How to better explain my business?

Hey Will, It did take a bit for me to figure out what what your interesting site was about. I think a slogan and short, well defined enunciation of your purpose would be helpful. I'm not a marketeer, but here are a few ideas that might get you pointed in the right direction:

• Expose Yourself! (Provocative)
• See, Show and Sell your Creative Works
• The powerful, easy to use 'eBay' for the art community

I'm sure you can define yourself better than this. Start with what people already know and connect that interest to how your site is useful to them. Get away from the generic names (what is utopic?) and focus on a name, short slogan and a few sentences on your home page that grabs artists and buyers attention on the value and benefits of using your site.

You might consider two different portals, as you have two separate users in mind. You could create one portal for artists to sell their art and market it as just that and a second portal which would be the art market part. This way you can appeal to both ends of the transaction and market them separately.

Hope this helps, Lizeth Lucid Strategies

What problem are you solving for your visitors?

Put the answer to that question in SIMPLE ENGLISH.

You should be able to explain this in 30 seconds - at most.

Keep asking friends to critique your summary and keep editing it till you get it right.

You might even consider hiring a professional writer to help you.

Then - get your landing page lined up with your summary and positioning.

Make sure you're following key bloggers in your segment (look on Tecnorati.com who are likely to be interested in your site and find ways to help them understand the unique value of your site - they'll help you.

I'd also take a look at other site implementations for inspiration. http://www.fine-art.com/ is an example.

One thing that strikes me is that once you enter into an artists page, it's a one way proposition. There is no "global" navigation that could get you to related artists, art, etc. In addition, each microsite is visually different - making one feel that you have left the initial site and gone off somewhere else.

fine-art works hard to break the site into three distinct offerings. from their site:

• Art Marketplace. The Internet Art Database is a Fixed-priced art listing service. This is the core service of d'ART.

• Art Links Web directory. This selective directory helps you find the essential art-related sites on the Web.

• The Community at d'ART News and discussion forums. Use this area to research and interactive with other enthusiasts or with the artist directly.

Perhaps a closer look at the user types on your site, what messages need to be presented to them, and where such messages need to be placed would help partition your site.

good luck!

I think Lizeth's answer is definitely on the right track. Although you don't even need two different portals.

Think about amazon.com or ebay.com. The public face / front door is ALL about the buying experience. There is absolutely no mixed message on either one; the sites appear to be 100% about connecting buyers with what they are looking for. Someplace, often hard to find, there are little links for 'authors' or 'sellers' where they can get into the back office functionality they need to list their items and service sellers. Those links expose enormous amounts of functionality that is important to the sellers -- but only because they know that if they jump through the hoops their stuff, too, will appear seamlessly in that attractive public interface where it can meet up with the buyer's of their dreams.

And as for the global navigation -- it might be hard to do but perhaps you could implement a sort of visual pandora where a person can define a 'channel/gallery' based on one or two artists that they know they do like and you can have, maybe in a little side bar, a changing display of vaguely similar works they might like to find out about.

Wow, Thanks everyone for such a warm response. Here are some thoughts that I had based on everyones input.

To Lizeth Gomez: that is a great idea. I think you are understanding my problem / frustration. There are 2 completely separate users I am trying to appeal to with one page, which conflicts against itself. when you say "two different portals" do you mean 2 different websites" which would than be connected to each other?

To jimg: there is a global navigation where you can find every artist: http://www.utopicstudios.com/search.php you said: "In addition, each microsite is visually different - making one feel that you have left the initial site and gone off somewhere else." William: This is what I am striving for. The concept that I am working on, is for each artist to have their own website, but at the same time be connected to one network. Giving the artist the benefits of their own website and the benefits of being automatically connected to an art community for exposure. The problem that I am having, is explaining this confusing and complicated concept in an easy to understand language.

I do like the idea of having a small navigation within the microsites.

Thanks for every ones responses, please send some more ideas!

What it sounds like to me is, you need a powerful executive summary of your business.

Your executive summary is incredibly important to your chances for success in attracting investors, securing a business loan, or winning a grant. There are a number of reasons why this small 2 page write up is the most important 2 pages you will ever write.

It is your First Impression – Marketing professionals often say that you have 7 seconds to make a first impression on a visitor to your website. When it comes to your business plan you probably have a couple paragraphs to make that ever important first impression. So don't start out with your company history and mission statement. Start out with a bang! If you just signed a major contract, don't hide it deep in the business plan, rather mention it in your very first paragraph.

It is your Chance to Compel the Reader to Keep Reading – If you truly summarize your entire business plan in your two page document why would anyone want to keep reading? Make it clear that there is value packed in the rest of the business plan. Your executive summary should give away just enough of the good stuff to leave the reader needing more. If your boring in your executive summary the reader must assume that you will also be boring in your business plan, and will therefore throw the plan on the pile never to be touched again.

It is the Only Thing Most VIP's will Ever Read – Let's be honest. Do you really think that the Regional President at your bank will be reading your entire 40 page business plan for your $250,000 loan request? Most VIP's have little time to worry about the details of your plan, they leave that to someone else, and yet they hold the most power in the decision making process. For this reason, it is vital to excite the reader in the 2 short pages of your executive summary.

Is your executive summary important? Absolutely. You only have once chance to impress, only one chance to close a loan with a bank or a investment deal with a venture capital firm, so put all you've got into creating the most compelling executive summary possible.