If you have a website and want to take it to the next level, then video content is the way to go. It’s great for increasing engagement and keeping your visitors on the page longer than text content. WordPress makes it easy to embed video content with its Youtube embedder or shortcode embed system, but if you want more control, you’ll need a video plugin.

Video plugins make it easier to add videos and offer advanced video controls such as video playback, customization options for video display, and integration with popular video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. They can help you create product demos, showcase your portfolio, or simply share educational videos.

If you’re looking for the right video plugin for your website, there are plenty to choose from. This is a list of the best WordPress video plugins explained, along with their features, pros, cons, and pricing options.

That being said, let’s start with what you should consider when picking a video plugin for your website.

What to consider before choosing the perfect video plugin for your site?

1. Consider your goals

Before you choose a video plugin to add to your WordPress website, it’s essential to think about why you want to add videos in the first place. Understanding your goals for adding videos will help you choose a plugin that best suits your needs.

For example, to increase user engagement, you might want a plugin that includes features such as autoplay, looping, or the ability to add interactive elements like quizzes or polls. If your goal is to showcase your products or services, you may want a plugin to add product information or links to purchase pages directly in the video player.

Similarly, to create tutorials or educational content, you might want a plugin that supports closed captions or transcripts or that integrates with a learning management system. Some plugins even offer features like video analytics or split testing that help you measure the effectiveness of your videos and optimize them for better results.

2. Compatibility

Compatibility is great when combining or extending your WordPress’s ability with a plugin. Some plugins might work just perfectly, while others might trigger some issues that can later lead to a drawback in the mid-term where you may have difficulty changing into a different video management plugin. 

This compatibility may come into place with your other plugins, theme code or PHP version. So you need to make sure the plugin you will use is flexible and fits perfectly to align with your project. 

In addition, using incompatible plugins can slow down the website’s performance. To avoid such unsuitability the best way is to test your plugins before deciding to keep one on the site. The testing will immediately identify any potential issue and therefore you have the opportunity to select the best-suited plugin for your site. 

3. Ease of use

We all like easy-to-use utilities, so you must consider a video plugin that makes it effortless to run your video project. You don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure out how to use the plugin, especially if you don’t have much technical knowledge.

An ideal plugin will let you manage the videos, such as uploading, enabling and disabling specific video options, providing a user-friendly interface, embed videos from a wide range of networks without hassle through many complicated steps or processes.

Choosing a user-friendly plugin will save you time and allow you to focus on creating great content rather than struggling with technical issues so that you can get the most out of your video content.

4. Features

Features are the tool to achieve your goals, so you must be decisive when considering your plugin’s features. For example, if you want to create a video gallery to showcase a collection of videos, you’ll need a plugin that offers gallery functionality.

Again for adding popups to your videos, you’ll need a plugin that supports this feature. Popups are a great way to encourage users to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a product, watching a relevant video, or suggesting reading another article on your site.

Displaying videos in a slider will require the plugin to provide that functionality. Sliders are great for displaying multiple videos in a visually appealing and interactive way. There are numerous other features, such as customizing video playback settings, adding captions or subtitles, or supporting different video formats you might want to consider while choosing your plugin.

5. Support and updates

You want to use a plugin that is well taken care of and hence receives frequent updates from the developers. This ensures that the plugin remains compatible with the latest WordPress versions and that any potential problems or errors are addressed quickly.

By looking at the latest update and compatibility test with the WordPress version for the plugin you can ensure that it’s well suited for your WordPress environment and secure as well.

A plugin that does not receive frequent updates may indicate the plugin developer is not actively supporting it, and no one to address any issues that may arise, leaving your website vulnerable.

Once you choose your plugin aligned with these criteria,, you can install it on the website and start your video management project from your WordPress.

Top WordPress Video Plugins You Can Try On Your WordPress Site

So now you know what you want to install as a video manager extension, here are our top picks you would love to have on your website. 

Read through the plugins and their features, advantages, and disadvantages and how much they will cost you. Hopefully, you will find the right plugin from this list for your site.

1. Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery is a highly customizable and easy-to-use plugin for WordPress that provides various features to help you create engaging and professional-looking images and video galleries. 

It was first released in 2014 and has since become popular for WordPress users who want to create visually stunning galleries.

With its drag-and-drop gallery builder, you can quickly create beautiful and responsive galleries without coding skills. Envira Gallery also offers pre-designed templates, a variety of display options, social media integration, and much more to enhance your gallery’s appearance and functionality.

Pros:

• The plugin includes customizable lightbox popups, which can be used to showcase your images and videos in a sleek and modern way.
• You can add custom watermarks to your images to protect them from theft or unauthorized use.
• The plugin comes with social sharing buttons, which allow your viewers to share your galleries on various social media platforms easily.

Cons:

• The free version of the plugin has limited features and may not meet all of your needs.
• Some of the more advanced features are only available in the plugin’s premium version, which may require a subscription fee.
• The plugin may not integrate seamlessly with all WordPress themes and plugins, requiring additional customization.

Pricing:

This is a freemium plugin that you can download from the WordPress plugin repository. If you want to access premium features go for the basic plan that costs about $29 per year up to $299 per year classified into 3 different premium plans. 

The pricing justifies the functionalities available on the plugin and is still an affordable deal you can get for a video management plugin.

2. Video Gallery WordPress plugin

The Video Gallery is a WordPress plugin by Total-Soft. This plugin is user-friendly and responsive. It let people search for related topics and videos on platforms like youtube, Wistia, or other search engines.

You can customize the galleries with 9 different layouts, hover effects, animations, text colors, pagination, and more. It also supports YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, and MP4 videos, as well as allows you to add custom links for single videos.

If you’re looking for an efficient way to showcase video content on your WordPress website, a video gallery plugin is the perfect solution. 

This software tool empowers you to easily create and display video galleries, enabling you to organize your content and present it visually appealing and engagingly. 

