and like my work. So I
need to get to know more people - widen my sphere of influence - so more
people will know and like my work and join up.
Q:. If someone has a candle business, for example, what would be your advice be to that person? Let's assume they want to put up some YouTube videos and maybe website videos as well.
A:
My advice to all entrepreneurs is this: people really want to do
business with a person, not with a business. You may think you are
selling a product, but to get repeat business and great referrals, you need
to sell YOURSELF. You need to make a soul connection with clients so
they feel like they know you and that you are interested in them. The
best way to connect with people over the internet is audio and video.
So
the candle entrepreneur should really consider not only talking about the
candles, but showing her face and introducing herself to her potential
clients. Make them feel like she is trustworthy and knows what she is
talking about. Do something creative that makes people want to pay
attention to what candles she sells. Record testimonials from
satisfied customers and post them on the site. The more creative
and engaging you can be, the more people will feel connected to you and want
to purchase from you.
Once
you create the media, put it up EVERYWHERE. My Commercial Creation
Center software connects you to several sites that will allow you to upload
and post your video or the link to your video on up to 40 sites in just a
few steps. Having a podcast or a blog and then syndicating that RSS
feed is another important thing for promoting inexpensively. There are
lots of inexpensive things you can do to become visible and accepted on the
internet.
We
offer that type of training as a bonus to all Commercial Creation Center
users. They join for $19.99 a month and get unlimited audio, video and
image creation tools, plus help from me to make sure they create and post on
a regular basis, and also classes to learn things they didn't know.
Thank you, Penny, for this fine interview and thank you for your time.
Contact Penny:
Phone:
678-459-2437
Email: info@commercialcreationcenter.com
Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/pennyhaynes
Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Scentsy: http://www.scentsy.com/16684
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg