Understanding the difference between WordPress Posts vs Pages

Understanding WordPress Posts vs Pages.

WordPress offers two option about publishing your content online. You either publish your content through the post or pages. It’s better to understand why there are posts and pages before you decide on which one to use for a particular content.

This tutorial outlines the major differences between the posts and the Pages. You will have an understanding of when to use a post or a page.

The focus is the specific ways to use Posts and Pages and what to do with these in separate tutorials.

The video below also reveals a step by step tutorial about how to use both to publish content on your site.

WordPress Posts vs Pages – Understanding The Main Differences

You can publish content online using either the post or preferably, the page.

Your visitors and readers will probably not be bothered about whatever mean you use in publishing content on your site. Nevertheless, it’s crucial that you understand the main differences between these two fundamental building blocks. Your online presence will be more effective when you choose the most appropriate one for the right purpose.

Let’s take a look, then, at what the main differences are, starting with WordPress Posts …

Note: Many of the specific features of Posts and Pages mentioned below are explained in more detail in separate tutorials.

WordPress Posts.

Regular “blog” entries are typically written using posts.

By default, Posts are entries listed by date and typically displayed in reverse chronological order on your blog’s home page, so that the most recent entry shows above the older entries …

Posts display on your blog home page and individual pages. They are marked as “sticky posts” display before other ones (this is explained in more detail in a separate tutorial).

Posts can be referenced in sections of your web site like Archives, Categories, Recent Posts, and several widgets. They are also display in your our WordPress RSS feed, as shown in the example below …

They often display a comments section below the main content, allowing visitors to comment on your posts …

Posts can also be added to categories …

And they can also be referenced using tags …

See the “Related Tutorials” section further below for tutorials on how to use Posts.

WordPress Posts vs Pages – Similarities

Here are some of the main similarities between Pages and Posts:

Pages and Posts both have Titles and Content, and use the same method to insert these (e.g. Title fields, visual editor, text editor, etc….)
They use your WordPress Theme template files to help maintain a consistent look throughout your site.
They allow you to use keyword-template
Both Pages and Posts are viewed as “content pages” by search engines.
Depending on the theme and the plugins you have installed on your site, Pages and Posts both give you control over search engine settings like Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords.
Depending on the theme and the plugins you have installed on your site, both can be set to display in your menus and widget areas.

Although very similar in many respects, Pages, however, have several key distinctions that make them different from Posts.

WordPress Pages

They typically live outside of the normal blog chronology and are used to “showcase” content that is less time-sensitive than Posts.

In essence, they are mostly used to present readers with information about you or your site that is unlikely to change, and other common pages found in websites such as:

About Us
Contact Us
Product / Service Pages
Scheduled Events
Copyright
Disclosure
Legal Information
Earnings Disclaimer
Reprint Permissions
Company Information
Privacy Statement
Site Map
Resources
etc …

A Page in WordPress is not listed by date, and do not use tags or categories.

You can use them to organize and manage your content.

For example, you can organize the main topics of your content into “Parent” pages (where each of the main topics gets its own page), and then add subtopics for each of your main topics into “Child” pages (subpages) …

You can add as many “child” pages as you need to organize your content into “topic hierarchies”, as shown in the example below …

They can also be displayed in the sidebar of your site using the Pages widget …

In the example above, a “Pages” widget is used to display links to five main pages and three “nested” subpages.

As well as displaying a page in sidebars using widgets, some WordPress themes also display them in the menu tabs in the header and footer sections of your site…

They are also displayed in your t can also use different Page Templates. These Page Templates can include Template Files, Template Tags and other PHP code that provides unique, complex or sophisticated display features of a page on your site.

For example, here are just some of the sales page templates made available to users of a popular WordPress theme called OptimizePress …

At the simplest level, they should be used for non-blog content. In fact, if you were to remove all Posts from your WordPress site, you would have something that closely resembles your typical “non-blog” website (i.e. a site comprising only of “static” pages.)

What WordPress Pages Are Not

- A Page is not a Post. Pages are not processed by the WordPress Loop, which is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts and to cycle post data (like time, category, etc.) through your blog’s main page. Note, however, that some defaults can be changed through the use of certain plugins.

- They cannot be associated with Categories and cannot be assigned Tags. This means that Pages can only be organized according to a hierarchy where you specify and assign Pages and SubPages, and not from referencing Tags or Categories.

- They are not files. Unlike websites that have static pages made of code, which are then saved as files on your server, Pages are stored in your WordPress database just like Posts, where they only exist as digital data inside database tables.

- They are not included in your site’s feed. Note: there are plugins available that will add your pages to your site’s RSS feed.

Pages (or even a specific post) can be set as a static “home” page. In a separate tutorial we’ll explain how to set up a page to display as the home page of your WordPress site. We’ll also show you in a separate tutorial how to create a separate page for displaying your latest blog posts (where a list of your most recent posts display in a page that most people typically call “blog”).

Because Posts are referenced from many different areas of your WordPress site (Archives, Categories, Searches, Tags, RSS Feeds, other page views, etc …), and Pages are typically only accessed from their one published location, many WordPress SEO experts argue that it is generally better to post content that you want to attract more exposure from visitors and gain better results from search engines using Posts, rather than Pages.

