How do you get users to be more active in a community?

Offer them value and give them the tools to participate. Your community really owes you nothing and in fact the community isn’t yours…it is owned by the folks who are participating so don’t get caught up with the notion that you run this group.

Founders who are talking

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
1. item 1 2. item 2 3. item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
Paragraphs are separated by one or more blank lines: The first paragraph. Another paragraph.	The first paragraph. Another paragraph

How do you get the message out about your company or product? For example how do you get bloggers to write about you or get included in something the 'sprouter newsletter?'

Answered by Maggie Fox – Founder, Social Media Group

I have no idea how you get included in the Sprouter newsletter, but if you want to get bloggers to write about you, figure out which bloggers would be most interested in yo... (more)

How do you find writers to contribute to SmallBizTrends, and what is your compensation structure?

Answered by Anita Campbell – Founder of SmallBizTrends.

To answer the 1st part of your question, I've outlined here how we find and grow great writers here: http://sprouter.com/question/5357-how-do-you-find-great-people-to-writ... (more)

How do you get Google to invest in your startup? Is this a good VC to go to for every startup?

Answered by Dharmesh Shah – Co-founder, HubSpot. Founder, OnStartups. Posted in Money

We had an inside advantage at HubSpot. We knew folks over at Google Ventures. Google Ventures, nor any other VC is a great option for every startup. The best way to figu... (more)

I am starting a web-based company in Chicago that will revolutionize the nightlife industry and there are many people that are interested in working with us because they se...

Answered by Kevin O'Connor – Co-founder of DoubleClick. Posted in Marketing

Every new company say they will 'revolutionize' something so assuming you are right, you simply need to find 1 customer in a each major market. If you are correct, they ot... (more)

How can I get users to sign up that depend on signed up businesses but to get businesses to sign up they depend on signed up users? Do I start marketing to the "chicken or ...

Answered by Tara Hunt – Founder, Buyosphere

Everything in a startup is about chicken or the egg. The trick is to push on the points of stimulous. Let me explain. Your ideal user is the person who needs what you are ... (more)

Sign up for Sprouter