Pros:

• Usually comes with a range of customization options, including different layouts, colors, and styles.
• May include features like video previews, light boxes, and autoplay options to enhance the user experience.
• Many video gallery plugins are optimized for performance, ensuring that your website loads quickly and smoothly.

Cons:

• Some video gallery plugins may require a paid license or subscription to access all features and support.
• Depending on the plugin, a learning curve may be involved in setting up and customizing your video galleries.
• If you have a lot of video content, your website may experience slower load times or performance issues.

Pricing:

This is a free plugin to use. If you want additional premium features, you can upgrade to the business plan, which ranges from $15 to $29. You can opt-in for the developer plan for more advanced features, which costs around $50.

3. All-in-One Video Gallery

This plugin allows you to quickly and easily add videos to your website as posts and create galleries optimized for search engines and easily searchable.

This custom video player can play files in MP4, WebM, and OGV formats. It also supports embedding videos from other sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Rumble, and Facebook. 

This is a feature-rich plugin that comes with a play/pause, timer, progress bar, quality switcher, speed control, volume button, fullscreen button, share buttons, an embed button, download button, subtitles control, autoplay, loop, muted, and preload options, and the ability to embed videos from other sites. In addition, this plugin supports GDPR compliance.

It offers a responsive front end to ensure your video gallery looks great on all devices, to provide a seamless viewing experience to your website, and visitors.

Pros:

• Easy to use with a drag-and-drop interface for creating and organizing video galleries.
• Comes with pre-designed templates for quick and easy customization.
• Includes features such as video previews, light boxes, and autoplay options to enhance the user experience.
• Optimized for performance, ensuring that your website loads quickly and smoothly.
• The plugin includes social sharing buttons, making it easy for viewers to share your videos on social media.
• You can track your video’s performance with the built-in video analytics feature.

Cons:

• Some advanced features require a paid license or subscription to access.
• May not be as flexible or customizable as other video gallery plugins.
• Limited support documentation was available.
• The plugin may not integrate seamlessly with all WordPress themes and plugins, requiring additional customization.

Pricing:

All in one video gallery is another freemium plugin you can try that comes with additional features, which would cost you $39 for the basic plan, $69 for the plus plan and $149 for the advanced plan comes with unlimited site access, including all features, and premium support.

4. WP Video Gallery

WP Vido Gallery is a cool plugin you can utilize to create and showcase video content with custom layouts, styles, colors, and customization options. 

This plugin makes it easy to stream videos on your WordPress website and customize them to your liking. You can connect your catalog, use your API key or URLs, and pick from different options to organize and customize your video gallery. 

You can also use CSS to customize the gallery further, although you can achieve this by adding CSS on the WordPress customizer.

Pros

• The plugin is designed to be responsive, ensuring that your videos look great on all devices, including desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
•  Supports multiple video sources, including YouTube, Vimeo, and self-hosted videos.
• The plugin allows you to create video playlists, which enables you to group and display your videos in a more organized manner.
•  SEO-friendly features, such as the ability to add video descriptions and tags to improve search engine optimization.

Cons 

• Premium plugin, 
• Not suitable for small websites.
• It can be slow when loading multiple videos.

Pricing:

The basic version of this plugin is available for free. However, you can get the premium bundles of features within the starter, developer, and ultimate plan that starts from €59 and goes up to €199.

5. FV Player

FV Player is a free video player for WordPress that is easy to use and has lots of features, like the ability to remember video position for both guest users and members, built-in video stats, API for custom video fields, AB looped playback for your visitors, improved playlists, and automated checking of video encoding for admins. It’s responsive on all devices.

It has many customization options such as changing the player’s colour scheme and style and adding personalized branding. With FV Player, you can create visually stunning video content that will captivate your audience.

Pros

• FV Player is a plugin that allows you to embed FLV or MP4 videos into your WordPress site easily. It works well on mobile devices too.
• Custom start and end screens are built into FV Player, so you can design your own screens to show before and after the video.
• FV Player doesn’t have expensive add-ons, as all advanced features are included in the standard license. This includes Google Analytics, Cue points, Native fullscreen, Keyboard shortcuts, Subtitles, Slow motion, Random seeking, and Retina ready.
• It supports Amazon S3, Cloudfront, and other CDNs, so you can easily use it with these services.

 Cons

• While the basic version of the plugin is free, some of the more advanced features are only available with the paid version.
• Although the plugin is designed to be user-friendly, it may take some time to learn how to use all of the customization options.
• Hosting self-hosted videos can require a lot of server resources, so it’s important to ensure that your hosting plan can handle the additional load.

Price

The plugin comes in a free basic version, but if you need more features, paid options are available. The paid version for one domain costs about $75 and is suitable for websites, blogs, or projects. 

The five domains paid version is for developers, groups, or organizations and costs around $195. If you need the plugin for 20 domains, which is ideal for large corporations, organizations, or web hosts, it will cost about $500.

6. YouTube Showcase

YouTube Showcase is a tool that helps you display YouTube videos on your website in a neat and organised way. It is easy to use and customisable. 

It also has features that allow you to change the size of thumbnails and enable WordPress comments on each video. There are two different ways to display the videos – a gallery page and a grid gallery page.

Pros:

• With its intuitive interface, you don’t need coding skills to use the plugin. You can effortlessly create video galleries and embed them onto your website quickly.
• Offering many customization options, you can choose from various gallery styles and layouts and even personalize the colors and fonts to match your website’s aesthetic.
• The plugin is optimized for cross-device functionality to work seamlessly on desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
• The plugin includes SEO-friendly features, such as adding video descriptions and tags to improve search engine optimization.

Cons:

• The plugin doesn’t offer advanced video editing options, so you may need to edit your videos elsewhere before adding them to your website.
• Adding videos to your website can slow down the loading time of your pages, especially if the videos are large or hosted on a slow server.
• If you embed YouTube videos using this plugin, you won’t have complete control over the ads that appear in the videos.

Pricing:

The plugin has a free basic version that you can use, but there’s also a paid pro version that offers more features. For $99.99 a year, you’ll get features like Drag & Drop Ordering, custom video comments, Advanced Video Galleries, Video Statistics, and many more.