What Type Of Content Can Be Added To WordPress Posts or Pages?

With WordPress you can easily add or edit the following types of content into your Posts and Pages: Text You can add plain, formatted and/or hyperlinked text in a variety of fonts and styles to posts and pages…

WordPress offers the option of using both a Visual Editor and an HTML Editor for adding content as text.

Meta text can also be added to WordPress Post and Pages although this will depend on the configuration of your site’s settings and plugins. E.g tittles, keywords and description that appears on search engines), create custom excerpts, etc.

In the section below, there are tutorials on how to add text based content to WordPress Post and Pages. Check out the related section below.

Media

You can add or embed media content into WordPress such as videos, audio files, downloadable files (e.g. PDF documents), images (photos, logos, graphics, banners, etc) and more.

For step-by-step tutorials on how to add media-based content to WordPress posts and pages, see the “Related Tutorials” section below.

Scripts

With WordPress you can add scripts into your posts and pages using code like JavaScript, short codes and plugins. Many of these scripts also allow you to control the content that appears on your site from an external or remote location (e.g. Manage advertising banners or subscription forms).

Content can also be added to WordPress posts vs pages by inserting code directly into your file templates. Please note, however, that in order to add and edit file templates, you will need to have at least a basic understanding of code languages like HTML and PHP.

WordPress is huge and can sometimes be overwhelming about where to start. As you move on to the next Page, you will have a clearer picture of where to start and progress to building a professional WordPress Site.

For step-by-step tutorials on how to add scripts and code to WordPress posts versus pages, see the “Related Tutorials” section below.

Create A New WordPress Post for Online Marketing Services

How To Create A New WordPress Post for Online Marketing Services.

Posts are used to publish content online, on your WordPress site.

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to create a new WordPress Post for marketing your services online.

Note: If you are not clear about the differences between using Posts and Pages in WordPress, see this tutorial.

Watch the video below and then complete the step-by-step tutorial to learn more about creating and using WordPress Posts …

[youtube]http://youtu.be/VdpVsCrmIaA[/youtube]

What Types Of Content Can You Add To A WordPress Post for Online Marketing Services?

You can easily add or edit the following types of content in your posts with WordPress.

1 – Text

You can add plain, formatted and/or hyperlinked text in a variety of fonts and styles to your Posts.

WordPress offers both a Visual Editor and an HTML Editor for adding text.

This depends on how your site is configured regarding the settings and plugins. You can also add “meta” text to posts and pages (e.g. Titles, keywords and descriptions that appear to search engines), create custom excerpts, etc.…

If you want more information about adding and formatting text-based content in WordPress Posts, see the “Related Tutorials” section at the bottom of this page..

2 – Media

You can add or embed media content into WordPress Posts such as videos, audio files, downloadable files (e.g. PDF documents), images (photos, logos, graphics, banners, etc) and more.

For more information about adding media in WordPress Posts, see the “Related Tutorials” section at the bottom of this page.

3 – Scripts

WordPress allows you to add content directly into posts and pages using scripts like Javascript, shortcodes and plugins. Many of these scripts allow you to control the content that appears on your site from an external or remote location (e.g. Manage advertising banners or subscription forms).

Content can also be added to WordPress Posts, by inserting the code directly into the file templates.

For more information about adding scripts in WordPress Posts, see the “Related Tutorials” section at the bottom of this page.

How To Create A New Post In WordPress for Online Marketing Services.

To create a new post in WordPress, log into your WordPress site, then go to your Dashboard navigation menu and click on Posts > Add New…

A blank new Post is created. You can now start adding your Post title and body content either by typing or pasting your content in …

Description Of WordPress Post Modules

The Post Administration Panel section contains a number of modules that allow you to control your Post settings …

1 – Post Title

This module contains a field where you enter the title of your post …

Please note the following:

- You can use phrases, words and characters for your Post title.

- Choose a unique title for every new post you create, as using identical post titles can create problems.

You can use common symbols like commas, apostrophes, quotes and hyphens in your Post title. Your Post title will display these symbols, but WordPress will automatically remove them in the “post slug” to create a valid, user-friendly URL for your post.

2 – Post Editing Module

This is the large, blank area where your content gets added into …

For the types of content you can add into your Post, see the “Types Of Content You Can Add To WordPress Posts” section above.

3 – Publish Box Module

The Publish Box module contains a number of important buttons, options and settings that control the status of your post …

Post Status

The available Post Statuses are: “Published”, “Pending Review”, and “Draft”. A “Published” post is publicly available to online visitors on your site. A Post whose status is set to “Draft” is not published and can only be seen by you. “Pending Review” is similar to a “Draft” Post, but needs to be reviewed and approved for publication by a user with “Editor” permissions.

The Publish section also includes a Preview button that allows you to view your post content before publishing it and making your post live on your site.

Post Visibility

You can specify a number of visibility settings for your posts. Setting a post to “Public” makes it visible to all website visitors after the post has been published. You can also make a post “Password Protected” (this makes the content in your post accessible to anyone with the correct password), or “Private”, which makes the post visible only to you and to other users logged into your site who have editor or administrative privileges.

Additional settings in the Publish Box section allow you to change publication dates (even schedule posts to be published at a later date), copy your post to a new draft, or set your post for deletion by moving it to the trash.

Note: If your Post has not been published yet, a Save Draft button will display in the Publish Box section if your post status is set to “Draft” …

Or Save as Pending, if your post status is set to “Pending Review” …

Clicking the Publish button gets your post to become “live” on your site …

You can also edit the time when your post gets published by clicking the Edit link above the “Publish” button and specifying the date and time when you want your post to be published …

4 – Post Format Module

Some WordPress Themes allow you to customize your post’s presentation using Post Formats. This is explained in more detail in a separate tutorial.

5 – Post Categories Module

Post categories help you classify your post into topics and keeps your content organized for your readers …

When you assign your posts to categories, readers can then browse specific categories to see all posts listed under that category.

You can add a new category as you are entering a new post by clicking the + Add New Category link in this section …

You can also manage your categories by selecting Posts > Categories in your Administration menu …

To learn more about configuring WordPress Post Categories, see this tutorial: How To Add, Edit And Delete WordPress Post Categories

6 – Post Tags Module

Tags are like micro-categories or index entries for your posts …

Posts that have similar tags are linked together. A list of related posts is displayed to readers when they click on one of your post tags. Note: Depending on your WordPress Theme, tags may or may not display in your post …

You can add new tags to your posts by typing in your comma separated tags into the “Tags” box and clicking the Add button …

To learn more about configuring WordPress Post Tags, see this tutorial: Using Tags In WordPress Posts

7 – Featured Image Module

If your WordPress theme allows you to display Post Thumbnails, then the “Featured Image” module will be visible on the “Edit Post” (and Edit Page) screens, provided the option has been selected in the Screen Options area (see next section below) …

Using Featured Images In Your WordPress Posts is covered in detail in a separate tutorial.

8 – Additional Post Modules

Some screen modules on the Post Administration Panel are hidden by default if they have not been saved before, and will only display if selected in the Screen Options area …

Below are the modules that can be activated in your Screen Options area …

Excerpt

The Excerpt module lets you add a brief “teaser” or post summary that will display in selected areas of your site, such as your Blog page, category, archives, and search post pages …

For more information on using Post Excerpts see this tutorial: How To Use WordPress Post Excerpts

Send Trackbacks

Trackbacks are a way to notify legacy blog systems that you’ve linked to them …

If you link other WordPress blogs, they’ll be notified automatically using pingbacks. For blogs that don’t recognize pingbacks, you can send a trackback to the blog by entering the website address(es) in this box, and separating each address with a space.

Trackbacks and Pingbacks are discussed in more detail in a separate tutorial.

Custom Fields

Custom Fields provide a way to add specific information to your site and / or modify the way your posts are displayed …

Custom Fields are normally used in conjunction with WordPress plugins, but you can manually edit the information added by plugins to your post in this section.

For more information on using custom fields, see this tutorial: Using WordPress Custom Fields

Discussion

The Discussion module is used to turn the discussion options on/off for a specific post …

This module is used to enable interactivity and notifications on your posts on a post-by-post basis.

You can check boxes to Allow Comments and Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on your posts. If you uncheck Allow Comments, then no visitors will be able to post comments on that specific post. If you uncheck Allow trackbacks and pingbacks, then no one will be able to post pingbacks or trackbacks to that specific post.

Note: If you are editing a previously published post, the Discussion module will also show any comments you have received for the post.

To learn how to configure the settings for the Discussion module checkboxes, see this tutorial: How To Configure Your WordPress Site’s Discussion Settings

Slug

This module lets you edit the post slug, which is also known as your Permalink URL …

The post slug is a user-friendly post URL address created from the post title …

Permalink

Permalink stands for “permanent link“. When you set a Permalink for your post, WordPress will find your post and change all links on your site to point to the correct post URL even if you change the post slug, change the post category, or move your post to display under a different parent page.

The permalink is automatically generated based on the title you specify for your post and is shown below the title field as soon as you save or publish your post.

Punctuation such as commas, quotes, apostrophes, and invalid URL characters are removed and spaces are substituted with dashes to separate each word in your permalink.

You can manually change your permalink URL by editing the post-slug (see above).

For a detailed tutorial on configuring Permalinks go here: How To Create Search Engine Friendly URLs For Your WordPress Site

Post Author

This module displays a list of all your site’s registered authors and allows you to change the post author attribute by selecting a new author from the drop-down menu …

Note: This section only displays on your post if you have multiple registered users on your site with authoring rights. For a detailed tutorials on managing WordPress users, go here: WordPress User Management

Add Content To Your Post

After creating a new post, the next step is to add content to it.

WordPress offers some helpful advice and best practices for posting content:

- Practice Accessibility: Stay compliant with web standards for accessibility and help your users by including ALT and TITLE descriptions on links and images (e.g. <a title=”Descriptive Title Goes Here” href=”http://yourdomain.com/”>Hyperlinked Text</a>.

