How to upload a video onto your website? To some this may seem like an extremely simple question, however it’s one i’ve been asked many times by various people.

Getting your video onto your site should be very simple… People always ask should they upload their videos direct to their website, or upload it to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia etc.

Well my typical response is to always upload to and external host, eg. YouTube, then use embed code to display your video on your website. The point here is ‘ON YOUR website’. Do not paste a URL link to send people to your video playing on YouTube, they must be watching it via your website, using YouTube as the behind the scenes host.

The reasons you don’t want to link people directly to YouTube are simple, firstly you are directing them away from your site, loosing your branding and stopping them exploring your site further.. Not only that, once anyone finds themselves on YouTube the chances are they will get distracted, either by some very cute fluffy cats, or worse, your competitors video!

The best way to get your video onto your website

The solution is using embed code. Simply head over to your YouTube video, click the share button- which will drop down a further menu… Click the word embed, and copy and paste the short code that youtube automatically generates.

Clicking the show more button opens up even more customisation options, including the players size. Be sure to re-copy the code after any adjustments.

Now head over to your website builder, paste the HTML code in the correct area of your site and save. Remember each website editor is different so you may need to research where the code should be entered. Alternatively in many web builders you are given the option of pasting in the YouTube URL, and the website builder will take care of this for you.

The main message here is to make sure that the video shows on YOUR site, not elsewhere. – You can always call a professional web designer for help.

Why don’t I just upload the video file to my website directly.

Well, you can, however this could slow down your website load time, which is bad for SEO, and it removes all of the other search ability aspects that comes along with a YouTube video, such as the possibility of your video displaying in a Google search result, or someone stumbling across your video directly on YouTube. Lets face it, there’s a lot more traffic on YouTube, than your website.

so, I Hope you found that informative,and if you would like us to get creative with your company videos do get in touch. In the mean time if you have any questions be sure to comment below, and if you enjoyed the blog please remember to share comment and subscribe to us on YouTube.