Project Blogger Has Me Screaming "Wufoo!"

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with RealSatisfied

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 logoJulie 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:

  1. Does it do what it needs to do?
  2. Is it cost effective?
  3. 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.

Comments (51)

"The Lovely Wife" (Broker Bryantnulls Wife) The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

                                                                                    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!

Apr 14, 2007 12:23 PM
Martin Rodriguez
Pacific Funding - Valencia, CA
Senior Loan Consultant

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

 

Apr 14, 2007 02:32 PM
Jennifer Steck
Rocky Mountain Homescapes, Keller Williams, Denver Colorado - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate
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!
Apr 14, 2007 02:51 PM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA

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

Jennifer... let me do some research.

 

Apr 14, 2007 03:10 PM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

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

Thanks for doing all this research for us!

Apr 14, 2007 04:51 PM
Martin Rodriguez
Pacific Funding - Valencia, CA
Senior Loan Consultant

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 14, 2007 04:51 PM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA

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. :)

Apr 14, 2007 07:47 PM
Maggie Dokic | Miami, FL | 888.883.8509 X101
eXp Realty LLC - Miami, FL
GREEN, CDPE, SFR, Pinecrest | Palmetto Bay |
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!
Apr 15, 2007 10:21 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Maggie... LOL! Hilarious. As long as I can call you "The Dokic!"
Apr 15, 2007 12:06 PM
Michelle Rosser
Maximum One Realty - Union City, GA
Atlanta Real Estate-South Fulton & Fayette
Thanks Jeff for another great tool.  Your simply AWESOME.
Apr 15, 2007 12:21 PM
Martin Rodriguez
Pacific Funding - Valencia, CA
Senior Loan Consultant

JT

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...

MR

Apr 15, 2007 03:36 PM
Jacque Howard
Keller Williams Premier Realty - Hudson, WI
Team Howard

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

Thanks again!

Apr 15, 2007 05:16 PM
Maureen Maureen
Orangeburg, NY
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. 
Apr 16, 2007 02:20 AM
John Coley
Coley Real Estate - Alexander City, AL
Thanks, as always, great stuff.
Apr 16, 2007 04:00 PM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Martin... be sure to come back and share how you're using your forms. 
Apr 17, 2007 01:37 AM
Michael I. Pulskamp
Mainstreet Brokers - Jackson, CA
REALTOR, EcoBroker, GREEN Desingnee
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!!!!!
Apr 19, 2007 01:24 PM
Joan Mirantz
Homequest Real Estate - Concord, NH
Realtor, GRI, CBR, SRES - Concord New Hampshire

Jeff..what a great tool. Thanks

Will play with it tomorrow when I can keep my eyes open!

Apr 19, 2007 04:46 PM
Anonymous
Doug Caldwell
Thanks for the video on WuFoo.  Helps me explain to other to get with WuFoo and dump the hand-tooled spreadsheets. www.dougcaldwell.net
May 08, 2007 01:09 PM
#49
Joseph Skinner
Skinner & Associates Realty - Myrtle Beach, SC
Myrtle Beach Real Estate

Nice tool, very creative. I look forward to see more.

Jay

Dec 05, 2008 08:44 AM
Mobile Austin Notary
Apostille/Authentication/Embassy Legalization, Notary Public, Loan Signing Agent & Process Server Services - Austin, TX
www.mobileaustinnotary.com

Thanks for the great information.Butterfly

Dec 05, 2008 04:22 PM