- Use Paragraphs: Make your content more readable by breaking up your writing into paragraphs. Tip: If you use double spaces between your paragraphs, WordPress will automatically detect these and insert <p> HTML paragraph tags into your writing.

- Use Headings: If you plan to write a long post, then use headings to break up your post sections. In HTML, headings are set using tags like h1, h2, h3, h4, and so on. You can also add headings by highlighting content in the body of your post, and then selecting one of the heading options from the “Format Style” drop-down menu in your Visual Editor.

- Use HTML: You don’t have to use HTML to create richly formatted posts, as WordPress will automatically do this if you use the Visual Editor. Having some basic knowledge of HTML, however, will allow you to control different styling elements in your content (e.g. boxes and headings.

- Spell Check and Proof: Check your spelling and proof everything before publishing your content. There are a number of spell check Plugins available for WordPress. You can also write your posts in a text editor that has spell checking, then copy and paste your content into WordPress after checking all the spelling and proofing your content thoroughly.

- Think before you post: Everything you make public can be seen by many people and logged by search engines, making it harder to take things back. Take a moment to think about what you are writing and review your posts before publishing. Don’t rant … think!

- Consider your readers: Consider who will read your content and take any appropriate measures and precautions you think may be necessary when writing your content or protecting your privacy.

- Make use of comments: Comments allow your site visitors to interact with you and share their ideas. You have control over your site’s comments and you can delete any comments that you don’t want published on your site, so consider this fact when deciding whether to allow people to comment on your site. Also, make sure that visitors can contact you privately if they need to (e.g. use a contact form).

- Worry about the design later: How your site looks is important, but it’s not essential to getting your point across. In fact, because WordPress is so flexible when it comes to web design, you can just start writing to grow a readership, and then change your entire site’s look with just a few clicks of the mouse anytime you want, using “WordPress Themes”. Remember that content is what attracts your readers, not just the look of your site.

- Use pictures and videos: Images and videos help make your posts and pages colorful and interesting and help readers engage better with your content. See our tutorials on adding images and adding videos to your posts and pages for more details.

- Save your posts: Save your posts regularly to prevent losing your work to accidents or computer errors. You can do this without publishing your content, as the section below will explain.

Write regularly: We have created a tutorial that will help you come up with an almost limitless source of content you can write on your site and ensure that you never run out of ideas. Go here to learn more.

Saving Your WordPress Posts

After adding content to your Post, it’s time to save it.

By default, WordPress will auto-save your work at regular intervals …

This helps to prevent losing your content if something unexpectedly goes wrong with your computer, or if you click something that accidentally closes your post, browser window or application while you’re working.

WordPress also records the date and time of your post when the post is first auto-saved. You can change this by editing the “Published on:” settings …

Until your content is “published”, your post will not be visible to online readers. Instead, it will be saved as a “Draft” …

You can save your Posts as a draft or publish it online using the “Save” and “Publish” functions in the Publish section of your Post screen …

To save your post as a “Draft”, go to the Publish section of your Post screen and click on Edit …

Select Draft from the drop-down menu and click OK …

With “Draft” displayed in the “Status:” field, click on Save Draft …

Your Post will be saved and updated as a draft post. Click on Preview post to view your saved content …

You can also preview your post in a new browser window without saving or publishing it first by clicking on the Preview button in the “Publish” section …

When you are ready to publish your post and make it go live to site visitors, click on Publish …

Once your new post is published, click View Post to open your published post in a new window browser …

Review your post to make sure that all of your content has been added, formatted and is displaying correctly …

Note: Once your post is published, the button changes from “Publish” to “Update“…

You can always change the status back from “Published” to “Draft” or “Pending Review” by clicking on the Edit link in the Status field and selecting an option from the Status drop-down menu …

Congratulations! Now you know how to create and publish a new post! If you need to make any adjustments to your post content, see this tutorial: How To Edit And Delete WordPress Posts

Posting Content To Your WordPress Site – Quick Summary Of The Steps Involved

The screenshot below summarizes the steps involved in creating and posting new content to your WordPress site:

1. Click Posts > Add New, then add your post content (post title & body)

Add your search engine optimization metatags into the SEO section. This will only take an extra minute or two, but it will help you get your content indexed faster and rank better in search engine results (see tutorial on How To Improve Your WordPress Site’s SEO)
Select a Post Category to file your post under (make sure you have already set up your site’s Permalinks)
Add keywords to your Post Tags section (use the same keywords you entered into the SEO section)
Publish your post

Read and Understand WordPress Password Recovery

WordPress Password Recovery

In this WordPress troubleshooting step-by-step tutorial, we’ll take you systematically through the process of recovering a misplaced password or username and getting access to your admin area.

***

Are you unable to log back into your WordPress site because you’ve misplaced your password? In this WordPress troubleshooting tutorial for non-technical users, you will learn the process of retrieving a lost, misplaced or forgotten password or username and getting access to your admin area.

WordPress Password Recovery

Have you misplaced your WordPress password?

Finding yourself unable to access your admin area because you can’t remember your password or username can be very frustrating.

