How to Put MP4 Videos on Your WordPress Website

If you are looking to incorporate videos into your WordPress website, then you have come to the right place. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know regarding putting videos on your site, from formats and sizes, to sources and embed codes.

Why Put Videos On Your Website?

If you are looking to expand your knowledge on any front, videos are a great medium to deliver the content. Not only do they provide a quick and engaging visual alternative to written text, but they also allow you to explain complex subjects in simple and entertaining ways. For example, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine after Google, and it is completely dedicated to videos. If you’re looking to grow your following and drive traffic to your site, then videos are a great way to do so. There are so many reasons why you should include videos on your site, but we’ll just cover a few basics below.

Videos Foster SEO

Since videos are popular and can often be found on YouTube, they are generally well-indexed by search engines like Google. If you want to see your site show up on search results for relevant topics, then you should consider including videos on your site. The SEO industry refers to videos that feature interviews or educational content as “video blogs.” When videos are used strategically in content while maintaining high quality, they can significantly increase the organic traffic to your site. For example, maybe you interviewed a well-known guest on your podcast who has a lot of content on their website about video production and marketing. By adding this content as a video blog post on your site, you are essentially turning that guest into an “information resource” for other people researching that topic. It’s a win-win situation!

Videos Engage

Like we mentioned above, videos can be funny, interesting, or otherwise entertaining. The important thing is that the content maintains the attention of the viewer. If you are going to put videos on your site, then make sure you have content that people will want to watch. Videos that stand out generally achieve this through an interactive feature, such as a “watch and win” contest, a trivia contest, or an educational series where users can learn along with the content.

Videos Foster Community Building

Since videos can be used to educate users, they can also be used to show how others are using a product or service. When a company creates a how-to guide or walkthrough for a product, they are usually using a few select videos to complement the written content. When this content is viewed by other users who have the product, it encourages them to engage with the content and possibly even contribute their own thoughts. This form of “user-generated content” can then be used to build a community around the product or service.

What Do I Need To Know Before I Start?

Just remember a few things before you begin uploading videos to your site:

• The more you know, the better you can play the video. It’s always better to over-prepare than under-prepare. Knowing what to expect will help you plan your strategy and stay ahead of schedule.
• Videos should supplement, not replace, written content.
• Videos that stand out are usually entertaining or educational in some way.
• People love to learn through visual content. If possible, use videos to teach users how to use your product or service.
• Even though videos can be entertaining or informative, you should still maintain a formal tone.

Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty of putting videos on your site. After you have a general idea of what you need to know, you can begin researching the right codecs, hosting platforms, and other technical specifications.

YouTube To MP4 Conversions

To start things off easy, let’s dive into the technical aspect of this process. If you already have a background in technology, then this part will come easily to you. If not, then it could be a bit tricky. What we will need to do is convert our YouTube videos into MP4 files so we can upload them to our WordPress site. This process is generally easy and can be done through a third-party service like ConvertKit, which we’ll discuss below.

Each of our videos will be in a different format, so we will need to convert them all into MP4 files. Fortunately, tools like ffmpeg and Handbrake allow for easy batch conversions, so we can use software like ConvertKit to automatically convert several videos at once. Let’s get started:

YouTube To MP4 Conversion Using ffmpeg

First, we will need to download and install the ffmpeg tools on our computer. Once this is done, we can begin uploading our YouTube videos to our WordPress site. Since our videos will be in MP4 format, we will need to upload them to a server that can handle the file type. This is most easily done through a website called Wix.com, which offers free basic hosting for small businesses. After our videos are uploaded, we can then download them and incorporate them into our WordPress site. To convert our YouTube videos into MP4 files, we can use the following command:

ffmpeg -i input_file.mp4 -map 0 -vtag 0 output_file.mp4

Here, we are using the -i option to specify the input file and the -map option to select the encoder we want to use for the conversion. You can select from among the following options:

• H.264 – This is the most commonly used video codec on the Internet. It is the most recommended and supported option by Google and other major content providers.
• MPEG-4 – This option is less popular, but it is a more versatile option that can handle various quality levels and frame rates. It is also considered an “open” standard, which means it is supported by more platforms than H.264.
• VC-1 – Similar to MPEG-4, VC-1 is another open standard and a more popular option compared to H.264. It is a very versatile option and can be used for a wide range of applications. It is also relatively easy to implement.
• DIVX – This option from the AOL group is another widely supported video codec and is the predecessor to the more commonly used XVID format. Its main advantage is that it is free for non-commercial use. You should almost certainly consider using this option if your YouTube videos are not intended for professional purposes.

The options above will convert our YouTube videos into an easily playable format on various devices. However, the output will be rather large. It is generally better to keep video files under 10MB in size. This will make it much easier to upload them to various websites and platforms. If the file size is too large, then it will become problematic to stream the file in an acceptable quality. This is why we generally recommend sticking with the H.264 option above or using a service like ConvertKit that can help automate the process of converting videos into MP4s and other commonly used formats.

Tip: Use A Free Domain Name

One of the first things you will need to do after you have registered your domain name is point the A (Host) record to your server. This is usually done through a free hosting provider like Wix or GoDaddy. One of the easiest ways to find a free domain name is to use a service like Google Domains that offers a free domain name with every purchase of an annual hosting plan. As we mentioned above, Wix can also be used to easily upload videos to your site. Since they offer a free domain with their basic plans, let’s use their service to demonstrate how this process works.

As you can see above, we have registered a domain name through Google Domains, and the first thing we need to do is point the A (Host) record of our domain to our Wix hosting account. To do this, click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen and select Settings: