5 Steps to Creating an Elementor Video Background

Why should you add a video background to your website?

Adding a video background to your website can significantly enhance its appeal and effectiveness. Here’s why it’s a great addition to your web design:

1. Captivating Visual Appeal: Background videos immediately capture the attention of visitors, creating a striking first impression. They offer a dynamic way to express your brand’s personality and aesthetic.
2. Storytelling: Videos excel at conveying stories and messages in a direct and engaging way. A well-selected background video can narrate your brand’s story, fostering a deeper connection with your audience.
3. Enhanced User Engagement: Statistics show that websites featuring video content generally experience higher levels of user engagement and longer session durations. This not only boosts your site’s SEO but can also enhance overall conversion rates.

How to add a background video with Elementor Page Builder

Before we begin, you will need the Elementor plugin for this tutorial. If you need an easy to follow guide with installing Elementor on your WordPress site, you can read our step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Create a new Elementor section

Start by adding a section from the editor. Click on the plus button and choose your desired section width. For this example, we’ll select a full-width section.

Add a section, choose a full-width layout by clicking the plus button in the editor.

Step 2: Add class name to the Elementor section

After clicking, a left panel will appear with the name “Edit Section”. Here you can edit the section you created. To adjust the appearance, navigate to the Layout tab. Here, you can select the content width.

For this example, we will choose the boxed layout, but you also have the option to go full width. 

Edit Section panel appears, adjust layout width in Layout tab, choose boxed or full width

Step 3: Add the self hosted video to the section background

Before adding a video into your Elementor page, it’s important to prepare it properly to ensure optimal performance:

• Format: Make sure your video is in a web-friendly format. MP4 and WebM are widely supported and recommended for use on most browsers.
• Compression: Compress your video to minimize file size while maintaining quality. This helps enhance your page’s loading speed.
• Hosting: Upload your video to a reliable hosting platform like YouTube or Vimeo. Set the video’s visibility to public or unlisted, based on your needs.

You can use a YouTube video link or upload an .mp4 video file from your media library as your background video.

To add a video, please switch to the Style tab. In the Style tab, under the Background section, you can select from three types of backgrounds: Classic, Gradient, Video, and Slideshow. We will choose the Video option.

Switch to Style tab, select Video background under Background section for adding video.

After selecting the Video background, several new options will appear. Here, you can add dynamic effects such as hover effects and particle effects by enabling the particles option. When you click on the video icon, the following settings will be displayed for you to configure.

Choose Video background, activate particles for dynamic effects like hover effects.

TIP: Here are some guidelines to help you select the best video:

• Relevance: The content of the video should be directly related to the purpose of your website. For instance, if you manage an outdoor adventure blog, opt for videos that depict beautiful landscapes or exciting outdoor activities.
• High Quality: Always use high-quality videos with sharp visuals and clear audio. Blurry or pixelated videos can negatively impact visitor perception.
• Looping: Decide if you want your video to loop continuously or just play once. This decision should align with the overall design and communication strategy of your website.

Step 4: Customize the settings

Customizing the settings for your video background in Elementor makes sure your users have a smooth and visually appealing experience. By customizing these options, you can create a dynamic and engaging background that enhances your website’s overall design.

Enhance user experience with dynamic video background settings in Elementor

• Provide a Direct Permalink: Ensure to provide the direct permalink of the video. You can set specific start and end times to focus on a particular segment of the video for your background.
• Set a Fallback Image: Add a fallback image to display in case of video playback issues or on devices that do not support automatic video playback. Choose an image that captures a key moment from the video or is relevant to your website’s content, ensuring a smooth user experience across different platforms.
• Adjust Video Height: If you encounter issues with the video height, adjust the minimum height in the Layout tab to at least 400px for better visibility. This ensures the video displays well on various devices.
• Use Background Overlay: Enhance the video by using the background overlay feature. Apply a color overlay to improve the readability of text on your website and provide a distinctive visual style.
• Ensure Mobile Responsiveness: Test how your background video displays on mobile devices. Make necessary adjustments to guarantee a smooth viewing experience on all screen sizes.

Once you have configured these settings, remember to save your changes.

Step 5: Testing and optimization

Once you’ve added a background video, it’s important to assess its impact on your website’s performance and user experience. Consider the following steps:

• Page Loading Speed: Verify that the video doesn’t drastically affect the loading speed of your page. Utilize tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to evaluate and, if needed, improve loading times.
• Browser Compatibility: Test your website across different browsers to confirm that the background video displays and functions properly in each one.

There you have it! You have now successfully added a background video using elementor!

Let professionals handle your website edits

And that wraps up our step-by-step guide to creating a video background in your website using Elementor. By now, you should have a solid understanding of how to integrate a dynamic video element into your site, transforming static pages into engaging experiences that captivate your visitors.

Using Elementor’s intuitive tools, you’ve seen how simple it can be to add a video background that enhances the aesthetic appeal of your website without compromising on performance. Remember, the key to a successful video background is choosing the right content that aligns with your brand and message, optimizing it for web use to ensure fast loading times, and testing it across different devices for responsiveness.

You’ve learned the basics of adding a video background to your website with Elementor, but managing every aspect of your website can be time consuming. This is where we can help! Let our professional WordPress website support team manage your website so you can focus on the things you love. Contact us today!