Do you want to use video for featured thumbnails in WordPress?
By replacing a post or product’s featured image with a featured video, you can make your website much more vibrant and dynamic. Visitors can view these videos from nearly anywhere including your blog archives, homepage, and WooCommerce product pages.
In this article, we will show you how you can add featured video thumbnails in WordPress.
These are the primary images, and they often appear at the top of the page and other areas of your site such as your website’s archive pages. Search engines and social media sites may also display a page’s featured image.
A good featured image can get you a lot of user engagement. However, you may be able to get more clicks, pageviews, and even sales by using a featured video thumbnail instead.
If you’ve created an online store, then showing a video at the top of the product page is a great way to make shoppers want to scroll and learn more about that product.
With that being said, let’s see how you can add featured video thumbnails in WordPress.
How to Add Featured Video Thumbnails in WordPress
The easiest way to use videos as featured thumbnails is by using Really Simple Featured Video. This plugin lets you embed videos from popular video hosting websites such as YouTube or Vimeo and use them as featured video thumbnails.
It also works perfectly with WooCommerce and will show the featured video at the top of the product page.
However, just be aware that WooCommerce will show the featured video on the product page only. The featured image thumbnail will still be used in other places, including your WooCommerce store page.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After activation, there are a few settings to configure. To get started, go to Settings » Really Simple Featured Video.
On this screen, you can select whether you want to add featured video thumbnails to pages, posts, or WooCommerce products.
To do this, simply click on the ‘Posts,‘ ‘Pages’ or ‘Products’ switches to turn them from grey (disabled) to purple (active). In the following image, we’ve enabled the featured video feature for products, plus posts and pages.
After that, click on the ‘Save changes’ button.
Next, click on the ‘Controls’ tab. Here, you’ll find a ‘Self-hosted videos’ section where you can configure the settings for the videos in your WordPress media library.
While the plugin does support self-hosted videos, this can take up a lot of storage space and bandwidth so we don’t recommend it. To learn more, check out why you should never upload a video to WordPress.
Instead, scroll to the ‘Embed Videos’ section. This is where you will find settings for any videos you embed from third-party video platforms such as YouTube.
When you embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo, Really Simple Featured Video will show the playback controls for that platform.
For example, if you’re embedding a YouTube video then visitors will have access to YouTube’s specific playback features.
However, the ‘Embed videos’ section does have an ‘Autoplay’ switch that you can click to enable, too.
By default, the plugin will play videos with sound turned on. To mute your videos by default, click on the ‘Mute sound’ toggle.
You can also set the featured video thumbnails to play on loop.
Looping videos can be annoying to many visitors, particularly if the video is short and has sound. It’s a good idea to only activate the ‘Loop’ switch if replaying the video over and over improves the visitor experience in some way. For example, you might create a video showing a 360 degree view of a product and then set that clip to loop.
After working your way through the different settings, make sure you click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
Adding Featured Video Thumbnails to Posts, Pages, and WooCommerce Products
Once you’ve configured how the plugin will show embedded videos, you’re ready to add featured video thumbnails to your WordPress website.
To do this, simply open the post, page, or WooCommerce product where you want to add a featured video thumbnail.
If you’re adding a featured video to a page or post, then you’ll find the ‘Featured Video’ section in the right-hand menu underneath the ‘Discussion’ section.
Want to add a featured video to a WooCommerce product instead?
Then you’ll find the ‘Featured Video’ section underneath the ‘Product gallery‘ section.
In the new field, you’ll need to paste the URL of the video that you want to embed.
Just make sure that you add the video’s URL in the right format. In the right-hand menu, you’ll see some examples for YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion.
For YouTube, the plugin gives us the following example URL: https://www.youtube.com/embed/vbLgiRQ0Moo
This means you’ll need to use https://www.youtube.com/embed/ as the first part of your URL and then add the ID of the video that you want to embed.
To find the video ID, simply open a new tab in your browser, then go to the YouTube video that you want to embed. Now, take a look at the browser’s address bar.
