What our home pages are really saying (a dialog)

I like that post because it highlights a complaint I've quietly had when I look at a lot of sites (both start-ups and established).

Here's a wish-list (vis a vis commercial web sites):

Please...

Always have an "about" link that tells me the name of the company, its corporate form, and who non-anonymously stands up to represent the owners. I want to to know, before we do business, that you are legitimate and not hiding behind a veil of anonymity.

Please include a "contact" page that includes a regular ol' email link, a valid street address, and if at all practical, a phone number. I want to know, before we do business, how far I have to walk to knock on your door in case there's a problem.

Please have a page that explains, concisely yet substantially, what the new site/service does. I do not mean "Do you have problem X? We solve X!". I mean a non-salesy, short guide: "If you sign up you get Y. Y performs function Z."

And as long as I'm wishing for candy and nuts: please have a page for technical types explaining in broad terms how the service functions. Now, I understand that this can be sensitive. You don't want to give away the recipe for your "secret sauce". Still, you can hopefully tell me enough technical info to give me a realistic model of what it is that you propose I use.

For me, when I look at a new or new-to-me service, those are the questions I'm hoping to find answered in the first couple of minutes of looking. When a few of them aren't answered by the site, I tend to give up on the site after just a few minutes.