Background
Western State Bank has been around since 1902, founded in North Dakota with branches now across the Arizona region. They've built their reputation on being the opposite of a big bank — fast, personalized, and consistent. Western Equipment Finance, formed under the WSB umbrella in 1990, carries the same values into a more specialized space: loans, vendor relations, and equipment financing for small businesses and the industries that serve them.
Both organizations had work to do on the web. WSB needed a modern CMS implementation that met accessibility standards and gave their team control over their content. WEF had a different set of problems: industries only surfaced on a single page rather than throughout the site, sales landing pages were scattered and inconsistent, branding didn't clearly connect back to the parent bank, and inventory displayed as one undifferentiated list with no way to filter or navigate it.
Solution
Blend's work with Western State Bank came first. WSB arrived with a finished design and a clear platform preference — Umbraco — and Blend built it out from there. The implementation covered more than a dozen page types, including location pages, product pages, and a profile listing. Site search, third-party financial calculator integrations, and four custom forms were built using Umbraco Forms, with structured content like news posts migrated automatically. The site launched on Umbraco Cloud, meeting WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards across the board.
When WSB returned to Blend for Western Equipment Finance, the scope expanded to a full engagement — discovery, strategy, design, and build. Blend ran a discovery workshop with WEF stakeholders to understand the three audiences the site needed to serve: vendors and dealers who refer customers and rely on the site for program and team information; small business owners looking for fast, trustworthy financing options; and WEF's own sales team, who needed landing pages they could share directly with prospects. That research shaped both the content model and the information architecture. Industries moved from a single centralized page to a site-wide category system, so every relevant page — whether it’s inventory listings, landing pages, or program pages — could surface the right industry context automatically.
Sales representative landing pages were built in two versions: a public profile and a link-only version for specific deals or industries. An updated inventory listing added filtering and category-based cross-promotion. Umbraco Forms handled contact and survey forms throughout, and financial calculators — Section 179 and equipment calculators — were embedded where each audience needed them. The design was built to feel like a natural companion to the WSB site, giving users the reassurance of a trusted parent brand without erasing WEF's own identity. The site launched on Umbraco Cloud in 2025.
Impact
Two sites, two distinct audiences, one platform, and one partner. Umbraco Cloud gave both WSB and WEF the editorial flexibility their teams needed, and the consistent foundation meant Blend could move efficiently from one project to the next without starting from scratch. For WEF in particular, the new site replaced a fragmented experience with something deliberately structured.
You can also read Blend’s Western State Bank Umbraco Cloud case study for more on the implementation, accessibility work, and how the banking experience was built on Umbraco.
Results
"Thanks to the entire Blend team — I appreciate the work the entire team does, as well as the continued service and responsiveness the team provides."
