God has blessed each of us with different skills, personality traits, and life experiences.  These all combine to create a unique point of view that nobody else in the world can offer.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus chose men from various walks of life to be His disciples?  Perhaps, it was because He knew that His message needed to be told through various viewpoints to reach the widest possible audience?  Take the Gospels for example.  Each of them tell the story of Jesus’s life here on earth, but each author told it in a very different way.

What about your blog?  Are you only providing your readers with a single point of view?  Have you considered opening your blog up for others to come and share your topics through the lens God has given them?

I’m Interested in Guest Blogging for You

By now you’ve had the opportunity to read my posts to discover how my personal lens impacts the way I see the role faith plays in the marketplace.

If you think I might provide your readers with a valuable point of view on your topics, I’d be interested in writing a guest post for your blog.

Choosing Where to be a Guest Blogger

When I write a guest post I throw whatever influence I have behind the post to send readers to the site.  This includes writing a teaser post on this site sending Google link juice to the post, and using my social media accounts to promote the post.

I’ve adopted these guidelines for choosing sites where I’ll post:

• The site must be established. Preferably your site will be at least 6 months old.  You must have at least 20 posts that you have written on your site.
• The site must foster a sense of community. If you’re not responding to your reader’s comments or engaging them in social media don’t ask me to guest post.
• The site must have a professional layout. There are many free themes available, so there is no excuse to operate a website that is hard on the eyes.
• The site must not be overly promotional. If most of your site is advertisements, or your pages are filled with affiliate links, I’m not interested.
• I must know who you are. I want to write for people I know.  Develop a rapport with me by commenting on my posts and engaging me on Twitter or Facebook.
• The site must be relevant to my topics. This one seems pretty straightforward, but if your blog is about poetry, mud wrestling, etc. it isn’t going to be a good fit for what I write about.

There are no Google PageRank, traffic ranking, or subscriber count requirements that many bloggers impose.  I would love the benefits from guest posting on more popular sites, but it isn’t why I’m doing this.

Invite Me to Guest Post on Your Blog

If you’re interested in having me guest post on your blog, and your blog meets the guidelines above, just email me with INVITATION TO GUEST POST in the subject line.  I would like to do five to eight guest posts per month.

If you’re interested in writing for The Christian Entrepreneur please check out our Guest Posting Policy for details.  We also have staff writer positions open.

Related posts:

1. January 2010 Recap – But I Don’t Wanna Blog!
2. How I Make Money From This Site (and You)
3. Comments Are a Blogger’s Best Friend

Lately, I’ve watched blog after blog that I visit say goodbye to outside comment systems like DISQUS and IntenseDebate.

The response from their readers has been overwhelmingly positive.  I was surprised by the number of comments that were avidly against outside comment systems.

Personally, I like all of the bells and whistles they provide.  In the first few months of this blog I used DISQUS, but I started getting complaints about it from my blog community.  I decided to let my readers decide which comment system to use, and they chose against the bells & whistles opting for the generic WordPress comment system.

What about CommentLuv?

I was unable to get CommentLuv to work with my theme so I chose to go with IntenseDebate over DISQUS since CommentLuv had announced it could be integrated with IntenseDebate.  Most of my readers are bloggers so they really like CommentLuv.

I was happy because it was a convenient excuse for me to keep the social media integration, widgets, and multiple login options an outside comment system provides.  Guess what?  My theme designer sent out an update a few weeks back.

Yep, you guessed it.  After reading all those posts I decided to disable IntenseDebate to see if the CommentLuv plugin would work on its own.  It did (insert sad blogger face here).

Now Announcing – A No Frills Comment System

With my last decent excuse not to ditch the outside comment systems gone, I have switched to the generic WordPress comment system.  Here are some of the benefits:

• Much faster page loads
• Less confusion logging in to comment
• No longer dependent on outside servers to be up
• Comments now viewable using mobile devices
• No links routing you to their comment site
• No more sync or lost comment issues

Oftentimes, simplicity is the answer.  While I will miss the shiny features that outside comment systems provide, it feels good to eliminate some of the clutter.

What Do You Think?

In the end, I want to use what works the best for my readers.  Did I make the right choice?

I’d appreciate any feedback you have.

Related posts:

1. December 2009 Recap – A Great Ending to the Year
2. Please Excuse the Mess
3. A Quick Shout Out to My Blog Community

I still remember the first time I sank my teeth into a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.  It was like nothing I had ever tasted before, and I was hooked!

In the twenty-plus years since, I’ve watched their restaurants (and those illiterate cows) pop up all over the place.

