Launching podcast/news network - been searching themes for weeks and found Sonaar today - based on our 15 years of web development and looking at dozens of other templates - clearly much thought and time has been invested in this work and we appreciate it- our pre-sale questions are:
1. $89 is for all current themes - only for one year? how many websites can I run etc - what does the $89 cover? And after a year - how much is it to renew for another year with support and access to templates - also as you roll out new themes, are they included in my purchase? Are there any holiday/cyber Monday discounts on either the all themes price or lifetime price?
2. Are the demos included in the template - I am a web developer - so about how long should it take for me to get the site to the demo template following your instructions? Are the current images included in the demo?
3. Can the audio player be coded for fonts, colors, and also to hide features (i.e. speed if you wanted to hide that)?
4. Can the fonts be changed across the entire site with a single setting?
5. Can you display the total podcast episodes sorted by MOST VIEWED? Also if so (this is important feature) - can you display widget for example with 5 Most-Listened Podcasts - or 10 Most Popular Articles
6. We intend to self-host mp3s - but if we use anchor.fm - is that compatible and does the podcast publishing process auto-detect the source of the other various hosted mp3 sources and display it in the Audio player?
7. Videos are currently you-tube in the demo - can you self-host and use your own responsive video player and put that in the video widgets in the template?
8. How do the playlist functions on the audio player? Can you determine in the dashboard which mp3s are on the playlist? Or can the user add to that? How does that work - or does it just show other episodes in the show or category?
9. Is the sticky player - 100% sticky on all page reloads? in demo it seemed the player interrupted - perhaps they are unique page loads? or just in demo?
10. Are the podcast-based templates (I see 3 we could use) all on same database structure - if we would decide in 6 months to migrate to another of your templates (existing or not yet released) - would the 100s of episodes and news stories be able to seamlessly be migrated as a database to the new template?
11. Looking at at the list of your podcast templates, is there one that has a clean-white background - more business like a bit less radio-ish - here is an example of white templates we looked at (and decided not to buy when we found Sonaar - but we do like the clean looks:
again we are intending to purchase your templates - but perhaps you have a template like this white/clean look - or could any (or all) of the existing podcast templates be built to have a white background/design with look like these homepages?
12. Do you have a template (or is it being developed) that is a news magazine format that has the audio player/technology - we are considering a parallel news project to our podcast?
13. Is the entire player tech/plugs on the demo included in the template price? Are all those widget examples included as well - anything else needed? Being able to display a page of podcasts in the Series Cards is critical for this project. And do we need to buy any other plug-ins/etc to run the site on our server identical to the demo - are there any server-based requirements?
14. Is there a timestamp functionality? That is really important for podcasts that are longer - the ability to display a basic table on the podcast page with titles/timestamps to jump to?
15. Regarding the homepage - most templates we have looked at have multiple home page options (designs/colors etc) - is that available with the Podcastr theme for example - and if not - is that because it is easy to build a custom body for the home page in the dashboard using Elementor and widgets?
Well - thanks for a quick (short) response to our questions - we look forward to working with you sir...
1. Yes. for all the questions. you can run unlimited websites you build with this licence. It renew at $89/year. All new templates are included with an active license. We currently have a 30% discount on the Lifetime membership which is $174 instead of $249
2. You can import theme demo with our built-in demo importer. see video tutorial
3. Yes
4. Not with a single settings. We have theme options for the general fonts, but we also have fonts set in Elementor section depending the templates.
5. No
6. Yes
7. Yes but we strongly recommend using YouTube because you dont have to pay for extra bandwidth, they are all optimized already and its very good for SEO.
8. Yes. you can set any playlist on any player with our Elementor Widget player.
9. It should not interrupt, except on WooCommerce pages because WC is not ajaxified.
10. You cannot switch templates once your website is built. Theme demos can only be imported the first time. When you import a new theme demo, it completely replace your website by the new theme demo content.
What I always recommend when using a new WordPress theme is to develop the "new" website on a staging server with a fresh copy of WordPress. So start with a clean copy of WordPress, install the theme and its demo. By doing this, your existing website will continue to run, and you will have all the time you want to develop/design the new website on your staging server.
You could also export/import the old blog posts of your old website onto your new website by going to WP-Admin > Tools > Import/Export.
When you are ready to launch your new website, you will just have to point your domain name to the staging server so it becomes your new "live" server.
11. You can design any kind of layout with Elementor page builder. Elementor is a very powerful tool. All our themes are built with Elementor. You can also change any color, background, etc.. you'd like very easily.
12. No but perhaps consider our new MP3 Audio Player Pro that can works with any of our themes as well as any other themes. its very powerfull for podcasting as we just released version 3.0 this week. Documentations and videos are coming. Here a quick tutorial to get started
13. Everything included
14. No, but this is on our to-do list and will be included in the MP3 Audio Player Pro only, not in the theme.
Max - the speed and thoroughness of your reply is a real confidence-builder.
