Can't Get YouTube to work in sidebar

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  youngren · Member · Feb 4, 2015 at 10:09 pm

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  Hi there.
  At my site I have a widget on the lower right. It is a simple image/link widget, but the link won’t work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8lNBJfvaIw.
  • I’ve tried shortening the link, changing it in various ways.
  • When I switch to a link pointing somewhere else it works fine.

  What’s wrong?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  thatrobyn · Member · Feb 5, 2015 at 12:12 am

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  Hello there!

  While you can add a URL directly to a page or post to create an embed, in your sidebar, you’ll need a YouTube shortcode. The instructions are here:

  http://en.support.wordpress.com/videos/youtube/#embedding-with-a-shortcode

  My advice is to add a Text widget to your sidebar. In the main content area of the widget, you’ll place the following shortcode (that I derived from the YouTube URL you gave me):

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8lNBJfvaIw]

  That should do the trick! If I can help in any other way, please drop me a line. Cheers :)

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  youngren · Member · Feb 5, 2015 at 9:11 pm

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  Thanks! I made that work. I guess I was looking to have the image link to the actual youtube video, but I can’t make that work.

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  thatrobyn · Member · Feb 6, 2015 at 12:10 am

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  Hey there.

  Oh, I see. If you’d like to have an image that links to an outside site, you can always create your own widget:

  http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/create-your-own-widget/

  You would choose an image to act as your button, then have it link to your video or channel on YouTube.

  Thanks again!