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Mika Blog

Ideas for the small
business builder.

Product thinking, industry insights and practical guides — for owners who want their website to work as hard as they do.

🔥 Most read

02
Commerce

Moving Your Catalog Without Losing Your Mind

6 min read

03
Operations

Escaping the Maintenance Trap: Why Running a Website Shouldn't Need an IT Degree

6 min read

All articles

Shopify vs Mika Store: The Plugin Tax Nobody Talks About
Commerce

Shopify vs Mika Store: The Plugin Tax Nobody Talks About

Shopify's base plan is $39/month. By the time you add the apps every serious store actually needs — email marketing, abandoned cart recovery, reviews, upsells, loyalty — you're paying $300–$600/month in third-party fees before your first sale. Here's what a native-first platform looks like instead.

19 July 2026·7 min read
Escaping the Maintenance Trap: Why Running a Website Shouldn't Need an IT Degree
Operations

Escaping the Maintenance Trap: Why Running a Website Shouldn't Need an IT Degree

Click 'Update All', hold your breath, and hope nothing breaks. If that describes your website maintenance routine, you already know there's a better way. Here's why the plugin model is designed to keep you dependent — and what an alternative actually looks like.

18 July 2026·6 min read
Moving Your Catalog Without Losing Your Mind
Commerce

Moving Your Catalog Without Losing Your Mind

You have 400 products, 1,800 photos, and a spreadsheet that doesn't match either. Every other platform makes migrating your catalog feel like a second job. Here's what we built instead.

17 July 2026·6 min read
Login to View Price: Why Your B2B Store Shouldn't Show Everyone Everything
Commerce

Login to View Price: Why Your B2B Store Shouldn't Show Everyone Everything

Wholesalers, distributors, and trade suppliers have been stuck with a bad choice for years — publish your prices publicly and let competitors see them, or hide your store entirely. There's a better way.

17 July 2026·5 min read
Bill-To / Ship-To: The Checkout Distinction That Separates Real B2B from Retail with a Discount
Commerce

Bill-To / Ship-To: The Checkout Distinction That Separates Real B2B from Retail with a Discount

In every B2B transaction, the company paying the invoice and the location receiving the goods are almost never the same. Most e-commerce platforms were built for retail and can't model this. Here's why it matters — and how we built it properly.

17 July 2026·6 min read
The 3-Second Warning: How Page Speed is Quietly Killing Your Local Search Rankings
SEO

The 3-Second Warning: How Page Speed is Quietly Killing Your Local Search Rankings

Google's Core Web Vitals score every website on speed — and quietly demote the slow ones without sending a single notification. Here's what's actually happening to your rankings, and how to fix it.

16 July 2026·5 min read
Your Business Doesn't Need a Beautiful Website. It Needs an Effective One.
Strategy

Your Business Doesn't Need a Beautiful Website. It Needs an Effective One.

Most small business owners start building a website by thinking about colours and fonts. That's the wrong starting point — and it's why so many business websites look great but quietly fail to convert visitors into customers.

15 July 2026·5 min read
Beyond the "Add to Cart" Button: A Smarter Website for Service Businesses
Service Industry

Beyond the "Add to Cart" Button: A Smarter Website for Service Businesses

Most web builders were designed for retail. If you're a plumber, electrician, consultant or anyone who quotes before they invoice, the entire shopping cart metaphor was never built for you.

12 July 2026·5 min read
Breaking Free from the Hidden App Tax: Why Native Features Win
Commerce

Breaking Free from the Hidden App Tax: Why Native Features Win

A $39/month platform sounds reasonable — until you add the reviews app, the email tool, the bulk importer, the shipping rules engine, and the six other plugins you actually need to run a real store.

10 July 2026·6 min read
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