Client project: MrWork
A flexible website for a dynamic company
“It's a nice industry, very dynamic,” says Annika van Leeuwen, Head of Marketing at MrWork.
“This is a great company that wants to grow significantly and make an impact in the coming years. You need a good website for that.”
Annika has been working at MrWork since April 2023. First as a freelance marketing specialist, but now as a permanent employee. And rightly so, because she's quite ambitious. She has a clear plan for MrWork: build this year (check!), scale next year, and dominate the year after.
It started with her desire for a new website. It had been on MrWork's wish list for a while, but Annika took the initiative.
The assignment
Annika came to us through Anja den Hertog from Beyond Products. The design for a new site was created by Henry Handsome, who has been involved with MrWork from the start. Even during the construction of the website, the design was still being worked on, which made for a dynamic collaboration.
MrWork wanted a website that could grow with the company. They wanted an accessible system (WordPress) where they could easily make adjustments and test things themselves.
The lack of flexibility on the old site was a major point of annoyance. And they also wanted something that looked modern and pleasant. Buro Staal turned Henry Handsome's design into a site that meets all their needs in just under 3 months.
“Buro Staal is a super nice organization to work with. They are a good fit for SMEs like ours.”
Annika – MrWork
The situation
“We had already planned to do a brand refresh in 2024. I wanted to give MrWork a boost. We had been running into the limitations of the old site for years. Everything had to be coded by the developers of the custom CMS, which meant things took a long time, cost a lot, and we couldn't test anything ourselves.”
Annika is expressing one of the reasons why we work with WordPress. We think it's very important that our customers have control over their site after completion. If they want, they can adjust things on the site themselves.
The goal
“We were looking for a website builder that suited us, also in terms of size and way of thinking. MrWork is growing fast, but still feels like a small organization. Buro Staal is too. At least, that's how they feel.”
Annika recalls our first meeting: “The first time I spoke to Rosanne online. I had spoken to 3 parties who all came up with their own quote and plan. Buro Staal's quote was just sharp and clearly outlined which direction the site would go. I felt like we could do everything I wanted within that quote.”
A meeting followed at MrWork's office. “What immediately struck me, and that's why Buro Staal also felt like a smaller company, was that Rosanne didn't have a presentation at all, for example. She just talked about the company and the team. That was typical.”
The goal of the new site was clear. MrWork was looking for an organization that would think along and build in WordPress so that they can make adjustments themselves. They wanted a modern, secure, up-to-date site with good security.
The appointment at the office was on February 13, 2024. Three months later, the site was live.
The approach
We built this site in FSE: Full Site Editing, the latest way within WordPress to build a site, because it's more future-proof. Annika and the MrWork team, in combination with Henry Handsome, were very pleasant to work with. They were always well prepared and very ambitious.
“What I found difficult about this collaboration is that one thing always had to wait for the other. That wasn't necessarily convenient,” says Annika. “Sometimes the builders were waiting for the designers. But Buro Staal always remained positive that it would work out.”
Thanks to our weekly meetings, we had things well under control. Because the design was still being made and refined during construction, that was quite a challenge!
“The support bundle and explanation videos are very nice. They respond quickly, which is great for a flexible and dynamic organization like MrWork.”
Annika – MrWork
Of course, there are always things that can be improved. As Annika says: “What was delivered sometimes lagged behind the latest design because the communication was occasionally unclear. The communication, also between Henry Handsome and Buro Staal, often went through me. In hindsight, it would have been more convenient if they had done that directly.”
In addition to a lot of emails back and forth, we created a project management board in Asana to keep things under control. “That was useful,” says Annika. “I was also assigned tasks in that board. The one-on-one moments with Rosanne were very nice and important for the progress of the project.”
The result
The new MrWork site went live in May 2024. We at Buro Staal are incredibly proud of the result. I think it's really impressive how we all put this together.
“We are far from done with Buro Staal!” says Annika. “The reactions are positive. Colleagues are enthusiastic about how it looks, what they can adjust and test themselves, and we have a nice place for customer stories.”
Annika is also on top of the analysis of visitor numbers. “We are constantly analyzing the results. We are already seeing an increase in SEO performance. Everything is technically well set up by Buro Staal. Only the unique visitors still need to go up, which has decreased significantly. But the number of sessions has increased by 15% and the average visitor duration has increased from 1.5 to 3 minutes, so there is already more engagement.”
“Everything is well set up SEO-wise by Buro Staal. We are already seeing an increase in performance.”
Annika – MrWork
Now it's time for MrWork to use the new site for their growth goals. “With a colleague in the marketing department, I can more easily implement our further wishes, also for the website. With 40 colleagues, quite a lot happens. And I can now process that all more easily on the site. For example, we have a survey out, which I am going to translate into a new page. But I can't do everything myself on the site yet. Questions I have for Buro Staal are done from the support bundle. I share input with them and they pick it up quickly. Or I get a clear explanation video. Also nice.”
Through intensive cooperation, and by all putting our shoulders to the wheel, we have been able to deliver a wonderful result. On to beautiful developments!
EN HOE GAAT HET INMIDDELS?
De site van MrWork is op het moment van schrijven ruim een jaar live. We vragen Annika hoe het ermee gaat. Zijn er nog nieuwe ontwikkelingen geweest, hoe gaat het met de bezoekersaantallen en werkt de site nog altijd prettig? Het is tenslotte het jaar van het schalen bij MrWork en we zijn benieuwd of de website daarbij helpt.
“Collega Daniëlla en ik werken samen de site regelmatig bij,” vertelt Annika. “Dat gaat prima! Het aantal websitebezoekers is in de huidige KPI-rapportages niet meer zo interessant, dus daar houd ik me niet meer zo mee bezig als een jaar geleden. Mensen zoeken in Google vaak naar een antwoord. En die komen tegenwoordig zelfs van ChapGPT. Het wordt dus wel lastiger om via organische zoekopdrachten in Google bezoekers op je website te krijgen. Maar gelukkig blijven er nog genoeg andere mogelijkheden over.”
“Na de laatste keer dat we elkaar gesproken hebben, hebben we niet echt nieuwe input of feedback gehad. Het is immers nog niet zo lang geleden en er is (nog) niet veel veranderd. We zijn wel bezig met de doorontwikkeling, dus vraag het me over een half jaar nog eens! Dan heb ik je een hoop te vertellen.”
