Video Killed the Radio Star and Your Media Library

by GruffyGoat Team written on
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One issue we run into regularly at GruffyGoat is client video files. I think most people assume they can just upload .mp4 files to a WordPress site and the world will continue on its path with little to no consequences. This is not the case. I’m here to talk about solutions to this devastating issue.

YouTube

What we usually tell our clients is upload everything on YouTube and we can connect the video from there. We stand by this recommendation for a couple of reasons: YouTube is familiar, FREE, owned by Google, FREE, beneficial for SEO, pretty well seamless to use and connect too, and oh yeah, FREE. However, if you want video content to come up organically in a YouTube search, you have your work cut out for you. YouTube has been called the second largest search engine on the internet, meaning YouTube has an absolute surplus of videos on all topics. Simply put, it is hard to get your video to the top without cheating the system. The other issue we have run into with YouTube is if you want a private list of videos with exclusive content to display on a members-only page, YouTube can’t do that with the traditional connection methods.

Other Video Hosting

YouTube is not the only video hosting service. If YouTube is not meeting your needs, check out Wistia, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. These are just a few options that could compete for your video hosting service. The number one complaint I can see from this list is they are all paid services. I get it, the last thing you want in this life is another bill. I get that on a very deep level but listen, you get what you pay for. The reason these are paid video hosting is due to the service you are receiving. Do some research. You won’t regret finding a tool that will take some stress and hassle off you for your business. There is merit to each of these services that separates them from the rest of the market.

Manage Your File Sizes

I’m not going to harp on this too long, but some of you have an issue with file sizes. **Side Rant** If you are uploading an image and the size is 7MB, step away from the Media Library, take a breathe, and compress the file. That will save you in the future, in more ways than you know.**End Rant** If you are uploading a single video file to your site for a cool header or something, you don’t have to create a YouTube channel to host that single soundless 45-second video. (However, that might be a good idea in some cases and we will probably recommend that to be honest.) You can upload a nicely packaged and minimized file to the back of your WordPress site. We treat this as a last case scenario because it can cause problems as a regular practice, but before we do this please send us the cleanest, smallest, most optimized file for your site. Here is a blog post from Learn G2 explaining clean video management.

In summary, videos are a great part of your website content and we welcome beautiful videography with open arms, but please be mindful of file management and please plan for video hosting of some kind whether through YouTube or some other party. There is a lot to consider for a website, but that’s why building and growing with our GruffyGoat team is a smart idea to consider. Contact us if you want to learn more.