Adding videos on site

You can add videos on your Instant Site to better showcase your products, tell about your business, introduce new collections, and so on.

You can add videos from YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Vimeo, or any other hosting. There are no limitations on video size, length, aspect ratio, or resolution. Both horizontal and vertical videos will automatically adjust to the size of the visitor’s screen.

Ecwid does not host your videos, so you first need to upload the video on a hosting platform, and then add the link to it to the Video section on your site.

Adding a video on your site

You add videos on your Instant Site using the Video section. Each Video section supports adding a single video. Still, you can add as many sections with videos as you like.

You can add your video, or use any other video if you have rights to do so. Each platform has its own instructions to check the video copyright rules. It’s recommended to review it before you decide to use a video you don’t own. Make sure you update your privacy policy so that your customers can play the video on your site and your business does not violate any rules.

Please note that if you add video from TikTok, you can add any video except the image slideshow.

To add a video to a product:

1. Upload your video on YouTube, Instagram, or any other video hosting, or use someone else's video if a content creator allows that.
2. Click Share → Copy link or copy the link from the address bar if you are using a browser.
3. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
4. Click + Add Section, then choose Video in the menu on the left.
5. Choose between light and dark background for the section. You can change its color later.
6. In the section menu, click + Change Video.
7. In the Link to your video, paste the link to your video. You will see the preview of the video on the right-hand side of the editor.
8. Click Back.
9. Enter the title and description that will appear in the video section. Remove text if you wish to show the section without text.
10. Click Button in the left-hand side menu to change the button name and where it leads to. To remove the button from the page, simply remove the text in the Title field. Click Back.
11. Switch to the Design tab to adjust the section look: choose the video layout, the section background color, title and description fonts, and the look of a Call-to-Action button.
12. (optional) To rename a section, click on the Video title and enter a custom name.
13. Click Publish.

That’s it. Now when customers open your site, they can click on the video to start playing it. In customers’ browsers, uploaded videos display in either 480p, 720p, or 1080p, depending on the viewer's connection speed and the resolution of the video. Viewers can change the video quality to their liking.

Creating a fullscreen video on your site

With the video section, you can create a fullscreen video background on your site to showcase your products or tell about your business right away.

Before you create a fullscreen video, here are some things to consider:

• The video section has a 16:9 aspect ratio with frames on all sides, so the video will appear within these frames.
• You can embed videos only from YouTube or Vimeo.
• Your video can start playing automatically once a person opens your website, or you can choose the click-to-play option.
• When visitors click to play the video, any titles or descriptions on top of the embedded video will disappear. If you choose autoplay, the content will remain visible.
• The video is muted during autoplay. Viewers cannot turn on the sound or control the video in any other way.
• On a mobile screen, title and description will appear below the video. 

To create a fullscreen video on your Instant Site:

1. Upload your video on YouTube, or Vimeo, and click Share → Copy link.
2. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website and click Edit Site.
3. Add a new video section or edit an existing video section.
4. In the section menu, click + Change Video.
5. In the Link to your video, paste the link to your video.
6. Click Back.
7. Enter the title and description that will appear in the video section. Remove text if you wish to show just the video without any text.
8. Click Button in the left-hand side menu to change the button name and where it leads to. To remove the button from the page, simply remove the text in the Title field. Click Back.
9. Switch to the Design tab and select the far right layout to make video fullscreen:
   

   

10. Choose between auto playing and playing on click.
11. (optional) If you have any content on the section, you can change the style of text. 
12. (optional) To make video the first thing your customers see when opening your site, drag and drop the section at the very top of the section menu:
    

    

13. Click Publish.

Once you publish the changes, the video will appear on your site.

Changing a video in the Video section

You can always update the video that is displayed in the Video section.

To change the video in the Video section of your Instant Site:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click on the Video section where you want to update the video.
3. Click Change Video.
4. In the Link to your video, paste the link to a new video. 
5. Click Publish.

In case you no longer need the video, you can delete the section with the video.

Updating your privacy policy to show product videos

In some countries, your customers will not be able to see the video preview and play the video until they accept your store privacy policy (cookies). That applies primarily to Germany and other European countries covered by the European privacy law, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR applies not only to stores located in the EU but also to your European customers.

To avoid violating the European privacy law, we recommend updating your privacy policy disregarding your store location. In your privacy policy, you should mention that video hosts can access personal data of your buyers, e.g., IP-address, their account on the platform, and their user info.

By accepting cookies in your store, customers agree to the policy and will be able to see the video preview and play the video.

Learn about adding Terms & Conditions to your site →