Do you plan to sell goods online worldwide? If so, then here’s a great idea: think about providing users with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software lets your prospective customers translate foreign currency transactions to their local currency at the point of sale. It also lets customers see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their home currency.
The obvious benefit of adding currency conversion is that it lets visitors view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily work out the cost of your products.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converting Plugin For WP Sites
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your website.
This useful WP plugin includes many features such as:
- In-line converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Google, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can determine local currency automatically
- 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 are running an older version of PHP. Alternatively, ask your web hosting support team to update your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the “Install” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin user menu …
The plugin settings page offers you various configuration options …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu. The default base currency is ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose any supported data provider from a dropdown menu. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can choose another option, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how often you want the exchange rates to be updated by specifying an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings according to your preferences and don’t forget to click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using a shortcode.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, ZAR, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets with no web coding skills using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail an item for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, simply add the shortcode below to your page content …
Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (for example, 89.95, 29.95, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks once you have added it to a post or page …
Once your information has been published, your converted currency amount will then display like this …
Using the above example, let’s now display the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
After publishing the page or post, your currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to use a different base currency than the one you have selected as your default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to non-European visitors (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
After publishing the page or post, the currency conversion will then display like this …
How To Use The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website or blog’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add any currency codes you would like to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter will now show on your website’s sidebar with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you 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) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you enter another 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 stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your WordPress web site.
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)