Fortunately, with WordPress, there is always a way to get back into the back-end of your website or blog.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to retrieve a forgotten password or username, and get back into your website or blog. We’ll go as far as we can without getting into complicated technical areas, and then, if the information still doesn’t help you, we’ll explain to you what your other options for password recovery are.

WordPress Password Recovery

Let’s start at the beginning.

Incorrect Username/Password

Normally, if you get your username or password wrong when trying to login in WordPress, an error message like the one below will display …

Your first clue, is that if you get the username correct, but the password wrong, WordPress will let you know this…

For security purposes, avoid setting up WordPress sites with the username “admin”.

This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks and security threats on WordPress sites.

If you need to change your username, see this tutorial: How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin

WordPress Password Recovery

***

If you have forgotten or lost your password, but you do know your username or the email address you have registered with, then click on the “Lost your password?” link in the login box …

You can also access the lost password area by clicking on the link at the bottom of the login box …

Alternatively, just type the following URL into your web browser (where “domain” is your domain and “tld” is your domain extension, eg. “com”, “net”, “biz”, etc.) …

Enter your username or email address and click the button to get a new password …

At this stage, there is no password “recovery” option, only password “reset”.

You will receive a system notification via email containing a link to reset your password.

Enter a new password into the “Password reset” field. Make sure to choose a strong password containing upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols, like “$, ^, @, &” etc …

Use a password generator tool to help you generate a strong password.

You can use a free online password generator tool like PasswordsGenerator.net (shown below) …

Or use a password management software like RoboForm, which not only lets you create strong passwords, but also store and manage all your passwords …

Use A Password Generator Tool If You Need Help Creating A Strong Password

After resetting your password, log in as normal …

WordPress Password Recovery

How To Change Your Password Inside Your WordPress Admin Area

To change your password inside WordPress, log into your admin and select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” dropdown menu at the top-right hand corner of your screen …

You can also access your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your main admin menu.

Towards the bottom part of the screen, you will see the “change password” section. Enter a new password and confirm this password here.

Note: Use the WordPress password strength meter to help you avoid using weak passwords and set up a strong password.

Click the Update Profile button after you have entered your new details to update your password settings.

If You Don’t Know Your Username And Password

So far, the above steps work if you’ve forgotten your password but you know your username or email address.

How can you log in if you can’t remember both your username and password?

You can still log into your WordPress site, but a little technical intervention is required.

As this tutorial is really intended for non-technical WordPress users, we recommend that if the information above hasn’t helped you get back into your WordPress backend, then either contact someone who can provide you with technical assistance (i.e. your webmaster, web support person or your webhost) and ask them to help you reset your WordPress Password from phpMyAdmin, or you can try the method below, which will reveal your username and email address, so you at least you can get your password reset and log back in.

All you need is access to your server. Don’t worry, you won’t be changing anything inside your server … you’ll just be taking a look!

WordPress Password Recovery

If you feel hesitant about working inside your server or WordPress database, then please ask a web services professional to assist you.

In this example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management tool …

cPanel management application

Log into your server control panel …

cPanel admin area

Find the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin …

phpMyAdmin

Open up your WordPress database.

Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the right one …

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.

Click on wp_users in the “Table” column on the left-hand side …

phpMyAdmin databases

You will see a list of all your site’s users with their usernames and registered emails. Typically, the first line is assigned to the site administrator, but if you have more users and need to locate their username or email, then scroll down the list until you find the details you are looking for …

Note: The user password is also included in this section of your database (in the “user_pass” column”), but as you can see from the screenshot above, it is encrypted.

Due to reasons of security, WordPress stores all passwords as a cryptographic hash function (MD5 Hash) instead of plain text. This prevents even the site administrator from knowing a user’s password.

WordPress Password Recovery

To replace this password you will need an encryption tool that lets you generate an MD5 hash, which you would then copy and paste into the password field. You can search for “free MD5 generators online” if you want to change the password yourself, but as suggested earlier, ask for help from a professional if you don’t know what you are doing, and want to avoid causing errors.

Now that you have retrieved your username and email address, log out of your server, return to the login screen and request a new password …

Hopefully, you have found this tutorial useful and can now resume working on your website or blog.

How To Add Images To WordPress Posts

A Featured Image (previously known as a “Post Thumbnail”) is an image that you choose to represent your Posts, Pages or Custom Post Types.

Featured images can be used to make your posts look more attractive and enticing to your readers, thus increasing the overall appeal of your site.

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to add images to WordPress.

Watch the video below and then complete the step-by-step tutorial to learn more about how to add images to WordPress

Add Images to WordPress: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: Whether a Featured Image displays on your WordPress posts or not is determined by the particular theme you have chosen for your site. Featured images tend to be favoured by WordPress themes with “magazine-type” layouts, which use an image to represent each post. This image might be displayed only on the home page and appear on its own, or alongside an excerpt of the post.

You can find Free WordPress themes that display featured images by going to the WordPress Theme directory and using the “featured-images” search filter when searching for themes …

If choosing Premium Themes, just make sure that the theme supports featured images.

