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Embedly Plugin for WordPress Video Tutorial

78 Comments / Blogging Tutorials, Social Media, Tech, YouTube / By /

Embedly is a WordPress plugin that helps you easily embed external content in a post on your blog. For example you can insert videos from YouTube without the need for the embed code. I first learned about Embedly from Ann Smarty through a tweet she sent out the other day.

Embed.ly Logo

I installed the Embedly Plugin and created a screencast to demonstrate how efficiently it handles embedding a YouTube video in a WordPress blog post.

Embedly Plugin for WordPress Video Tutorial

Once you copy the url from the provider that you wish to embed, be careful to paste it on a line without any other content – and (as I learned while creating this screencast) – be sure to unlink the url. If the WordPress editor finds a hyper-link, the plugin will not be able to work it's magic, and the content will not appear in the published post.

Check out this post called How To Embed YouTube Videos and Podcasts To Keep Readers on Your Blog

Tweets are a snap with Embedly

In the past, I avoided embedding Tweets in my blog posts because it seemed like such a hassle. Embed.ly takes all the hassle out of the process. Here's the Tweet from Ann that caught my attention (all I needed was the url).


Since there are over 100 services supported by this plugin, I'll list a few you're probably wondering about:

  • Amazon
  • Craigslist
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Last.fm
  • Prezi
  • Scribd
  • Screenr
  • SlideShare
  • Yfrog

Follow Embedly on Twitter to find out which new content providers are joining the ranks. Here is a link to the Embedly Provider List..

Update Embed.ly provider listI'm going to use Embedly in addition to the Viper Video Quicktags plugin going forward. And it's far simpler than embedding Tweets with Blackbird Pie. Will you install the Embedly plugin? Let me know if you have any plugins for YouTube optimization and more that can be replaced by Embedly.

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78 thoughts on “Embedly Plugin for WordPress Video Tutorial”

    1. Ileane

      Hey Barbara, I love how simple it is to use. I never even thought about embedded content from some of these providers. Hopefully this will give me added incentive to start using Scribd and Prezi – which are both on my to-do list.

  2. Estava Morioka

    I’m going to install Embed.ly right away. I saw some videos that I want to embed and I’m sure the Amazon thing will come in handy too. Thanks!

  3. DiTesco

    I like this lots Ileane and I can see my “evil” marketing mind working already, lol. Thanks for this introduction. New to me so off I go to explore.

  4. Kissie

    Hey, I don’t have a lot of plugins and never know which ones I really need until, of course, I stop by Basic Blog Tips! 😉

    I got an email from one of my readers asking how I was able to accomplish all I did; after I verified it wasn’t a scam email, I responded by sharing your site with her. I led her to the water. 😀

  5. Jimi Jones

    Really cool!

    How could anyone not use this? Thanks for the hook-up, Ileane. Nice tutorial as always.

    What makes this extra attractive is the number of services it handles. Great stuff!

    1. Ileane

      Jimi, I guess I made the Embed.ly video tutorial for my own good too, because I had this post in draft for almost a week but I couldn’t get the embeds to work correctly.

      I even contacted Embed.ly in a panic, and they assured me that it was working properly. So I decided to give it a try on an old post instead, that’s when it hit me. When you add the URL it cannot be hyperlinked. I just giggled to myself as I turned on the microphone, opened up Screencast-o-matic and started recording. If it sounds like I’m really happy in the beginning of the screencast, that’s because I was still laughing at myself. 🙂

  6. Tristan

    Ok THAT… is pretty awesome! Thanks for the tip on the plugin, Ileane! Post enjoyed and retweeted 🙂

  7. Whiztechy

    This plugin is very useful for all the blogger because often need to embed videos in our blog post.I was not aware about this plugin, it will surely make videos or tweets easy to add in blog post. Will give a try right now. Nice share Ileane 🙂

  8. Rahul

    it was very helpful info for us, Ileane. and thanks for this. embedly will be very helpful for me as well. i’ve not used it yet and this is totally new to me. so, i must try it.

  10. Dave

    Hi Ileane,

    Initially, I thought this plugin was a bit gimmicky, but as I read through your tutorial, I was more and more convinced that this was a well developed plugin. For those who have a frequent need to embed tweets or any of these other websites, it seems that the way the information is styled is really professional and well worth installing a plugin for.

    Great find

    1. Ileane

      Hi Dave, I agree. The folks at Embedly are very professional, I contacted them the other day and they responded almost immediately. That made me smile. Thanks for your comment.

  11. Mike

    Ileane, it’s awesome to have a universal plug-in to embed everything into your blog. I used to use Youtube Embed plug-in to embed videos into my blog but now, I think I’ll just need to install this one. Thank for introducing this plug-in to us, Ileane 🙂

    1. Ileane

      Hi Mike, it’s my pleasure! Thank you for commenting, let me know when you start embedding cool stuff in your posts.

