Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce web site or making goods available for sale worldwide? If so, then it’s a good idea to consider providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software allows your visitors to translate foreign currency transactions into their home currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also allows visitors and customers to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
The obvious advantage of adding currency conversion is that it lets visitors view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your customers to quickly determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Some of the many useful features of this useful plugin include:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google & European Central Bank
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with a number of online shopping plugins like WooCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Supports full translations
Note: This plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area 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 dashboard area …
The plugin settings section provides various configuration settings …
For example, you can select your base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu. The default option is ’United States Dollar’ …
Similarly, you can specify which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can select one of the other options, like FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how frequently you want to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings and click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
After you have configured your settings, you can easily add currency conversion to your WP pages and posts using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WordPress posts, pages and widgets without having to edit your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling your product online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show this price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To do this, you will need to insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (for example, 165.49, 97.00, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks when added to a post …
Once your post has been published, the currency conversion will display like this …
Using the above example, let’s also display the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
After publishing the page, the currency conversion will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
After publishing the post, the converted currency amounts will then display like this …
How To Use The Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar area using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets from the WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
Your currency converter will now show on your sidebar with the options 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 field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you choose another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)