Do you want to embed live-streaming videos on your website pages, but don’t know where to start? If so, you’ve come to the right place!
Live video content is a great way to connect and engage with a wide audience. In fact, studies show that live video content can keep audiences engaged for as much as 27% longer than on-demand video.
By offering live streaming video content on your website, you can keep visitors on your site for much longer, which can have positive effects on your marketing efforts, SEO, and in many cases, even your bottom line.
The good news is that embedding live video content on your own website couldn’t be easier. All you need is a suitable streaming platform and a bit of know-how.
This article explains why you should be embedding your live-streamed video content on your own website, what platform you should use, and how to embed your first live video. Let’s get started.
What is live-streaming video embedding?
Live streaming video embedding is the process of adding a live stream to a chosen webpage or post on your website using a dedicated live streaming platform.
It’s important to note that in this way, embedding differs from linking a video, as it involves adding a video player directly to your site rather than sending users to a separate page to view the video or live broadcast. This comes with a whole range of benefits, which we’ll explore in more detail next.
Why should you embed live-streaming videos on your website?
There are many advantages to embedding live-streaming videos on your website rather than forwarding your website visitors to external pages. They include:
Engage visitors
Embedding live video content on your website can boost engagement and increase the likelihood that visitors will stay on your site. By streaming on your own website, you also reduce the chance of viewers getting distracted by competing content or advertisements.
In this way, streaming on your own site is a better alternative to streaming on YouTube Live, for example, where other suggested videos will appear in the sidebar.
Aid marketing efforts
By embedding your stream on your website, you’ll have full control over the branding and appearance of your stream content, helping to boost brand identity and awareness, which in turn can help to grow your following.
You won’t need to follow external guidelines for how you display your stream, giving you full autonomy to set your stream apart from competing content, nor will you be forced to include overlays or logos on your stream that advertise whatever site or platform you’re using to host your stream content.
Display your stream exactly as you want
Embedding a live stream on your website enables you to customize exactly how you display not only your stream content but also the page where that content is embedded. You can set up a specific page on your website to your liking and then embed your stream, making it more visually engaging for your audience.
You don’t need to stick with generic, standard formats, and you can include your own personalization, branding, and even a visual CTA (call to action) to help monetize your stream content (more on that later).
Improve SEO
When it comes to ranking content, Google tends to rank hybrid or video content higher than text-only content. On top of this, as we’ve mentioned, by embedding a stream on your own site rather than linking out, you’ll keep users on your site for longer. This signals to Google that the page with your embedded stream is high-quality content, which will result in better rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Increase stream quality
We’ve already mentioned that embedding your stream on your own website gives you control over the stream’s appearance, but it also gives you control over the quality and content of your live videos.
You won’t be bound by the restrictive content guidelines of other platforms, your viewers will be safe from intrusive adverts, and you’ll also be able to stream at whatever quality you like. This compares favorably to streaming on some social media platforms, where there are limits on video resolution and bandwidth for live streams – for example, Facebook Live caps resolution at 1080p.
Producing content of a higher quality with fewer interruptions makes it more likely your viewers will stick with you and, if your end goal is stream monetization, convert.
Make more money
Embedding your stream content on your website gives you access to more options for monetization than if your stream is hosted on an external platform. Rather than relying on donations or ad revenue, which are the staples of platforms like YouTube and Twitch, you’ll be able to offer pay-per-view or subscription-only content that your website visitors will have to pay to access.
When you stream on your own website, you take total control over how much you charge for your content – this means you can receive cash that reflects the true value of what you offer, not just the tiny percentage of advert or donation revenue that other platforms allow.
How do you embed live-streaming videos on your website?
To embed live streams on your website pages, you’ll need to choose a suitable streaming platform. We suggest that you check out our dedicated guide on the best streaming platforms of 2023 to help you get started – it gives plenty of detail about the best options available.
To give a broader overview, streaming platforms can more or less be broken down into two categories – social media streaming platforms and professional streaming platforms. We’ll take a brief look at each of those options now.
Social media platforms
Social media platforms are often not the best choice when embedding live streams on your website for the following reasons:
- Restrictions on video quality – As we mentioned above, some social media platforms cap video quality for live streams, preventing you from providing your audience with the best experience of your live video content.
- Strict content guidelines – Platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube Live have strict guidelines when it comes to broadcasting and monetization, which restricts the type of content you can stream on these platforms.
- Intrusive adverts – Watching your videos might become a frustrating experience for some members of your audience if your content is regularly interrupted by adverts.
