Building a Custom Testimonial Form for WordPress
Posted on 19th June 2023
Introduction
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that enables you to create a website or blog from scratch, or to improve an existing website. One of the advantages of using WordPress is that you can extend its functionality by installing plugins.
A plugin is a piece of software that contains a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress.
There are two ways to install a WordPress plugin:
- Upload the plugin files to the
/wp-content/plugins/directory, then activate the plugin through thePluginsmenu in WordPress. - Install the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory
Creating a Custom Testimonial Form Plugin
In this tutorial, we will be creating a custom testimonial form plugin for WordPress. This plugin will enable you to collect testimonials from your website visitors and display them on your website.
We will be using the following WordPress plugins to create our custom testimonial form plugin:
Installing the Plugins
The first thing we need to do is install and activate the two plugins we will be using to create our custom testimonial form plugin. To do this, log into your WordPress website and navigate to the Plugins menu.
Click on the Add New button and in the search field, type in Contact Form 7. Once the search results have returned, click on the Install Now button for the Contact Form 7 plugin.
Repeat the same process for the Testimonials by WooThemes plugin.
Once both plugins have been installed and activated, you should see a new menu item called Testimonials in your WordPress admin menu.
Creating the Testimonial Form
The next thing we need to do is create the testimonial form that we will be using to collect testimonials from our website visitors.
To do this, navigate to the Testimonials menu and click on the Add New button. This will bring you to the testimonial form editor.
In the Content field, enter the following:
[textarea your-message rows="5" cols="40"]
This will create a textarea field where your website visitors can enter their testimonial.
In the Excerpt field, enter the following:
[text your-name placeholder "Your Name"]
This will create a text field where your website visitors can enter their name.
Click on the Publish button to save your changes.
Creating the Testimonial Submission Form
Now that we have created our testimonial form, we need to create the testimonial submission form. This is the form that our website visitors will fill out to submit their testimonials.
To do this, navigate to the Testimonials menu and click on the Add New button. This will bring you to the testimonial submission form editor.
In the Content field, enter the following:
[contact-form-7 id="Your_Contact_Form_7_ID" title="Your_Form_Title"]
Replace the Your_Contact_Form_7_ID and Your_Form_Title placeholder text with the actual ID and title of your testimonial form.
In the Excerpt field, enter the following:
[testimonialsbywoothemes id="Your_Testimonial_Form_ID"]
Replace the Your_Testimonial_Form_ID placeholder text with the actual ID of your testimonial form.
Click on the Publish button to save your changes.
Adding the Testimonial Submission Form to Your Website
The final step is to add the testimonial submission form to your website so that your website visitors can actually submit their testimonials.
To do this, log into your WordPress website and navigate to the Pages menu. Click on the Add New button.
In the Page Title field, enter Submit a Testimonial.
In the Page Content field, enter the following:
[contact-form-7 id="Your_Contact_Form_7_ID" title="Your_Form_Title"]
Replace the Your_Contact_Form_7_ID and Your_Form_Title placeholder text with the actual ID and title of your testimonial form.
Click on the Publish button to save your changes.
You can now visit the Submit a Testimonial page on your website and submit a testimonial.
Displaying the Testimonials on Your Website
Now that we have our testimonial submission form set up and we have started collecting testimonials, we need to display them on our website.
To do this, log into your WordPress website and navigate to the Pages menu. Click on the Add New button.
In the Page Title field, enter Testimonials.
In the Page Content field, enter the following:
[testimonialsbywoothemes id="Your_Testimonial_Form_ID"]
Replace the Your_Testimonial_Form_ID placeholder text with the actual ID of your testimonial form.
Click on the Publish button to save your changes.
You can now visit the Testimonials page on your website to see all of the testimonials that have been submitted.
One of the great things about testimonials is that they can come from a variety of sources: social media, blog comments, direct email, and more.
But what if you want to specifically target testimonials from a certain group of people, or make it easy for people to leave a testimonial on your site?
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to build a custom testimonial form for WordPress.
Building a custom testimonial form is a great way to collect testimonials from specific people or groups. It’s also a great way to make it easy for people to leave a testimonial on your site.
To get started, you’ll need to create a new form in your WordPress site. You can do this by going to Forms > Add New in the WordPress admin area.
Next, you’ll need to add a few fields to your form. The fields you’ll need will depend on what information you want to collect from your testimonials.
At a minimum, you’ll probably want to collect the testimonial author’s name and email address. You may also want to collect the testimonial itself, and a URL to where the testimonial was left (if it was left on a different site).
Once you’ve added all of the fields you want to your form, you’ll need to add a submit button.
Next, you’ll need to create a new page in WordPress to display your testimonials. You can do this by going to Pages > Add New in the WordPress admin area.
Once you’ve created your testimonials page, you’ll need to add a shortcode to it. This shortcode will display your testimonials form.
You can find your form’s shortcode by going to Forms > All Forms in the WordPress admin area. Then, click on the form you want to use.
On the form edit screen, you’ll see a shortcode box. Copy the shortcode and paste it into your testimonials page.
Now that your testimonials page is set up, anyone who visits it will be able to fill out your form and submit a testimonial.
Testimonials are a great way to show off your work and build trust with potential clients. By build a custom testimonial form for WordPress, you can easily collect testimonials from the people you want, and make it easy for them to leave a testimonial on your site.
