5 Methods to Embed Videos in Your WordPress Website (Video Creation Tips Included)

Images and videos always let you tell better stories than text. Embedding videos in your WordPress website (posts or pages) is an important part of creating user engagement but can also help out with Google’s organic ranking. 

Now, did you know that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support?

Users are seeing videos increasingly on every channel: whether it’s on websites, blogs, social media, Youtube, or TikTok, there’s a huge demand for video content. From explainer videos, testimonials, to commercials, video is taking over all media platforms.

Videos became consumers’ favorite type of content in 2018 (as per Animoto). Their trends report showed that 73% of consumers claim that they have been influenced by a brand’s social media presence when making a purchasing decision.

What does this mean for you?

You must follow along, else, let’s say it might not be a happy-ending story.

Now, in this article we’ll talk about:

• Minimum requirements when making a low-budget video (logistics and more)
• How to embed a video in your WordPress website

For those that want to jump straight to the embedding part, just click the link above.

Let’s get going!

 

Minimum requirements when making a low-budget video (logistics and more)

Hypothesis: you can’t afford to hire a videographer to do the job for you (filming and editing) but you still need to create a product demo, tutorial or video ad.

How do you begin?

1. Script preparation

Now, before starting with the script you should decide on the video type you want to make:

• Demo
• Tutorial
• Branding video
• Interview
• Educational videos (course, training)

Also, think of your audience, its language, its values.

Then start with the script (the storyline for the video). 

It can be something like below. The more details you provide, the fewer iterations you will need.

Also, try to keep it short. If you’re doing a Facebook ad, make sure to introduce really quickly the benefits, the main idea…because people have a short attention span and don’t always get to the end of a video. Squeeze some hooks along the story to make people stick for more.

Check this video ad for eToro! It starts with “Sure, skip this video, just like you skipped out on buying Amazon stock”. Wow, you really got my attention here, let’s see what you want from me. 

2. Video design inspiration

You could check the competitions’ demos, their Youtube videos, Fiverr portfolios. 

Also go look at some stock videos and templates on Pexels (some of them are free, but always check the requirements, if they are for commercial use or not), Adobe Stock (these templates can be used in Adobe’s editing products, such as Premiere Pro), Envato (compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro), or more. Also, if you need free stock videos, motion graphics, music, and sound effects Videvo is a good place to start from.

My tip here: make it simple in the beginning, you’re still learning. Take it baby steps, your next video can be a bit more complex.

If you’re not sure if you’re moving in the right direction, ask for feedback from friends, work colleagues, or some customers.

3. Tools for filming

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/ZMy5pprZu1s

Minimum gear:

• A phone with 4k possibilities or an entry-level DSLR with HD features.
• Stabilizer (if you use a phone)
• Artificial light (a lamp, it doesn’t have to be a professional one, a household one can do the trick) if you don’t have natural light, or there’s too much light. Use it at an angle of 45 degrees from the subject
• Optional: a diffusion panel (you can even go DIY). More about this in this tutorial.
• Optional: microphone

Tip: go with diffused natural light (let’s say you’re doing an interview). Make sure you have a clean, non-disturbing background.

Now, if you want to do a product demo in your web app, things can get really easy. All you need to do is use a tool for screen sharing.

So far I played with the free versions of Vidyard and Drift, they do a pretty good job!

4. Tools for video editing

Here’s my shortlist:

• Veed helps you edit videos, add subtitles, transcribe audio, and more.
• Camtasia is a budget-friendly tool. It’s perfect for screen sharing, demo, and tutorials!
• Final cut Pro is for the Mac lovers
• Premiere Pro is for those that want more and are willing to invest more time (lots of features to dwell into) and money in their video making.
• Movavi –  a program the main purpose of which is to edit video materials. It allows you to cut and paste videos without losing quality, apply filters and effects.
• FlexClip – allows you to edit videos online without installing any software, and offers a great selection of professional-looking templates.

5. Some extra video making tips

For the voice-over, you could hire someone on Fiverr…but you could also do stuff with no voice-over like this tutorial of ours, it all depends on the purpose of your video.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/NeWmr345VC4

On Fiverr, you could find native English speakers, but I would start with someone in-house at first, before investing in this.

I always say “Test, test, test”. Do something on a low budget, get the feedback, then optimize.

Don’t go full-speed ahead and throw money down the window, this won’t promise you any result.

Now, in marketing we always say that in a content strategy, content creation accounts for 20% of the investment, 80% should be the promotion.

What does this mean?

Go ahead and post your video on your website/blog, on social media channels, on Youtube and Vimeo.

Next, promote it in your newsletters, social media posts, and via partners.

You could recycle part of your videos and repurpose them in paid ads.

How to embed a video in your WordPress website

Ok, now you’ve built your video…how do you put it live on your website?

Now, you can upload locally saved files or provide a video URL for your video.

I will show you how to do both. But, there’s always a “but”.

When you upload a new video file you will use server resources and it might affect your website performance. 

On the other hand, when you embed Youtube videos you get something from the Youtube experience (autoplay, speed control and more). It will provide a better user experience. 

Now that I cleared this thing out, you can go ahead with one of the methods below to embed your video in a WordPress post or page.

1. Use the “Add media” feature in WordPress

If the video is stored locally on your computer

1.  Go to your WordPress post/page
2. Select “Add Media” and upload your video. You can even use stock video images taken from libraries such as Mazwai.
3. Insert your newly added media (provide an alt text as well, it can help out with search engine optimization)

If the video is uploaded to Youtube:

1. Go to Youtube and copy your video URL
2. Go to your WordPress pages or post
3. Select “Add Media”
4. Add the Youtube URL and insert the video to your post/page

I think things can’t get any easier than this.

2. Use the iFrame embedding method

Yeah, it might sound fancy, but this is an easy way as well to embed videos almost anywhere!

It also comes with a twist: it allows you to control how your video will show up.

What do you have to do?

1. Go to your Youtube video
2. Select “Share” from the options below the video
   
3. Select the “embed” option
4. Copy the tiny piece of code
5. Go to your WordPress post or page
6. Switch to the WordPress text editor
7. Paste the code

3. Adding videos to WordPress websites’ sidebars

When dealing with sidebars, widgets are your go-to thing. Follow me to find out how you can do this.

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard, select Appearance -> Customize
2. From the Customizer menu select “Widgets”
3. Choose the video Widget
   
4. Upload your video or paste your URL video then hit “Insert”

Don’t forget to save your page and publish it!

4. Embedding videos in the Gutenberg editor

In Gutenberg, you have the option to add Youtube, Vimeo, or other video blocks. This is how you do it:

1. Add a video block
2. Paste the URL of your video

And you’re done 🙂

5. Use video embedding plugins for WordPress

This is one of my least favorite methods of mine. The more plugins you use, the less performing your website will be.

Some of them though might come with some extra features that you might enjoy.

You can check some of these plugins here.

If you don’t know how to work with plugins, this tutorial will show you how (in less than 3 minutes).

That’s a wrap, folks!

 

Conclusions

Video embedding in WordPress websites is piece of cake.

The heartache is the video making.

Videos are taking over the internet. Brands need video content more than ever, for demos, ads, social media, events, and more. You can’t afford to stay behind.

Video production can be daunting, but we tried to make your life easier and give you suggestions on how to do this on a low budget.

Nevertheless, don’t forget: video promotion is essential!

Until next time!

 

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