7. WP Video Lightbox

This plugin allows you to easily add videos to your WordPress site, which can be viewed in an overlay display when clicked. It supports videos from YouTube, Vimeo, iFrame, and more and is also compatible with iPhones and iPads. 

It has various options, such as allowing autoplay, adjusting the animation speed, and changing the opacity.

This plugin allows you to embed a YouTube video into a lightbox on your website, ensuring it is secure and private. You can use either a shortcode or HTML code to show the video, and it will automatically get the thumbnail for you. It also prevents suggested videos from being shown at the end of the video.

Pros

• The plugin is user-friendly and doesn’t require any coding skills to use. You can quickly and easily embed videos onto your website using the plugin.
• You can customize the look and feel of the lightbox to match your website’s design. 

This includes the option to choose different skins and styles for the lightbox.

• Easily create and embed video galleries on your website with the plugin’s user-friendly interface.
• Customize your gallery with multiple styles, layouts, colours, and fonts to match your website.
•  Enjoy seamless cross-device functionality on desktops, tablets, and mobiles.

Cons

• While the plugin offers some customization options, it doesn’t have as many features as some of its competitors.
• WP Video Lightbox doesn’t offer a free version, so you’ll need to pay to use it.
• Some users have reported compatibility issues with certain WordPress themes and plugins, although these are relatively rare.

Pricing: 

You can download this plugin from the WordPress repository for free.

8. Videopack

The Videopack plugin allows you to easily upload videos to your WordPress Media Library and create a player to embed, with various options to customize the appearance and functionality. 

This one lets you create video galleries, and if you have an optional FFMPEG installed, you can generate thumbnails and automatically select video resolutions. Additionally, you can purchase an add-on to add advertisements to your videos.

Pros:

• The plugin supports various video platforms, including YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion.
• The plugin generates custom thumbnails for your videos, allowing you to choose the best image to represent your video.
• The plugin is designed to be user-friendly, even for those without technical knowledge.
• The plugin generates SEO-friendly code that helps search engines to index your videos and improve your website’s search engine ranking.

Cons:

• It doesn’t offer a lot of video editing options, so you may need to edit your videos elsewhere before adding them to your website.
• Adding videos to your website can slow down the loading time of your pages, especially if the videos are large or hosted on a slow server.
• The Video Embed & Thumbnail Generator plugin is designed specifically for WordPress websites, so it may not be compatible with other website platforms.

Pricing:

The plugin is free to use, but if you want to add advertisements to your videos, you can do so with the Videopack Ads premium add-on. You can purchase this add-on on the Add-ons tab of the Videopack Settings page or on the Videopack website. It costs $5.99 per year, or if you want to use it for a lifetime, you can pay $24.99.

9. Easy Video Player

This plugin allows you to easily embed MP4 videos into your website, with responsive video for a better user experience on mobile devices and HTML5 video compatibility for all major browsers. 

You can customize the video player with classes and use the MediaElement player or the default WordPress video player. It offers autoplay, loop, muted options, and poster images. It is an AMP-compatible plugin. 

The plugin is simple to set up and configure, allowing you to embed videos quickly.

Pros

• The plugin includes a customizable video player that you can use to display your videos on your website. You can change the player’s colors, add a logo, and more.
• The video player is designed to be responsive, automatically adjusting to fit different screen sizes and device types.
• You can embed your videos on your website using various methods, including shortcodes, HTML, and JavaScript.
• The plugin includes built-in analytics that allows you to track how often your videos have been played and how long people have watched them.
• You can use the plugin to protect your videos from unauthorized access by setting up password protection or IP address restrictions.

Cons

• The plugin doesn’t offer a lot of video editing options, so you may need to edit your videos elsewhere before adding them to your website.
• The Easy Video Player video plugin is designed to work specifically with WordPress, so it may not be compatible with other website platforms.
• Adding videos to your website can slow down the loading time of your pages, especially if the videos are large or hosted on a slow server.

Price

The plugin is free, but there are additional add-ons available for the Easy Video Player plugin that can make it work even better on your website. 

One of these add-ons costs $29.99, and it will create a clean player with a media element template. With this add-on, the player will load without a control bar background, giving your website a sleeker look.

10. Wonder Video Embed

WonderPlugin Video Embed is a handy and user-friendly plugin for WordPress users, allowing them to quickly add videos to their posts, pages, and sidebar widgets. 

It supports YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, iFrame, and self-hosted MP4/WebM video formats. It is compatible with mobile devices, tablets, and all major web browsers such as iPhone, iPad, Android, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Edge. 

Additional features include a lightbox popup, auto lightbox popup on page load, and auto close video popup when the video ends, making it suitable for use with the Gutenberg editor.

Pros: 

• WonderPlugin Video Embed is easy to use and set up, making it perfect for anyone who wants to quickly and easily embed videos into their WordPress site. 
• You can embed videos in posts and pages, and it supports both self-hosted and externally hosted videos. 
• It supports popular video sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion, so you can easily embed videos from any of them. 
• You can customize the look and feel of your embedded videos with custom colors, sizes, and other settings. 
• It is mobile-friendly and responsive, so it looks great on any device. 
• The plugin is regularly updated with bug fixes and new features, so you can always stay updated with the latest version. 

Cons:

• There is no free version of the plugin, and the cost of the plugin can be a barrier for some users. 
• It does not support live-streaming videos. 
• It does not have an analytics feature, so you cannot track the performance of your embedded videos.
• It does not support video playback on mobile devices.
• It does not offer a wide range of customization options.

Pricing:

The plugin is free, but you can upgrade to the pro version of Wonder Lightbox. This version comes in three options: Standard, Multiple, and Unlimited. The Standard version costs $49, the Multiple version costs $79, and the Unlimited version costs $149. When you upgrade to any of these versions, the watermark will be removed, and all limitations will be lifted. You’ll also receive support and updates for one year. 

