Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell your products internationally? If so, you should probably think about providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce website.
Currency conversion tools allow your prospects to have the cost of an international currency transaction translated to their home 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 own local currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion to your site is that it lets visitors see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add currency conversion using a plugin to your web site, allowing your customers to quickly and easily work out the cost of your products.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converting Plugin For WordPress
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Plugin features include:
- In-line converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google and European Central Bank
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Full support for language translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin requires your server to be running 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 hosting support team to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
When the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you prefer to use something other than the default option ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can also specify a data provider from the drop-down menu in the Provider section. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can select one of the other options, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how often you would like to update the exchange rates by specifying 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 (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Edit the remainder of the settings and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have finished configuring this section …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can add currency conversion to any WP post or page using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in this plugin.
Using Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets with no web coding knowledge using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail an item for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 16.95, 97.00, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode will look when added to your product page …
After publishing the information, your currency conversion will then display like this …
Using the same example, let’s now translate the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
After publishing your post, your currency conversion will then display as you can see in the example below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to use a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to visitors in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to your content …
After publishing the page or post, the currency conversion will then appear as seen in the example below …
Using The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful 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 change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices using a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you specify another symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Software
As stated earlier, the plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to 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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