Flex Mag is a recently released responsive WordPress News theme from MVP Themes. It lets users easily publish online magazines and newspapers and includes all the bells and whistles required to manage these publications.
Features inside Flex Mag include Auto-loading pages so that when you get to the bottom of a news article the next one automatically loads, different posts layouts, and 8 unique article layouts. Flex Mag is fully responsive, to allow easy viewing from any device and includes WooCommerce integration, letting sites set up a store with the merchandise associated with their publication.
MVP Themes took time to tell Theme Support a little more about the new Flex Mag theme.
Q: You have more than half a dozen different themes for publishers. What makes Flex Mag unique and exciting compared to the other ones?
A: The main thing I wanted to accomplish with this theme is to provide users with more options rather than to just focus on one specific type of news theme. But with the addition of the new options, I wanted to make sure those options were delivered in a simple way as to not overwhelm publishers with too many options. Flex Mag can be used for a variety of different news sites (sports, fashion, tech, entertainment, etc), and can be quickly configured with pre-set skins to accomplish this. The other main feature I wanted to include was the auto-loaded posts, which is becoming a staple on major news sites. It helps users stay engaged and keeps them on the site when the next post automatically loads right after the user reaches the bottom of the first post they read.
Q: So is there a specific type of publisher that you think Flex Mag works best for?
A: I think it would work for just about any type of publisher, especially if they are looking to monetize their site. Flex Mag comes with a myriad of ad options, and given that it has several different design skins (including complete control to create a custom skin by editing the fonts, colors, widgets on your own), it would certainly fit very well to any type of news/magazine site publishers are looking to create or update with a fresh new look.
Q: One key component in publishing is driving traffic to your site. What features does Flex Mag include that will help publishers drive traffic to their site?
A: Flex Mag is both SEO Optimized and provides custom social sharing options which will help expand the reach of the site. The theme also loads quickly and efficiently, and is fully responsive, giving visitors the same powerful experience on all devices, which will make Google happy.
Q: It’s important for publishers to think about how they will display ads on their site. What kind of ad options are there when the site is viewed on a computer or laptop?
A: The theme offers leaderboard ads in both the header and the footer, unlimited sidebar ads in the sidebars of all pages and posts, an ad within the content area on posts, as well as a Wallpaper Ad that will be displayed in the margins of all desktop devices. There is also an ad area at the bottom of each post that will accommodate any size ad.
Q: What about mobile browsing? How do you support ads for this?
A: All ad areas are fully responsive, so you can utilize Google’s Responsive Ad unit or create your own responsive ad unit with HTML/CSS or Javascript.
Q: Does MVP Themes have any suggestions for publications that were planning on getting most of their revenue from mobile ads, now that iOS is enabling blocking mobile ads on iPhones? How could FlexMag be used to combat this concern?
A: I think this may signal a shift in how companies are able to advertise on the web, especially on mobile devices. Some publishers are now offering “Sponsored Content” as an alternative to ads. While there doesn’t appear to be much that can be done to combat the blocking of ads on iPhones, as a developer, I am always looking for newer and better ways to monetize sites through my themes. So, as new features surface, I will certainly look to include them into the theme in future updates to give publishers the greatest tools for their site.
Q: What kind of theme is MVP Themes going to build next?
A: As a former news publisher myself, I have focused on magazine/news themes for the past 2 years because I feel like I have a good idea of exactly what publishers are looking for in a theme. It’s because of this focus that I will likely stay in this segment and continue to combine the newest features of news/magazine themes and appealing design to create the most powerful news/magazine themes on the market.