The video ID is the value that comes after v=. In the following image, we can see that the video ID is DvbFBxKcORA.
After adding the video ID to the first part of the URL, we get the following: https://www.youtube.com/embed/DvbFBxKcORA
You can now go back to the tab with the WordPress block editor and just paste the URL into the ‘Embed’ field. That will add a featured video thumbnail to the post, and then you’re ready to click on either the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button.
You can now add featured video thumbnails to more posts, pages, and WooCommerce products by following the same process described above.
On your blog archive or similar page you’ll see that WordPress is now using the videos as the featured thumbnail for your posts and pages.
If you open any page, post, or WooCommerce product, then you’ll see that the featured video also appears at the top of the page, just like a featured image would.
Do you want to set a default featured image in WordPress?
Many themes use featured images (a.k.a post thumbnails) to make your content look more appealing and attention-grabbing. But finding the right featured image for each post can be time-consuming, and if you forget to add a featured image, then your posts might look incomplete.
In this article, we will show you how to fix that by setting a default featured image in WordPress.
Why Set a Default Featured Image in WordPress?
Featured images, sometimes known as thumbnail images, are the primary image for your WordPress posts and pages.
However, you may sometimes forget to upload a featured image to your posts. If you have other authors posting on your site, then they may not realize the importance and skip over adding a featured image.
WordPress themes typically use featured images in multiple different areas. If you forget to add a featured image, then you may end up with lots of gaps in your website’s design including in important places like your blog archive or homepage.
For example, in the following image you can see that OptinMonster shows featured images on their blog index.
People also find images more engaging than plain text. Posts that don’t have a featured image may get less traffic and lower conversion rates.
With that in mind, it’s a good idea to set a default featured image in WordPress. This gives your site something to show when no featured image is available.
To make it easy for you, we have created quick jump links for the sections:
The easiest way to set a default featured image is by using the Default Featured Image plugin. This plugin adds a new setting to the WordPress Media page where you can upload a fallback featured image.
After choosing your fallback, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’
WordPress will now use the image that you selected as your default thumbnail for any posts or pages where you don’t provide a featured image.
You can change the default image at any point by repeating the same process above.
If you no longer want to use a default featured image, then simply go to Settings » Media. Then just click on the ‘Don’t use a default featured image’ button.
Don’t forget to click on ‘Save Changes’ when you’re done.
How to Set a Default Featured Image for Social Media
Social media platforms are a great place to reach new readers, build a following, and get more people to visit your site. To do this, you’ll need to post interesting and engaging content to your social media accounts.
The featured image that’s shared alongside your post can also encourage more people to visit your site.
However, social media sites don’t automatically display your featured image when you share your content. Sometimes they’ll even show the wrong thumbnail, here’s how to fix the incorrect thumbnail issue in WordPress.
With that in mind, you may also want to set a default featured image for the different social media platforms. These platforms will then use this fallback for any posts that are shared without a unique featured image.
To do this, we recommend using All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin.
AIOSEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress in the market used by over 3 million websites including WPBeginner. It offers the most beginner friendly and comprehensive SEO toolkit to help you fine-tune your WordPress blog or website for the search engines.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin in WordPress. For more details, please see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, the plugin will launch the setup wizard. To configure the plugin, simply click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button and follow the onscreen instructions. If you need help, then please refer to our guide on how to properly set up All in One SEO in WordPress.
Once you’ve done that, go to All in One SEO » Social Networks.
You will now see tabs for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can use these tabs to set a unique default image for these different platforms.
As an example, let’s see how you can set a default featured image for Facebook. To get started, click on the ‘Facebook’ tab.
After that, open the ‘Default Post Image Source’ dropdown.
You can then choose ‘Default Image (Set Below).’
Next find the ‘Default Post Facebook Image’ section.
Here you’ll see some tips on how to make sure your image looks great when people share it on Facebook.
To set your default featured image, click on the ‘Upload or Select Image’ button.
This opens the WordPress media library. You can now either choose an image from your media library, or upload a new file.
Finally, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button. After completing this step, Facebook will use this image whenever there’s no featured image available.
