Think about small business websites you enjoy. As you surf the web do you find “real” friendly faces or a “pleasant manners” or is it mostly a “strictly business manner”?
The “attitude” that you present in face to face meetings should be conveyed in the design of the your small business website – through the layout, the graphics and the content.
How to we get to there from where you are now? Through communication – face to face is great, but Skype and regular phone work well too. If you have favourite layouts you like let us know. Think about colours – do you have favourites? or are there some colours that you detest.