  12. Deependra Vikram

    Dear Mam,
    I am trying to have a elearning school where I can post in videos of my niche industry and people who pay for it can be given a username password and they can watch the screencasts videos and attacjed example files n learn…However Blogger does not allow forums…what can be the best way around for it….Kindly Help..
    Regards
    Deepeendra Vikram

  13. Extreme John

    Embed.ly looks pretty interesting, it reminds me of a video plugin I used in the past. It was a nice little plugin until it stopped being supported and broke all of my video embeds as WordPress came out with more and more new versions. I have a post on my blog somewhere, it’s like “The #1 Reasons to Pick Your WordPress Plugins Wisely” or something like that.

    I am still fixing embeded videos from that nightmare, now I try to stick to the actual embed code. Stops any future issues before they become one 😉

    Hey Ileane I always have to say, you do some excellent screencasts.

    1. Ileane

      Hey John, thanks for the terrific feedback! I’ll keep my eye on Embedly and keep my fingers crossed too. I hope you have a good football day this week! 🙂

  15. J.L.Gatewood

    One thing to mention– follow @embedly for latest updates on what sites they’re adding to their API. You can then go into the plug-in control panel and hit the “update” button at the bottom of the page.

    Also there is an embedly powered comments plug in as well– useful on sites such as mine when commenters want to refer to videos, pictures, or even tweets.

    1. Ileane

      Hi J. L. I did mention the update button, I guess you didn’t have a chance to read the post. I understand, this plugin is pretty exciting. Go for it!

  16. S.Pradeep Kumar

    Seriously awesome plugin!!!

    I haven’t tried these two things — Embedding tweets and videos. Will do it right now. Thanks for sharing buddy!!!

    1. Ileane

      Hey, I’m glad you stopped by and found out about Embed.ly. Let me know what you end up embedding. Thank you.

    2. Kissie

      I want to know what you do when you do it, so I expect to hear how this worked for you in the near future.

      Like Ileane, you never miss a beat!

  17. Patricia

    Hi Ileane

    I will show this post to my techie friend who seems to understand all this techie stuff! You are always finding something new and by the sound of all the comments, all the geeks are happy lol

    I don’t touch anything on my blog without consultation as most of it is still a mystery to me. Will get it checked out as you sound excited by it, so must be good.

    Patricia Perth Australia

    1. Kissie

      Patricia, I’m with you and my consultation basically starts and ends with Ileane. Very seldom do I follow another suggestion without running it by her … most of the people I trust usually already have her endorsement.

      There has been a time or two when I knew it first, but who’s counting. 😉

    2. Ileane

      Hey Patricia, don’t let the fancy name make you think this is above your head. This is one of the easiest plugins I’ve installed recently. Installing plugins is super simple with WordPress 3.0 even a non-techie can do it. Go for it!

  18. Fran Aslam

    Hi Ileane:

    Recently saw you around and was happy to see in the round up by Jimi Jones today. Congratulations.
    Your blog post have good information that can be used by everyone.
    I have started a new series at my blog too from today.

    Ileane, I liked your blog and of course your pleasant personality. I will come again to read and comment.

    Have a great Sunday
    fran A

    1. Ileane

      Hi Fran, nice to meet you and welcome to Basic Blog Tips. I really appreciate your company. You have a good day also.

  19. Dennis Edell

    Excellent tutorial Ileane, I plan to get into video, not to mention photos once things are running smoothly again.

  20. John

    Ileane – I love wordpress plugins and this one seems to be great too. I have been struggling to implement a youtube video in one of my posts last week, but this video demonstration of how easy it is to use Embed.ly has definitely gotten me excited. Thanks for the link to the plugin, I can’t wait to install it and try it out.

    1. Ileane

      John, I’m really pleased that you found the post helpful. Let me know how you make out using Embed.ly to get your video in the post.

  21. caleb

    To answer your question at the end of the post this seems a lot like Apture which works like a charm for me plus along with what you’ve mentioned Apture also has the ability of adding audio, pdf files, google map views, related web pages and more just by highlighting a given word or phrase within your your post editor..

    1. Ileane

      Hey Caleb. I wish Apture would expand the provider list. Last time I checked Twitter and Facebook were the only ones available. Has that changed recently? Thanks for commenting, I appreciate the visit!

      1. Caleb

        You must haven’t seen or used it in a while because it has been greatly updated. They even offer the ability to add videos from Comedy Central and ESPN plus Wikki content inserts and I also just saw potential links from US Congress’s senate.gov site!

        There’s so many types of stuff you add to spice up your posts..

        Once you click the Apture Embed icon just above your post editor,you enter in search phrases then simply select what types of references you want and how ever many of them you want 😉

        1. Ileane

          That’s awesome. I will need to look at the Apture plugin again. You are becoming my plugin guru Caleb.

          There’s another one I saw on your blog that I wanted to ask you about. What’s the name of the one you use for your floating social profiles?

          Thanks again and have a great weekend!

          1. Caleb

            Like I once said, I’m sort of a plugin fiend..thanks for the “plugin guru” title as this gives me ideas on specialty areas I can focus on!

            As for my floating profiles, you’re either referring to the Fixed Social Buttons plugin I use for the right side floaters or the Digg Digg plugin as both have specific functions that are just too cool for me to ignore and I use the Sexy Bookmarks plugin at the end of posts 😎

          2. Ileane

            SWEET!! You’ve done it again and you’re wearing your Plugin Guru Crown proudly.

            I got the Fixed social buttons and they look pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing your secrets with me. You rock my friend!

          3. Caleb

            Glad you got it working 🙂

            ..I see you went with rather unique positioning so let us know if it adds to your overall social marketing aspects.

            btw,
            That plugin list post I mentioned a whyile ago would have been published, it’s just that I keep running into more great plugins! But I shall be posting it soon 😉

          4. Ileane

            I’d really like to see it floating on the left rather than the right, and a YouTube profile would be a great addition. So I’ll keep it up for awhile and see how it goes.

            I’m going through the same thing you are when it comes to Chrome Extensions. I ready to do a post but then I keep finding new ones to add!

          5. Caleb

            There is a YouTube profile…you must have missed it. It’s right above the Twitter profile in the Fixed Social admin setup.

            As for it displaying on the left, I’m sure you could find the place for changing that somewhere in that particular plugin’s css file..while in your admin click on ‘Editor’ under ‘Plugins’ and select Fixed Social from the dropdown menu.

            btw,
            Did you see my latest guest post on FamousBloggers?

  22. Joomla Web Design

    Wonder full post thanks this is a handy tool for bloggers, especially in case of wordpress.com. Excellent for video sharing youtube links and pod casting, it’s a magic tool. I have started using it. Thanks you once again.

  25. Brian

    Sounds like a great plug in, I’ve been looking for something like this. Thanks for giving this Embedly plug in a plug : )

    1. Ileane

      Hey Brian, Embed.ly came in handy for me once again earlier when I embedded a tweet in my latest post. I could have embedded a chart from StatCounter but I used the jpeg instead. I just wanted to switch things up a bit. Thanks for your comment.

  28. Jenn

    OOOH! Awesome! I’ve been having this issue where WordPress will not let me embed YouTube videos using their embed code. I’m not sure why. Maybe this plugin will fix that problem. Anyone else having that problem?

    1. Ileane

      Hey Jenn,
      I always use a plugin to add video to blog posts. Before I installed Embedly, I used Viper Video Quicktags. I have noticed problems with embedding video on some of the blogs I guest post for, so you’re not alone. Give Embedly a try and come back and let me know what you think of it.

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  31. christin

    I like your article, your mind will be adding more articles similar to this one with additional info? It would be very useful and beneficial for me and my friends.
    thank you for everything

    1. Ileane

      You’re welcome. Yeah, the Embed.ly plugin for WordPress is awesome isn’t it? They recently updated the provider list and Embed.ly now has over 200 services.

    2. Discovery Channel
      National Geographic
      All Things Digital
      Qwiki
      Aniboom
      Grooveshark
      Clipshack
      GrindTv
      iFoodTv
      Logo: Fierce Tv
      Lonely Planet
      StreetFire
      TroopTube
      Guardian
      Bravo Tv
  32. Mike

    Thanks a lot for all of your tips and also for all comments, they are realy helpful for me, i’m going to adopt few of those plugins to my blog about lcd tv’s.

    1. Ileane

      Hi Mike, I visited your website but I couldn’t find the blog. Let me know how you make out using Embed.ly. Thanks.

  33. richard

    The’re many available useful plugins for WordPress. What you shared on this post are useful. You make it easy to follow. Thanks for making video tutorial on how to use Embed.ly plugin.

  35. Shiva

    Hi Illeane,
    I never knew you had referenced one of my posts about Blackbird Pie here, I am just getting the pingback now, after around 3-4 months..lol. Seems Embedly is quite a cool plugin, I will certainly try this out

  37. Brenda

    Yayy! I could NOT figure out why the embedly plugin wasn’t working for me…un-linking totally did the trick! Thanks 🙂

    1. Ileane

      Hi Brenda, the un-linking is so simple but yet so frustrating if you don’t get it right 🙂 Glad I could help.

  39. Mario M.

    Wow! Embed.ly seems to be fantastic! And the services like Amazon, Craiglist, Facebook etc supported are superb! Can’t wait to make use of this on my blog! Thanks for this Ileane, really!

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