Fonts are one of the most fundamental elements of design and using fonts effectively is one of the key secrets to creating a great website. After all, your font choices say a lot of about you and the message you are communicating. Just like pictures and video, fonts themselves send a visual message and they affect how information is presented to your visitor. So it’s worth putting some thought behind the fonts you decide to use.

Integrating great fonts into a website was not always easy. For a long time, technological constraints allowed mostly only limited options (Arial, Times Roman, Helvetica, etc.), making it difficult to compellingly present information. Thankfully this is no longer the case! Great font tools such as TypeKit, FontDeck, and Google Fonts now make it easy to use gorgeous fonts in websites. And with a WordPress plugin, you to can enable beautiful fonts on your WordPress site in seconds to make it truly stand out.

There are several plugins you can choose from to leverage beautiful fonts in your website, but after a lot of research we have decided to recommend these two: WP Google Fonts and Font Meister. Both easy to use, feature a wide variety of fonts to choose from, and allow for significant customization.

WP Google Fonts
This plugin is very easy to use and simple to install, making it perfect for a beginner. WP Google Fonts is installed with all the necessary code to help you change font headings, block quotes, paragraphs, and lists.  It also gives you the ability to assign the Google fonts to specific CSS elements of your website. WP Google Fonts also comes installed with over 390 different fonts, and selection is steadily growing. Easy plugin updates make it simple to start using new fonts as they become available.

FontMeister
Similar to WP Google Fonts, Font Meister comes with ability to use Google Web Fonts. But what makes Font Meister unique is it’s ability to collect fonts from other platforms such as Typekit and FontDeck. This gives you the ability to utilize a broader range of fonts and even purchase specific fonts. FontMeister is also working to integrate leading font services, such as Fonts.com and Font Squirrel. And you can add your own selectors to the fonts and the plugin will include them on your site.

Don’t let a limited font selection restrict you from having unique typography on your site. Utilize one of these great plugins and enhance up your website, blog, and/or brand with these multiple font options. You can always search for alternative font plugins at WordPress.org or through the backend of WordPress site in the plugins section. Happy fonting!

Tiffany
Bluehost

Videos bring a website to life. They’re way more engaging than still images, and like webpage sliders, videos can help you share information. For example, visitors to your website may be looking for a product review or a how-to tutorial. Or perhaps potential clients or employers are examining your work. Regardless, video is a powerful, persuasive medium for any audience. Thankfully, various WordPress plugins make it easy to insert video right into your website.

Like photo galleries, video plugins for WordPress work best when leveraging a free video service, such as YouTube, Vimeo, and DailyMotion. These services are designed to optimize videos for use online, making the ideal video experience for your website visitors. Once your videos are uploaded to one of these services, you can then use a video plugin with WordPress to leverage your videos into your site with just a few clicks.

Of the countless plugins available, we identified three that are easy-to-use and offer unique features to help you get the most out of sharing videos on your WordPress site.

Artiss YouTube Embed
This is a powerful, simple method of embedding YouTube videos into your WordPress site.  Artiss has several customization capabilities including: sizing, playlists, multiple profile integration, transitions, and much more. It is also adds Google compatible metadata to the video output, making it ideal for SEO.

Vimeo SimpleGallery
This Vimeo plugin is great for sharing a gallery (or playlist) of videos. Create thumbnails for videos in your playlist and even set a Shadowbox or Thickbox in which to play your videos on your page. The plugin also fetches titles from your Vimeo automatically, as well as height and width. Despite all these features, we found it simple to use and easy to install.

Easy FancyBox
A simple and flexible media lightbox solution for your website. In addition to YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion support, Easy FancyBox also supports images, WordPress galleries, PDF, and SWF (flash files). This plugin is great way to incorporate videos in a beautiful overlay on your site, and Easy FancyBox is multi-site compatible and supports iFrame and Flash movies.

Let us know how these plugins worked for you. Or if you have a different plugin that you prefer, share it in the comments below! Remember, if the plugins mentioned here don’t fit your needs, you can always search for alternatives.

Tiffany
Bluehost