To set a default image for Twitter or Pinterest, simply click on the ‘Twitter’ or ‘Pinterest’ tab. You can then choose a fallback image following the same process described above.
Are you looking for a way to customize your WooCommerce product pages?
By fine-tuning your WooCommerce product pages, you can get more sales and improve your store’s conversion rates.
In this article, we will show you how to customize WooCommerce product pages without having to write any code.
Why Customize WooCommerce Product Pages in WordPress?
Your product pages are some of the most valuable content in your online store. The problem is that the default WooCommerce product pages aren’t optimized for conversions.
By creating unique product pages you can often convert visitors into paying customers at a much higher rate. This means you can earn more money without needing to attract more visitors to your site or improve your WooCommerce SEO.
Before you start customizing your WooCommerce product pages, you need to make sure you have the fastest WooCommerce hosting to support your online store because speed also has a big impact on conversion rates.
Once you’ve done that, let’s take a look at how you can customize your WooCommerce product pages with no code.
How to Customize Your WooCommerce Product Pages in WordPress
The easiest way to create a custom WooCommerce product page is by using SeedProd.
Even better, you can use SeedProd’s advanced theme builder to create a custom WordPress theme without having to write a single line of code.
You can use this drag-and-drop theme builder to customize every part of your online store, including your product pages.
SeedProd even has ready-made WooCommerce templates and eCommerce blocks that allow you to create a high-converting online store, fast.
Just be aware that this method will replace your current WooCommerce theme.
Install and Activate SeedProd
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Note: There is a free version of SeedProd that allows you to create stunning designs no matter what your budget. However, for this guide, we’ll use the premium plugin as it comes with the WooCommerce blocks and theme builder. You’ll need to buy a Pro subscription or higher in order to use the theme builder.
Upon activation, go to SeedProd » Settings and enter your license key.
With that done, it’s time to choose the WooCommerce template kit that you’ll use for your online store. Simply head over to SeedProd » Theme Builder and then click the ‘Theme Template Kits’ button.
Since we’re creating a custom WooCommerce theme, click on the ‘WooCommerce’ tab to see all the different eCommerce kits.
To preview a design, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on the magnifying glass.
This opens the template kit in a new tab.
This is a live preview, so you can see other designs in the kit by clicking on the links, navigation menus, buttons, and other interactive content.
Since you’re creating a custom WooCommerce product page, make sure to check out the product page design.
When you find a template kit you want to use, hover over it and then click on the checkmark when it appears. In this guide, we’re using the WooCommerce Starter Theme but you can use any template you want.
Customize the WooCommerce Product Page Template
SeedProd will import the whole kit into your WordPress website, so you can use the kit to create a custom product archive, shop page, blog index, and more.
To see all these templates, head over to SeedProd » Theme Builder.
After installing your template, you’re ready to start customizing the product page.
To get started, hover over the Product Page template and then click on the ‘Edit Design’ link when it appears.
This will open the template in SeedProd’s drag-and-drop editor, with a preview of your WooCommerce template to the right and some block settings on the left.
SeedProd will show an example of how the product page will look, using content from one of your WooCommerce products.
All the WooCommerce templates come with built-in blocks, which are a core component of all SeedProd’s designs.
To customize a block, simply click to select it in the page preview and then make any changes in the left-hand menu.
For example, the template comes with a built-in Featured Product block that you can customize in a few different ways.
To start, you may want to change the block’s size and alignment using the settings in the left-hand menu.
You’ll find more settings in the ‘Advanced’ tab. Here, you can make the image really stand out by adding a border or shadow, adding a CSS animation, and more.
As you make changes, the live preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best on your online store.
The WooCommerce template also has an Add To Cart call to action button. This allows shoppers to buy your products, so you’ll want to make the button stand out.
To start, you can replace Add To Cart with your own custom messaging, such as Buy Now or Get Yours Today. To make this change, simply select the Add To Cart button and then type the new text into the ‘Button Text’ field.
You may also want to add an icon font to the button, to help visitors understand what this button does at a glance.
