Do you sell goods online to a global market? If so, then here’s a great idea: consider providing your potential customers with a currency conversion service.
Currency conversion tools let your customers convert foreign currency transactions to their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows visitors and customers to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion to your website is that it allows your customers to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s easy and simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to your web site, allowing your site visitors to quickly perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr – Currency Converting Plugin For WordPress
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique converter tooltip. And, it’s also free!
Some of the many features of this useful plugin include the following:
- In-line converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo! & Open Exchange Rates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full translation support
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP. Ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WordPress admin area …
The plugin settings screen provides several configuration options …
For example, you can choose a base currency from a drop-down menu if you prefer a different currency than the default option ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose a data provider from a dropdown menu. The default option is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose another option, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how frequently you want the currency exchange rates to be updated by specifying an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The 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).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Edit the rest of the settings to suit your needs and remember to click Save Changes when you have finished configuring this section …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP post or page using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Currencyr Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WordPress pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you sell an item online for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below into your page content …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 89.95, 37.95, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when added to your post or page …
After publishing the post or page, your currency conversion will then display as you can see below …
Using the same example, let’s also convert the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when inserted into a post …
Once the post has been published, the currency conversion will then display as seen in the screenshot below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify a different base currency than the one you have set as the default.
For example, say 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 …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode appears when added to your content …
After publishing the page, your currency conversion will then display as you can see below …
Using The Currencyr Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your site’s sidebar using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an ‘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 will now display on your site’s sidebar with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the 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 select a different 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 example below …
If you change the symbol and update your settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Using The Plugin With WordPress-Compatible e-Commerce Software
As mentioned earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(above image sourced from plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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