The number of websites you can use the plugin on varies depending on your chosen version. The Standard version is limited to one website, the Multiple version can be used on up to five websites, and the Unlimited version can be used on as many websites as you want.

Additionally, there’s a Wonder Mega Bundle that includes all 10 premium Wonder Plugins: Wonder 3D Carousel, Wonder Audio Player, Wonder Carousel, Wonder Gallery, Wonder Grid Gallery, Wonder Lightbox, Wonder Popup, Wonder Slider, Wonder Tabs, and Wonder WooCommerce Quick View. This bundle costs $99 for the Standard version, $159 for the Multiple version, and $299 for the Unlimited version.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed a variety of excellent WordPress video plugins available to help you display videos on your website. Whether you’re looking for a lightweight plugin with basic functionality or a feature-rich plugin with a wide range of customization options, there’s sure to be a plugin that meets your needs. 

Before making a decision, consider the pros and cons of each plugin and evaluate which features are most important for your specific use case. With the right video plugin, you can enhance your website with engaging and informative video content that will keep your visitors returning for more.

I hope that this information has proven useful to you. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider it.

Additional posts you can read:

1. How to Speed Up a WordPress Website Running Ezoic Ads
2. 5 Best WordPress Speed Optimization Services You Can Hire
3. Top 10 Best Typography WordPress Themes

Regular ideation and creation of new blog content form a strong content marketing approach. But what about poor-performing and outdated articles on your site? 

Revamping old content can boost your strategy and is a step worth taking. Not every article will drive organic traffic. For every successful post, there may be many others hidden deep in your blog in need of improvement. 

These articles deserve your attention. Revising old articles provides an opportunity to optimize and make them more appealing, which could lead to higher search engine rankings and more traffic. This also diversifies your strategy, rather than relying solely on creating new content.

Having outdated or poorly written content on your website can have a negative effect on your brand’s reputation. When you neglect the quality of your content, it sends a message that you do not value your audience. 

This lack of consideration can then lead to decreased traffic, fewer clicks, and reduced social media engagement. 

A well-crafted, up-to-date, and relevant content strategy is crucial for maintaining a positive image for your brand and connecting with your target audience.

Does updating content help SEO?

The freshness of content has been an important factor in determining the ranking of a website on Google’s search results since 2011. 

We all know Google uses various factors, including the date when a document was created, to determine the ranking of search results, which suggests that the date of creation or date of modification of a document is one of the factors considered using by Google algorithm when ranking search results.

The latest and updated information is given more weight by search engines, causing older content to decline in rank gradually. Revising and refreshing outdated pieces conveys to search engines that your content is current, accurate, and relevant. 

Moreover, search engines regularly alter their algorithms, and updating your content ensures you adapt to any on-page SEO modifications that may otherwise negatively affect your performance.

Less time investment, better result: revising an outdated article on your website much is quicker than creating a new one and would probably be able to turn it into top-quality content with an increased possibility of driving organic traffic. 

I don’t mean to say that you should stop creating new content altogether, but allocating time to both activities has the potential to achieve results with less effort.

Again, if audience engagement with your content is a metric Google uses to identify content that has a better impact or probably covers more comprehensive information about a topic, then updating your old content could be the most effective way to improve engagement other than improving site performance, designs, etc. 

Therefore, you can definitely say updating older content positively impacts SEO.

What is your ideal strategy for updating content on a website?

Revising old content can still be labor-intensive, especially for established websites. So you need the plan to identify content that is worth updating and make the best use of your time. Then you will have to figure out exactly what improvement a piece of content needs to perform better in SERP.

So here’s what we do when we are executing a plan to upgrade the content on a certain website.

1. Conduct a quick win content audit

The goal is to identify those contents that are close to being ranked high on search engines. The objective is to find and make slight improvements to the content to increase its ranking and make it more visible to users on search engines.

These are contents you have published previously and doing really great in the SERP by ranking multiple keywords but have not really ranked in the top #1 or #3 positions as you would have loved to.

So a quick win audit will help you find these moderately ranking contents. You can do such audits via Ahrefs by checking the organic keyword’s position for your website. But there’s another way I would like to include here:

For this method; you will need your site connected to the Google search console. If you have not done yet, check this guide. After a new connection, you might have to wait a couple of days for GSC to pull data from your site and populate their search performance dashboard.

For others who already have the search console collecting data for your site, open Google search console > go to search results.

Then make sure the search type is selected as web and the query tab is selected just below the performance graph.

Now, if you enable the average position filter it gives you the most updated avg. SERP position data for the queries in all countries. You don’t have to look at the overall average position number but look at the position data for each query to get an idea of pages that are ranking for those queries.

Here, what we want to do is add a filter to positions where the position value is greater than 3. This will give you all the keywords with an average ranking below 3 and then you have a list of high-performing keywords to optimize for where your pages are between position 3 and 15 or you can pick 20 as the range to consider content as closely ranking.

Now you have a set of keywords with average ranking data for a particular date range, but you don’t know if your pages are likely to rank even higher in the coming days without needing an update.

So it would be better for you to compare a particular date range, for example, the current 28 days’ data to the previous 28 days’ data, which should provide you with the direction of ranking those pages for particular keywords.

As long as the position difference is in (-) means that your page has improved its position in SERP. Sometimes when the position in the previous day range is 0 means the page was not indexed for that particular query. 

Thus you can filter and analyze pages that are ranking between 3 to 20 positions for top query and are not improving or losing their rank; you can select those pages to your update queue. 

Again, you will have to consider the amount of traffic these keyword brings in so you can enable the click and impression stats to see if a particular page is worth updating for the given query or not. You can always play with these data to collect your most update-worthy pages for the next batch.

2 – Find out contents that used to do well

In this method, the goal is to concentrate efforts on finding out and enhancing content that previously performed well in search engine rankings. 

Content performance may stop its growth and start declining over time as search engines it’s no longer provide relevant information or competing content on the same topic has surpassed it. This is termed Content Decay, as it refers to the decline in ranking and decrease in traffic for a specific keyword.

