Do you plan to sell goods and services online to a worldwide market? If so, then here’s a good idea: consider providing users with a currency conversion service.
Currency conversion tools allow your visitors to have the cost of a foreign currency amount converted to their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also lets visitors see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One great advantage of putting currency conversion is that it allows customers to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s easy and simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to your WP web site, allowing your visitors to quickly work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Free Currency Conversion Plugin For WordPress
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Some of the many features of this plugin include:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Supports full translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin requires your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your web hosting provider to update your PHP.
***
You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the “Install” button …
When you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WP administration menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can select a base currency from a drop-down menu. The default option is ’United States Dollar’ …
You can choose a data provider from a dropdown menu. The default option is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose another provider, such as European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how frequently you want to update the currency exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down 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 (such as WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the rest of the settings and click the ‘Save Changes’ button when finished …
Once you have configured your settings, you can add currency conversion to any WordPress page using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, JPY, etc …) with this plugin.
How To Use Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WP pages, posts and widgets with no programming knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell goods online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show your price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To display this information, you will need to insert the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 189.00, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode looks after being added to a product page …
After publishing your content, your converted currency amount will then appear as shown below …
Using the above example, let’s also convert the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below now shows how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
Once the page or post has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as seen below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one you have set as the default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European customers (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode appears when added to your content …
After publishing your information, the currency conversion will then display as you can see below …
Using The Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets in the WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add any currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter will now show on your site’s sidebar with the settings you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you specify another symbol and update your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie