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Project Blogger Has Me Screaming "Wufoo!"

Just so I make this perfectly clear... I did not set out to be the "gadget guy," Ines!

Or the "Wizard of Widgets" or the "Potentate of Plugins." Project Blogger is making me do this. I swear. Julie Ferenzi needs things for her Living In Plainfield, Illinois blog. One of my jobs as her coach is to teach her how to find and use really great tools. So I search until I find something I think will work for her.

wufoo.com logo Julie needed a contact form.

Julie wanted a form to capture specific information. Julie wanted to be notified when someone filled out the form. Julie wanted to be able to manage the contacts that resulted. Julie is very demanding. :)

Now... when I am looking for a tool, there are a few filters I pass it through. Here they are:

Does it do what it needs to do?
Is it cost effective?
Is it easy to use?

If a site can pass through those filters, I'm one happy little camper. And it's one very good tool.

Wufoo.com is one very good tool. Wufoo.com passed through the filters above with flying colors. It is mind numbingly simple to use. It is free if you don't need more than three forms. That's pretty cost effective. And it does everything you could want it to do, including notify you when someone fills out a form, send the user a confirmation email and collect and store the data entered into each form. When I read about it, my first thoguht was... "too good to be true." I've tested lots of form creation tools. This one works as advertised.

Do you want to see how cool it is? Click the play button.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Here is the form we created in our tutorial video, you can't embed it here an ActiveRain post, but you can still link to it. Sample Form. Feel free to test it. I promise not to put you on any real mailing list!

If you need a form, for any reason, Wufoo is for you.

Posted by Jeff Turner on 04/14/2007 09:14 AM

Comments (51)

wufoo, forms, julie ferenzi, project blogger, jeff turner

Originally posted at: Turner's Perspective: Project Blogger Has Me Screaming "Wufoo!"

Post is included in group: The Hubba Clubba...ROAR!

51 Comments on Project Blogger Has Me Screaming "Wufoo!"

APR

2007

OK, Gadget Guru, now what do I need a form for ... ? I'll have to think about that one. I have been feeling the need for a form since your last post, as that was one of the problems on my website.

What a great tool! Thanks Jeff.

Sarah... this site is so "cool." You'll think of something! :)

Heidi... it really is great. It's simple and does everything you need it to do.

Wow interesting ... not sure what to do with it... but my organizational skills are lacking... I am thinking of giving it to my assistant to "play" with and hopefully become a useful tool for us... thanks again for sharing.

great find jeff!

we will incorporate this into our contact us page and michaels blog as well.

thanks,

rudy.sellsius°

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for bringing this information to our attention. Your video is absolutely great. I will check it out and incorporate it on my wedsites that do not have a contact me page.

thanks!

pretty soon I'm going ot have to upgrade my website to accomodate all the cool widgets I'm going to add to it!

Jeff - you might not have set out to be "gadget-man" but YOU ARE!!

This is COOL...I have to admit....now one question for you. How does WuFoo control Spam? I have to tell you that with my current static website, I get at least 50 spam e-mails/day from filling out a form that is very hidden within the site. Does WuFoo have a way to eliminate all the bogus e-mails and the very annoying senseless Spam?

Jeff,

I love it that you're "the Gadget Guy" - thanks for all the research and Julie is so lucky to have you as her coach - can't wait to check out her blogging progess. I have been looking for the capability to add forms. Thanks again.

Oh...I forgot....I have told you how much I enjoy those tutorials you do with the screen shots!! They are THE BOMB!...thanks for taking the time to do them...extremely helpful.

Jeff, I can't remember who said it.. But I second the motion... You are...

Tool Man Turner

Jeff - I just watched your training video - WOW that was great, can't wait to go try it! Thanks

Thanks. Just got some ideas for using this for some of our clients.

Hey Jeff,

I just watched the tutorial, great stuff!

Thanks for the great find :)

The only think I don't like is 3rd party endorsements all over my site. Some are ok, but having tons of great tools that have 3rd party endorsement can suck...

Typically, they make money on having the "non-sponsored" or "created by" versions :)

Scott

Thanks Mr. Gadget (oops I mean Jeff ) Another great tool and a bookmark for me to get back to.

Sounds GREAT!, but like Inez, I would have to wonder about spam.

Jeff, you may not have set out to become "gadget guy" but no one does it better than you. Thanks for another great find.

Desiree... I wouldn't go looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, but if you ever really need a form, then this is a great tool.

Rudy... my pleasure!

Mike & David... thank you.

Ines... if they could figure out how to stop spam, they'd be charging a heck of a lot of money! There are no emails in this form, however, so it can't be scrubbed for the emails. All of the data they collect is held behind your secure password. So, I'm not sure how it would possibly impact your overall spam levels.

Bob... did you really have to make a logo for that? :)

Cyndee & Melissa... glad it looks of value to you.

Scott... if you go back to Julie's contact page, you can see I removed the thrid party information. a line of html in the embed link. Easy to remove. I could do that for the videos I use on this site as well.

Herb... :)

Joan, see my response to Ines above.

Maggie... thanks. i think. :)

Jeff, in case there was any doubt, YES, that was a compliment. It doesn't take anything away from how well you may do other things. The Turner rocks!

Maggie... I'm joking as well. I'll take whatever nickname I can get!

Hey Jeff, thanks for the review -- we appreciate it. I just wanted to drop in and answer the spam question. Spam is something we do have measures in place for, and are always trying to monitor. Right now, we have a very low spam rate. This could change if we became a targeted site, but we will always be on the lookout.

Great stuff Jeff the Tool Man Turner. Keep sharing my friend.

I've only been on Active Rain a week and am thinking about a blog about all the neat stuff and cool people I've encountered in the space of 6 days. This is awesome. Thanks. lea deo

{SVW Hubba}...

