Video has long been one of the most powerful ways to enhance site user experience and engagement. Therefore, as an online business owner, you should take advantage of videos to optimize your website’s profitability.
This article will show you 7 simple methods to embed videos in WordPress. Also, keep reading and you’ll find some bonus tips to use your embedded videos effectively.
Let’s get this show on the road!
- The Benefits of Videos in Building a Website
- #1 Embed Videos from WordPress Media Library
- #2 Embed Amazon S3 Videos in WordPress
- #3 Embed Videos Using WordPress Classic Editor
- #4 Use Block Editor to Embed Videos in WordPress
- #5 Embed Videos in WordPress with a Page Builder
- #6 Activate a WordPress Video Player Plugin
- #7 Embed Videos in WordPress Sidebar and Footer
- Sweet Bonus: Protect Your Videos from Being Shared
The Benefits of Videos in Building a Website
Embedding videos in WordPress benefits you in many ways. In particular, it helps you:
Improve User Experience: Studies have demonstrated that site visitors only read 20% of text. They prefer to watch videos rather than view images or text. This is because videos are easy to understand, convenient, and painless.
Thus, using videos as a complement to text will be a perfect way to make your content appealing to digital audiences.
Boost Organic Traffic: As videos draw attention better than other types of content do, they keep visitors staying longer on your site.
This increases the average time on that page, which Google and other search engines consider a positive ranking factor. Once you rank high on Google, don’t be surprised when your organic traffic soars dramatically.
Enhance Brand Awareness: With just a few simple clicks, visitors will easily share your website videos on their social profiles.
This encourages them to spread your content across social networks. That way, you will have a chance to improve your social media presence without effort.
Increase Conversion Rates: Research has shown that putting a video on your landing page can boost the conversion rate by up to 80%. The biggest reason is that videos make people place confidence in a brand.
It goes without denying that adding videos to content brings a lot of profit to your site. So, it’s high time to learn how to show videos in WordPress.
Let’s dive in!
#1 Embed Videos from WordPress Media Library
This is a simple, traditional method that all WordPress users should know. There are 2 ways to make use of the Media Library to insert videos into a WordPress post or page:
- Upload videos to the Media Library, then add them to your post or page.
- Add videos directly to your content, and these videos will be automatically saved in the Media Library.
Upload Videos to WordPress Media Library
Take the following steps:
- In your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Media → Add New.
- Click Select Files, choose the video files from your computer, and select Open to upload them to the Media Library. You can also drag and drop the files to the upload area.
The status bar will display 100% once the video has been successfully uploaded.
3. Go to Pages or Posts in the dashboard. Select Edit to open an existing page or post, or Add New to create a new one.
4. Click the Add Media button, choose your desired videos in the Media Library, and hit on Insert into page.
Add Videos Directly to Your Content
Follow the guide below:
- Head over to your existing or new page/post.
- Click the Add Media button.
- In the Upload files tab, click Select Files, choose the videos you want to add to the content and select Open. You can also drag and drop video files from your computer to the upload area.
- Hit the Insert into page button to finish. Now, you’ve successfully added videos directly to your page/post. WordPress will automatically save these videos in the Media Library.
This method doesn’t require much effort. However, saving multiple large-size videos in the Media Library costs you a large amount of bandwidth. When running out of bandwidth, your site load time will severely slow down.
The next method will help you solve this problem.
#2 Embed Amazon S3 Videos in WordPress
As mentioned above, you should not self-host your videos whose sizes are too big (over 100 MB). Instead, we suggest hosting videos on third-party platforms, i.e. Amazon S3, then embedding them in your content.
That way, you’ll be able to ensure a better user experience, at the same time, saving your bandwidth.
We’ve already published a detailed guide on how to embed Amazon S3 videos in WordPress. Check it out now.
#3 Embed Videos Using WordPress Classic Editor
In this section, we’ll learn how to utilize the classic editor to embed different video types, including MP4, M4V, WebM, Ogv, WMV, Flv, etc. You can apply this technique to either your own WordPress videos or videos hosted on third-party platforms.
There are 2 shortcuts to employ the classic editor’s video embedding functions:
- Copy & paste the video’s URL.
- Copy & paste the video’s HTML code.
Show Videos on a WordPress Page or Post by Embedding URL
To have your video shown by embedding its URL, you have to:
- Copy the video’s URL from any third-party video hosting platforms, such as YouTube, HubSpot, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.
- In your WordPress dashboard, pick a page or post you want to add the video to.
- Simply paste the video’s URL to the place you wish to show it in your content.
That’s it.
Display Videos on a WordPress Page or Post by Embedding HTML
If you need more advanced options, for instance, changing the video’s display size, consider the video’s HTML. Here’s the route:
- Copy the video’s HTML code from HTML5, Vimeo, YouTube, etc.
- Paste it into your content’s Text edit mode.
3. Modify the video width and height according to your preference.
#4 Use Block Editor to Embed Videos in WordPress
If you’re using the Gutenberg block editor, this method is just the ticket. Similar to the classic editor, you can embed videos by adding their URL addresses or HTML code.
