Bolden Theme Review PROS & CONS | Best Theme For Podcast Networks?

Podcasts are a great way to improve and popularize brand, and increase audience. Taking that into consideration, having a website to accompany your podcast is a smart choice. Thanks to many available WordPress podcast themes, this is easy to accomplish.

With various selections of designs to choose from, no matter what the topic of your podcast is, you will be able to find a suitable WordPress theme. You can host audio files yourself or use one of dedicated podcast streaming services to display content on your website.

As most podcast themes integrate with the podcast hosting services, you don’t even have to add a new episode to your website manually.

Podcast themes have excellent support for video podcasts as well as audio recordings. They also include blogging templates so you can blog alongside your podcast. When it comes to customization options, you can modify the appearance without much effort.

So if you’re looking for a way to promote your podcast, Bolden podcast network WordPress theme is a great choice.

Bolden is another theme from a great selection of SecondLine podcast themes. I have previously written about their Dixie and Satchmo themes so be sure to check that post also.

 

Bolden Theme Review

Bolden is a powerful WordPress theme built for podcast networks (a network that owns/publish more than one single podcast on one website). You can purchase it from several places like from official SecondLine themes site or Themeforest marketplace.

The theme is an excellent choice for networks or multiple podcast shows. Bolden podcast theme supports various layouts, audio sources, videos, and has a featured slider.

It is a theme explicitly crafted for podcast network and supports multi-show layout. Bolden supports many podcasting plugins such as Simple Podcast Press, PowerPress, Castos, etc.

It also supports locally hosted and external MP3 files or embeds such as Libsyn, SoundCloud, MixCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.

 

 

You can choose from many design options and display your content in a unique and customized design. Bolden offers color customization options and font controls as well as Elementor page builder.

The theme comes with its own set of add-ons and templates for Elementor. You can display audio or video player anywhere within the theme. The audio player is compatible with all browsers and mobile devices.

You can also add a download button or the option to play in a new window. With Bolden, you can choose how to display content. There are several available layout settings:

• Masonry show grid
• 1 column episode list display
• 2-6 column episode grid display
• Carousel
• Filter through categories
• Paged, load more button and infinite scroll pagination
• Featured slider

Bolden includes all must have features for podcast themes and options that can be found in other SecondLine themes.

But it also includes some new add-ons, a new “Shows” post type and advanced functionality that works great for podcast networks or multiple shows hosted in one place.

 

What Bolden Theme Offers?

After activating Bolden theme you will be prompted with message that theme recommends installing several plugins.

Those are Blubrry PowerPress, CMB2, Contact Form 7, Easy Google Fonts, Elementor Page Builder, MailChimp for WordPress, SecondLine Custom Addons – Bolden and WP Instagram Widget.

You can then begin installing those plugins or dismiss notice. Or you can choose to install only plugins you wish to use.

When you purchase the theme, you will also receive a license which you enter within your WordPress dashboard via “Appearance > Theme License.”

Once activated, the license will provide option to automatically update your theme from your WordPress site dashboard whenever an update is available.

If you have purchased this theme from Themeforest, you can use the Envato Market plugin for automatic updates.

 

 

You can also import demo data available if you don’t want to start from scratch but wish to edit available demo content.

To customize the theme options you go to Appearance > Customize. Customization includes theme colors, images, fonts, typography, and other general settings.

This theme is powered by Elementor page builder which is a free plugin (but also has paid version). You can edit any page with the page builder by clicking the “Edit with Elementor” button.

From there you can add new elements or edit existing by clicking on them. Just select an element and then the panel on the left will display options.

There are also saved custom built-in templates in the Elementor template manager. Once you import the demo data, you will find the custom templates in your Elementor library.

There are also many other free templates available that can be used to re-create various pages or sections of the site.

 

 

Bolden theme comes with custom post type called “Shows.” The shows section is very flexible, and you can display it in various layouts across your theme. Within each show page you can see its episodes and additional info.

To create Show post, navigate into your WordPress dashboard and select “Shows > Add New“. Inside the editor, give your show a title, insert the description, and upload a featured image.

Then, you’ll be able to add-in the additional settings for each show. For instance, you can disable the featured image in the header area, or add-in a custom background image to that title area.

You can also insert a short description that will appear in the header, and link your show with a Post Category.

 

 

Below the Show settings area, there is an additional setting panel named “Subscribe & Social Links“. Here you can add unlimited numbers of icons either to the subscribe button pop-up, or the social icons right below the buttons.

There are several custom Show-related elements in the Elementor page builder: the “Show Carousel”, “Show Slider” and “Show Grid” elements.

The Show Carousel addon can display a carousel or a row of shows. You can display multiple shows and scroll between them, or simply display a static number of 5 or 6 shows for example.

You can control the settings, layout, query and design options when editing this with Elementor (see Elementor free vs pro differences).

 

 

The Show Slider addon can display shows with their title, description and a button to go over to the show page. The Show Grid addon can display multiple shows in a grid. This addon can display all shows or only a certain category of shows.

The primary purpose of Bolden theme is for podcasting, but it can be used for any other purpose. It has support for audio, video, featured images, background images, etc.

There are several options of setting up a podcast with this theme:

• Using the Blubrry PowerPress plugin
• Using the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin
• Using the Simple Podcast Press plugin
• Using embedded audio files from external providers

Also there are several custom elements in the Elementor that are created for Bolden theme. Those are the “Post Grid,” “Post Slider” and “Single Post” elements which are similar but with some differences.

The Post Grid addon can display a grid or a list of posts. You can display an unlimited amount of posts in various styles. The Single Post addon can display one single post only. You must choose which post you are willing to show.

This addon can also include an audio/media player. It is best when displayed within context of a page or in a CTA type section. The Slider addon can display two or more rotating posts in a slider with animations anywhere on your page.

This addon can also include an audio/media player.

In each one of these addons, you will find tons of settings and design options that you can modify. To add-in content to your posts, use the regular WordPress WYSIWYG editor and modify the post’s content as needed.

If you want to link a series of posts into a certain show, make sure to select the Parent Show Post under the episode settings. You can also do the same when editing a Show post. This will ensure you display a list of Episodes within the single show page.

 

Bolden Theme Review Final Words

Bolden theme is a great choice if you have a podcast network or a few shows that you want to display together. It will also work for single podcasts. It uses Elementor page builder so you can quickly create new pages or use the demo templates to build your podcast website.

The theme comes with multiple custom elements that integrate with Elementor page builder, and these are packed with tons of features. Price for Bolden theme is $69 for a single site license. You will get one year of support and updates.

If you would like to get all existing and future themes from SecondLine themes, then you have option to purchase Theme Bundle plan which costs $139 and provides 1 year access to all themes.

Lifetime Access plan will get you all podcasting themes for a one-time payment of $389. As alternative option, you can use Podcastpage. It is website podcast builder that makes managing podcasts a breeze. For more info, check my Podcastpage review.