WuFoo? Are you sure that's not Woof Woof? You know...That whole Big Dog thing :)

Sorry. I just had to get that one out of my system. Great tool. Don't worry I won't start calling you...

"Tool Boy"...Tempting though. SVW.

TLW...ROAR!

Ryan... thanks for monitoring your mentions or your inbound links and stopping by to comment. It always helps! Much appreciated.

Bryant... you know I will.

Lea... great idea for a post.

TLW [SVW]... "Tool Boy" Now that has a ring to it. :)

Hey Jeff, Nice post as always, where were you a few months ago when I had to learn CGI Scripts for my sites. Talk about a headache. Thanks Jay

STOP I want to get off. Dude you are like a machine coming up with this stuff.

I just turned on one of my designers to YOUR service. She is gonna create Real Estaging Real Estate Shows Masterpiece... PROMISE.

But you gotta stop this cause I can't keep up with your pursuit of technology.

PS: Thanks

Tool Boy...

The only reason I'm commenting is because I want to be the very first person that calls you that. LOL.

I love it. I will tell you why outside of the rain. See ya then. SVW.

TLW...ROAR!

Woohoo for Wufoo!

Thanks Jeff for another great trick...I mean tool...for building a great blog! I am (and all these others) are following your tutorials for improving our blogs along with your apprentice Julie...the generous spirit of Project Blogger! Thank you Jeff!

Thanks for the information not that i need another form for clients to fill but is good to know where to go the next time the need occurs.

Jay... I was spending my time NOT being Tool Boy. :)

Craig... LOL!

TLW [SVVW]... at your service.

Deborah & Paul... my pleasure!

To Whom It May Concern...

Jeff Turner aka Hubba has been dubbed

"Tool Boy"

He likes that one :)

When we nickname people it's very important that they like their nicknames. SVVVW.

Yours truly,

TLW...ROAR!

Hey Tool Time Turner...

When's the next episode?? WoooHooooo for Wooo Foooo....

This is fantastic.. If this form can be secured or encyrypted for privacy, the possiblities are endless. Either way its great, but would you happen to know if the info collected on the form is secured?

Martin

Jeff, Thanks for the amazing lesson. So...after reading all the comments, you must be the go to guy for website solutions. Do you have suggestions on event scheduling? I'd like to add a neighborhood calendar and the ability for people to add events. I'd like to be able to screen the events before they get posted. Goodluck on Project Blogger!

Martin... yes, all of the information is stored behind your login and password at their site. :)

Jennifer... let me do some research.

Okay Jeff, maybe you're not the "gadget guy", but the "gadget guru!"

Thanks for doing all this research for us!

Hey Jeff

One more thing..

It seems like everyone in AR (including me) is having fun calling you names like, Tool Time Turner, Gadget Guy, Tool boy, Widget Master, etc.. but the one thing you haven't been labeled is, Web Designer.

My point here is that although you are very knowledgeable about computers and web design etc.. You are NOT a programmer or web designer. You're a tech guy thats done a lot of research on your own time and have educated yourself to the point where you can virtually take any (free) blog site and design it from scratch to be better than most peoples, paid for websites.

You once told me to forget about my website, its garbage. You said, go with a blog site that's free and keep the content fresh..

As I look at all the products, widgets, and gadgets that you've written about in your posts. It's clear that although you aren't a web-designer you have achieved the title of Master Blog-designer which by your examples are a much better platform for delivering info to the web.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make a post out of this -- perhaps you should..

But I hope that all your readers understand that a static website is pointless this day and age. A blog site can be much more effective and when you add tools like WooFoo and Grand Central station, etc... It can be a pretty awesome and versatile site..

Thanks for educating all of us... Master Jedi-Turner

Martin

APR

2007

Irina... :)

Martin... well, I did start what turned into a very large graphic design firm at one point in my career... so I've been able to pick up a few tricks over the years. The beauty of Wordpress and other blog formats is their separation of form and content. This makes editing the design so much simpler. Minor tweaks to the CSS have immediate and universal impact on the total look of the blog. And the templates available allow you to customize them easily to make them unique to you. This isn't rocket science, so there's really no use pretending it is. That's why I love doing the tutorials. Most people just need a little nudge past their initial fears and they're on their way. This is fun for me, Martin. But you knew that already. :)

Jeff, I believe you were referring to the nickname "gadget guy" but since you said you'll take any, I like the one I called you: "The Turner." Thanks for the advance permission to use it!

Maggie... LOL! Hilarious. As long as I can call you "The Dokic!"

Thanks Jeff for another great tool. Your simply AWESOME.

Thanks for the response above.. I'm certainly one of your "nudgees" and yes I know how much you love this stuff.. me too..

Since reading this post, i've signed up and made my own form that is now pressed into service on 2 of my sites. This is great..

Here's a fun tid bit.

How did WuFoo get its name?

?
?
?
?
?

The owners 2 favorite music bands are, Wutang and Foo fighters.. blend the names and Voila.
Found this info in fine print on the bottom of their website...

APR

2007

Another amazing tool...when will it stop...I need to get some work done!:)

Thanks again!

Jeff - Thanks for the great tip. This will come in really handy when I update my website. I loved the tutorial video! Keep them coming.

Thanks, as always, great stuff.

APR

2007

Martin... be sure to come back and share how you're using your forms.

APR

2007

Ok, Jeff,

YOU ROCK OUT LOUD!

This is a great tool, But now I need to learn how to integrate CSV into my blog. How do I do that?

Hey really, If you ever come up to Amador County, Lunch and a custom tour (wineries, mine tours, fishing, antiques, very cool old gold-rush towns...) is on me!

Heck, for all this info I could probably set you and yours up a one of the great local B&B's.

THANKS!!!!!