You can find and analyze these contents by using a two-step method. First, you will have to identify such content via Google analytics >  Behavior > Site Content > All Pages report. 

Once you find the content that has dropped in terms of pageview performance from a previous period (In the example above, I’m using just the previous 30 days, but you should be covering at least a year or two based on the content’s age)

Now that you have the set of low-performing or decaying content, you can use the page URL and inspect it on Ahrefs to find out the organic keyword’s performance and consider whether to update that certain page. 

What to focus on when you are updating content?

The process of updating content begins by identifying which content needs improvement. 

After this, a plan of action needs to be formulated to execute these updates. I would follow these 5 steps to create a better piece of content:

1. Make sure to check that the content remains relevant to the user’s search query and meets their expectations. It’s important that the content’s purpose and focus match the user’s intent behind the original search. This ensures that the updated content continues to provide value and meet the target audience’s needs.
2. As part of updating the content, you should include more in-depth and comprehensive information and details about the topic. The aim is to provide a complete and thorough understanding of the subject matter to the reader, making it a valuable resource for them. This will increase the relevance and usefulness of the content, potentially boosting its search engine rankings.
3. You should be focusing on improving the content in a way that makes it unique and noticeable. The goal is to make the content stand out among similar content on the same topic, making it more appealing and attractive to the reader. This can be achieved through various techniques, such as using visuals, adding interactive elements, or providing a unique perspective on the topic.
4. Next, you should focus on updating the content to reflect current information and removing any information that is no longer accurate. This step helps maintain the accuracy and relevance of the content, which could positively impact its search engine rankings.

Once your new content is ready, you can publish and share the document on social platforms by letting them know that you have newly updated content on a particular topic that is highly searched on search engines that might be worth looking into.

This is an overview of the strategy I personally follow to update the content from time to time, and it has been a promising tool for the overall growth of my primary website portfolio.

As your website grows in terms of traffic and popularity, it can become a valuable asset for generating revenue. 

One way to monetize your website is through advertising. One of the most popular ways to do this is through Adsense, a program offered by Google that allows you to place ads on your website and earn money for each click or impression. 

However, as your website continues to grow, you may want to consider using a more advanced ad networks provider such as Ezoic, Mediavine, or Adthrive.

Ezoic, in particular, offers several advantages over other ad networks. For example, Ezoic provides more control over the ads displayed on your website, allowing you to optimize the ad experience for your users. 

Ezoic offers a highly valuable reporting system that provides detailed insights into your ad performance and revenue. I’m more attracted to using Ezoic for my website portfolio. This can help you make data-driven decisions about how to optimize your ad strategy.

These are kinds of information you must have read on many pages, but not many have discussed Ezoic’s direct ad order feature and how you can use this tool to improve your website revenue. 

What is direct ad order?

The Direct Ads feature of Ezoic allows you to integrate any ad orders you have directly sold into Ezoic’s ad testing system. This enables you to negotiate your own deals with advertisers and has their ads displayed on your website directly. 

What this means is if your typical EPMV on Ezoic and overall revenue is lower than expected, you can reach out to advertisers or competitors to get a better CPM which is what amount an advertiser pays you for every 1,000 impressions on an ad.

Does direct ad order boost your EPMV and revenue?

The outcome of direct selling will depend on the terms of the deal you have secured. When executed effectively, it has the potential to boost your ad RPM and revenue significantly. But obviously,  the primary motivation for choosing direct selling should be to increase revenue.

For example, if your website’s average EPMV is $5 (which only you know) and you find an advertiser who is ready to pay you  8-10 CPM, which will boost the average EPMV record and ad revenue that will be counted as ad mediation on Ezoic dashboard.

This means you will still be earning your regular revenue with Ezoic (sometimes, with direct ads, the Ezoic ad revenue might lose some impressions) + the additional revenue you have just secured from the advertiser. 

Does Ezoic’s payment cover direct ad revenue?

Now not to confuse, Ezoic will just display your ad performance on their dashboard and analytics but will not be responsible for any payment as Ezoic is reporting the information you have imputed on their direct ad order tool. You should receive the payment from the advertiser directly.

Here’s what Ezoic insider has to say about direct ads payment:

How do you prepare to run direct ads on your site?

To begin with, it’s essential to know the amount of monthly traffic your website receives. Traffic and impressions are closely linked, and it’s one of the first things an advertiser checks before launching a campaign. 

If your website receives more than 50,000 monthly visitors, direct ad sales can be a beneficial revenue stream for you.

Another important factor to consider is the type of content on your website. Certain niches, such as finance and medicine, tend to generate higher ad revenue than others. 

It’s essential to identify the niche of your content and research the market to understand what could kind of deal would be beneficial for you.

Securing a direct ad deal requires effort in finding advertisers, communicating with them, and successfully selling a campaign. Once a deal is secured, you will need a system to track ad clicks and impressions. 

However, Ezoic’s direct ad tool can simplify this process and save you a lot of time. Here’s what the overview of Ezoic direct order campaigning looks like:

1. Start with a Media Kit

A media kit is a webpage that provides information about your website’s traffic and audience to potential advertisers. 

It typically includes data such as the number of monthly visitors, the demographics of your audience, and the types of content on your website. By presenting this information using numbers and percentages, it gives advertisers an idea of the potential reach of your website. 

In order to make it effective, it is important to keep your media kit publicly accessible, make it visually presentable, and ensure that all the information is accurate and factual. 

This can help potential advertisers understand the value of advertising on your website and decide whether to advertise with you.

You can customize your media kit in your own way, but the goal is to represent the most important data advertisers are looking for: this one could be a good example – 

2. You will also need a rate card

The rate card represents the price you have set for all the ad placements available on your site has to offer. 

For an advertiser to be able to consider your ad inventory, the rate card will help them to align their budget with your expectation. You can consider selling high-viewability ad positions like your sticky sidebars and footer ads, or you can sell all ad placements with distinct ad rates.

A clean and straightforward rate list makes things easier for advertisers. You can add demographic price rates too because Ezoic direct ad order tool will let you select particular countries if needed.