For tutorials on using WordPress Themes go here: How To Install WordPress Themes Automatically

How To Set A Featured Image For Your Posts

As we’ve just discussed, some themes allow you to specify a featured image in your posts. So, if you plan to use featured images, make sure that the theme you have chosen for your site supports this feature.

If your theme does not support Featured Images, then see this tutorial: How To Customize Your WordPress Theme To Display Featured Images.

To add a featured image to your post, make sure that the Featured Image box in the sidebar of your Edit Posts screen is visible …

If you cannot see the Featured Image box in your Edit Post screen, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

Make sure that the checkbox next to the Featured Image in the Show on screen section is ticked…

Next, click on the Set featured image link inside the Featured Image box …

This will open up the Set Featured Image.Screen as a popup window. Select the image you want to use as your featured image by clicking on it, then click on the Set featured image button …

The image you have selected has now been added to your post as a Featured Image …

Another way to set a featured image in a post is to click on the Add Media button in your Edit Post screen…

This will open up the Insert Media screen in your Media Gallery. Click on the Set Featured Image link in the Insert Media menu …

Next, select the image you want to use as your featured image by clicking on it, then click on the Set featured image button …

Your image will be set as the featured image of your WordPress Posts.

Remember to click Update to save and publish your new post settings …

Now, when you preview your site, you will see that your post displays the featured image you have specified…

Your featured image will continue to display even if you change WordPress themes on your site, as long as the themes support featured images …

To remove a featured image from a post, edit the post, then scroll down to the Featured Image box and click on the Remove featured image link …

You can also use plugins for managing and enhancing the use of featured images on your site in a number of different ways. For more details, see this tutorial: WordPress Plugins – Featured Images

WordPress Posts are huge and can sometimes be overwhelming about where to start. As you move on to the next Page, you will have a clearer picture of where to start and progress to building a professional WordPress Site.

How To Add Videos To WordPress Posts And Pages

Videos can be a powerful way to market and promote your products or services online. Adding videos can also help to liven your site and make your content more attractive and entertaining, keeping visitors longer on your site and helping to convert more prospects into sales.

With WordPress, you can easily integrate video into your content. You can add videos to your posts and pages, and your sidebar menu!

WordPress offers users a range of options for embedding, integrating and streaming videos on your site. For example, you can embed videos directly from YouTube or another video hosting site, stream videos from a remote server location (e.g. Amazon S3), and control how your videos play and display to visitors.

In this tutorial you are going to learn all about adding video to your posts and pages, as well as explore some of the different options you have in terms of using video-enabled themes, WordPress-compatible video players and WordPress video plugins.

Watch the video below and then complete the step-by-step tutorial to learn how to add videos to your posts and pages …

How To Add Videos Into Posts And Pages: Step-By-Step Tutorial

In WordPress Version 3.6, WordPress introduced the video short code …

To embed a video into a post or page, just add the video URL in the video short code as shown below, then publish…

You can add additional information such as video dimensions and fallbacks for other HTML5-supported filetypes ….

The WordPress Media Library lets you add video files to your site.

From version 3.6, the option to embed a video has also been added to the Media Library …

To embed a video into your post, select Upload Files (1) and select your video file (2) …

Your video will then begin uploading …

Once your video has uploaded, select the video you want to insert into your post or page (optional: add a caption or description if you want) …

Choose Embed Media Player from the “Embed or Link:” drop-down menu and click on the Insert into post button …

The video will be embedded into your post using the Video shortcode …

Just publish your post or page and the video will display in a native player, ready for your site visitors to watch …

Note: If you are using an earlier version of WordPress (e.g. 3.5.x), then a link to the media file or an attachment page will be inserted into your post, not the video itself …

If someone clicks on the video link as shown above, they will probably not see the video play. This is because in versions of WordPress earlier than version 3.6, WordPress did not provide a built-in video player, only links and the capability to upload files.

Note: This method will work in earlier version of WordPress, however, if you use “QuickTime” videos …

If you want a video to play on your posts or pages without using the default WordPress video player, then use one of the methods described below to manually embed video code, or use an external video player, or a video player plugin.

How To Add Videos To WordPress Posts And Pages

Adding Embed Video Code Manually

For this example, we’ll embed a video from YouTube.com.

To embed a video from YouTube into a post or page, go to the page containing the video you want to add to your site and click on the Share link …

After clicking on the Share link (1), click on Embed (2). Next, select the video size from the Video size drop-down menu (3) and ensure that you have selected any other options you want for your video (see YouTube for help with this). Your settings will be reflected in the Embed code (4)…

Select the embed code and copy it to your clipboard…

Switch over to your WordPress site, and open the post or page where you intend to insert the video by clicking Edit…

Next, switch to the Visual Text Editor, and add a string of “placeholder” characters (e.g. @@@@@) to mark the location where you want the video to be inserted…

After inserting the string of characters to mark the location of where the video will be inserted into your content, switch to the Text editor and locate and highlight your video placement “markers”…

Note: make sure that you select all of the line where you have added your markers. The video URL must be placed in its own separate line with no surrounding characters. This also includes no hyperlinks!

