Made in the Midlands launches new-look website

Made in the Midlands is delivering on its promise of upgrading services to its members with the launch of its new website.

Made In is currently the fastest growing membership network for regional industrialists and to maintain our growth we needed a portal that reflected this.

The new platform therefore incorporates all that was great about the old website but with some impressive upgrades.

Ahead of the full launch we are calling on our members to help us road test the portal so we can iron out the bumps and deliver a site that fulfils all requirements.

The result will be a more intuitive and interactive portal ready for the next phase of our development.

Members can access the portal via the existing URL – www.madeinthemidlands.com – but before proceeding, will need to reset their passwords.

Once there, you will immediately notice the new interface with its upgraded colour scheme, clean dashboard and cleaner modules. The menu navigation in the left hand side of the page separates out the key elements for the user and you will notice the animated microsite graphic that displays upon first logging onto the new system.

All the usual features are on the main page but with several new features including:

• The option to schedule publication of news content instead of only publishing live and adding tags to your news article for better search functionality.
• The addition of a network feature allows you to follow member news stories more closely and of course, other members can also follow you. News from members you follow is added to your dashboard as priority reading and your news digest will now prioritise those members above the wider network.
• Members of both Made in the Midlands and Made in Yorkshire can now publish news content from one platform instead of logging in twice; you can also follow members in other regions of the UK.
• The microsite module has been completely rewritten. For many members this is one of the main benefits and rather than being a mini-page with a unique subdomain within the main Made in the Midlands portal, it is now a comprehensive mini-website. It includes many modules that can be switched on or off from the new microsite dashboard. Additionally, there are now 11 different editable sections within member microsites that allow the user to completely customise their content.
• The messaging system has also had a rewrite and we have changed the way this works to enable users to message individual users and multiple members. The messaging system will also send a copy of part of the message to the user’s designated email address.
• The resources section has not changed too much, with the exception that the Made In team will now be adding a comprehensive list of brand logos for members to use.
• Gold members of Made in the Midlands and Yorkshire now receive free adverts on fellow member microsites. The adverts section has also received a major overhaul with an animated graph that displays the advert’s performance and a list of advert placements.
• The ability to add, edit and delete users has now been added to the member dashboard. Previously this feature was only accessible to the Made In team. This extra control and ability to give certain users different permissions means that members have more control over the admin functions of their profile and who can use it.

The website redesign has been carried out by Birmingham-based Kalexiko.

So please go ahead and try out the new features, tell us what you think and if you think of anything we haven’t, then let us know.