GraphicMail AU & NZ launches new fully responsive Drupal Website

Ralph McAllister, General Manager - GraphicMail AU & NZ.

The ease and simplicity of Drupal’s management tools and permission structures means that we now have a CMS system that can be easily localised even more to truly reflect all local content.

According to a study by DigitalBuzz, 56% of people globally own a smartphone and of those, 50% use their mobile as their primary internet source. In light of these statistics it’s clear to see why mobile friendly responsive design has moved to the front of the queue in terms of website development. Says Barbara du Preez-Ulmi, GraphicMail’s Global Marketing Director: “Our move to Drupal’s open source, customized system helps in increasing the speed of our website, but also the ease of use for our network of over 20 global country partners. While moving away from our own system and onto Drupal, we’ve also redesigned the website to be mobile and tablet friendly. We designed it with the maxim of ‘mobile first’.”  Media Machine, the agency chosen to build GraphicMail’s new site, is a Cape Town based web development agency with specialized skills and experience; an absolute necessity when partnering with one of the world’s top email service providers (ESPs).  Says Dewald Herbst of MediaMachine: “We’re extremely proud to have been involved in the development of the new GraphicMail website. GraphicMail required a flexible and robust content management system, not only for their main offices in the US and South Africa, but also for each of their 23 country partners. We leveraged the power of Drupal, an open source CMS, to deliver GraphicMail's unique and somewhat challenging requirements.” 

“Our solution has provided GraphicMail with a platform to efficiently deploy new sites for their country partners, as well as tools to translate and customize each site for its respective market. The website has been translated into more than 11 different languages and key functionalities include SEO, various API and CRM integrations and a responsive design.” GraphicMail’s powerful mobile, email and social media marketing tools have helped business grow their client base for over a decade; this has inevitably led to a community of partners and clients from all over the world. The ESP’s international family played a big part in choosing Drupal as the CMS system of choice for the new site. Not only has the site’s entire design been revamped, but it has made it easier for GraphicMail’s site to be localised in the different languages in which they offer their services. 

“The ease and simplicity of Drupal’s management tools and permission structures means that we now have a CMS system that can be easily deployed in multiple languages and localised with Drupal’s high level of sophistication,” says GraphicMail’s CEO, Nick Eckert.  From an SEO perspective, Drupal does not disappoint. It is a robust CMS with a solid foundation for SEO. It’s important functionalities include; control over URL structure and path automation, control over page titles and meta tags, Google website optimiser, an SEO checklist module, and a passionate community with contributed open source modules to keep improving on it day by day.

Says Shane Joseph, GraphicMail’s Global in-house SEO Specialist: “Drupal is the best CMS for SEO, because it is community driven. There are thousands of people using Drupal and creating, maintaining and updating contributed modules. If, next week, there is some huge breakthrough in SEO I can guarantee someone will be developing a Drupal module to supplement this breakthrough. It's not just a huge community, but also a standards-driven community. The people developing modules and upgrading the Drupal core are committed to making it the ultimate CMS and refuse to sacrifice web standards, maintaining Drupal's reputation for search engine-friendliness.” With a truly global community of both clients and partners, GraphicMail’s move to Drupal reflects its commitment to constant and sustainable progress in the field of mobile, email and social media marketing.