How to add Youtube videos in WordPress

There are 4 ways to add/embed Youtube videos in your WordPress posts, pages and sidebars. They are,

• Using oEmbed
• Using the embed shortcode
• Using an <iframe>
• Using a widget (in your sidebar)

I’ll walk you through each of the steps and explain them in detail.

Using oEmbed

This is the quickest and easiest method. You simply need to copy and past the Youtube video URL into WordPress.

You can find the URL by clicking on the Share button in Youtube, it appears beneath the video and to the right of the title, just above the Subscribe button.

Youtube Share Button

Then click on Copy in the popup.

Copy Youtube video URL

This will copy the video’s URL to your clipboard. Next, you will return to your WordPress dashboard and paste that link into your post or page. On it’s own line, like this.

Past the video URL into WordPress

It’s important that you past the link when in the Visual tab of the editor and on it’s own separate line, otherwise it won’t work.

Within a few seconds the video will appear in your editor.

Youtube video appears in your post or page

This works because of a technology called oEmbed. There are other types of content you can insert into WordPress just by pasting the URL in your post screen.

With the release of WordPress 4.4, you can now embed content from anyone who supports the official oEmbed protocol. Here is a list of sites that you can embed content from.

Using the embed shortcode

When editing a post or page click on the Add Media button to the top, left hand corner of your screen. It will look like this,

Add Media button

To insert your video select the Insert from URL option. Then paste in the Youtube video URL.

Paste the Youtube video URL

Then video will then appear in your post or page, just like the previous method. The advantage of using this method is the customization options it offers. It contains two parameters that allow you to set a maximum width & height on your embed. But you will have to switch over to Text mode in the editor to add these parameters.

For example:

Set width and height in embed shortcode

Using an iframe

If you want even more flexibility, then using an iframe is the best option. It requires a few extra steps and involves editing a line of code, but it’s not difficult.

Start by grabbing the iframe code from Youtube. Like in the first method, click on the Share button next to the video and then select the Embed option. You’ll then be presented with a preview of the video along with the iframe code and a couple customization options. Once you’re satisfied, copy the iframe code.

Youtube Video iFrame Code

Go back to your WordPress editing screen, and click on the Text tab and paste the code on it’s own line, where you want the video to appear.

Now you can add the URL parameters to customize your video.

We can make some changes to an embedded Youtube video’s behavior just by attaching parameters to the end of the Youtube URL inside the iframe. The following example causes the video to automatically play when it’s loaded:

We attach autoplay=1 to a question mark following the original Youtube URL in this case. Refer to Google’s Youtube Embedded Players Parameters page for the full list of supported parameters.

Here’s a few of them:

Here’s an example of how that would look:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/SbQc_JLUH7k?autoplay=1&loop=1&start=5&end=8&playlist=96kI8Mp1uOU

If you want to test this out on a video before implementing on your website you can play around with the code here.

Using a widget

To place a Youtube video inside one of your sidebars, the process is slightly different. You will need to utilize the native Video widget provided within WordPress. However, this Widget is only available in WordPress version 4.8 and above. It makes adding a video very easy.

In your Admin Dashboard navigate to Appearance > Widgets and select the sidebar you want to add the video.

Drag and drop the Video widget into the sidebar.

Add Video widget to sidebar

You can then select to upload a video or insert from a URL like in one of the previous methods we discussed.

Upload or insert video into widget

Once you’ve selected your video click on Add to Widget where you’ll be presented with a preview.

Preview video in widget

If you’re satisfied, click Save to publish the widget to your sidebar.

That wraps up this tutorial, if you have any questions or comments, use the form below.

How to find your WordPress admin login URL

If you’re a beginner to WordPress and struggling to find where to log into your Admin Dashboard, don’t worry, we got you covered.

It’s as simple as adding /wp-admin, /admin or /login to the end of your website’s URL.

Here’s an example:

http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/

These 2 alternatives also work,

http://www.yourwebsite.com/admin/

http://www.yourwebsite.com/login/

However, if for some reason those options don’t work and you’re presented with a 404 error (not found), you can log in using the file path for the login page.

http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-login.php

Sub-directories

If your website is installed in a sub-directory of your domain you will need add the path to that directory.

For example:

http://www.yourdomain.com/website/wp-admin/

Sub-domains

However, if your site is installed on a sub-domain the procedure is similar but slightly different.

You need to add the sub-domain URL before the domain name and the admin login URL after the domain.

For example:

http://website.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/

Enter your login credentials

Once you’ve accessed the login page you’ll be presented with 2 fields.

Username or email and your password.

WordPress Login Page

Once you’ve successfully logged on, you will be redirected to your Admin Dashboard where you can edit and create posts, pages, widgets and the general administration settings of your website.

It will look something like this.

WordPress Admin Dashboard

Bookmark your admin login page

In order not to forget your login page and to make it easier the next time you log in, you can bookmark the login page with your browser.

Most browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge provide a small star icon at the top right hand corner of your browser window to bookmark websites.

