Naylor Newsletter CMS
The Naylor Newsletter CMS was a custom-built content management and email publishing platform used to create, manage, schedule, and distribute association eNewsletters at scale. It supported more than 100 association clients and was part of a production workflow responsible for sending roughly one million emails per week.
I developed and maintained the application across both the front end and back end, including the administrative interface, newsletter templates, publishing workflow, reporting tools, and scheduled delivery system. Association users and Naylor representatives could enter and edit newsletter content, preview and proof issues, manage recipient lists, schedule sends, and track campaign activity from a centralized interface.
A major part of the project involved building highly reliable HTML email templates that worked across a wide range of email clients and devices. Templates were translated from designer-provided PSD and Illustrator files into responsive HTML and CSS, then tested using tools such as Litmus and Email on Acid as well as real-world clients including Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, and iPhone. Over the years, I created and supported thousands of customized newsletter templates while continuously refining a shared master template to handle the quirks and limitations of email rendering engines.
The CMS also supported personalization and campaign tracking, including merge fields, tracked links, tracking pixels, and reporting on newsletter engagement. The system incorporated scheduled delivery workflows, allowing users to upload recipient lists, select preloaded lists, combine audiences, and choose future send times. Automated reminders helped association users and internal representatives stay on top of upcoming newsletter deadlines and publishing schedules.
In addition to the email platform, many clients had companion WordPress websites tied to their newsletter programs. I installed and configured WordPress sites, created and modified themes, managed plugins and users, and built custom templates using PHP, custom post types, taxonomies, and custom fields. I also worked on SEO-related features including page titles, metadata, clean URLs, XML sitemaps, robots.txt configuration, and Google Analytics integration.
The project required significant production ownership. I worked closely with designers, database developers, internal account representatives, and association clients, while also handling troubleshooting, urgent publishing issues, training, documentation, and ongoing maintenance. The result was a mature publishing platform that supported a high-volume, repeatable newsletter production process while still allowing each association to maintain its own branding, content, schedules, and audience.
Professional8/17/2020
