3 Ways to add YouTube videos to WordPress:
This is all the more powerful when you combine YouTube and WordPress together. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. Thousands, and even millions, of people can watch your video. WordPress is the largest content management system on the planet. Together these two tools can revolutionize your online marketing strategy.
To do this, we need to understand how to integrate them together.
Fortunately, WordPress has a number of plugins that will help you easily merge the two services together.
Three ways to add YouTube videos to WordPress
Simply placing a single YouTube video on your website is very simple. All you need to do is navigate to a page or post, and click on Add Media
Select the Insert from URL button, and paste in the URL for the video. Save your changes, and it will be embedded in your content. People can watch the video on your page, or click the YouTube button to visit its original location. This works for any video – not just the ones you’ve created.
This method is perfectly functional. However, there are several more interesting ways to add YouTube videos to WordPress using plugins. Let’s explore each method one by one.
1. Use a dedicated YouTube widget for more flexibility
The free YouTube Widget Responsive plugin lets you embed videos in widgets with lots of added flexibility for how your video functions:
Installing this plugin will add a new, rather complex widget to your site. Simply visit Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard, and look for Youtube widget responsive:
Drag the widget wherever you want it to be placed, enter a title and URL for your video, and click on Save. After that, you can select the various tabs to customize additional settings. For example, under Video you can decide whether the video will start automatically, and if it will play on a loop
The options here are all self-explanatory, so feel free to customize your video’s functionality until it’s looking just right
It’s worth noting that you can also use this feature to embed an entire YouTube playlist on your site. Just paste in the URL for a video within your playlist, then save and customize the widget as normal. Now, after the first video finishes playing, the next video in your playlist will automatically load
2. Add your YouTube channel to your site
A perfect way to show off your entire body of work and encourage visitors to check you out on YouTube.
You can do this easily using the Your Channel plugin.
Once the plugin is installed, you’ll find a new tab under Settings > Your Channel
You’ll need to create and enter a YouTube API key, which you can do by following these instructions.Then, you can connect the plugin to your channel by entering either your username or channel ID
The remaining settings on this page enable you to configure a few extra options, such as how many videos to display. Select Save when you’re done, and you’ll be given a short code
Paste in this shortcode wherever you want the channel displayed, and check it out on the front end
3. Create a gallery of YouTube videos
A video gallery can be an attractive addition to your site, and setting one up is possible with the aptly-named Video Gallery plugin
This tool will add a new tab to your dashboard – Gallery Video. You can select New Gallery Video to add videos to WordPress
At the top of this screen, you can enter a title for your gallery, then pick a layout for it under Gallery Video Option.
Then, you’ll need to add a title for your first entry, select the Add Video button, and enter the video’s URL as normal.
Click on Save Video, and it will appear in a list at the bottom of the page
You can keep adding videos, and drag them up and down to reorder them.
Hit Save at the top of the page when you’re done, then paste the provided shortcode into any post or page. Your gallery will now display using the chosen layout.
Conclusion:
It’s not a stretch to say that video content is the future of the internet. If you’re still only adding text-based content to your website, you’re missing out on the opportunity to really grab your visitors’ attention and keep them coming back for more. That’s why it’s so crucial to integrate your YouTube videos with your WordPress site.
As we’ve shown, it’s simple to add YouTube videos to WordPress in more advanced ways if you use the right plugins.