Want to tap into the booming market for online video? Selling video downloads from your own WordPress site gives you full control over your content and income. No revenue splits or restrictive policies – just you and your customers!
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know to sell videos online with WordPress. You‘ll learn how to set up your site, upload and price your videos, configure payment processing, design your store, and market your video products effectively.
Whether you‘re a course creator, filmmaker, or aspiring video entrepreneur, this guide will give you the tools and know-how to build a thriving video business powered by WordPress. Let‘s dive in!
Why Sell Videos with WordPress?
Did you know that online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2023? (Cisco)
There‘s never been a better time to sell videos online. More people are watching and buying videos than ever before. But you may be wondering – why use WordPress instead of a platform like YouTube or Udemy?
Here are a few key reasons:
- 🌟 Keep 100% of your sales revenue (no commission fees!)
- 🔒 Maintain full control and ownership over your video content
- 🎨 Completely customize your video store‘s branding and design
- 📈 Get in-depth sales analytics and customer data
- 💰 Sell videos using any pricing model (one-time, rental, subscription)
- 🔌 Extend your store with thousands of WordPress plugins
Selling videos from your own WordPress site is more flexible, profitable, and scalable than relying on a 3rd party platform. So let‘s look at how to get started.
Step 1: Get WordPress Hosting and a Domain Name
To sell videos with WordPress, you‘ll need a domain name and web hosting.
Your domain name is your site‘s permanent address on the internet (e.g. www.yourvideostore.com). Web hosting is where your WordPress site‘s files and data are stored online.
While you can find WordPress hosting for as little as $3/month, I recommend choosing a host optimized for WordPress ecommerce and video streaming. Some of the top WordPress hosts I recommend are:
- SiteGround – Starting at $6.99/month
- Bluehost – Starting at $9.95/month
- WP Engine – Starting at $30/month
- Kinsta – Starting at $35/month
These hosts offer features ideal for a video store like:
- Large storage capacity for your video files
- Fast speed and high bandwidth for smooth video streaming
- Free SSL certificate for secure checkout and payments
- 24/7 support if you need help along the way
To pick the right host, consider how many videos you plan to sell and what your budget is. You can always upgrade to a higher plan as your store grows.
When you sign up for hosting, you‘ll also be able to register your custom domain name. Choose something clear, memorable, and brand-friendly.
Step 2: Install WordPress and Pick a Video Theme
Now that you‘ve got hosting and a domain name, it‘s time to install WordPress!
Most WordPress hosts provide "1-click installation" which makes it easy to get WordPress up and running on your account.
To install WordPress manually:
- Download the latest version of WordPress from wordpress.org
- Upload the WordPress files to your hosting account
- Create a MySQL database for your WordPress site
- Run the WordPress installation script by visiting your domain
After installing WordPress, you can log in to your WordPress dashboard by visiting yoursite.com/wp-admin/. This is your control center where you can manage all aspects of your site.
Next, you‘ll want to pick a video-friendly WordPress theme to serve as the design for your site. Your theme will determine your site‘s overall look, feel, and layout.
Some WordPress themes are better suited for a video site than others. For a video store, you‘ll want a theme that:
- Is responsive and mobile-friendly
- Has a clean, professional design to showcase your videos
- Integrates with the ecommerce plugin you plan to use
- Offers video-specific features like built-in players and galleries
Here are some great video WordPress themes to consider:
| Theme | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Vayvo | $59 | View Theme |
| VideoBox | $44 | View Theme |
| Cinematix | $49 | View Theme |
Take some time to browse themes and find one that matches your brand‘s style. Read reviews and check for compatibility with popular plugins before making a decision.
Step 3: Install Easy Digital Downloads
To start selling videos, you‘ll need to install an ecommerce plugin on your WordPress site.
While there are several ecommerce plugins available, I recommend Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) for selling videos. EDD is a free, open-source plugin built specifically for selling digital products like videos, ebooks, software, and more.