3. Wrap your requirements with a spec sheet & and a payment solution

Usually, you are more than fine without ad spec requirements (such as ad type, sizes, and performance in terms of loading speed) for the advertisers. Being precise with these will help you run the ad campaign more smoother than without.

You can also add any specific requirements for third-party ad tags, flash or rich media, and more.

When you have completed your ad order kit, the next step is to secure a dependable payment solution. 

How to find advertisers?

Once you’ve crafted a compelling traffic presentation and ad requirements guidelines to make your website an attractive destination for advertisers, the question remains, how do you connect with them and vice versa?

There are multiple ways you can look into finding opportunities for direct ad orders:

1. One good way to start with is to go direct; you will need to identify advertisers who are already bidding on your inventory and would be a suitable match for your direct campaign. Once you’ve compiled a list, reach out to them and present your pitch.
2. Another way is to outsource media sales. If you lack the resources for outreach but have the financial means, consider utilizing services that can provide leads for direct ad sales, such as Winmo, MediaRadar, AdMall, and more.
3. Identifying brands, products, and services that are featured on your or a competitor’s website is another great idea. Then you can contact the advertiser or agency decision-maker directly to discuss promotional opportunities.
4. You can also look at Thalamus.co Marketplace, where you can find both current and new campaigns that are put out directly by advertisers or agencies. Be sure to check it regularly.
5. Networking and attending industry events can also be a great way to connect with potential advertisers and agencies.
6. Research and find out what are the brands, products, and services that are trending in the market and reach out to them as well.

How to set up your direct ads?

Once an advertiser expresses interest in your website and a mutually beneficial revenue agreement is reached, you can begin to establish your direct ad campaign through Ezoic.

To do that: 

Step 1: On your Ezoic dashboard > click on Ezoic ads.

Step 2: On the left menu, select ad sales > then turn on direct ad orders.

Step 3: After turning on the direct ad order tool, create an ad order by clicking on “add direct ad order”.

Step 5: Follow the Ezoic guide and complete your order creation process.

Step 6 [important]: Once the order is created, you will need to add ad creatives (basically works like a trigger to link with your existing placeholder to run direct ads) and assign them to the location of your site as agreed.

Step 7:  While creating your ad creative, make sure the size and tags are correctly assigned. Once done, save your creative, and your ad order should be marked as ready. 

Come back to direct ad orders in the next couple of hours; you should notice the ad status will change to delivering. You will receive the served impressions and click status on those ads and track daily revenue on your Ezoic dashboard. (please note Ezoic only calculate your revenue based on the ad served, you should collect the payment from the advertiser directly)

If your direct ad’s CPM is higher than the typical Ezoic ePMV for your site, then you should notice a better overall ePMV on your site, and ad performance can be analyzed on the Ezoic BDA tool.

Summing up:

Running direct ads on your site is not a cakewalk; however, if you approach it the right way, you can make some good money with this monetization strategy. That being said, most website owners still prefer programmatic ads because of their hands-free nature. This article intends that it’s worth going for direct ads only when you have a deal that pays better than your current programmatic ads.

You can run your campaigning, analyze the revenue and RPM in the bigger picture, and then consider the approach that makes you the most money if the effort is worth it.

LCP is essential to the user experience. People don’t like to wait for a page to start loading or see a blank page before the main contents load when they could immediately get a faster experience elsewhere.

Page performance analysis tools tell your LCP metrics per page, and as a website owner, you should be concerned with keeping the LCP below 2.5 seconds to load your main content as fast as possible. 

In our previous article, we discussed good and bad LCP, reasons that can harm your page LCP, and typical methods to reduce your LCP timing. Today, let’s talk about the featured image, its impact on LCP for your post-type pages, and ways to fix it because they usually receive the most traffic.

Impact of the Featured image in LCP

The featured image is loaded above the fold of your page, which means the browser has to load the image file, and if the file is large in size or your server response time is not fast enough, your page may suffer an LCP issue. 

The above-the-fold image asset can be a hero image, a banner, or a carousel. Google considers <img> or <image> element inside an <svg> element for the Largest Contentful Paint. Hence you must optimize these images for a better LCP.

A size of 100+kb image above the fold usually requires a couple of milliseconds and often appears to be the primary reason for LCP. When you need your LCP metrics to remain under 2.5 seconds, every millisecond count, you should consider optimizing it.

Here is an example of a site with a featured image above the fold. The featured image file is the source of LCP, but because all the assets are well optimized and served via CDN, the pages are able to get a much lesser LCP 1113ms than the critical point.

So, if the featured image is causing LCP, does removing it help?

Removing the featured image improves the LCP metric by reducing the couple of milliseconds required to render the image file. If your featured image was heavy in size, say > 500kb, you should get a decent upgrade in terms of LCP after removing it from above the fold. 

Then when it comes to mobile devices, where the network and compilation are usually slower, it becomes even more difficult to tackle LCP issues with an image of large-size loading in the first print. 

It’s not that after removing the featured image, your site will eliminate the LCP issues. The texts will cover the space and featured image used to cover, and you will still need to optimize your fonts. However, it’s easier to serve optimized fonts than a featured image in terms of performance. 

A featured image makes your page look better and adds a nice touch for the visitor to get an idea of what they will find on the page. But when you have to balance performance and design, you could opt for a solution that maintains both conditions. 

1. Drop the featured image from above the fold.
2. Have the featured image on your page, but below the fold.

Shifting your featured image below a few paragraphs (I usually add it below the 2nd paragraph) has helped many sites we have worked on. It maintains the visual image that describes the page and allows the font to load as the largest contentful paint. Then we preload the most important fonts for the browsers to load them as soon as possible.

Is there a way we can keep the featured image for desktop devices and remove it on mobile?

Yes, keeping the featured image above the fold on desktop (if LCP is not an issue on desktop) and removing or shiting it below the fold on mobile can be an excellent solution to tackle your site’s LCP issue. 

