If you want to create a video sharing site like YouTube, you’ll need a website platform with enough functionality and flexibility to build and customize your site with ease.
WordPress is a popular choice among content management systems. It offers the support, themes, and customization options needed to start a video sharing site in just a few steps.
Let’s walk through the process so you can create one from scratch with WordPress today.
How to Build a Video Sharing Site with WordPress
- Purchase a domain name.
- Sign up for web hosting provider.
- Install WordPress.
- Choose a WordPress theme for video sharing sites.
- Install and customize your theme.
Let’s take a closer look at these basic steps to get your video sharing site up and running.
Step 1: Purchase a Domain Name
The first step in building your site is to purchase a domain name. Among hundreds of other domain registrars, Godaddy, HostGator, and Bluehost are cheap and secure options for buying one.
When making your purchase, you want to select a name that’s brandable. Meaning, it’s short, unique, and easy to memorize and spell. It should also hint at what your business does. Google, for example, derives from the term “googol,” a mind-boggling number meant to evoke the millions and millions of web pages Google indexes. (A much snappier name than their first idea, which was — not kidding at all — “BackRub.”)
Step 2: Sign Up for a Web Hosting Provider
Next, you’ll want to select a website hosting provider that offers the speed, support, scalability, and security you need to manage your site. Once you decide on a provider, you’ll likely pick a plan based on how much storage and bandwidth you think you’ll need. The three domain registrars mentioned above also offer web hosting services, so you can combine these two steps by purchasing a bundle package.
Step 3: Install WordPress
The process for installing WordPress will vary slightly depending on your hosting server. Some, for example, have WordPress pre-installed for you, while others use an auto-installer like QuickInstall. If you prefer to manually install WordPress, the steps briefly laid out below will work on any hosting server.
- Download the latest version of WordPress as a .zip file.
- Once you unzip the file, you’ll see a WordPress folder. Upload it to your web server, using FTP.
- Then go to your hosting control panel to create a MySQL database and user for WordPress.
- Switch back to your FTP to configure WordPress to connect to your newly-created database.
- Complete the installation by filling in the form below.
For more detailed instructions, check out this guide here.
Step 4: Choose a WordPress Theme for Video Sharing Sites
After installing WordPress on your hosting server, you can start designing your site.
To begin, you’ll want to select a WordPress theme that meets the needs and goals of your video sharing site. In addition to being able to add and stream videos, you’ll also want a theme that:
- Allows users to upload and feature their own videos.
- Allows users to watch and share existing videos.
- Makes video searching easier for the audience.
- Makes navigating easier with organized categories and a search box.
- Quickly curates streams of content.
Let’s dive into a few themes with these features below.
King
King is a premium viral content theme with advanced functionality and customization options for creating a video sharing website. It offers a video sharing demo, Kingtube, that allows users to publish videos on the site.
This theme gives your visitors three different options for adding their own videos to your site, without giving them access to your WordPress admin dashboard. They can use oEmbed URLs, embed codes, or even upload their own MP4 videos through a simple, user-friendly interface.
King also gives you three options for monetizing your videos, rather than just sharing them. You can use pre-roll ads so your visitors watch the ad before getting to see your video. If you’d like a more subtle ad experience, then you can use image-over or text-over ads, which appear — you guessed it — over your video.
Finally, with its built-in trending monitor, you can see what videos your visitors were most interested in at different periods of time. This will help you continuously deliver content your visitors want.
Features
- Front-end video uploader for users
- MP4 and FLV file support
- Categories, search boxes, and tags for easy navigation
- Video engagement options such as likes and comments
- Trending video section based on views, votes, and comments
- Robust monetization options for showing ads
Bimber
Bimber is a premium WordPress theme that allows front-end video submissions from users. It offers various prebuilt sites for viral content websites, but the one that would most apply here is its Video demo.
The theme is designed to transform your web page into a professional video sharing site. Using a drag-and-drop builder, you can experiment with an unlimited number of layouts, colors, headers, footers, and sidebars to completely customize your site. A robust selection of shortcodes can make the design process easier, too.
This theme was designed to deliver exceptional digital experiences. It allows visitors to submit their own videos, as well as rate your videos, write comments, and share them on their social media profiles. It’s also optimized for use on mobile devices, particularly touch-screen devices, so your visitors can access your site whenever, wherever.
Features
- Front-end video uploader for users
- MP4 file support
- Categories, search boxes, and tags for easy navigation
- Video engagement options such as likes and comments
- Trending video section based on views and tags
- Robust monetization options for showing ads
NeTube
NeTube is a fully responsive theme that offers several pre-built demos for creating a video sharing website. Its VirTube and CZTube both have a button on the upper left-hand corner that allows users to immediately upload a video.
The theme provides three key features for creating a video sharing site. First, you can embed pre-existing videos from the most popular video sites, including YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Twitter, and Hulu, on your WordPress site. You can also upload and broadcast your own videos with a built-in shortcode. Finally, your visitors can submit their own videos by clicking the button in the upper right-hand corner.
To help sustain engagement, NeTube also has a built-in like system and advanced sharing functionality, so visitors can like and share your videos on their social media.
Features
- Front-end video uploader for users
- MP4 file support
- Categories, search boxes, and tags for easy navigation
- Video engagement options such as likes and comments
- Video post types that look like full blog posts
- Robust monetization options for showing ads
Vlog
Vlog is a highly customizable video theme with a flexible module system. It offers more than 200 layout combinations so you can build a unique site in minutes.
Vlog supports Video Importer, a plugin that enables you to transfer your videos and playlists from YouTube and Vimeo to your site in a few clicks. Vlog also supports the Series plugin so you can easily group your videos and articles into playlists. This is a particularly attractive feature if your site includes video courses, tutorials, lessons, and other multi-part content.
With this theme, your visitors can save videos and easily access them later or watch the full screen video in a distraction-free cinema mode. This is another excellent feature if your visitors are engaging with multi-part content on your site.
Features
- Compatibility with the Video Importer plugin
- MP4 file support
- Categories, search boxes, and tags for easy navigation
- Video engagement options such as subscriptions, “Watch Later” options, and comments
- Video post types that look like full blog posts
- Robust monetization options for showing ads
Step 6: Install and Customize Your Theme
Once you’ve found a theme that meets your site’s needs and goals, then head to your admin dashboard. If it’s available in the Wordpress.org theme repository, then you can follow these steps.
- Click Appearance in the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page.
- Select Themes.
- At the top, click WordPress.org Themes.
- Then, type the name of the theme you have in mind in the search bar. (You can also continue to browse the available themes right in your dashboard.)
- When you’ve decided on one, click Install.
Themes that aren’t hosted on the repository need to be installed manually. No sweat. It will still only take a few steps. You’ll download it from Themify or another premium theme site and return to your WP dashboard.
- Click Appearance in the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page.
- Select Themes.
- Click the Upload button at the top of the screen.
- Then click the Upload Theme button at the top. You’ll find the theme in a .zip file on your computer.
- Click the Activate button.
Once installed or activated, you can begin customizing your theme to reflect the unique look and feel of your brand.
Congratulations! You’ve just built your own video sharing site from scratch with WordPress.
Create a Stellar WordPress Video Sharing Site
Creating a video sharing site with WordPress is easy with the steps we’ve provided above. In no time, you’ll have a wealth of videos on your site that will increase user engagement, keep visitors on your site for longer, and boost display ad impressions. Video sharing sites are a great way to make passive income — now, go and create a stellar one.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
