I am very excited to introduce my latest "Ask A Pro" feature, which has gotten an amazing responses from some very well known "A-List" bloggers. For those who are not already familiar, my Ask A Pro category is devoted to learning from the best - bloggers who have already made a mark for themselves and earned a few dollars along the way. In addition to direct comments and feedback from influential bloggers and entrepreneurs, I also like to put a twist on the typical blog interview. Instead of asking one person a lot of boring questions, I like to ask many of the top bloggers one good question.

The question I asked A-Listers this time was:

What was the first form of income you earned from your blog and how long did it take before it was a decent amount?

I purposely like to leave the question somewhat vague, encouraging the interviewee to focus on what they think is most important. For example, in the above question I asked them to feel free to interpret "decent amount" however they saw fit. The responses so far have been very positive. I wish to thank these influential bloggers for taking time out of their busy schedule to help us learn from their experiences.

Zac Johnson - "I would say that my first "decent" income earned from my blog would be from referring active affiliates to networks. Since I've worked with many affiliate networks, I like to review and recommend them to my blog readers. Any active referrals would earn a referral commission. While the kickback from referring affiliates is quite minimal, I am happy to report that my blog readers have produced well over $100,000 in new commissions for themselves, from network reviews and recommendations off my blog. Whenever I find that I am making money with a new network or happy with a service, I always try and recommend them to my blog readers. Seeing that my readers have earned over $100,000 in commissions from reading my blog and joining the networks I recommend, is an amazing accomplishment, as the blog is still quite young and just starting to flourish." 

Maki -  "The first form of income I've earned from my blog was Google Adsense. I've never really optimized it for Dosh Dosh because I don't use the blog as a main income generator. I would say that it brought in a decent amount of money 7 months of so after it was put up although its still operating well below its potential. Instead, most of my current ad revenue is currently derived through private ad arrangements." 

ShoeMoney - "From my blog...That is a good question.  I actually was never going to put up ads on this blog and didn't the first 2 years then in January of 2007 decided to sell ads after being solicited all the time. The first month we did about $8,000 ballpark. I could justify putting up ads for that much. "

Darren Rowse - "The first income that I earned online from blogs was with AdSense. I also experimented with Amazon Affiliate program around the same time but AdSense brought in the first income. At first it was a dollar or two a day which I considered decent at the time because it paid for my internet access costs - but it was a good 18 months before it enabled me to go full time."

Like most of us, it appears that many of top bloggers started with Google Adsense and made some decent money. As their blog started to grow, they found more lucrative sources of income like private ads or affiliate referrals. The most important thing to point out here is that no one has gotten rich over night. It takes many months of hard work and persistence before the money becomes substantial.

Thanks again to Darren, Jeremy, Maki, and Zac for their comments.

Have a question for A-List bloggers? Want me to include anyone else in my persistent nagging? Leave me a comment below. Be sure to sign up for my feed so you don't miss the next edition of Ask A Pro.

Jeff