SeedProd comes with a built-in library of more than 1400 Font Awesome icons that you can use on your product pages. In the left-hand menu, click to expand the ‘Icons’ section.
You can now choose whether to show the icon before or after the button text.
Simply make your decision and then click on the ‘Choose Icon’ button.
You’ll now see all the different Font Awesome icons that you can use. When you find an icon you like, give it a click.
When you’re happy with the button’s messaging, you can change how it looks by clicking on the ‘Templates’ tab. Here, you’ll find different button templates that you can use.
To use any of these designs, simply click on the one you want.
After choosing a template, you can fine-tune how the button looks by clicking on the ‘Advanced’ tab. Here, you can change the spacing between the button and the quantity box, increase the border radius to create curved corners, and more.
Another option is to open the ‘Button Style’ dropdown and choose a new style from the list.
Most of the settings are self-explanatory so it’s worth going through them to see what different kinds of effects you can create.
With that in mind, it’s worth clicking to select the block and then seeing what changes you can make in the left-hand menu. For example, you can change the background color, text color, increase the padding, and more.
To remove any of the default blocks, simply hover your mouse over that block.
Then, click on the Trash can icon when it appears.
You can also move blocks around the page using drag and drop.
Get More Sales with a Custom WooCommerce Product Page
The template’s built-in blocks are a great start, but you may want to add your own content.
SeedProd has lots of WooCommerce blocks that you can use to create a high-converting online marketplace or store. To help you out, here are some blocks you may want to add to your WooCommerce product page.
Show Related WooCommerce Products
You may be able to get more sales and increase the average order value by showing related items on your product pages. These might be products that shoppers frequently buy together or items that complement one another.
For example, if a customer buys a laptop then they may also be interested in a laptop bag.
SeedProd comes with a ready-made Related Products block. However, to get the most out of this block you’ll need to set up linked products in the WooCommerce plugin, as you can see in the following image.
With that done, simply find the Products Related block in the SeedProd editor and then drag it onto your layout.
By default, the block shows one related product in a single column.
You can show more products by typing new numbers into the ‘Columns’ and ‘Posts Per Page’ boxes or by clicking the arrow buttons.
If you display multiple products, then you can change how these items are arranged using the ‘Order By’ box. For example, you might show the highest-rated products first, since customers seem to enjoy these items the most.
You can also open the ‘Order’ dropdown and choose whether to display the related items in ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) order.
Add a Star Rating
Showing a star rating for each product can help reassure shoppers that your items are good quality. That said, you may want to drag the Star Rating block onto your design.
For the best results, we recommend showing the star rating towards the top of the screen, where it’s easy for customers to spot. This can help shoppers make purchasing decisions faster since they can immediately see whether other shoppers recommend a product.
Use FOMO by Showing the Product Stock
FOMO, or ‘fear of missing out,’ encourages shoppers to take action now.
If you sell limited edition items or regularly have a small amount of stock, then you may want to show the number of products remaining. This can convince shoppers to buy now, rather than wait and risk the product selling out.
To show this information, drag the Product Stock block onto your design.
By default, the block displays the number of items remaining, followed by ‘in stock.’ You may want to add your own messaging to this default text.
To do this, simply type into the small text editor in the left-hand menu. If you do add some text, then be careful not to edit the ‘[sp_product_stock]’ tag as this allows SeedProd to show the total number of items remaining.
Replace the Featured Image with a Product
A featured product image lets shoppers see what they’re buying in an online store.
However, sometimes you may want to replace a single featured image with a product galley. For example, you might show the same product from different angles. Some stores even use interactive 360-degree images so shoppers can explore a product in more detail.
If you’ve added a gallery to your WooCommerce products, then it makes sense to replace the default Product Featured Image block with a gallery block.
To do this, simply hover over the Featured Product block and then click on the trash can icon when it appears.
You can then find the Product Gallery Image block in the left-hand menu and drag it onto your page layout.
We recommend adding this block toward the top of the page, so visitors can immediately see what they’re buying.