- No control over stream appearance and branding – While some platforms are more flexible than others, social media platforms will frequently require you to include some kind of branding for the platform on your stream, restricting your ability to advertise your own personal brand.
- Traffic can be pulled away from your site with suggested videos – High click-through rates on algorithmically-generated content can prevent you from engaging deeply with your subscribers in real time.
Professional streaming platforms
For these reasons, using a professional streaming service makes more sense when you want to embed live-streaming videos on your website. These platforms typically allow you to retain full control over your content without the risk of losing traffic to an external site.
While there are many different professional streaming platforms to choose from, when it comes to embedding streaming content on your website, WpStream is a great option. It enables you to embed your stream wherever you would like on your WordPress website without the need for any third-party infrastructure. Let’s take a look at the platform in a little more detail.
Introducing WpStream
WpStream comes with a wide range of features that make it a great platform for embedding stream content into your website. Let’s dive into three of the main areas in which the plugin excels.
Full control
With WpStream, you get total control over your stream and how you present it.
As a white-label platform built for WordPress, WpStream offers you full autonomy to customize the appearance of not only your stream but also any aspect of your site’s appearance.
You also get full control over the content that you stream, with no strict guidelines to follow or adverts interrupting your viewers’ experience. Say goodbye to content censorship and hello to broadcasting exactly the content you want on your terms.
Flexible
WpStream makes it easy to embed your live video content on your website and start streaming in a matter of minutes, no matter your setup. It works with anything from your phone camera to professional broadcasting setups and integrates with all streaming hardware and software that supports an RTMP connection. This includes both popular streaming software like OBS Studio and multistreaming tools like Restream.
Cost-effective
Despite having such wide compatibility and offering full control over your stream content, WpStream is also extremely affordable. There is a range of flexible pricing plans available, with different options suited to different streaming requirements.
Pricing scales based on the amount of streaming data and recording storage you need, the number of concurrent streaming channels you want to run, and your expected simultaneous viewer numbers.
Plans start at just $19/month, and, unlike many platforms, you don’t have to pay an annual subscription – you can cancel at any time, making the platform perfect if you want to stream intermittently (for example, people who only stream occasional live events).
How to embed live streaming videos on your website with WpStream: step-by-step tutorial
Embedding live-streaming videos on your website with WpStream is easy. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Download and install the WpStream plugin
The first step is to download and install the WpStream plugin. Note that a free trial is available to try out all of the plugin’s features before you purchase a subscription.
To download, simply navigate to the WpStream site and click the “Download WordPress Plugin” button, as shown in the screenshot below.
Once you click the button, your download will start immediately. You can then upload it to your WordPress dashboard as usual to complete the installation process.
2. Create a streaming channel
Once the plugin is installed, from your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Free-To-View Live Channels” > “Add New”. Here you can make any customizations you want to your new live channel.
For instance, you can add categories, tags, a description, and other metadata, as well as configure a range of other settings. Once you’re happy with your new channel, click “Publish”.
3. Embed your stream into a page or post
WpStream enables you to embed streams on your WordPress site using an embed code. You won’t need any HTML coding knowledge – all you have to do is add the WpStream shortcode to your chosen page or post. The shortcode you need to add is:
[wpstream_player id="1234" ][/wpstream_player]
…where the player ID is the ID of the channel you want to embed. You can find the channel ID under WpStream > All Channels.
If you use the classic or Gutenberg block editors with your WordPress site, simply add this shortcode manually into your page or post. If you use WPBakery or Elementor, you can add the shortcode to the dedicated shortcode widget.
4. Go live
Navigate to the channel you have embedded from the WordPress dashboard, then click “Turn on”. You’ll then have the option to go live from your laptop or mobile device’s webcam or an external streaming service. Once you have gone live, the stream will be available to view through the page or post where you have embedded it.
That’s it! Now that your channel is embedded into your chosen website page, your content will be broadcast on that page whenever you go live with that channel.
Take control of your live video content with WpStream
The benefits of embedding stream content on your website are significant. It helps to engage users, improve marketing efforts, boost SEO, and enable you to display your live stream however you want. It can even assist you in making more money if that’s one of your streaming goals.
WpStream is the best streaming solution for embedding live-streaming videos onto your own website because it gives you complete control over your content, avoiding platform censorship. It’s also flexible and works with everything from your phone camera to professional broadcasting equipment. Even better, WpStream is excellent value for money, starting at just $19 a month with no fixed contract and scalable plans available for all kinds of streaming setups.
If WpStream sounds like a good fit for your streaming requirements, you can check out the pricing calculator to find the right plan for your budget and setup, or take advantage of the free trial period to test the plugin out.
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