Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce site or selling goods internationally? If so, then it’s a good idea to consider providing your web visitors with a currency conversion feature.
Currency conversion allows your visitors to have the cost of a foreign currency amount converted into their local currency at the point of sale. It also allows your visitors to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
One great advantage of providing currency conversion on your site is that it allows visitors to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s simple to add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your visitors to easily determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converting Tool For WP Websites & Blogs
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WP website or blog.
This currency conversion plugin features:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shop and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Translation support
Note: The Currencyr 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. Ask your web host to 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 “Install Now” …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin area …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can select your base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you want a different currency than the default option (USD) …
You can choose which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select one of the other options, such as European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how frequently you want the exchange rates to be updated by choosing 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 (e.g. WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can add currency conversion to any WP page using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to posts, pages and widgets without touching code using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail your product for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
To display this information, simply insert the following shortcode to your page content …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (for example, 6.95, 189.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode looks when added to the post …
After the information has been published, your currency conversion will appear as seen below …
Using the above example, let’s also translate the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing your information, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to use a different base currency than the one set as the default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to visitors in countries 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 a page …
Once the post or page has been published, your converted currency will then display as shown below …
Using The Currencyr Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress 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 in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click Save to save your settings …
The currency converter tool will now display on the sidebar with the settings you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional 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 multiple currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency amounts with a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you specify another symbol and resave your settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used 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 such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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