Shoppers can zoom into the image by hovering their mouse over the product gallery.
By default, the zoom icon appears in the upper-right corner of the current featured image, but you can change this using the ‘Position Top’ and ‘Position Right’ sliders.
You can also make the magnifying glass icon bigger or smaller using the ‘Font Size’ slider or change its icon color and background color.
You can also add borders around the different images, using the ‘Image Border’ and ‘Thumbnails’ border settings.
Create a Buzz on Social Media with Sharing Buttons
If a shopper shares your product on social media, then it can drive more people to your online store. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to add social share buttons to your product pages.
SeedProd has a Social Sharing block that supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Simply drag and drop this block onto your page and it’ll add the Facebook and Twitter sharing buttons automatically.
To add more social networks, simply click on the ‘Add New Share’ button.
You can then choose a social media site from the dropdown menu.
After adding all the networks you want to use, you can change the size of the sharing buttons using the ‘Size’ dropdown.
Bigger social sharing buttons will stand out more, although it may distract from the page’s other content including the Add To Cart call to action.
Show Customer Testimonials and Business Reviews
WooCommerce lets customers review your individual products, but you may also want to show customer testimonials. These might be quotes from your best reviews, comments about your excellent customer service, or any other content that you want to highlight.
SeedProd’s Testimonials block lets you create rotating testimonials, which is a great way to show lots of information in a small amount of space.
A ‘recently viewed’ section encourages customers to revisit products they recently saw, but didn’t add to their cart. This helps customers compare products and find the item that’s right for them. It also gives them a chance to change their mind, and buy a product they recently visited but didn’t add to their shopping basket.
With that being said, you may want to add SeedProd’s Recent Products block to your design.
After adding the block, you can change the number of columns using the settings in the left-hand menu.
If you want to show lots of different products, then you can add pagination by activating the ‘Pagination’ toggle.
If you do enable ‘Pagination,’ then you’ll get access to some extra settings.
To start, you can show the total number of results at the top of the Recent Products block, by enabling the ‘Show Items Count’ toggle.
You may also want to enable the ‘Show Order By’ slider, as this allows visitors to sort through the recent products.
As you can see in the following image, this adds a ‘Default Sorting’ dropdown to the area.
Show Your Most Popular WooCommerce Products
You may want to show the best-selling or top-rated products on your product pages. Since these items are already performing well, showing them to more people can be an easy way to get more sales.
Another option is to show products that are currently on sale. This can motivate shoppers to buy these items now, in order to get the best deal.
SeedProd has a few blocks that can fetch these products automatically. If you want to show your biggest sellers, then add the Best Selling Products block to your design.
If you want to show products that have the highest star rating, then you can drag the Top Rated Products block onto the page.
Finally, there’s a Sale Products block that shows all the items that are currently on sale.
No matter what block you add, click to select it and then take a look at the settings in the left-hand menu. All of these settings are straightforward, so it’s worth going through them to see what different effects you can create.
How to Publish Your Custom WooCommerce Product Page
When you’re happy with how the product page looks, it’s time to save your changes. Simply go ahead and click the dropdown arrow next to ‘Save’ and then select the ‘Publish’ option.
The custom product page won’t appear on your online store until you activate the entire custom WooCommerce theme. This gives you the chance to look through the other designs in your theme kit, and then make any changes using SeedProd’s drag-and-drop builder.
For example, you’ll typically want to edit the header and footer templates to feature your own navigation menus, your store’s custom logo, and other content. For inspiration, please see our checklist of things to add to the footer of your WordPress site.
To edit any other template, head over to SeedProd » Theme Builder. Then, hover over the template you want to customize.
You can then click on the ‘Edit Design’ link when it appears.
Now, simply change the design by adding more blocks and then customizing them using the settings in the left-hand menu.
Just keep repeating these steps until you’re happy with how all the templates are set up.
When you’re ready to make the custom WooCommerce theme live, go to SeedProd » Theme Builder. You can then click on the ‘Enable SeedProd Theme’ toggle so it shows ‘Yes.’
