If your business has previously used a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or Joomla and wondered, can I do better? What am I missing out on? Fortunately, one of the most flexible and functional CMS solutions recently launched its newest version. It’s Drupal 7 and there’s a whole lot of chatter about its powerful mix of business tools and easy maintenance.

Drupal is an open source CMS that gives its users a large degree of flexibility to modify, share, and distribute content (text, video, data, business services). Still, Drupal is more than a CMS. It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that is perfect for a small business and scalable for any large enterprise. And don’t take our word for it either, check out why it was rated InfoWorld 2011 Top Pick.

We’ve used a number of content management systems in the past, and while none are perfect, some do the job better than others. Drupal lets us stay ahead of the game and take advantage of the ever-evolving community platform that allows millions of contributors to update it constantly. Consider this — somewhere in the world, Drupal is being updated every second. Like Wikipedia, it’s driven by people that care about how it functions and operates, rather than how it’s marketed. It’s the biggest open secret in web development.

1. Drupal Is Free

Many proprietary CMS systems charge significant monthly or yearly fees as part of the licensing agreement to use the software. For many small business web design needs, those costs are prohibitive and sometimes not fully disclosed during the sale. In addition, the subscription costs can range from a couple hundred dollars a year to sometimes tens of thousands of dollars a month for a large implementation. Drupal, on the other hand, is entirely free and doesn’t have any hidden fees. The advantages are staggering when you take a look at the life cycle of a typical website, which typically can be three to six years.

2. Drupal Has High Profile Clients

Some of Drupal’s highest profile customers include:

The White House

The Onion

Wake Forest University

Energy.gov

FedEx

3. Drupal Has Extensive API Support

When deciding on a CMS, it’s crucial to know what kind of out-of-box support is available from third party applications for that specific tool. Today’s savvy businesses run their organizations with the assistance of API’s that let two programs talk to each other. Drupal has extensive API support including:

Salesforce Drupal API

YouTube Drupal AP I

Google Apps API

Sugar CRM for Drupal API

Constant Contact Drupal API

Facebook Drupal API

Twitter Drupal API

Ubercart Drupal API

Google Analytics Drupal API

AdSense Drupal API

Mailchimp Drupal API

Access more here drupal.org

There are thousands of modules available on Drupal.org and Drupal’s extremely well-documented API lets you create your own custom modules.

4. Drupal Web Design Flexibility

Unlike many website content management systems that offer narrow frameworks and custom coding, Drupal comes out of the box ready to showcase your brand in an interactive, highly-useable environment. You can design (or “theme” in Drupal speak) your Drupal web design to match your business needs without many of the restrictions of previous CMS tools.

5. Drupal Is Search Engine Friendly

Once your website is live, search engine optimization (SEO) plays an integral part of your business’s online marketing strategy. Drupal, created as a community platform, was inherently designed to be SEO friendly. In fact, it has a Ph.D. in SEO. Why make such a bold claim? Drupal has enormous flexibility to display content in a way search engines just can’t resist. Some Drupal SEO Modules include:

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