Automattic’s enterprise-focused WordPress VIP says it is acquiring content analytics service Parse.ly. (Sara Fischer/Axios)

“WordPress VIP, the enterprise-focused version of Automattic’s popular WordPress CMS, announced today that it has acquired Parse.ly, a content analytics service for content owners and brands. The acquisition adds Parse.ly’s content analytics capabilities to the suite of tools that WordPress VIP offers. WordPress VIP is a version of Automattic’s popular WordPress CMS designed for businesses, agencies, non-profits, and organizations looking to host a private, customized version of WordPress.”

Why Automattic’s Enterprise-Focused WordPress VIP Says It Is Acquiring Parse.ly?

WordPress VIP’s mission is to help businesses leverage WordPress to grow their brand. WordPress VIP’s acquisition of Parse.ly shows its commitment to providing solutions that meet the unique needs of enterprise customers. WordPress VIP was founded in 2011 and offers a suite of tools for enterprise customers to integrate their applications into the WordPress platform. The company has over 500 customers, including The Washington Post, United Airlines, and Disney. Its products include:

• The Enterprise Add-on provides access to a curated marketplace of high-quality apps built specifically for enterprise customers.
• The Social Media Management solution.
• The API Gateway add-on allows third-party developers to connect their applications to WordPress.

Why did Automattic acquire Parse.ly?

Parse.ly’s technology was built by a team of engineers who wanted to create a better way to handle website content. They realized that content management systems (CMS) were difficult to use, so they created a web application to solve this problem. They started to build their product to address the problem of creating a content management system. In addition, they saw an opportunity to provide a platform to build applications on top of the CMS.

 What does this mean for the future of Parse.ly?

A year ago, Parse.ly didn’t plan to grow beyond the free version. The company is now adding premium features like analytics reports, custom dashboards, and a paid plan for a business-oriented API. The strategy is to attract big enterprise clients and provide them with more sophisticated features than Parse.ly’s free offering. Parse.ly was designed to be a solution for small businesses that don’t need many data management services. But now that Parse.ly has raised over $10 million, the company’s products are getting bigger and more powerful, so I’m starting to see a shift to more advanced plans. For example, Parse.ly recently launched new pricing tiers for developers based on the volume of API requests they’re making. It’s a smart move because Parse.ly is a business, and businesses need to be profitable. 

Conclusion

Parse.ly said that besides helping its clients with search engine optimization, it could give them insight into which posts are being read, who is reading them, and where those readers are coming from, among other insights. Parse.ly’s platform was initially designed for small businesses and startups but is now expanding to larger enterprises. The acquisition of Parse.ly by Automattic will allow Parse.ly to offer analytics for WordPress sites, providing insights to Automattic that will help the company build better tools for the platform. This is a significant win for the Automattic team, the many publishers, designers, and developers who use WordPress as a publishing platform, and those building applications around WordPress.

FAQs

1. Why did Automattic buy Parse.ly?

Automattic is focused on helping organizations build their businesses. We are committed to creating a better experience for developers and publishers. Parse.ly is a developer platform that helps you create applications faster. It’s a great complement to our existing products.

2. What does this mean for Parse.ly users?

 Nothing will change immediately. We will continue operating Parse.ly as a separate company, and our services will not be integrated into WordPress.com or any other products.

3. How will this affect the Parse.ly product?

We will be able to better serve our existing and future customers.

4. What does this mean for Parse.ly employees?

We are excited to continue to grow our team and develop the next generation of analytics solutions.