Now, if you visit your online store you’ll see the custom WooCommerce product page live.
Are you looking for the best WordPress RSS feed plugin for your website?
RSS feed plugins makes it easy to automatically pull content from other websites and display it on yours. They can also be used to boost engagement, drive traffic, and increase page views.
In this article, we’ll share our pick of the best WordPress RSS feed plugins that you can use on your website.
Why Use a WordPress RSS Feed Plugin?
RSS Feeds allow websites to publish content in an XML file format. This allows users to subscribe to content using RSS feed readers, like Feedly.
By default, WordPress publishes RSS feeds for your blog posts, categories, authors, and more.
Apart from reading, RSS feeds can also be used to pull content from one website and display it anywhere else.
You may want to use an RSS feed plugin to curate content from different websites that you like. You can also automatically pull latest content from social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to display them in WordPress.
While WordPress comes with a RSS widget built-in, it does not let you customize the display to add thumbnails, social buttons, etc. This is why most people use a RSS plugin for the added functionality.
That being said, let’s tale a look at some of the best WordPress RSS feed plugins that you can use.
WP RSS Aggregator is the best WordPress plugin to turn a WordPress website into a content aggregator. It allows you to import, merge, and display RSS feeds on your WordPress website without any coding.
It allows you to fetch content from your other web properties, third-party sources, and other blogs. You can even import that content as blog posts in WordPress and store them in your WordPress database.
You can use it to fetch job listings, real-estate listings, news articles, or curate top posts from your favorite blogs. With their add-ons, you can even pull full content including images from RSS feeds that only include excerpts.
The plugin can be used for auto-blogging. However, using it to scrape full content from third-party websites may lead to copyright violation and legal trouble.
If you’re looking to embed latest Instagram content from your profile or Hashtag, then you need Smash Balloon Instagram Feeds plugin. Since Instagram doesn’t make it easy to use RSS feeds, this plugin uses their API to automatically display photos from your Instagram account in WordPress.
It is easy to use and comes with multiple layouts and styles. The plugin is mobile responsive by default which means it looks good on all devices and screen sizes.
Instagram Feeds also allows you to create custom Instagram feeds using Hashtags. You can also directly link your Instagram posts to product pages in WooCommerce to increase sales.
It also supports Instagram Stories, and you can display them in a lightbox popup on your website, resulting in more user engagement for your stories.
Pricing: They have a free Instagram feed plugin with limited features. Custom Instagram Feed Pro starts from $49 per year for personal plan to use on 1 site. You can also get all Smash Balloon plugins for unlimited sites at $299 per year.
Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed is the best Facebook feed plugin on the market. It allows you to easily display posts from your Facebook pages and groups.
Facebook decides your content’s reach based on your user engagement. This means that users will see more of your Facebook updates when they interact with it.
Adding your latest Facebook content feed to your WordPress site is an easy way to boost engagement. Smash Balloon’s Custom Facebook Feeds allows you to beautifully display latest posts from your Facebook groups and pages in WordPress.
It is easy to use, and you can connect as many groups and pages as you like. You can also merge feeds to create one feed or use multiple feeds in different areas of your website.
The plugin comes with multiple layouts and allows you to customize the appearance of your Facebook feed to match your website layout.
Pricing: They have a free Facebook feed plugin with limited features. Custom Facebook Feeds Pro starts from $49 per year for personal plan to use on 1 site. You can also get all Smash Balloon plugins for unlimited sites at $299 per year.
Feedzy RSS Feeds is another excellent WordPress RSS feed to blog post plugin. It allows you to fetch content from unlimited RSS feeds and display them on your website.
Feedzy comes with several templates to control how you display feeds. You can rearrange post layout to your liking which makes content look native to your website.
It also integrates with your affiliate links allowing you to display products with your affiliate ID and make money by sending affiliate traffic to third party websites.
For those looking for auto-blogging features, Feedzy comes with an article spinner that uses WordAI to rephrase articles you import to your blog. (Note: that it will still be copyright infringement and may lead to legal issues).
