Incorporating Video Blocks into Your WordPress Post or Page

There are tons of reasons why you’ll want to incorporate videos on your website. In addition to breaking up long blocks of text to engage other senses, consumers report videos are helpful in making purchasing decisions, and 46% of people who view a video take some sort of action afterward. If you haven’t already been convinced that video is both uber-popular and super-effective, you can find all kinds of statistics that back this up. For example, research shows that people retain nearly 10x as much info from watching a video than they do from reading text!  Plus, 54% of consumers report they would like to see more video from the brands they like.

So, let’s not disappoint them and learn how to add videos to your WordPress site.

Getting Started with a Video Block

Video blocks allow you to add your own video content to your site, as well as to embed a video from elsewhere on the web (e.g. YouTube). To add a video block to a new page or post, click the ‘plus’ (+) icon in the top toolbar and choose the video blog from the block options in the media category. As with other blocks, the video-block-specific menu will appear at the top of the block. The first icon on the menu, as always, is the video block icon to remind you which type of block you’re working in.

Adding the Video

The block provides you with the three options available for adding video content – upload a video file to the media library, select a video already saved to the media library, and add video with a URL. (Ideally, you’ll add your own video from YouTube, but we’ll come back to that!)

To add the video from the media library, simply click on the video you want to use and choose ‘Select,’ and you’ll be taken back to the video block on the page.

The next icon on the top menu allows you (by picking options from a drop-down list) to adjust the alignment of the video player to the left, center, or right. Wide aligned blocks will stick out from normal content on either side, and full-width blocks will stretch out the entire width of the browser window. Note that the last two options require your theme to support them. The final option on the menu provides the options to duplicate, move, or delete the block.

Video Block Formatting – the Right Sidebar Menu

Within the ‘block’ tab of the menu, there are several features you might want, which can be toggled on and off in this menu.

• Autoplay – Toggled on, the video will automatically start to play as soon as it appears on the visitor’s screen.
• Loop – The video will stop playing when it’s over when this control is toggled off. When it’s toggled on, the video will keep repeating until the user navigates away or deliberately stops the video.
• Muted – When this is toggled on, the audio won’t automatically play when the video starts; the user has to turn it on to listen.

At the bottom of the menu, WordPress includes the option to add a “poster” – a still image you select – to your video. A poster is a cover image for the video, which is helpful for covering the first image of the video itself. (They can look a little bit raw.) To add a poster, click “Select” which will take you to your media library. If the image you want is saved in the media library, simply select it. If not, click the ‘Upload’ tab on the top left to add it to the library from your computer.

Back to YouTube…

We hinted at how embedding a YouTube video on your site beats uploading one directly to your site. And since we know you’re going to lose sleep tonight if we keep you in suspense, we’re going to give you two quick reasons why.

First of all, your loyal customers like you, so they would rather see you (or your product, etc.) on video than a reference video from someone else’s YouTube channel.  And prospects who land on your site still need to get to know you. Having a way for your prospects to see and hear you is one of the fastest ways to get them to know, like, and trust you, which are requirements for getting people to buy from you! You have to start at ‘know,’ so you may as well give them the opportunity to “meet” you sooner rather than later.

Second, when you add a video to a page or a blog post on the same topic, it ‘doubles up’ on your SEO. YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the internet, and it’s owned by Google. Google gives preferential treatment to YouTube videos over video posted elsewhere. Because your content on the topic now appears in two places online and the two are linked, your website and/or video are more likely to come out in Google’s search results!

And remember: Your videos don’t have to be “perfect” or look like Hollywood productions! You just need to show up and be yourself to get the right clients to connect with you. Now, go make a plan to create a video to use on your website!