EDD makes it easy to:
- Upload and organize your video products
- Set prices and offer discounts
- Accept payments and automatically deliver videos to customers
- Manage customers and view sales reports
- Extend your store with official and 3rd party add-ons
To install EDD:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for "Easy Digital Downloads"
- Click "Install Now" and then "Activate"
- Go through the setup wizard to configure essential settings
The EDD setup wizard will walk you through key configuration steps like:
- Choosing a payment gateway (PayPal, Stripe)
- Setting your store‘s currency and tax rates
- Customizing your email receipts and purchase confirmation pages
- Installing recommended add-ons for additional functionality
Be sure to complete the wizard so your store is ready to start accepting orders. You can always adjust settings later as needed.
Step 4: Add Your Videos and Set Prices
Now your store is ready for your actual videos! Let‘s look at how to add video products in EDD.
To add a new product:
- Go to Downloads > Add New
- Enter a title and description for your video product
- Upload your video file or paste in a URL where it‘s hosted
- Set the price and any download limits or access restrictions
- Pick a product image and category to keep your store organized
- Customize the purchase button‘s text and style
- Click Publish to make the video available for sale
When uploading videos to sell, I recommend using MP4 format as it offers the widest compatibility with browsers and devices. For the best customer experience, aim for HD resolution (720-1080p) with good visual and audio quality.
By default, EDD will host the video files on your WordPress site. However, this can quickly eat up storage space and bandwidth – especially if you‘re selling long or high resolution videos.
For better performance and scalability, consider hosting your videos on a dedicated video platform like:
- Vimeo – Starting at $20/month for 1TB bandwidth
- Wistia – Starting at $99/month for 200 videos
- Bunny.net – Starting at $1/month + $0.01 per GB of bandwidth
- AWS – Starting at $0.025 per GB of storage
With an off-site video host, you can paste the video‘s URL into EDD when adding a new product. EDD will automatically display a player preview using the URL.
Repeat these steps to add your full video catalog to your store. Then you‘re ready to start customizing your store‘s design!
Step 5: Customize Your Video Store Design
One of the advantages of selling videos with WordPress is the ability to fully customize your site to match your unique brand.
Start by customizing your theme‘s built-in settings, like:
- Logo and color scheme
- Header image or video background
- Homepage featured content
- Video gallery and player style
- Product page layout
- Related videos and upsells
- Customer testimonials and reviews
Depending on your theme, you may be able to make these changes using the WordPress Customizer or through the theme‘s settings panel.
Next, enhance your store with some video-specific WordPress plugins:
- Custom Video Gallery – Create beautiful streaming galleries
- Vimeo Video Embed – Seamlessly embed your Vimeo-hosted videos
- Bunny.net Stream – Optimize your Bunny.net video streaming and delivery
- Elementor Video Playlist – Build custom playlists with Elementor page builder
Finally, don‘t forget the power of great copywriting! Make sure each of your video product pages has:
- A clear, benefit-driven title and description
- Engaging product images or thumbnail previews
- Glowing customer reviews or testimonials
- Prominent calls-to-action like "Buy Now" or "Add to Cart"
By combining an appealing visual design with persuasive copy, you‘ll be able to convert more of your video store visitors into paying customers.
Step 6: Set Up Payments and Promote Your Videos
Congratulations – your video store is almost ready to launch! The final steps are to:
- Connect a payment gateway to accept online payments
- Configure your store‘s email receipts and notifications
- Promote your videos to start making sales!
To accept payments, EDD integrates with popular payment gateways like:
- PayPal
- Stripe
- Square
- Authorize.net
- Amazon Payments
To enable a payment gateway:
- Go to Downloads > Settings > Payments
- Click on the gateway you want to use
- Enter your gateway account details and preferences
- Click "Save Changes"
Be sure to also customize your customer emails and purchase receipts which buyers will receive after completing a purchase. You can modify the text, add your logo, and include upsell offers.