Pricing: Starting from $59 per year. It also has a lifetime plan, which starts from $159.
Smash Balloon Twitter Feeds is the easiest way to display Twitter feeds on your WordPress website. It helps you add social proof, increases Twitter followers, and boosts engagement.
The plugin allows you to easily fetch Twitter feeds and display them on your site. It comes with beautiful layouts and styles, including list, grid style, carousel, and more.
You can create custom Twitter feeds by merging different accounts, hashtags, keywords, and more. It comes with infinite scroll and users can load more tweets as they scroll down.
It shows native Twitter engagement buttons such as: Like, retweet, and reply actions. All media and videos open in a lightbox popup, so your users never leave your website.
The plugin is lightning fast with built-in caching and looks great on all devices with responsive layout.
Pricing: They have a free Twitter feed plugin with limited features. Custom Twitter Feed Pro starts from $49 per year for personal plan to use on 1 site. You can also get all Smash Balloon plugins for unlimited sites at $299 per year.
Smash Balloon Feeds for YouTube is the best YouTube feed plugin for WordPress. It allows you to showcase your YouTube videos on your website.
By default, you can easily embed videos in WordPress by simply pasting the URL of your YouTube video. However, this does not give you any design options, and you have to manually add each video.
With Smash Balloon’s YouTube feeds, you can automatically display latest videos on your website as soon as they are uploaded on YouTube.
The plugin comes with beautiful layout choices like the masonry grid layout, gallery layout, list, and more. All layouts are mobile-friendly and look great on smaller screens.
It also supports live streaming and allows you to automatically display a feed of upcoming and currently playing live streams from your channel.
You can create custom feeds by keywords, multiple channels, and combine feeds. It includes custom actions when YouTube video completes like displaying a link to a product page or displaying thumbnails of your other videos.
Pricing: They have a free YouTube feed plugin with limited features. Custom YouTube Feeds Pro starts from $49 per year for personal plan to use on 1 site. You can also get all Smash Balloon plugins for unlimited sites at $299 per year.
It uses standard formatting options for the featured image, which allows news aggregators like Feedly to automatically detect and display it prominently. It also works with top email marketing services that support RSS to email list feature.
Pricing: The base plugin is free. There is a paid version with extra features starting from $59.88 / year for a single site license.
Super RSS Reader is an excellent way to display content from multiple RSS feeds in your WordPress sidebar.
It comes with an easy to use widget. You can also display post titles as a news ticker, perfect for websites that want to show breaking news from other sources.
The widget also supports tabbed layout to display feeds from multiple sources. It includes featured image support, multiple styles, and color choices.
By default, WordPress allows you to add RSS feed support for each custom post type. However, most people subscribing to your website will only get to see your main feed which only includes blog posts.
The plugin fixes this issue and allows you to merge your custom post type feeds into main WordPress feed. You can simply select which post types are displayed in your main RSS feed and save your changes.
WordPress 5.0 was released with the brand new Gutenberg block editor and a host of cool features. One of them is the Cover block, which lets you add cover images to your posts and pages.
This feature has confused some users because it may seem similar to the Featured Image option which has been in WordPress since WordPress 2.9.
In this article, we’ll explain the differences between cover image vs. featured image in WordPress block editor.
What is a Cover Image?
A cover image is usually a wide image used as a cover photo for a new section in a blog post or page. It is part of the overall article. You can use a cover image when you’re starting a new section or a new story within your article.
With the Cover block in WordPress, you can add text and color overlay on your cover image.
By adding an appropriate color overlay that matches your theme color or content’s mood, you can make your article more engaging.
Similarly, adding text overlay helps your users easily identify where a new section starts in your article and what’s it about.
Traditionally bloggers use heading text to separate sections in a blog post. With cover images, you now have options to separate sections in a more visually appealing way.
What is a Featured Image?
A featured image (also known as post thumbnail) is the main article image which represents the content. They’re prominently displayed on your website on single posts, blog archive pages, as well as on the homepage of news, magazine, and blog websites.