Paste the embed code stored in your clipboard over the highlighted characters…

Your embedded video will display on your site after you publish your post or page …

Note: If you switch from the Text editor back to the Visual editor, you will see a placeholder image where your video has been embedded…

Useful Tip: If you plan to use a video in multiple posts or pages on your site, then use the method described in this tutorial to insert a short code into the content. This way, you will be able to control and edit your video codes from one location only, and it will then update all instances of your videos throughout your entire site.

***

As mentioned earlier, WordPress does not come with a built-in video player. If you want a video to play on your posts or pages, therefore, then you will need to manually embed video code as we’ve just shown you above, or use a video-enabled theme, an external video player, or a video player plugin.

So, let’s take a look now at some of these methods:

How To Add Videos To Posts And Pages

Using Video-Enabled Themes

Some WordPress themes come with a built-in video player.

For example, with the OptimizePress theme (a popular premium theme with marketers) you can host your video externally (e.g. YouTube, Amazon S3, etc …), and then insert it into your sales, squeeze and membership pages through the theme’s own Video Options section. This section also allows you to specify options for your video, such as video size, video preview image, video auto-play (video starts playing automatically when someone visits your page), whether or not to display the video control bar, add a video download link, choose the colour of the video player, etc….

Some WordPress themes allow you to add videos that display in your site’s sidebar menu, or in a sliding image gallery at the top of your main page. WordPress themes that have been designed to be fully responsive will also resize your videos to fit your visitor’s viewing device (e.g. Smart phone, laptop, tablet, etc….)

Using Video Players With WordPress

In addition to using video-enabled themes, there are also a number of video players that you can use with WordPress to insert and display your videos. Some video players integrate with your WordPress site in the form of plugins, but there are also external video services you can use that allow you to set up a video in an external administration area and then embed it into your WordPress site using the code generated by the software. You then control all of your video settings from the external administration panel and any changes you make there will automatically be reflected in your WordPress site.

External Video Management Services

One video solution that integrates with WordPress and is currently being used by tens of thousands of marketers online is Easy Video Suite:

Easy Video Suite is a complete video marketing solution that lets you create, publish, market and track your videos online. It can be managed from an online administration area, or from your desktop, and includes a number of powerful features that give you full control over your videos …

Here is a screenshot of the software’s admin area …

Once your videos have been created and all of your video settings have been configured, the software outputs code which you then embed into your posts and pages. For more details and a video demo of the software, visit this site: Easy Video Suite.

Another popular software-based solution for adding videos to WordPress is VooPlayer …

VooPlayer is a web-based video player application that allows you to customize, analyze, optimize and publish your videos on your website or blog.

It works with many popular video formats, including .flv, mp4, .m4v, .f4v, .mov, .webm, .ogv as well as YouTube and self-hosted videos and integrates video with the WordPress outputting code which you then embed into your posts and pages.

The software service lets you set up unlimited video players, split-tests and video analytics. Some of its powerful features include:

Add unlimited clickable text overlays and buttons
Add opt-in forms inside your videos
Set up split-tests to see what video performs best
See average completion rate and exit points (e.g. See who watches the whole video, and at what point of the video they leave)
Automatically redirect visitors to any URL when they finish watching the video
Show a clickable image ad when users pause the video
Set it to auto-pause the video when users leave your page, then continue the video when they return.
Lock your video content at a particular time and ask viewers to share it on social sites to continue.

VooPlayer is designed to work not only with WordPress (both posts and pages), but also iPhone/iPad and other mobile devices (html5), Aweber and GetResponse, YouTube Video links, Amazon S3, MP4 & FLV, and more.

Here is a screenshot of the admin panel…

VooPlayer is a powerful and affordable alternative to Easy Video Suite. It also includes a WordPress plugin version (see the next section for a list of other WordPress Video Plugins)…

For more details about this video player software, visit their site: VooPlayer

WordPress Video Player Plugins

If you don’t need all of the comprehensive video management features that external video solutions like Easy Video Suite and VooPlayer provide, then you can simply choose to use one of a number of WordPress video player plugins that are available.

Free WordPress Video Player Plugins

Here are some free plugins that make it easy to add videos to your posts and pages:

Viper’s Video Quicktags

This simple plugin lets you insert videos into your posts and pages from various websites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, and more. For a step-by-step tutorial on how to use the Vipers Video plugin, go here: WordPress Plugins – How To Easily Add Videos To WordPress

Video.js – HTML5 Video Player For WordPress

This video plugin for WordPress is built on the Video.js HTML5 video player library. The plugin allows you to embed video in your post or page using HTML5 with Flash fallback support for non-HTML5 browsers.

Stream Video Player

This is a complete video-audio player plugin for WordPress with XML Playlist support and subtitles. It features an easy-to-use tag generator, support for viewing on iOS and Android, support for YouTube and Pseudo-Streaming so you can randomly seek any place of your videos without having to previously load the entire video.

Spider WordPress Video Player

The Spider Video Player is a WordPress video plugin that lets you easily add video to your website, organize videos into playlists and choose a preferred layout for the player. This WordPress Video Player provides a convenient user interface, incorporating all the common features for video players, including video quality selection, sharing, full screen, shuffle etc. Moreover, you have the option of designing different themes for the video player by customizing each feature available. This is an optimal video player solution for your WordPress website, providing effective integration and a high level of customization.