The rise of Chick-Fil-A from it’s humble origins as a small restaurant outside Atlanta, Georgia called the Dwarf House in 1946 into the success that they enjoy today is an amazing and unique story.  There is so much that we as entrepreneurs (especially as Christian entrepreneurs) can learn from Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-A, that I found it difficult to cram it all into just a few posts.

So next week (July 12th-16th) I will be sharing several posts about the company, their founder, their business practices, and what we can learn from their story as entrepreneurs.

Are You a Chick-Fil-A Fan?

Are you fanatical about Chick-Fil-A too?  What about the food or company do you like?

Do you have a great story about Chick-Fil-A? I’d love to hear it.

Share your thoughts and stories with us below.

Related posts:

1. Guess Who’s a Member of the Famous Bloggers Club
2. Need a Christian Marketplace Guest Blogger?
3. The Christian Entrepreneur Picked as Site of the Day

If ever there were any doubts, they are completely gone now.  I am definitely a creature of habit.

My plan at the beginning of December was to take off one week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, but that wasn’t exactly how it worked out.  Once my wife and son were on their winter break from school, there was little hope of keeping up my two-a-day posts.

There was no hope at all when my laptop crashed.  To make matters worse, all of my social networking came to a screeching halt as well.

My routine was pretty well set.  I would write one post in the morning, and in the afternoon after I picked up my son from school I would write the second post.  I would do my blogwalking and social networking on the laptop while watching television or carrying on a conversation with the family.

It’s not that I didn’t want to blog, but the extended break started a new routine that was hard to break without the laptop being available.

The Christian Entrepreneur in the News

It should come as little surprise then that there was very little buzz going around the blogosphere during January.  I managed to post a whole six posts for the month.

The biggest news came sometime around New Year’s Day when we received our visible PageRank update from Google.  The Christian Entrepreneur now has a PageRank of 2 up from the initial PageRank of zero it received in November.

It’s Hard to Comment When There’s No Postings

I was pretty surprised that the number of comments were as high as they were since I had not posted much during January.  All I can say is that you all rock!

This month we had 26 commenters make 52 comments compared to 42 commenters making 189 comments last month.

Top 10 Commenters

1. Paula (8)
2. Mike Holmes (6)
3. Will from Whatawebsite (4)
4. Brandon A. Cox (3)
   Laurie Neumann (3)
   Ms. Freeman (3)
   Alison Moore Smith (3)
5. Rod Kirby (2)
   David Rupert (2)
   Jared P. Little (2)

As a way of saying thank you, the links above will share my Google PageRank.

Special Commenter Appreciation Goes To …

The free one month advertising banner goes to Paula from Affiliate Blog Online for being the top commenter.  Please email your banner to brad@bradleyaharmon.com.

Paula from Affiliate Blog Online, Mike Holmes, and Will from Whatawebsite will all receive a free write up on their blogs for being the top three commenters of the month.

Find out more about our commenter appreciation program by reading Comments Are a Blogger’s Best Friend.

5 Most Commented on Posts of the Month

1. How SMART are Your New Year’s Resolutions? (18 comments)
2. 5 Ways to Make Your Goals Even SMARTer this Year (14 comments)
3. What Entrepreneurs can Learn from Martha Coakley’s Campaign (10 comments)
4. Gays, Lesbians, and the Christian Entrepreneur (10 comments)
5. Where was God when Haiti Shook? (9 comments)

Website Statistics

Even though I was harder to find than Waldo at a barber shop sign warehouse in January, the web traffic for the month was still decent for such a young blog.

Top Referring Sites

1. Whatawebsite (62)
2. Blog Engage (50)
3. Stumble Upon (43)
4. Intense Debate (35)
5. Twitter (21)

February 2010 Goals

• 2,500 visits
• 1,000 unique visitors
• 7,500 pageviews
• 3.00 average pageviews

January 2010 Goals vs Actuals

The four goals that I wanted this site to achieve in January were not possible with my post volume for the month.  I am surprised that we were at 50% or more for most.

• Goal was 1,200 visits – Actually had 663
• Goal was 700 unique visitors – Actually had 464
• Goal was 3,500 page views – Actually had 1,526
• Goal was 3.00 average pageviews – Actually had 2.30

Final Thoughts

Obviously, I need to step it up big time if I am going to come anywhere close to my February 2010 goals.  It’s my birthday month though so hopefully you all will give me a nice present.

I will be opening up guest posting in February, and I will be writing guest posts for several bloggers that have asked over the last month.

If you’re interested in having me guest post on your blog, or you would like to guest post on The Christian Entrepreneur let me know.  The best way is by leaving a comment here or leave a comment on my Facebook wall.

