How To Embed Videos In WordPress Posts (Easy Beginner’s Guide)

Half the battle is creating a video. Once you’re done with the exhausting production process, it’s finally time to share what you’ve created by posting it on social media, email newsletters, and, of course, your website.

Fortunately, WordPress makes it very easy to embed your videos. They’re a great way to boost user engagement, and get new visitors coming back for more. Read on to learn exactly how to do it!

Why You Want To Embed Videos On Your Website?

You already have a few marketing tools in your toolbox, but videos are one of the most powerful ones out of them all. Why? Well, generally speaking, videos utilize your online space more effectively than text or images.

In fact, studies have shown that only 20% of the text is actually read by website visitors. This is because videos are convenient and easy to understand. That’s why adding videos to your text content will be the best way to appeal to digital audiences.

On top of that, you’ll also boost your organic traffic. Since videos keep visitors on your site longer, the average time spent on that page rises as a result, which Google and other search engines view as a positive ranking factor.

Not only that, but embedding your videos can also boost brand awareness. Because visitors can easily share videos on your website with just a few quick clicks, they’ll be more motivated to share your content on social media, giving you the chance to enhance your social media presence without exerting much effort.

Plus, you’re more likely to get higher conversion rates as well. According to studies, including a video on your landing page can increase conversion rates by as much as 80%. The main factor is that videos encourage brand trust.

To sum it all up, it goes without saying that including videos on your website is a fantastic way to grab your readers’ attention, increase engagement, and increase conversions.

Can I Upload My Video Directly On WordPress?

You certainly can, but we don’t recommend it.

When you add a video to your website, the file is uploaded to your personal web hosting server. While this gives you total control over the video and those who see it, there are some reasons why you might want to steer clear of adding videos to your website.

For instance, have you ever noticed that it takes a while for a video to load?

Video files are usually very large, so they will consume a lot of your server’s bandwidth. The likelihood that your viewers will experience unexpected pauses, slow loading times, or even the chances of not being able to play your videos increases as you add more videos to your server.

By linking to a video hosted elsewhere and embedding it on your website, you shift the load of the video’s bandwidth from your server to the third party, who is probably better equipped to handle the amount of bandwidth.

But it’s not just that: uploading your video directly also means you’ll miss out on shares, visibility, and traffic. For example, the second-most visited website in the world is YouTube. So, passing on uploading your video to websites such as YouTube will probably give you fewer leads and conversions.

Though if you are using one of the best web hosts with a fast plan and a lot of resources, you technically can get away with uploading it directly. It can also be workable if you’re using wordpress.org (a.k.a. the self-hosted version where you’d need to find your own web host), as you’ll have more space and storage available for uploading.

But once again, we still don’t recommend it even if you do have the resources available, simply because there are so many more efficient options out there. You’ll also be missing out on leads and conversions too, so, it’s still best to embed your videos.

Ways To Embed YouTube Videos On WordPress

Now that you know the benefits of embedding your videos, let’s get into how to do it. Fortunately, this is incredibly simple to do with WordPress, especially when it comes to YouTube videos (though you can also embed videos from Vimeo and other video hosting platforms).

You have 3 options:

Method 1: Use a video player plugin to embed videos

Video player plugins are one of the best ways to embed videos. But because there’s a lot you can choose from, it can be a bit overwhelming for most people. Don’t worry, we got you. Here are our top picks for video player plugins you can use:

With that said, we’ll be using the Presto Player plugin for this example. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use it.

And that’s it! You successfully embedded your video on your WordPress website.

Method 2: Using the default editor to add videos

If you’re not a fan of the first method, you can simply just use the default editor to add videos to your WordPress website. With a managed web hosting platform, you’ll find that it’s very easy to do. Let’s take a look at how to do it.

And it’s as easy as that!

Also, the WordPress team published a list of video hosting companies that they support in their editors. Check them out:

Make sure to thoroughly go over the list so you can easily find out if you can use this method.

Method 3: The HTML block method

This option isn’t necessary for video service providers that WordPress has blocks for, but it’s another way to include videos on your site. Here’s how:

You’re all set! You’ve successfully embedded your video in your post/page.

Make the Most Out of Your Videos

When making your website, there’s a good chance you’re gonna eventually want to add videos. But, directly uploading one to your website can do more harm than good. This is where embedding comes in.

Luckily, there are many ways to embed videos and there’s no one right way to do it. You can use HTML blocks, plugins, or directly paste the link into your default editor.

With this, you can easily add videos to your WordPress website and get more engagement. Thanks to embedded videos, almost any blog or website can expand its reach and promote their value proposition.