We recently helped the folks at UBM TechWeb redesign and relaunch their Create Your Next Customer site. When it first launched in 2008 it was intended to be a relatively simple online media kit, with pages for each of InformationWeek’s media brands. Though we created it from the start with WordPress, the blog section was really just a “nice-to-have.” The site was 90% marketing and 10% blog.

Since then the site has grown, not only because UBM TechWeb has been busy creating new brands, but also because UBM TechWeb executives like Scott Vaughan and Winnie Ng-Schuchman have been blogging like mad. They use the site to share their take on what’s going on in the media and business technology industries, post research and conduct Q & A interviews with their clients.

The new site design puts the blog up front. The front page, which used to to be monopolized by media and marketing products, now walks and talks and crawls on its belly like a blog. We redesigned the single post pages to be more personal. We added more opportunities to comment and share. The brand and product information (about 200 individual pages and “sell sheets,” at last count) is still there, but the focus is on two-way engagement with business technology marketers.

We really like  the new look, and the way UBM TechWeb’s marketing teams have embraced the opportunity to use blogging and social media to engage with customers. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

• Tech buyers do use vendor content regularly.  More than 28% have based a purchase decision on content created or supported by a vendor.
• The goal is not just lead gen: valuable content becomes a tool for explaining complex technology issues within an organization.

Executive summaries of the research can be downloaded here.

When we first helped TechWeb launch CreateYourNextCustomer.com, the goal was to create an innovative, dynamic online media kit that featured a media planning widget, easy-to-update product information and a place for blog posts and research.  The TechWeb marketing team had the insight to add several lead generation features, to work with Modern Media to produce a monthly traffic-driving newsletter, as well as build support for the site among its management and sales teams.

Over the last two years, the site has become so successful that it was time for a re-design, which launched at the beginning of December 2009.  With the new layout, we’ve better separated the product information from the thought leadership information, and created new flexibility for the ever-

growing and -changing TechWeb group of products. The blog now has much richer content and more ways of engaging readers. We’ve also added new features, such as the online RFP form that automatically sends information to the correct sales contact, and re-designed the media planning widget to be more intuitive and easy-to-use.

We’re excited to see the site continue to grow and evolve as TechWeb continues to innovate in terms of the media products and services that it offers to its clients!