Related posts:

1. December 2009 Recap – A Great Ending to the Year
2. November 2009 Recap – What a Great Month!
3. Comments Are a Blogger’s Best Friend

I was a little worried about how December would turn out given the expected drop off in web traffic with the extended holiday season.

I decided to double up on my posts for the first half of the month while I still had the attention of my readers before those pesky dancing sugar plums pushed all thoughts of blogs out of their heads.

It seemed to really pay off when I look at the response the blog received.  I’m so glad that it did because, as I found out, even bloggers are subject to the temptation of checking out during the holiday season.

I really wanted to hit 100 posts by the end of 2009, but my laptop crashed midway through the month and with both my wife and son out of school for the holidays there was no hiding in the office to blog.

The Christian Entrepreneur in the News

Even though I did not reach my 100 posts goal, it was still a great month.  I was inducted into the Famous Bloggers Club which was quite an honor.

The Christian Entrepreneur was also included in several lists and/or mentioned by other bloggers around the blogosphere.  It seems that word is spreading fast about the community we are developing here.

Comments are the Lifeblood of any Blog

Of course, this is due to all of you who participate in the discussion here with your insightful comments.  This month we had 42 commenters that left 189 comments compared to 35 commenters who left 117 comments last month.

Top 10 Commenters

1. Alison Moore Smith (23)
2. Will from Whatawebsite (18)
3. Mike Holmes (16)
4. Dana @ Online Knowledge (12)
5. Keith (11)
6. Rita J. Cartwright (9)
   Ileane (9)
   Brandon A. Cox (9)
7. Karl Foxley (7)
   Hesham (7)

As a way of saying thank you, the links above will share my Google PageRank.

Special Commenter Appreciation Goes To …

This month, I shared my new commenter appreciation program in Comments Are a Blogger’s Best Friend.  Thank you for taking the time to leave so many comments.

The free one month advertising banner goes to Alison Moore Smith for being the top commenter.  Please email your banner to brad@bradleyaharmon.com.

Alison Moore Smith, Will from Whatawebsite, and Mike Holmes will all receive a free write up on their blogs for being the top three commenters of the month.

5 Most Commented on Posts of the Month

1. The #BlogEngage Community, How Tweet It Is! (31 comments)
2. CommentLuv, DISQUS, or IntenseDebate? (28 comments)
3. How Much Money Am I Making with Blog Engage? (26 comments)
   All I Want for Christmas is Your Blog Engage Votes (26 comments)
   
4. How I Make Money From This Site (and You) (23 comments)

Website Statistics

I am in absolute awe of the website statistics for December 2009.  Increasing the posting frequency in the first half of the month really seemed to pay off.

Top Referring Sites

1. Blog Engage (186)
2. Whatawebsite (95)
3. Stumble Upon (78)
4. Twitter (71)
5. Facebook (21)

January 2010 Goals

• 1,200 visits
• 700 unique visitors
• 3,500 pageviews
• 3.00 average pageviews

December 2009 Goals vs Actuals

In the November 2009 Recap, I set four goals that I wanted this site to achieve in December.  We were able to accomplish three of the goals, but we didn’t just accomplish them – we clobbered them!

• Goal was 1,200 visits – Actually had 1,260
• Goal was 800 unique visitors – Actually had 710
• Goal was 2,400 page views – Actually had 3,656
• Goal was 2.00 average pageviews – Actually had 2.90

Final Thoughts

This month I spent a lot of time building up my web traffic from Blog Engage.  Looking at the most commented upon posts and the top referrer, it seems like this attention has paid off with quality traffic.

I wonder if the main purpose of this blog wasn’t a little over-shadowed by all of this traffic though.  I think I need to do a better job of balancing out my posting categories going forward.

Thank you again for making December 2009 a great month.

Related posts:

1. November 2009 Recap – What a Great Month!
2. January 2010 Recap – But I Don’t Wanna Blog!
3. Comments Are a Blogger’s Best Friend

I’m Taking a Few Days Off for the Holidays

Sorry there have not been any posts the last few days.  It’s just that with relatives pouring into town, the laptop still in the repair shop, and my wife and son both out of school my attention has been elsewhere.  I will return to my regular daily posting schedule next week after Christmas.

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas.

Related posts:

1. December 2009 Recap – A Great Ending to the Year
2. January 2010 Recap – But I Don’t Wanna Blog!
3. A Quick Shout Out to My Blog Community

You’ve might have noticed that I say comments are the life blood of any blog quite a few times.  I sincerely believe this.  You have been great at leaving comments on my blog posts, retweeting my posts, and pushing all of my shiny vote and other sharing buttons.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to say thank you.  I don’t have a bunch of fancy prizes that I can give away, but what I do have is this blog platform which is gaining in popularity with each passing week.  And I would love to share it with you.