Pre-Sale Q's Round 2:
on Question 1 - so the lifetime as discounted is like lifetime for 2 years of fees?
On Question 5 - is this something that can be put on development list or custom-built - in the podcasting world - viral episodes and watching (what is being watched) is huge for traffic - in fact it would be great if you could have a widget in the sidebar called "Trending Podcasts" - which in real time updated with top 5 - is this something that can be added now (for fee) or in future as part of development? You thought of everything podcasting sites need (except this lol) - people expect to be able to quickly play the most viewed, or most viral (most viewed in last 24 hours for example) when they hit your site - also knowing views allows the admin to push the right content and see what works with your audience.
on Question 10 - ouch - would have been great addition to be able to migrate the database - obviously I can always import the RSS feed for both podcasts and articles to the new site? Can you verify that is possible? perhaps you can standardize this or create grandfather database import from one Sonaar template to another since your pricing really makes sense to get all-themes-license (only $10 more than single theme!).
on Question 14 - need clarity on the player situation - in the demo - is that the free one that comes with the template or is that the Pro one that requires annual fee? if that is the Pro one - do you have demo with the Free one? And yes I do understand that Pro will be required for timestamp - that is important feature for longer podcasts like interview shows with multiple guests.
on Question 15 - I am sure Elementor will be a breeze - I have been coding in html for years - but do I get the Elementor license with the template - is there upgrade or annual fee for it - does the Pro come with it or is that needed or separate (or recommended)
finally (for now) - do you have test admin site where we can fiddle with the settings before purchase?
1: The pricing for our themes is here. The pricing for our MP3 Audio Player Pro is here
5: Sure. we will add this to our roadmap for a future version if we receive more user requests for it
10: well, you can simply export your content and reimport it. WordPress has a native function for this. You can also import your current Podcast RSS feed in 1-click and all your episodes will show up.
14: In our theme, we use a built-in player which is very similar to MP3 Audio Player Pro, but MP3 Audio Player Pro will get more features, is more podcast-oriented, and more e-commerce oriented. MP3 Audio Player Pro is our flagship product. Everything you currently see in the theme demos don't use MP3 Audio Player Pro at all so the built-in player is relatively flexible as well. We have a free version of MP3 Audio Player Pro here.
We dont have test admin of our sonaar theme. we offer 14 days refund if not working
Launching podcast/news network - been searching themes for weeks and found Sonaar today - based on our 15 years of web development and looking at dozens of other templates - clearly much thought and time has been invested in this work and we appreciate it- our pre-sale questions are:
1. $89 is for all current themes - only for one year? how many websites can I run etc - what does the $89 cover? And after a year - how much is it to renew for another year with support and access to templates - also as you roll out new themes, are they included in my purchase? Are there any holiday/cyber Monday discounts on either the all themes price or lifetime price?
2. Are the demos included in the template - I am a web developer - so about how long should it take for me to get the site to the demo template following your instructions? Are the current images included in the demo?
3. Can the audio player be coded for fonts, colors, and also to hide features (i.e. speed if you wanted to hide that)?
4. Can the fonts be changed across the entire site with a single setting?
5. Can you display the total podcast episodes sorted by MOST VIEWED? Also if so (this is important feature) - can you display widget for example with 5 Most-Listened Podcasts - or 10 Most Popular Articles
6. We intend to self-host mp3s - but if we use anchor.fm - is that compatible and does the podcast publishing process auto-detect the source of the other various hosted mp3 sources and display it in the Audio player?
7. Videos are currently you-tube in the demo - can you self-host and use your own responsive video player and put that in the video widgets in the template?
8. How do the playlist functions on the audio player? Can you determine in the dashboard which mp3s are on the playlist? Or can the user add to that? How does that work - or does it just show other episodes in the show or category?
9. Is the sticky player - 100% sticky on all page reloads? in demo it seemed the player interrupted - perhaps they are unique page loads? or just in demo?
10. Are the podcast-based templates (I see 3 we could use) all on same database structure - if we would decide in 6 months to migrate to another of your templates (existing or not yet released) - would the 100s of episodes and news stories be able to seamlessly be migrated as a database to the new template?
11. Looking at at the list of your podcast templates, is there one that has a clean-white background - more business like a bit less radio-ish - here is an example of white templates we looked at (and decided not to buy when we found Sonaar - but we do like the clean looks:
https://preview.codeless.co/livecast/default/
https://ncmaz.chisnghiax.com
again we are intending to purchase your templates - but perhaps you have a template like this white/clean look - or could any (or all) of the existing podcast templates be built to have a white background/design with look like these homepages?
12. Do you have a template (or is it being developed) that is a news magazine format that has the audio player/technology - we are considering a parallel news project to our podcast?
13. Is the entire player tech/plugs on the demo included in the template price? Are all those widget examples included as well - anything else needed? Being able to display a page of podcasts in the Series Cards is critical for this project. And do we need to buy any other plug-ins/etc to run the site on our server identical to the demo - are there any server-based requirements?