Here is an example for the Chrome browser.

Bookmark WordPress login page

Use the Meta widget

A second but maybe less desirable option is to use the default Meta widget. This widget adds a link to the login page, links to your site’s RSS feeds, and a link to WordPress.org website.

Start by going to Appearance » Widgets and drag the meta widget to your website’s sidebar or widget-ready area.

WordPress Meta Widget

The downside is that it will appear on the front-end of your website and you website visitors will see this widget.

Bypass the login page

If you want to save time you can select Remember Me on the login page so that you’ll be automatically logged in the next time you return.

Select Remember Me to not have to re-enter your password each time

However, this will depend on your cookie settings. If you delete your browser cookies and cache, this will not longer work until you select Remember Me and log in again.

We hope you found this useful, if you have any questions or comments use the form below.

Beginner’s Guide to Troubleshooting WordPress Theme Errors

You’ve chosen the perfect WordPress theme for your blog or website. While it looks great, the site is not working exactly the way you had in mind. The good news is that you don’t have to live with things as is. There are ways to isolate and resolve just about any type of theme error. It will take patience on your part, as well as following some simple steps to determine what’s going on. Here are some general troubleshooting guidelines that will help you correct the error and make your site better than ever.

Before You Do Anything, Back Up Your Site

Depending on what’s happening, you could find the problem quickly or it could take some time. In any case, there’s the possibility of losing data along the way. To protect all the hard work you did on those pages, perform a complete backup first.

There’s more than one way to back up the pages. One approach is to perform a manual backup. This means copying all the files and the database to some secure location. You can store the backup in the cloud, on a jump drive, or on a portable hard drive. The point is to have the backup files ready for easy retrieval should you need them.

You may have installed one of the WordPress backup plugins that are currently available. If so, check the latest automatic backup and see how recent it happens to be. If the backup includes all the latest elements you used on the pages, everything is great. You don’t necessarily have to initiate a manual backup.

Remember you can use both methods if you like. This is not just a smart move to preserve the pages. It’s also a good way to maintain your peace of mind. Since you have a full backup in more than one location, it’s okay if something goes wrong during your search for the theme error. You have what it takes to recover and start over.

Here’s a list of the 7 best backup plugins for WordPress.

Investigate the Source Code

A good place to look for the origin of theme errors is the source code. This code is essentially a list of commands that are assembled in a logical progression and makes a program launch and execute properly. When the code works perfectly, the software performs as it should. If there’s anything slightly off about the code, the program will only run properly up to a point. After that, strange things can happen.

How does this relate to your theme error? A problem with the source code will allow your pages to function fine up to a point and then begin to go a little haywire.

WordPress (along with most browsers) have inspection tools that make it possible to evaluate the function of source code. Using one of these tools to analyze the code may reveal a minor problem with the code text. If so, tweaking that one issue may be all it takes to fix the theme error.

Here’s a list of 5 built-in code debugging tools for WordPress.

Try a Different Theme

There’s one other trick that a beginner can use to see if the error happens to be built directly into the original theme. Try switching to a default theme and see what happens.

The process is not difficult:

• Go to Appearance
• Select Themes
• Choose the Activate feature on the default theme of your choice.

Remember, it doesn’t have to be a theme you will use from now on. This is just as an experiment. If you continue to encounter the same error after the theme change, you know the problem is not because of an issue with your original theme.

Since you know know the source code is fine and the original theme files are not the cause, there’s a good chance that one of the plugins that you selected to enhance the pages is the reason for the error. That won’t be as difficult to resolve as you may think.

Pay Close Attention to Plugins

Plugins are sometimes called extensions or add-ons. By any name, it’s software that allows you to add a function to the theme or makes it possible to customize a pre-existing component in the theme. While the theme you chose came with some plugins and you’ve added more since then, there’s the possibility that one or more of them are interacting in a way that causes the current problem.

How do you find out if a plugin is the source of the issue? One of the simplest ways to detect what the plugins are doing is to deactivate them. Yes, that means all of them.

Deactivating the plugins is not as hard as you may think. WordPress makes it easy to use a feature found on the dashboard.

• Select “plugins” and then select “all plugins.”
• Once that’s done, check “bulk actions.”
• Click on “deactivate.”
• Click on the “Apply” button.

Once you click “Apply” , all the plugins will no longer work. Alternatively, you can skip bulk actions and deactivate each plugin individually. That works fine if you only have a few plugins installed. With either approach, you are now poised to find out if one or more plugins caused the issue.

One by one, reactivate each plugin. Test to see if the site still works properly. If all is well, activate the next plugin. Continue the process until the problem appears again. At that point, you know at least one plugin is causing the issue.

A great thing about WordPress plugins is there are always several that will perform the same action. You could try replacing what appears to be the culprit with a different and possibly more functional one. Try that and see what happens. There’s a good chance your problem will go away completely.

Could Plugins Come to the Rescue?