New Monthly Top Commenters Recognition Program

Many blogs have a monthly top commenters contest.  I’ve always loved this idea so I am starting something similar.  It is a recognition program for my top commenters.

The rules are really simple.  Make sure that your comments adhere to the Comment Policy and Guidelines, and comment like you always have.

Monthly Top Ten Commenters

In the blog community area at the bottom of the page you will see a listing of the Top Monthly Commenters that looks like the image to the right.

The list is dynamic, meaning that it changes throughout the month based on the number of comments you have made.  It also resets at the beginning of each month.

The website address you use in the comment box will be used here.  All of the links are DO FOLLOW links, which means I’m passing on some of my PageRank juice to you for as long as you remain in the list.

In addition to this, the top ten commenters at the end of each month will appear in my monthly recap report along with permanent DO FOLLOW links.  You can see an example of this report here.

Please note that multiple comment accounts will be combined into one at the end of each month so the final top ten monthly commenters list may not be the same as it appears at the end of the month.

Monthly Top 3 Commenters

As a way of saying thank you to the top three commenters each month, each will be given a guaranteed stop on my Blog Walking Series where I will write a post highlighted their site.  If a commenter happens to have multiple blogs or sites, or has does not have a site, then I will try to arrange an appropriate alternative.

Top Commenter of the Month

The top commenter of the month will be given free advertising space on my blog promoting their site for 30 days.  You must provide me with the banner ad by the 10th of the next month.  All ads must be approved by me.

You may choose a 468×60 Banner Ad placed above the comment box (see below), OR

You may choose a 125×125 advertisement to be included in the sidebar (see below).

Links from these advertisements will comply with Google’s advertising policies and will be NO FOLLOW links. These links may not directly link to an affiliate page, squeeze page, or any other objectionable page determined at my sole discretion.  Please note that the sidebar 125×125 advertisements are limited to a maximum of 8 total.

So What Do You Think?

Get Started Now by Leaving a Comment Below!

Related posts:

1. November 2009 Recap – What a Great Month!
2. December 2009 Recap – A Great Ending to the Year
3. January 2010 Recap – But I Don’t Wanna Blog!

Today, I became the newest member of the Famous Bloggers Club!  Looks like I’ve been a good boy, and Santa brought me an early present.

Honestly, I’m pretty sure that I don’t qualify as famous; however, I really appreciate the honor.  It was a lot of fun doing the interview for Hesham Zebida.  It’s a great encouragement to me and the message I am trying to share here at The Christian Entrepreneur.

What’s in My Interview at the Famous Bloggers Club?

Won’t you please stop by and check out Brad Harmon the founder of The Christian Entrepreneur on Famous Bloggers?

In the interview you will learn:

• Why I quit being an employee
• Why I started my own CPA firm
• What I closed my firm to become
• Why I started this blog
• What’s my most famous post
• And much, much more

Hesham does so much for not only our blog community, but many bloggers from the Blog Engage community.  Won’t you please stop by and show him some love by leaving a comment, voting on the article, or clicking on his shiny buttons?

What is the Famous Bloggers Club?

Some of you may not have heard of the Famous Bloggers Club before, or maybe you have heard about it but didn’t know what it was.

The following is from the FBC Membership Terms:

FBC is NOT a secret society, but it is exclusive and membership is only by invitation and limited to 100.

FBC has been created for the sole purpose of unifying bloggers that are proactive, dedicated and committed in helping each other to prosper on the blogosphere. It is not by all means discriminatory, as we will gladly accept those who will abide by this code.

Some Other FBC Member Interviews to Check Out

It’s a great honor when you look at some of the people who have been included in this club.  There are some familiar faces, and a few that might be new to you.

I’d highly recommend checking out these interviews:

• Wanda & Paula Of Affiliate Blog Online
• Don’t miss this Interview with Brandon Cox
• Brian of BlogEngage.com
• Keller Hawthorne of FresheVenture.com

I look forward to reading through the other interviews too.  I have seen several of the other names around the blogosphere.  It’s a very interesting and eclectic group of bloggers.

Thanks to My Blog Community

Thank you for being so receptive to my vision with The Christian Entrepreneur.  It is such an encouragement to know that my thoughts are not falling on deaf ears.  You are so active in your comments, and in your promotion of this blog.  You are a true blessing.

Don’t Forget to Visit the Famous Bloggers Club.
Please Vote on this Interview.  Thank You.

Related posts:

1. December 2009 Recap – A Great Ending to the Year
2. The Christian Entrepreneur Picked as Site of the Day
3. The Christian Entrepreneur – Site of the Month