This will require a simple CSS selector to be used: 

@media (max-width: 480px){ .entry-content img {
         display: none;
     }
}

The @media (max-width: 480px) will trigger for all devices with screen width =< 480px, and then it will select the featured image with .entry-content img and set the display rule to null.

You can try to shift the featured image with the same selector and replace the display:none with the right CSS code to display it below a couple of paragraphs to ensure it appears below the fold.

Note: here, we are discussing the impact of featured images on LCP, so by no means this piece of content intended to say that featured images are responsible for LCP issues on your site. There are many other reasons why a page is suffering from LCP. I have added a couple of other reasons that help LCP to rise. 

Here is a test report for a website where we have not changed anything else but dropped the featured image below 3rd paragraph, and that resolved the LCP issues it had by a couple of milliseconds.

Additional reasons for poor LCP

Apart from the featured images on most pages, there are other things that are responsible for LCP. Anything that slows down the page rendering process could be the reason for the LCP issue on your pages. 

These elements usually take a lot of specs, unoptimized assets, assets with loading delays, assets with 3rd party connections, advertisements, lots of unoptimized javascript on the head section, etc. We can’t forget about the core server’s response time.

1. Slow Server Response Times

Server response time is a critical factor of LCP. If your server is not fast enough, it might fail to serve above-the-fold assets in under 2.5 seconds. Hence while considering your website host, it’s important to avoid hosts that are not reliable and fast enough.

Bad server back-end infrastructure, unoptimized databases, and longer time to resolve API requests are often the reasons for slow server response time. Always go for a performance-optimized host if you want your website to be fast, web vital compatible, and favorites of search engines with good quality content.

2. Render blocking Javascript and CSS

Javascript and CSS help improve your site design and functionality, but it’s important to optimize them for your host to serve them per request in a way that does not prevent the loading of primary content.

Loading too many Js and CSS codes at the head might increase render-blocking issues. Render blocking is directly proportional to page LCP; hence, you should reduce render blocking as much as possible without breaking your site’s functionality.

3. Slow Resource Load Times

If you have resources loading above the fold that are large in file size, have dense visual elements, are not optimized, videos & gif files, or have lots of text contents, it will affect the page LCP. Consider optimizing those assets or removing/reducing them from the top of your page.

4. Client-side Rendering

Client-side rendering can be another reason for LCP issues. Client-side rendering involves the browser collecting and loading javascript before rendering primary content on the page. If the process is complex and device hardware unable to perform memory management, your webpage might struggle on people’s browsers, increasing the chance of LCP.

So consider optimizing or avoiding client-side rendering if possible.

Introducing a new case study: A fully outsourced AI content + expired domain + Ezoic content site portfolio.

I have a portfolio of sites that had been mostly neglected, but I have decided to put on an effort to rebuild them. Most of these sites are built on expired domains from LightningRank.com and content created using GPT-3 tools, then significantly human-edited, similar to how RocketContent.ai produces content.

I have hired a manager, given them access to tools, and had them build out procedures that I reviewed. This has been going now for about 6 months and its time to start providing a monthly income report.

Overall I am really happy with the progress of the sites, the content quality being useful, and the cost/article we are currently producing. 

My plan is that each month we are going to share the traffic, revenue, expenses and overall PnL for a portfolio income.

Why Expired Domains? The power of backlinks in the eyes of google is undeniable. Building relevant sites on expired domains continue to be a SEO “hack” we see work.

Why AI Content? AI content with a human editor to spot-check and fact-check produces solid quality content that is useful at unbeatable prices.

Why EZoic? Ezoic is the simplest way to monetize sites successfully. It Beats Adsense all day! When it makes sense, some sites have affiliate monetization, but the focus is on traffic and display ads. 

Why Fully Managed? In this case study, I have a manager assigned to the portfolio managing everything! From the sites to the writers to ezoic. 

The aim is marginally profitable solid growth.  

Everything below is prepared by the manager (who is awesome!). Finding management to run a portion of the business has always been the key to success for my businesses whether it is affiliate or FBA.

Here’s how our portfolio of AI-driven content has performed in October 2022 with Ezoic. 

1. Traffic & Earning Overview (Ezoic)

Our portfolio sites get the most traffic from search engines, and Google is the primary source.

After the latest updates from Google, we noticed positive and negative impacts on the AI content sites. While some sites significantly improved their SERP rankings, others lost a substantial portion of top-ranking keywords, creating an unrelaxed fluctuation in the overall traffic for the portfolio. 

The overall portfolio traffic in October lost 9.62% in total visits (75,570 compared to 83,610 in September 2022) and 9.27% in terms of page views (88,413 vs. 97,448 in September 2022).

Regarding revenue, the portfolio sites show similar statistics to traffic, a 10.90% drop compared to the previous month (September 2022) and a tiny drop in ePMV of 1.42%. It’s pretty obvious not to maintain a higher total revenue while there’s a 14,000 fewer page views gap than the previous month.

While the October traffic and revenue outcome of the portfolio is not successive to September, we have a much better result for an entirely AI-driven portfolio than the same month of the last year.

The portfolio growth data (Oct 2022 vs. Oct 2021): 

1. Total Visits (+147.70%)
2. Pageviews (+141.43%)
3. Revenue (+182.53%) 
4. ePMV(+14.06%)

2. Traffic Overview By Site

Traffic data per site on the portfolio has had frequent ups and downs following the Google algorithm updates in the last couple of months. Some of the major sites’ traffic dropped a little bit, while other new sites have evolved into a major contributor to the portfolio’s overall traffic, and some other sites tanked.

Here are October traffic data from a couple of prominent sites in the portfolio: (compared to September 2022) 

The portfolio obtained a total of 75,570 traffic in the month of October across all sites, 36,244 being the maximum and 164 being minimum traffic for a site. We found an overall change of -8,040 visits to the previous month and -9,035 that of page views.

The maximum pageview gained by an AI content site in Oct was 41,515, and 174 was the minimum. That would be average traffic of 5894 across all sites in the portfolio publishing AI content.