Did you know there are WordPress plugins designs to find bugs and correct them? If you don’t have a debugging plugin running, it’s a good idea to download and install one. These plugins will scan all the elements of your site, including the source code and the other plugins.

Some are designed to do more than detect. They will also offer you the opportunity to fix the issue without having to download a replacement or deactivate anything. The plugin does the work. All you have to do is agree to let it complete the repair process.

Here’s a list of 5 debugging plugins for WordPress.

These are a few of the simplest steps you can use to identify the origin of an error. There are other more advanced approaches that you can try if these do not turn up the issue. Feel free to seek help if you feel that finding the problem is more than you can handle. With the right approach, the theme error will be located, resolved, and allow you to get back to the task of building your website.

How to Protect Your New WordPress Website Against Today’s Hackers

WordPress is the most popular website platform. Period. That hasn’t stopped the naysayers from yowling that this open source software is inherently less secure than, well, almost any other choice. The reality is that a WordPress site is as secure or unsecure as the owner chooses to make it. There are plenty of relatively simple tricks to lockdown one of these websites and make it as safe against hack and spam attempts as any other CMS (content management system) and most static HTML sites.

The thing to understand is that properly securing website requires proactivity, which is sometimes in short supply. If, however, you’d like to know the secrets to turning WordPress into an impenetrable (or something resembling that) fortress, keep reading and we’ll tell you how to protect your new WordPress website against today’s best hack attempts.

Stop Brute Force Attacks

Hackers are nothing if not persistent, as we can see by the growing number of brute force attacks. With the low password quality that exists, it’s a low-risk, high-reward undertaking. A brute force hack takes the form of an automated program turned loose at the front door of your WordPress site. It sits there and tries thousands of username and passwords in search of the right combination to get in. Brute force refers to the idea that automated software can sift through exponentially more possibilities than a human ever could.

The good news is that there are a healthy selection of plugins available that allow you to limit the number of failed login attempts to a reasonable limit like three or whatever other small number you like. If you’re determined to spend a hundred bucks a year for access to this login lockdown feature, feel free but the All in One WP Security & Firewall lets you implement this and a lot of other security measures at a no cost.

Furthermore, you can ban specific IP addresses if the plugin determines that a high number of failed login attempts have originated from it.

2-Factor Authentication

This approach has gained steam among security-minded WordPress site owners in recent years and it’s easy to see why. Regardless of the method a cyber criminal acquires the information, if they manage to crack your password, they’re into your site and all hell could break loose. But what if there were some way to require an additional piece of information, one that is generated on the spot independently of your computer or mobile device?

That would be pretty secure, right?

You bet it would and that’s what 2-factor authentication is. While the specific process can take many forms, one popular iteration is for a code to be generated and sent to your cell phone for use to login. The code serves as the second piece of required login information and presumes that a user would have to know the regular password and also be in physical possession of your phone to be able to successfully beat the login process. The Google Authenticator is a free plugin that generates these kinds of codes.

Update Frequently

To anyone who has spent much time in the “beloved” WordPress dashboard, the frequent reminders to update themes, plugins, and the platform itself can become something of an annoyance. Guess what? You should thank the creators that they choose to annoy you because it means they are patching known security issues in the code and offering to close them for you automatically. All you have to do is click that little “update now” button.

What website owners also should keep in mind is that updates aren’t released just because a pointless new feature was added. That could be the case but it also could be that a website vulnerability was detected and repaired. If you choose not to update, you might as well roll out the red carpet to welcome the hackers of the world into your website because they’ll find out you have an old, unrepaired version soon enough.

If you have trouble remembering to regularly update your software, set it to do so automatically when you first install it. Once the bad guys are inside your website, you’ll be lucky if all they do is post spam because other options are to steal sensitive information, destroy your database, or even use your computer resources to launch attacks on other computers and you might not even known it’s happening.

It’s Time for SSL

Even though Google is in the process of making a SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate mandatory for anyone who wants to rank well in search engine results, it’s probably worth a reminder why. SSL applies encryption to all data that passes between your server and a website visitor’s computer. This is a good thing when it comes to upgrading security. As opposed to unprotected data, the encrypted variety is tough for even skilled hackers to crack.

A SSL-protected website can be detected by looking for the letters HTTPS in front of the domain name in the URL at the top of the page. Many web hosts offer them for free as a bonus for signing up for their service but even if you have to pay for one, it’s a good idea to do it!

Keep an Eye on Site Changes

Too many WordPress owners have no idea of file changes that actually occur behind the scenes of their website. WordFence (either the free or premium version) helps you monitor user logs and trace exactly what changes were made and who made them if you allow others to have posting, editing, or admin rights.

The Bottom Line

Obviously, there are many more security precautions available to WordPress owners than the handful we’ve mentioned here. Our best advice is not to shy away from WordPress or resign yourself to the fact that you will get hacked or spammed if you use it. With a little effort on your part, this open source platform can be, if not Fort Knox, then at least as secure as can reasonably be expected for any website.