SmartMag – Responsive & Retina WordPress Magazine

The reader with an ad blocker costs you too, and does not pay

A magazine living on advertising has an invisible reader in its accounts. They use server resources, may show up in the visit statistics and may stay loyal for years, but the ad space meant for them never gets shown. If you only look at page views, that gap does not appear anywhere.

That is why knowing where you place ads matters as much as what you do about those who do not see them. They are two separate editorial decisions.

SmartMag, from ThemeSphere, covers both. It lets you place ads and codes in predefined locations, including after a number of paragraphs inside the article, and it detects the blocker to show a notice you configure. The rest is what you expect from a news and magazine theme for Elementor: demos, headers, reviews, a shop and forums.

Ads and blockers, with their settings

• Predefined locations for ads and custom codes: header, footer, single post and after X paragraphs.
• Ad blocker detection: it detects and shows a message, with an optional delay, that the reader can dismiss and that can recur.
• Sponsorship per post, to identify who funds an article.
• Lazy-loaded images and an included guide to scoring well on PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals.

Reviews, forums and the rest of the magazine

• Integrated review system, with percent, points or stars, user ratings and a pros and cons list.
• Structured data included for breadcrumbs, articles and reviews.
• Elementor with added functions for building pages, and styling for the block editor.
• Header builder, with more than 9 elements, premade headers and mobile headers.
• WooCommerce and bbPress integrated, for a shop and forums.
• Dark mode and right-to-left writing, which turns on by itself when WordPress is in an RTL language.
• Translation and WPML, plus compatibility with Yoast SEO.
• AMP with a look similar to the main site and an off-canvas menu.
• Co-Authors Plus to credit several authors, and an author box you can enable per page.

Detecting the blocker is not charging that reader

Detection shows a message. It does not recover the blocked ad or turn that reader into income: what you get depends on what you ask of them and how you ask. You can soften it with the delay and by letting it be dismissed.

SmartMag does not bring advertisers either: it places the banner or code you give it. There is no campaign management or paywall among its features, so if you want to charge for reading, you need another piece or another theme.

Demo images do not come with the theme or the sample data, so after importing a demo you will have to add your own.

Building the magazine in order

SmartMag's page builder is Elementor; WooCommerce and bbPress are only needed if you will have a shop or forums. This order leaves advertising until the rest has been measured:

1. Install the theme and do a one-click import of the demo closest to your section structure.
2. Replace the sample images and adjust the header, menus and category archives.
3. Measure speed with the included guide, before adding advertising.
4. Add ads by location, one at a time, measuring after each change.
5. Turn on ad blocker detection last, with a delay and the option to dismiss.

When you need a paywall or a home page by sections

If you want to charge for content, Soledad combines ads with unlimited placements and a paywall, and Foxiz offers a paywall and memberships along with reading history, bookmarks and following of authors or categories.

If your outlet is closer to a portal, Herald divides the home page into sections with their own blocks. And Fabula offers layouts for magazines and subscription content.

How SmartMag answers an ad-funded magazine

Can I insert ads inside the article?

Yes. One of the locations comes after a number of paragraphs you choose, besides the header, footer and single post.

Does the blocker notice prevent reading?

It is a message that can be delayed, dismissed and repeated, depending on how you configure it.

Does it work for a product review site?

Yes. Reviews accept percent, points or stars, user ratings and pros and cons, with structured data included.

Can I have forums?

Yes, integrated with bbPress, which is installed separately.