Insert URL to Embed Videos on a WordPress Page or Post
To achieve that, you should:
- Navigate to your page or post.
- Hit the + button in your page’s top-left corner to add a Gutenberg block.
3. Type “video”, then drag & drop your desired video block onto your page or post. Gutenberg supports many video types, such as YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, etc.
4. Copy & paste your video’s URL to the block and press Embed.
Add HTML to Embed Videos on a WordPress Page or Post
Bear in mind that the Gutenberg blocks mentioned above only allow you to add the video’s URL. To insert and edit the video’s iFrame, you must use the Custom HTML block:
- Go to your page or post.
- Add a Gutenberg block by clicking the + button in your page’s top-left corner.
- Search for the Custom HTML block, then drag & drop it to the desired location on your page or post.
4. Copy & paste your video’s HTML code to the block.
5. Edit the HTML code to your liking.
#5 Embed Videos in WordPress with a Page Builder
A lot of page builders support embedding videos in WordPress at the present. To make it easier for you, we recommend Elementor, one of the most commonly used drag-and-drop page builders worldwide.
The Elementor page builder provides you with two different ways to insert a video:
- Use the Video block.
- Use the Text Editor block.
Add Videos to WordPress Using the Video Block
With this option, you need to:
- Head over to your page or post.
- Select the Edit with Elementor button at the top of that page or post.
3. Search for the Video block, and drag & drop it to your desired location.
4. In the Edit Menu screen, choose your video’s source in the Source drop-down menu. Elementor currently accepts videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and self-hosted videos.
5. Copy & paste the video’s URL to the Link section. You can define the Start Time and End Time of your video along with other settings if necessary.
Insert Videos to WordPress Using the Text Editor Block
To take advantage of the Text block:
- After clicking the Edit with Elementor button, look for the Text Editor block, then drag & drop it to the content area.
2. Copy & paste the video’s URL to the Text Editor left-hand drop-down menu.
Additionally, you can embed and edit the videos’ HTML code in the same way as using the classic editor.
#6 Activate a WordPress Video Player Plugin
Another way to embed videos in WordPress is to install a video player plugin. There are countless WordPress video player plugins in the market, both free and premium. To help you make up your mind, we’ve listed out a few that work for you:
HTML5 Video Player: This plugin assists in embedding different types of high-quality videos in all major browsers. Also, it authorizes you to modify video titles and descriptions for better SEO rankings.
FV Player: Search for a video player plugin that works well with the classic editor and page builders such as Elementor? Check out FV Player. The most crucial feature of the plugin is the availability of pre-roll and post-roll screens. You can show more information about your videos through these screens.
Easy Video Player: At the core of the plugin lies a shortcode that can be customized to display the videos as you wish. Thus, it gives you full control of your video display size, aspect ratio, skin, format, etc. It supports loop play and video autoplay too.
Embed Plus: This is one of the best Youtube video plugins that enable you to embed a YouTube video, gallery, playlist, and even a live stream to your WordPress site.
#7 Embed Videos in WordPress Sidebar and Footer
Besides adding videos to posts or pages, you can embed them in the sidebar and footer using the Widgets settings. Here’s how it works:
- Navigate to Appearance → Widgets in the WordPress admin dashboard.
- Define the location to add videos, i.e. header, footer, and sidebar.
- Press the + icon to add a new widget.
4. Search for the Video widget and click it.
5. You can choose to Upload videos from your computer, add existing videos from your Media Library, or Insert from URL.
Sweet Bonus: Protect Your Videos from Being Shared
If you own an online video business, protecting your premium videos from unauthorized access and downloads should be the priority. But the question is, how can you do that? The answer is quite simple, using the PDA WordPress Videos & Audios extension.
This extension allows your paid users to view your videos online while stopping them from downloading the videos. It’s currently available for self-hosted videos, WordPress HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) videos, and videos hosted on Amazon S3 bucket.
With the assistance of this extension, you’ll be able to completely prevent direct access to your videos, audio, online courses, etc. In other words, no one without your permission can approach your valuable content.
Plus, it stops those who have access to your videos from sharing the video files’ URLs with others.
What if they download the videos using the Internet Download Manager (IDM)? Don’t worry. The extension disables most popular video downloaders including IDM.
What’s more, the PDA WordPress Videos & Audios extension is compatible with many video players, namely Video.js HTML5, TechSmith Camtasia, FV Player, Plyr Player, and so on.
You can watch our tutorial video here:
Embed Videos in WordPress to Take Your Site to New Heights
We’ve demonstrated 7 effective methods to embed videos in WordPress. There is no single best way. It depends on your preferences and resources.
Own a strong hosting? Uploading videos directly to the WordPress media repository is perfect for you.
Otherwise, it would be best if you host your videos on Amazon S3 and embed them in your content for bandwidth saving.
You can also use the classic editor, block editor, page builders, video player plugins, and widgets to insert videos into your WordPress site.
Let’s make your choice now!