With payments enabled, it‘s time to launch your store and start promoting your awesome videos! 🚀
Here are some ideas to market your videos and drive traffic to your store:
- Run Facebook or YouTube ads targeting your ideal customer
- Partner with influencers in your niche to get your videos in front of their audience
- Create social media content and video previews linking back to your store
- Build an email list of potential buyers and send new video launch announcements
- Write blog posts and guest posts related to your video topics to attract organic search traffic
- Release some of your videos for free on YouTube, then offer exclusive paid versions
The key is to constantly experiment with new marketing channels and strategies to see what resonates with your audience. Over time, you‘ll hone in on the most effective tactics for getting your videos in front of eager buyers.
Selling Videos Online with WordPress: FAQ
Still have questions about how to sell videos with WordPress? Here are answers to some common queries:
How much does it cost to sell videos on WordPress?
WordPress itself is free, but you‘ll need to pay for hosting (~$10/month), your domain name (~$12/year), and any premium themes or plugins you choose to use. Ecommerce payment processors also charge transaction fees, typically around 3% + $0.30 per sale.
While you could sell a video using a basic PayPal button, this method has several drawbacks:
- You have to manually send each buyer a link to the video
- You don‘t get detailed customer and sales analytics
- Customers can‘t browse your other video products or easily buy again
- There‘s no way to automate license keys, subscriptions, etc.
For a more professional experience (for you and your customers), it‘s worth investing in a complete ecommerce solution like Easy Digital Downloads.
While no digital video is 100% unpirateable, there are steps you can take to secure your products:
- Add your name or logo as a video watermark
- Encode your videos with DRM (Digital Rights Management)
- Deliver videos through secured links that expire after a certain time period or number of views
- Host your videos on a platform with built-in security and encryption
Easy Digital Downloads offers several extensions for securing video products, like Content Protection, Prevent Concurrent Logins, and Download Delivery to help combat unauthorized sharing.
How do I sell access to a whole library of videos?
To sell access to multiple videos at once (like a course or series), you can either:
- Create a single downloadable product that contains all the videos (like a .zip file)
- Use EDD‘s Bundled Products extension to sell multiple videos together
- Use EDD‘s Recurring Payments extension to sell an ongoing video subscription
With the Bundled Products extension, you can create a special product that automatically grants access to several individual videos when purchased. Customers will get separate download links for each video included in the bundle.
The Recurring Payments extension lets you sell time-based access to a set of videos and charge on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. Customers will be able to view all the videos in their subscription while their account is active.
Mix and match these approaches to offer your customers appealing video packages at different price points!
How often should I release new videos?
There‘s no hard and fast rule for new video launches – it depends on your niche, audience preferences, and content production capacity. That said, releasing fresh video content on a regular basis can help you:
- Give customers a reason to re-visit your store and buy again
- Attract new customers through organic search traffic and word-of-mouth
- Test new topics and formats to see what sells best
You may choose to do one big launch per month, or release several smaller videos each week. The key is to set a sustainable schedule and stay consistent.
Consider surveying your audience to see what kinds of videos they want more of and how often they prefer to buy. Use their feedback to plot out an editorial calendar that keeps your community engaged and excited.
Go Forth and Sell Your Videos with WordPress!
If you‘ve read this far, you now have a complete roadmap for selling videos online using WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads!
The video ecommerce opportunity has never been bigger. By 2024, analysts predict a 36% increase in spending on streaming entertainment.
To tap into this growing market, the key is to take action! Follow the steps laid out in this guide to set up your video store and start promoting.
Remember, every top video seller started at zero. The sooner you launch, the sooner you can start building your audience and revenue.
Focus first on creating a few amazing flagship videos, then expand your catalog over time. Always be testing new marketing ideas, and don‘t hesitate to invest in tools that will help you work smarter.
I‘m rooting for you! If you run into any snags with your video store, leave me a comment and I‘ll do my best to help. Now go turn your video content into a profitable online business! 🎬📈