Aside from that, featured images are also displayed on social media feeds when an article is shared.
Featured images are designed carefully to make them look attractive. Such images give users a quick glimpse of your content and prompt them to the entire article.
You’ll find a meta box in your post edit screen for adding a featured image because almost all WordPress themes support featured images by default.
Where and how featured images are displayed is controlled entirely by your WordPress theme.
The new WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) comes with a Cover block to allow you to add a cover image in WordPress.
First, you need to create a new post or edit an existing one. On the post edit screen, click on the add new block button and then choose Cover block.
You can find the Cover block inside the Common Blocks tab.
Upon clicking on the block, you’ll see the Cover block added to your content editor with options to add your new cover image.
You can simply drag and drop an image or video in the block area to upload a new cover image. Alternatively, you can click the Upload button, choose an image in your computer, and open to upload.
If you want to add an image already uploaded to your media library, you can click the Media Library button and select an image from your media gallery.
Once your cover image is added, you can easily customize it by clicking on the cover image.
This will show you a toolbar with customization options above the image, Write title… field in the center of the image, and block settings including color overlay in the panel on the right side.
Aside from alignment option, the cover image block gives you the two width choices: Wide width and Full width.
The wide width option makes the image look as wide as your content. The full-width option makes your image cover the whole window screen.
Next, you can add a title for your cover image. When you click on the cover image, you will see the “Write title…” field in the center of your cover image.
Simply click on that area to add text. You can write your cover image title and format it using the formatting options that appear on top of the text or on top of the cover image.
Finally, there are cover block settings on the right side panel. You can enable Fixed Background to create a parallax effect for when users scroll down the page.
Below that, there’re color overlay options. By default, it adds your theme’s color as overlay color with 50% transparency, but you can change the overlay color and also change the opacity by moving the point.
Lastly, you can add CSS code and add more styles to your cover image by clicking the Advanced option.
That’s it!
You can repeat this step to add multiple cover images in a single article if needed.
How to Add a Featured Image in WordPress?
The process of adding a featured image is the same as it was before. If you’ve had a WordPress blog for a while, then you already know how a featured image is added.
To add a featured image, you’ll need to open a post edit screen firs and then navigate to the Featured Image meta box on the right-hand side of the screen.
You will need to click the Set featured image option.
Next, you can upload a new image by either using the drag and drop uploader or selecting an image one from your existing media library.
After that you can add title and alt text for your featured image, and then click the Select option.
You have successfully added a featured image to your article.
Once you’ve added your featured image, you can preview your post and see how it looks.
If you’re using the new default theme Twenty Nineteen or other modern themes, then you may see a color overlay on your featured images as well.
You can remove it or change the color by going to the WordPress customizer.
Simply click on the Appearance » Customize button in your WordPress menu.
Once on the Customize panel, you need to click the Colors option on the left.
On this tab, you will see your theme’s primary color option and the option to enable or disable the image filter.
You can change your theme’s primary color by selecting the Custom option and choosing a color.
If you want to disable the color filter on your featured images, then you can simply remove the check on “Apply a filter to featured images using the primary color” option.
Please note that featured images are managed by WordPress themes, so you may not find this option in your theme if it doesn’t support image filters.
Conclusion – Cover Image vs. Featured Image in WordPress
Now that you know how to add a cover image and a featured image, let’s take a look at some best practices.
Featured images have been popularly used by WordPress blogs, online magazines, news, and entertainment websites as post thumbnails or main article images.
Well-designed featured images help attract more users to open an article. They’re great for making your website look attractive and visually interactive.
Cover images are actually parts of your article. A user sees your cover image after they open your article to read. Thus, they make your articles more engaging and fun to read.
The best use of cover images is to add beautiful transition between sections inside a long article.
Cover images are unique from regular post images because they have the full-width option and you have the ability to add text overlay on them.
By properly adding cover images, you can improve user engagement on your posts.
We hope this article helped you to understand the difference between a cover image and a featured image in new WordPress block editor. You may also like to read our article on how to update your old WordPress posts with Gutenberg block editor.
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