Startpagina.nl is a household name for many people and this famous ‘page’ has been around for 25 years. Read here about this period and what Startpagina.nl is currently doing.
Bram Veldt
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In 2023, no fewer than 115,000 unique visitors found their way to the internet every day thanks to Startpagina.nl. We go back to 1998, when this adventure began for founder Durk Jan de Bruin. He worked at Fokker as a mechanical engineer, when a reorganization forced him to choose a different direction. He went to Leiden to study IT/Computer Science and that is where he actually came into contact with the internet for the first time. In those early days, the Internet was still unexplored territory.
Idea for Startpagina.nl
The idea for Startpagina.nl was born as a tool for his father. “Without my childhood friends Jan-Willem Tjaden and Jeroen Paternostre, there would have been no Startpagina.nl,” says De Bruin. These men were the founders of the popular website with him. Like three musketeers, they further expanded the platform. In 2000, the internet entrepreneur sold his child to VNU for an estimated amount of 30 million guilders (13.6 million euros). It then passed into the hands of Sanoma, then into those of DPG and finally to be taken over by the current owner. This company reaches more than sixteen million unique visitors in the Netherlands every month. As the owner of the brands Startpagina.nl, GoeieVraag.nl, Schoolbank.nl, Datumprikker.nl, Jurkjes.nl, Fietsnetwerk.nl, Zeker.com, Kek Mamma and the nostalgic TV channel ONS, the company wants to attract visitors at their beck and call. This is done by providing very relevant information to visitors, readers and viewers.
How big it has become
De Bruin’s effective organization of crucial links on one clear page proved to be a valuable solution for his father and the secretary at De Bruin’s work, who gratefully made use of it. His belief that Startpagina.nl was the solution to a general need led to a creative form of promotion. De Bruin decided to subtly introduce his website on computers in various public spaces, such as computer shops and libraries.
This smart move quickly resulted in a significant increase in the number of daily visitors. Initially, Startpagina.nl started with modest numbers, only 100 visitors per day. Due to the growing recognition of the website and its steadily increasing use, Startpagina.nl evolved into an impressive platform with no fewer than five million daily visitors in its heyday. Durk Jan vividly shares how, at that time, amid the success, he sat in the Arena and marveled at the fact that his site was visited no less than 100 times the capacity of the stadium per day. This milestone reflected not only the success of Startpagina.nl, but also its impact on a scale that was difficult to comprehend.
Almost the end
Data traffic grew explosively due to this unprecedented popularity. This entailed much higher costs, which De Bruin could not afford. The data traffic became prohibitively expensive and this almost meant the end of Startpagina.nl. De Bruin then decided to talk to XS4ALL and presented his problem. It was said: ‘Don’t worry, we will help you, but then you have to bring us five apple pies a month’. And so he drove back and forth to the XS4ALL office for months with five apple pies in the car.
Still, it turned out fine
The strength and growth of Startpagina.nl were strengthened by daughter pages thanks to Lucas van der Molen, who pioneered the daughter page about holidays:vakantie.startpagina.nl. Many daughter pages with various topics followed, managed by volunteers who acted as ambassadors. The number grew steadily, from dozens to hundreds and eventually to thousands of daughter pages run by people like you and me. Without them there would be no Startpagina.nl anymore.
An unexpected contribution to the growth was the fireworks disaster in Enschede. People flocked to the discussion groups on Startpagina.nl and signed the condolence register. The strength of Startpagina.nl, both then and today, lies in offering users something to hold on to, which further stimulated growth. De Bruin says that he is still very happy that Startpagina.nl still exists. Many initiatives from that time, such as Hyves and MSN, did not survive.
25 years later
Today, Startpagina.nl welcomes more than three million visitors every month. The record for most visitors in one day is 27.7 million and was set on March 5, 2006. In 2023, the average number of visitors per day will be 115,000.
Continuous improvement and innovation are an essential aspect of Strtpagina.nl’s approach, allowing users to continue using the site with ease. Every day we work to optimize the user experience, listening to the wishes and feedback of their visitors.
Developments
An exciting development is the recently introduced user panel, with which Startpagina.nl enters into even more dialogue with its users. Through this platform, visitors can make their voices heard and share ideas to better adapt the website to their needs. Interested parties can register for the user panel via the following link: https://userpanel.paperform.co/.
In addition, Startpagina.nl has a handy new one plugin introduced that allows users to easily set the website as a homepage. This user-friendly feature is free and can be installed directly on Startpagina.nl, giving visitors even faster and more efficient access to their favorite links and content.
