This’ll get you thinking: Jeremiah Owyang writes about irrelevant corporate web sites, and more specifically, how such sites can (and will need to) evolve. In particular, I love this bit here:

The corporate website is an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content. As a result, trusted decisions are being made on other locations on the internet.

I believe that’s accurate, though not necessarily applicable to small business. Yet. But, the small business web sites that are first to adopt the general principles Jeremiah is pushing could be the early winners. And I think the points he makes boil down to one thing: Open up the lines of communication between your business and your customers. Engage with them, and let them engage with you.