SFTP and database usernames/passwords (this is a huge deal as it essentially gave the malicious actor full access to WordPress sites hosted on the platform).
What’s more, new shops getting started will find it to be tougher sledding than ever when they’re forced to compete against the big brands in marketing and SEO from day one.įor example, it’s going to be hard to rank in the SERPs when the entire first page is dominated by Awesome Motive brands. Is there still space in WordPress for small, independent shops? Well, yes, but it seems to be getting a little smaller every day. While I’m happy for the entire Pagely team (many of whom are probably looking at some fat bank accounts), it still is a bit sad to see another large independent company get gobbled up by one of the big players.
We will be working closely with the amazing team of WooCommerce experts from SkyVerge (previous GoDaddy acquisition) on the GoDaddy commerce team to deploy a world-class WooCommerce SaaS aimed at powersellers. If you want to go beyond the PR announcements, Joshua Strebel, the former CEO and co-founder of Pagely, shared his thoughts on the Pagely blog. I’m not sure whether Flywheel is bigger than Pagely or not.
This is one of the absolute biggest WordPress hosting acquisitions that I can think of right up there with WP Engine acquiring Flywheel in 2019. The acquisition seems to be focused on using Pagely and its expertise to launch a new WooCommerce SaaS product, which makes sense as GoDaddy already has their own managed WordPress hosting line with millions of customers (more on that next!). Pagely is one of the most well-known hosts in the space and the first company to actually call itself “managed WordPress hosting” and define what that term means (a definition which many hosts have stretched so far that it’s almost meaningless). On November 11, GoDaddy announced that it had acquired Pagely. But the WordPress acquisition train has shown no signs of slowing down as November just saw one of the biggest acquisitions ever in the WordPress space. All WordPress hosting companies, themes, and plugins are now owned by one of five entities: