Now that you have prepared your WordPress site by installing the [tag-tec]WordTube plugin[/tag-tec] it is time to prepare your videos. Assuming you have already shot and edited your videos then they might be in a format such as .avi or .mov. What ever the format we need to convert them to .flv as this is the format played by the Flash player. We convert them with a piece of software called an [tag]flv encoder[/tag]. There are various ones on the market with different functions and prices and luckily there is a nice free program called Riva FLV Encoder which can be downloaded here.

Once installed it is easy enough to use, just select the input video and output directory. The name for the new .flv file will be named automatically but you can change this if you wish. Choose the movie size, 320 x 240 is a popular size, but be aware that the default size is 640 x 480. Leave the other settings at the default and hit the ‘Encode’ button. After the .flv file has been created then open your FTP program and transfer the file to the folder mentioned in Part 1.

Now it is time to write a post and embed your video. Log into the admin area of your blog and then Manage->Media Center. Click on ‘Insert new media file’ and fill in the details then click on ‘Add media file’. Find the ID number for the video then go to Write->Write Post and call up the video with[MEDIA not found]where you want the video to appear. Click on publish and your video is now embedded in your post.

If you use the WP-FLV plugin and also when [tag-ice]embedding videos[/tag-ice] from video sharing sites such as YouTube using the WYSIWYG editor will cause problems so you have to go to the Admin panel and click on Users then unclick ‘Use the visual rich editor when writing’ under Personal Options. After you have made your post you can then reverse this until you want to insert another video. This problm does not exist with the WordTube plugin. So that is all there is to it, so good luck with site and [tag]video content[/tag] which will keep ahead of the sites that are not using video.

Filed under: video formats

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