JW Player For Flash & HTML5 Video

This plugin allows for easy customization and embedding of Flash and HTML5 video using the JW Player in your WordPress posts. It provides support for all of the JW Player 6 configuration options, including custom watermarks, HLS/RTMP streaming and VAST/VPAID advertising.

Easy Video Player

The Easy Video Player is a user-friendly WordPress plugin that lets you embed both self-hosted videos or videos that are hosted externally using direct links. This plugin lets you embed MP4 videos into your blog, embed responsive videos for a better user experience while viewing from a mobile device, and embed HTML5 videos which are compatible with all major browsers.

Premium WordPress Video Player Plugins

Here are some premium plugins for adding videos to your site that also offer plugin support:

HTML5 Video Players WordPress Plugin

The HTML5 Video Players WordPress Plugin works on Android and includes 3 types of video players:

Video Player With Right-Side Playlist
Video Player With Bottom Playlist
Video Player Without Playlist

Video Player WordPress Plugin

This WordPress plugin lets you manage the entire video player using a very friendly interface. You’ll be able to customize the player look & feel, playlist and CSS file. The plugin comes in two versions: Right Side playlist and Bottom Playlist.

Some of the plugin features include:

Support for any type of video file that Flash Player supports: FLV/H.264 encoded video : MP4, M4V, M4A, MOV, Mp4v, F4V, YouTube, RTMP (using FMS or RED5) and RTMP live streaming.
Ability to play Audio MP3 files.
Support for Google Analytics
You can set this player to any size you want, changing the player width, the player height and the playlist width.
Ability to integrate with your posts and pages using a short code

YouTube Pro

If you want to migrate your videos from YouTube to WordPress, then YouTube Pro is a plugin that lets you upload, edit and delete your videos without leaving your WordPress site. You can also change the appearance of your video player.

Features:

1-Click install
Import your videos from YouTube
Add new videos and edit your existing videos
Delete videos from WordPress or YouTube
Custom player appearance
Quick video insert into your post using the WordPress “Upload/Insert” feature.
Use YouTube Pro for your videos and others.
Update checker

Vimeo Video Player

This WordPress plugin lets you manage the entire video player using a very friendly interface. You’ll be able to customize the player look & feel, playlist and CSS file.

Some of the plugin features include:

Support for Vimeo videos.
Support for Google Analytics
You can set this player to any size you want, changing the player width, the player height and the playlist width.
Ability to integrate with your posts and pages using a short code

S3 Vault

If you host or share video files on Amazon S3, then this useful video plugin offers a number of great features, including:

Hotlink Protection: Prevent your Amazon S3 files from being hotlinked
Expiring URLs: Auto expiring URLs for embedded content each time the page loads.
Multiple Formats: Embed PDF, ZIP, Audio, Video or any other format your content.
Video Player: Video Player, Flash Player supports SWF and FLV files.
Monetization: Display ads on your videos with full HTML capabilities. Include clickable links or banner images which can’t be ignored.
Unlimited site: Use S3Vault on all of your sites.

Adding Videos To Posts And Pages using oEmbed Technology

Note: This section explains how to add videos to posts and pages using a relatively new technology called oEmbed. Not all videos work with oEmbed, and autoembedding doesn’t seem to work in all situations.

If the video you are trying to add does not display after publishing your page or post, you will see the video URL published on the page instead of the video …

If this happens, then use the alternative methods shown in this tutorial to embed videos into your posts and pages.

***

Oembed – WordPress Autoembedding

WordPress supports autoembedding of videos using a technology called oEmbed.

Wikipedia defines oEmbed as follows:

oEmbed is an open format designed to allow embedding content from a website into another page.

The WordPress Codex explains oEmbed as follows:

All you need to do to embed something into a post or page is to post the URL to it into your content area. Make sure that the URL is on its own line and not hyperlinked (clickable when viewing the post).

The easy embedding feature is mostly powered by oEmbed, a protocol for site A (such as your blog) to ask site B (such as YouTube) for the HTML needed to embed content (such as a video) from site B.

oEmbed was designed to avoid having to copy and paste HTML from the site hosting the media you wish to embed. It supports videos, images, text, and more.

Adding YouTube videos to posts and pages using oEmbed is as easy as copying the video’s URL from your web browser’s address bar …

And then pasting it on a line by itself in your post/page editor …

WordPress takes care of the rest! If oEmbed is allowed (see earlier note about oEmbed), then your video will display when your post or page is published …

For security reasons, WordPress will only allow videos from certain approved sites to be autoembedded into posts and pages. The WordPress oEmbed library currently supports a number of popular video and other media services like YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Scribd, DailyMotion, Twitter, etc. You can see the complete list of video sites here:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Embeds

For more information on adding and using YouTube videos on your site, or making customizations to how YouTube videos display on your posts and pages (e.g. how to customize the video’s size and settings) go here:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/videos/youtube/

Congratulations! Now you know how to add videos to your posts and pages.

Related Posts