3. Revenue Data Per Site

The portfolio’s revenue stats are directly proportional to October’s visits and page view stats. The total revenue for the portfolio was $738.51 in Oct 2022, with $467.32 as the highest revenue for a site with an average ePMV of $7.19 compared to $7.31 of the previous month (September) across all sites. 

The maximum ePMV during the month was $21.03 and registered the minimum ePMV of $1.45 for a site with the least page views.

The changes in terms of ePMV and Revenue are -1.69% and -9.46% from the previous month (September), respectively. 

4. Expense

Running a website portfolio with multiple sites publishing regular content can be quite expensive. Having a functional, well-managed AI content machine was the plan to reduce the cost of content creation. 

To produce content with an AI copywriter tool, we have a team of human writers who follows specific guideline, take care of the content creation, does fact check for AI-generated texts, and does the optimization to ensure output quality and authenticity. 

So we have a combined monthly expense of the editorial team and AI copywriter tool (our primary AI copywriter is Jasper.ai), which generates texts for a fixed price per word.

Here’s the portfolio October total expanse compared to revenue generated with Ezoic Ad revenue (excluding other revenue sources) looks like:

Key data:

1. Total expanses: $652.00
2. Total Revenue: $740.73
3. Profit (with Ezoic revenue): $88.73 
4. % of profit Ezoic revenue brings in: 13.61% 

5. Changes & Focus:

The unpredictability of website performance in terms of traffic and revenue has always been a part of content-based websites, especially those that get the most part of their traffic from search engines. 

To publish content that is written with AI support and still do well in Google SERP, we need to put great effort into content quality and optimization. That being one of the primary focuses, we also need to ensure delivering an optimized experience to the reader. 

Apart from maintaining the content quality, our objectives for the sites in this portfolio are, 

1. Delivering simplicity: a simple and easy-to-understand approach to delivering information people are looking for and letting them access something without having to deal with complex elements on the site.
2. Visual Hierarchy: we attempt to organize the website elements so that the visitors naturally see the most important elements first.
3. Navigability: All the sites have navigations that are well organized, allowing visitors to have an idea about the clusters quickly and letting people find what they are looking for.
4. User-centricity: we believe in the idea and build & update the websites in the portfolio to convey smoother usability and experience to the users. After all, it is the users who will experience the website and explore its contents.
5. Accessibility: we try our best to reduce anything that can prevent users from accessing the website and can break the functionality.
6. Responsivity: the sites are 100% responsive to be compatible with many different devices our visitors use. 
7. Maintain a Good site health score: ensuring the site does not have minor issues such as abuse of headings, metadata, or links is vital because they can be decisive when you are pushing for the SERP position and want your pages to be 100% ready to compete with a quality piece of content. If done right, it’s quite possible with AI copywriting tools.
8. Site speed and web vitals: site speed and maintaining good web vitals is one of our primary objectives. Our internal data states that with speed upgrade, portfolio sites led to a much better crawling experience for the Google bot and resulted in ~ 6x daily crawling requests compared to before. 

Not only that, fast-loading sites improve the browsing experience and provide us peace of mind after having passed web vitals matrices on the google search console. We also improved our visitor’s time on the page and page depth on the site with the speed upgrade, thanks to Ezoic’s CDN and performance tool (LEAP).

1. The addition of a new site to the portfolio

With a plan of smoothly running currently available sites on the portfolio, we look forward to adding potential sites to grow within our strategy. Having a functional setup to publish regular AI content and a plan to optimize them makes bringing new sites to the portfolio easier. 

Once a new site arrives, we scale the site’s current traffic, design, performance, and other elements to come up with a plan that can lift up the overall quality and experience. Once the site is ready – we strategically prepare a content plan to execute in the upcoming months. 

That being said, not every site we added to our portfolio has had a great time and better output. Some sites tanked and lost a significant portion of the traffic – but most of those threats arrived after the recent Google updates. It brings in the debate of Google penalizing AI content sites which does not hold TRUE for other AI content sites in the portfolio. 

Sites that lost a major portion of traffic lately were the sites ranked well for previously created content. It is safe to say those were not the best quality documents available on the internet for a particular search query. We are still putting our effort into better content updates to see and test how those pages perform as we advance. 

Number of sites added to the portfolio in October: 2

2. Nameserver connection for Ezoic

Ezoic recommends the nameserver connection method to integrate your site with the platform for better site performance and revenue boost. Earlier on, we had many sites integrated with the Ezoic plugin now all of them switched to the nameserver method. 

With the nameserver connection, the site performance has improved a lot. Almost all sites in the portfolio are passing or close to passing web vitals… although we needed to bring some visual and technological changes to the site. 

The improvement in performance and loading of the primary page elements faster helps the ads load faster. Pages and ads that load faster can improve your ad revenue by a decent margin and definitely help our sites to increase Ezoic ad revenue.

3. Seasonal decline & monitor performance

Seasonal interest and demand for products and services affects sites and is a perfectly natural, annoyingly unavoidable aspect of websites, even in any business. Quite obviously, our sites in the portfolio aren’t independent of seasonality. 

There are unpredictable ups and down in terms of traffic for the sites. Having to maintain lots of sites in the portfolio and smoothly take care of other aspects of the sites, it becomes quite challenging to keep a close eye on each site individually. 

Semrush and Ahrefs help us by providing the traffic overview and keywords found in organic searches for each site. It gives us an idea of the ongoing traffic state of a site compared to what could be a scenario for the site in the coming months based on the trajectory of organic keywords. 

In addition, we can analyze the organic keywords situation, and based on their latest form; we can decide to improve the content if required. 

Conclusion: It is fun to manage multiple sites and have a proper plan to run them all together while still making some decent profit with provisions to increase revenue in the future. This could easily be a project that consumes most of our time, but a well-designed plan and ready-to-use tools + the right people in the right place, make it much easier to manage the portfolio.

This income report serise is aimed at sharing our growth and the fundamentals that helped us reach here, minor details that can help you build your AI-driven website’s portfolio at a significantly lower cost.