Are you planning to set up an e-commerce website with WordPress, or sell products online? If so, then you should probably consider providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce website.
Currency conversion software tools allow your customers to translate international currency amounts into their local currency at the point of sale. 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 providing currency conversion on your site is that it allows visitors to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s quite easy to add currency conversion using a plugin to currency conversion to your website or blog via a plugin, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Currency Converting Plugin
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. And, it’s also free to install and use on your website or blog.
The Currencyr useful plugin features:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Google and European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Full support for language translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your web host 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 section and clicking the “Install” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings page by selecting Currencyr from your WP dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default currency is ’US Dollar’ …
Similarly, you can specify which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select one of the other options, like FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can choose how frequently you would like to update the exchange rates by selecting 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 (such as WP plugins).
Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Edit the rest of the settings and click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
Once you have configured your settings, you can add currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with this plugin.
Using Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WordPress pages, posts and widgets with no technical knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling goods online for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 47.00, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode will look when inserting it into a page …
After your page has been published, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
Using the above example, let’s also convert the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
Once the post has been published, your converted currency will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, let’s say that you want to select a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, if you have set 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 …
Here’s how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
Once the post or page has been published, your converted currency will then appear like this …
How To Use The Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
Your currency converter tool will now display on your sidebar with the options you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the Multiple Separator settings field.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency amounts using a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you modify this symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With WordPress e-Commerce Software
As mentioned earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from plugin site)
And there you have it! 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:
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