Author: WP Compendium

Do you sell products online internationally? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing users with currency conversion.

Currency conversion software tools allow your site visitors to convert foreign currency pricing to their local currency when purchasing products online. It also lets customers view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their home currency.

One benefit of providing currency conversion on your site is that it lets customers view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.

Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s simple to add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to quickly calculate the cost of your goods.

Currencyr – WP Free Currency Converting Plugin

Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!

Some of the many features of this plugin include:

• In-line conversion tool
• Supports several 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-store plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
• Automatically determines local currency
• Translation support

Note: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.

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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …

After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress administration menu …

This takes you to the plugin settings page …

For example, you can select your base currency from a drop-down menu. The default option is ’US Dollar’ …

Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose one of the other options, such as 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 frequently you would like to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …

The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (like WP plugins).

Unless you have a reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …

Configure the rest of the settings to suit your needs and remember to click Save Changes when finished …

When you have configured your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any WordPress page or post using shortcodes.

See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, ZAR, etc …) with this plugin.

Using Plugin Shortcodes

You can easily add currency conversion to WordPress posts, pages and widgets without editing code using shortcodes.

Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress posts and pages:

Let’s say that you retail goods for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.

To do this, just add the following shortcode to your post or page …

Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 165.49, 197.00, 544.97, etc …)

The screenshot below shows how your shortcode should look when inserting it into the post …

When the information has been published, the converted currency amount will then appear like this …

Using this example, let’s now display the same amount into multiple currency formats.

To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …

The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode appears when added to a page …

Once your post or page has been published, your currency conversion will then display as shown 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 the Currencyr plugin.

Now, let’s say that you want to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.

For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to visitors in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …

You can see how the above shortcode looks when added to your content …

Once your page or post has been published, your converted currency will then display as shown in the screenshot below …

Currencyr Widget

You can also add a currency converter to your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.

To add the currency converter to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress admin menu …

In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …

Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …

Your currency converter tool will now display 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 allows you to specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using multiple 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 change the symbol and resave your plugin settings …

Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …

Integration With WP e-Commerce Software

As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp and Easy Digital Downloads …

(image source: plugin website)

Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce web site.

To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:

• WordPress e-Commerce Plugins: A Comprehensive Guide

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