14. Is there a timestamp functionality? That is really important for podcasts that are longer - the ability to display a basic table on the podcast page with titles/timestamps to jump to?
15. Regarding the homepage - most templates we have looked at have multiple home page options (designs/colors etc) - is that available with the Podcastr theme for example - and if not - is that because it is easy to build a custom body for the home page in the dashboard using Elementor and widgets?
Well - thanks for a quick (short) response to our questions - we look forward to working with you sir...
Hi MobileBrain,
thanks for reaching out !
1. Yes. for all the questions. you can run unlimited websites you build with this licence. It renew at $89/year. All new templates are included with an active license. We currently have a 30% discount on the Lifetime membership which is $174 instead of $249
2. You can import theme demo with our built-in demo importer. see video tutorial
3. Yes
4. Not with a single settings. We have theme options for the general fonts, but we also have fonts set in Elementor section depending the templates.
5. No
6. Yes
7. Yes but we strongly recommend using YouTube because you dont have to pay for extra bandwidth, they are all optimized already and its very good for SEO.
8. Yes. you can set any playlist on any player with our Elementor Widget player.
9. It should not interrupt, except on WooCommerce pages because WC is not ajaxified.
10. You cannot switch templates once your website is built. Theme demos can only be imported the first time. When you import a new theme demo, it completely replace your website by the new theme demo content.
What I always recommend when using a new WordPress theme is to develop the "new" website on a staging server with a fresh copy of WordPress. So start with a clean copy of WordPress, install the theme and its demo. By doing this, your existing website will continue to run, and you will have all the time you want to develop/design the new website on your staging server.
You could also export/import the old blog posts of your old website onto your new website by going to WP-Admin > Tools > Import/Export.
When you are ready to launch your new website, you will just have to point your domain name to the staging server so it becomes your new "live" server.
11. You can design any kind of layout with Elementor page builder. Elementor is a very powerful tool. All our themes are built with Elementor. You can also change any color, background, etc.. you'd like very easily.
12. No but perhaps consider our new MP3 Audio Player Pro that can works with any of our themes as well as any other themes. its very powerfull for podcasting as we just released version 3.0 this week. Documentations and videos are coming. Here a quick tutorial to get started
13. Everything included
14. No, but this is on our to-do list and will be included in the MP3 Audio Player Pro only, not in the theme.
15.Elementor page builder will be your friend for the rest of your life
Cheers,
Thanks,
Max from the Sonaar.io Crew
Max - the speed and thoroughness of your reply is a real confidence-builder.
Pre-Sale Q's Round 2:
on Question 1 - so the lifetime as discounted is like lifetime for 2 years of fees?
On Question 5 - is this something that can be put on development list or custom-built - in the podcasting world - viral episodes and watching (what is being watched) is huge for traffic - in fact it would be great if you could have a widget in the sidebar called "Trending Podcasts" - which in real time updated with top 5 - is this something that can be added now (for fee) or in future as part of development? You thought of everything podcasting sites need (except this lol) - people expect to be able to quickly play the most viewed, or most viral (most viewed in last 24 hours for example) when they hit your site - also knowing views allows the admin to push the right content and see what works with your audience.
on Question 10 - ouch - would have been great addition to be able to migrate the database - obviously I can always import the RSS feed for both podcasts and articles to the new site? Can you verify that is possible? perhaps you can standardize this or create grandfather database import from one Sonaar template to another since your pricing really makes sense to get all-themes-license (only $10 more than single theme!).
on Question 14 - need clarity on the player situation - in the demo - is that the free one that comes with the template or is that the Pro one that requires annual fee? if that is the Pro one - do you have demo with the Free one? And yes I do understand that Pro will be required for timestamp - that is important feature for longer podcasts like interview shows with multiple guests.
on Question 15 - I am sure Elementor will be a breeze - I have been coding in html for years - but do I get the Elementor license with the template - is there upgrade or annual fee for it - does the Pro come with it or is that needed or separate (or recommended)
finally (for now) - do you have test admin site where we can fiddle with the settings before purchase?
Thanks again Max
1: The pricing for our themes is here. The pricing for our MP3 Audio Player Pro is here
5: Sure. we will add this to our roadmap for a future version if we receive more user requests for it
10: well, you can simply export your content and reimport it. WordPress has a native function for this. You can also import your current Podcast RSS feed in 1-click and all your episodes will show up.
14: In our theme, we use a built-in player which is very similar to MP3 Audio Player Pro, but MP3 Audio Player Pro will get more features, is more podcast-oriented, and more e-commerce oriented. MP3 Audio Player Pro is our flagship product. Everything you currently see in the theme demos don't use MP3 Audio Player Pro at all so the built-in player is relatively flexible as well. We have a free version of MP3 Audio Player Pro here.
We dont have test admin of our sonaar theme. we offer 14 days refund if not working
Thanks,
Max from the Sonaar.io Crew