Web 2.0 isn't the new standards. Do you know what web 2.0 is? Web 2.0 is just a guy who found out that all the good domain names were taken so he started registering weird domain names and called it the 'new generation of web' and thats how many of the "web 2.0" sites began. IMHO the site looks fine and certainly trendy and doesn't need any web 2.0 to it. Web 2.0 in my definition is just making the website more user friendly then in the past ~eric
Its a template. So you just bought it as is? I think whoever designed this concept started with a great idea with the top banner then got lazy. The buttons are so much like everone elses who can download a button set. I would focus on spicing up the left navigation and that should help with the simple white text on black content. I would adopt some elements from the banner and incorporate it into the footer. Again the oval rectangle is to my opinion a last resort when the ideas fade.
Not a fan of the buttons used for navigation, add a design to the bottom similarly to what you have done in the header.