Are you planning to set up an e-commerce site, or sell your products internationally? If so, you may want to think about providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software lets your site visitors convert foreign currency pricing to their local currency when checking out products online. It also lets customers view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
The obvious benefit of putting currency conversion is that it lets visitors see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency converter to currency conversion to your WordPress web site via a plugin, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Converter For WP Sites
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. And, it’s 100% free to install and use on your website.
Plugin features include:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full support for language translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Ask your webhosting provider to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin user navigation menu …
The plugin settings section provides many configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default currency is ‘USD’ …
You can also select any supported data provider from the dropdown menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose another option, like FoxRate or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you would like to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WP plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings according to your own needs and click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
After you have configured your plugin settings, you can add currency conversion to all of your WordPress website’s posts using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail goods online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your page content …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 97.00, 399.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode should look when inserting it into your page or post …
When your post has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
Using the above example, let’s now translate the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to your content …
After publishing the page, the converted currency amounts will then display as you can see in the example below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one set as the default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to non-European customers (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
Once your page or post has been published, the converted currency will then display like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add the currency codes you want displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on your site’s sidebar with the settings you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you enter another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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