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Case study for

Maritz Nel Familie Trust

WordPress Website Development

About the Client

Maritz Nel Family Trust is a fifth‑generation farm in Hennenman, Northern Free State. They specialise in dryland maize and soya production as well as integrated livestock grazing systems. Their mission is to deliver high‑quality grain and beef while regenerating soil health, building resilience in a volatile climate, and sustaining agriculture for future generations.

Introduction

We had the privilege of working with Maritz Nel Family Trust to refine and restructure their online presence in order to reflect the full breadth of their farming operations: dryland maize, soya, livestock, regenerative practices and regional leadership in South African agriculture. The goal was to present a modern, efficient website that communicates their legacy, operations, sustainability focus and local importance — in a way that is easy for buyers, partners and stakeholders to engage with.

Project Overview

Maritz Nel Family Trust is at the intersection of tradition and innovation. Operating in one of South Africa’s key maize and soya producing regions, their business spans large‑scale crop production, livestock grazing and soil regeneration. Their challenge was two‑fold: to articulate the full scope of what they do online, and to position themselves as a credible, modern agriculture business — not just an old‑school farm. Our project addressed brand positioning, web presence, content structuring and user experience to deliver that outcome.

My Role

For Maritz Nel Family Trust I handled:

  • Customer Journey Mapping: Analysed site navigation, user personas (buyers, community, partners) and revised structure to simplify access to key services and messaging

  • Information Architecture & Menu Redesign: Created intuitive menu categories such as “Our Farms”, “What We Grow”, “Livestock”, “Sustainability”, “Insights”

  • Content Strategy & Setup: Developed service‑pages outlining maize production, soya, livestock grazing integration and sustainability initiatives

  • Blog Implementation: Setup of blog with tag/category taxonomy to support ongoing content and SEO focus

  • Technical Optimisation: Delivered a responsive, fast site infrastructure with mobile‑first design, image‑optimisation, schema markup and geolocation setup for Northern Free State

  • Visual Branding & Gallery: Curated high-quality images of the farm, equipment, land, cattle and operations; built a gallery that reinforces credibility and story

Challenges

One of the main challenges was revitalising an established farming business’s image to reflect modern agribusiness practices without losing the heritage and family‑legacy feel. Many visitors would still instinctively see “farm” and assume small scale; it was critical to communicate the scale, professionalism and forward‑looking practices of Maritz Nel. Additionally, balancing rich imagery (which is heavy) with website load‑speed in rural connectivity environments required careful optimisation.

Planning & Research

We conducted in‑depth research into the Free State agricultural sector, dryland maize production, soya farming, livestock grazing best practices and soil‑health trends. We also mapped the target audiences: local buyers, national grain traders, sustainability‑minded partners, and community stakeholders. Wireframes and user journeys were developed to test navigation flow from “Who we are” > “What we produce” > “How we operate” > “Get in touch/buy”.

The Finished Design

See it in action

Launched: 21 March 2025

Client Review

Good, efficient, effective, friendly and service with market value

Maritz Nel

★★★★★

July 8, 2025

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