Are you planning to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell any products worldwide? If so, you should probably think about providing your web visitors with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce web site.
Currency converting software tools let your prospective customers convert international currency prices into their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows customers to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
The obvious advantage of adding currency conversion to your site is that it allows your customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s really simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to currency conversion to your website via a plugin, allowing your prospective customers to quickly determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Some of the useful features of this useful plugin include:
- Inline converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo! and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with various e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, Shop & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Support for language translations
Note: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Alternatively, ask your webhosting support team to update your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WordPress admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings area by selecting Currencyr from your admin user menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can select your base currency from a dropdown menu. The default option is ‘USD’ …
You can also choose which data provider you want to use from a drop-down menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also choose one of the other options, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you want the exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings according to your own preferences and don’t forget to click Save Changes when you have configured all the settings on this section …
When you have configured your settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any WP page or post using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) with this plugin.
Using Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets with no technical skills or knowledge using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail your products online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To do this, you simply need to add the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 6.95, 79.45, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode will look after being inserted into your page …
When your post has been published, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
Using the same example, let’s also translate the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a post …
Once the page has been published, the converted currency will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to specify a different base currency than the one selected 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 visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode looks when added to your content …
Once your page or post has been published, your converted currency amounts will then appear like this …
Using The Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your site’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click Save to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now display on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have selected …
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) …
Separates all your currency values with a forward slash as shown below …
If you enter another symbol and update your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As described earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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