The Pickaxe Pages Blog

The full story of Pickaxe Pages: the insight it rests on, the method behind it, the proof, and the honest parts. Plus what is new in 1.0, native themes for the platform you already use and a page that reads each visitor. Practical playbooks throughout.

1.0New in RevProof & Philosophy

Your visitor data, your rules: consent-first by design.

When your site starts capturing what visitors tell you, every record is opt-in by purpose, you set how long it's kept, and you can export or delete all of it, on purpose and from the first line.

September 27, 2026Read more
1.0New in RevGuides & Growth

One contract, every platform: how we ship native themes without a treadmill.

A look under the hood at the one design we build against and the adapters that turn it into native Shopify, WordPress, and HubSpot themes, in plain English, for the curious.

September 22, 2026Read more
1.0New in RevStrategy & Story

Keep your CMS. We stopped asking you to migrate.

Migrating your whole website to a new platform is the wrong default, so Pages is rebuilding your site as a native theme for the platform you already run.

September 17, 2026Read more
Guides & Growth

From a service you book to software you run: the productization story

Every post in this series has circled one bet. Boutique expertise, the real, judgment-heavy craft a specialist delivers by hand, can become software without losing its soul.

September 12, 2026Read more
Guides & Growth

What an old website actually costs you (and how to tell)

An old website never sends you a bill. That's exactly why it's so expensive.

September 07, 2026Read more
Guides & Growth

For agencies: deliver client websites faster without losing the craft

Run a design or marketing agency and you already know the secret of client websites: most of the work isn't the creative part you love.

September 02, 2026Read more
Guides & Growth

Before and after: three small business websites, teardown style

Theory is cheap. Here are three real businesses, three real old websites, and the one thing each was failing to say, with the fix that changed it.

August 28, 2026Read more
Guides & Growth

The complete guide to redesigning your small business website in 2026

This is the long one, the guide everything else points back to.

August 23, 2026Read more
Guides & Growth

How to write website copy that sounds like you and sells

Most website copy is written in a costume. The owner sits down to "write for the website," and out comes a stiff, corporate voice that sounds nothing like the person who runs the business.

August 18, 2026Read more
Product News

Introducing Pickaxe Pages: your whole website, rebuilt and ready to launch

Paste your tired old website. Get back a modern, specific, fast one you own, in the time it takes to refill your coffee.

August 13, 2026Read more
Proof & Philosophy

How we taught software to run a boutique design process

For the makers and the curious: this is how you turn a hands-on, judgment-heavy, sit-with-the-client design service into software that runs itself, and the parts that were genuinely hard.

August 08, 2026Read more
Proof & Philosophy

Your website should be yours. The case against renting your online home.

One question almost nobody asks before building a website, and almost everybody wishes they'd asked later: if I want to leave this platform, can I take my site with me?

August 03, 2026Read more
Proof & Philosophy

Your real photo beats any AI image (and the one shot only you can take)

AI can generate a stunning photo of a yoga studio in four seconds.

July 29, 2026Read more
Proof & Philosophy

We rebuilt a real electrician's website. Here's the before, the after, and the honest verdict.

This is the website that started everything, and the story is almost too on-the-nose.

July 24, 2026Read more
Strategy & Story

Wix AI, Durable, Framer AI, and the problem with one-click websites

Credit where it's due. The one-click AI builders made something real.

July 19, 2026Read more
Strategy & Story

The eight steps of a website redesign that actually works

Most redesigns are a vibe and a hope. Pick a nicer template, pour the old text in, cross your fingers.

July 14, 2026Read more
Strategy & Story

We ran a website service by hand for a year. Here's what it taught us.

Pages started with a bill I couldn't pay.

July 09, 2026Read more
Strategy & Story

Most websites don't fail because they look bad. They fail because they say nothing.

Read your homepage out loud. After every line, ask one question: could a competitor put this exact sentence on their site, unchanged?

July 04, 2026Read more