Contacting customers is an important part of managing a website, and a contact form is a tool that makes it easy for users to interact with you. On WordPress, **Contact Form 7** is one of the most popular plugins for creating contact forms. This plugin is not only free, but also powerful, easy to customize, and integrates with many other services. In this article, we will guide you through creating a simple contact form with Contact Form 7 and integrating it into your website.
What is Contact Form 7?
**Contact Form 7** is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create contact forms quickly and easily. It supports email contact forms, is fully customizable, and uses shortcodes to embed the form in any post or page on your website. In addition, Contact Form 7 also supports CAPTCHA, integrates with Akismet to prevent spam, and allows you to add custom fields as needed.
How to Install Contact Form 7
To get started, you need to install the Contact Form 7 plugin on your WordPress website. Follow these steps:
1. Go to your WordPress dashboard, select “Plugins” and click “Add New”.
2. Search for “Contact Form 7” in the search bar and click “Install Now”.
3. Once installed, click “Activate” to activate the plugin.
Once activated, a “Contact” section will appear in your WordPress left navigation bar. From here, you can start creating your first contact form.
How to Create a Contact Form With Contact Form 7
After installing and activating the plugin, you can create a contact form by following these steps:
1. Create Contact Form
Go to “Contact” and click “Add New” to create a new contact form. Here, you can see a basic pre-made contact form template with fields such as: Full Name, Email, Subject and Message.
You can customize this form by adding new fields like phone number, address, or any other information you want to collect from your customers. To add a new field, click on the buttons in the top toolbar like “Text”, “Email”, or “URL”, and the plugin will automatically generate the HTML code for that field.
2. Email Configuration
Next, you need to configure your email so that the information from the contact form is sent to your inbox. In the “Mail” tab, you can configure the recipient email address, subject, and body of the email that will be sent. Make sure that the recipient email address is correct to avoid missing out on contacts from customers.
3. Customize Notifications
Contact Form 7 allows you to customize the messages that appear after a user submits a form successfully or fails. You can edit the message content in the “Messages” tab to match the language and style of your site.
4. Save Form And Get Shortcode
Once you’re done customizing, click “Save” to save your contact form. Each form will have its own shortcode, simply copy this shortcode and paste it into any page, post, or widget on your site to display the contact form.
Embed Contact Form Into Website
To add a contact form to a page or post, simply paste the form shortcode where you want the form to appear. Here are the steps:
1. Copy the shortcode from the contact form edit page.
2. Go to the post or page where you want to add the contact form, and paste the shortcode into the post content.
3. Click “Update” or “Publish” to save your changes.
Alternatively, you can use the Contact Form 7 widget to insert the contact form into your website’s sidebar or footer. Go to “Appearance” > “Widgets”, find the “Contact Form 7” widget and drag it to the widget area where you want to display the form.
Integrate CAPTCHA to Prevent Spam
To protect your contact form from spam bots, you can integrate reCAPTCHA into your form. Contact Form 7 supports easy integration of reCAPTCHA. Simply go to the Google reCAPTCHA admin page to generate an API key and add it to Contact Form 7.
Once integrated, you can add a CAPTCHA field to your form by clicking the “reCAPTCHA” button in the form editor. This will help you prevent spam and protect your site from automated attacks.
Other Advanced Features of Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 is more than just a contact form plugin. It also supports many other advanced features such as:
- **Akismet Integration:** Help fight spam messages by using Akismet’s anti-spam service.
- **Add custom fields:** You can add different types of fields like dropdown, radio buttons, checkbox to collect more specific information from customers.
- **Multilingual Support:** This plugin is compatible with many different languages, making it easy for you to customize your contact form for international users.
- **Integrate with third-party services:** You can integrate Contact Form 7 with services like Mailchimp to collect customer information and create email marketing campaigns.
Create contact form
Contact Form 7 is a powerful and flexible plugin that allows you to easily create contact forms on WordPress without any programming skills. With its high level of customization, built-in CAPTCHA and anti-spam, this plugin is an indispensable tool for any website that wants to effectively engage with its users.
Start using Contact Form 7 today to create professional contact forms and make it easy for users to connect with you.
