Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce web site or selling products internationally? If so, then it’s a good idea to consider providing your prospects with a currency conversion service.
Currency converting software tools allow your visitors to have the price of an international currency transaction translated to their local currency when purchasing products online. It also lets your visitors and customers view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
The obvious advantage of adding currency conversion is that it lets your customers see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, it’s quite simple to add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to easily calculate the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Converter For WP Websites And Blogs
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique converter tooltip. And, it’s also free to install and use on your WP website.
The Currencyr plugin includes practical features like:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Google and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of e-store plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Supports full language translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Ask your web hosting support team to check and upgrade your PHP server installation if needed.
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You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WP administration menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can select a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu if you prefer to use a different currency than the default option ‘USD’ …
You can specify which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the Provider section. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also choose another provider, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how frequently you want to update the exchange rates by selecting 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 (e.g. WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings and don’t forget to click the Save Changes button when done …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to your WP posts using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in this plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets with no technical knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling an item for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 155.25, 47.00, 149.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when added to a product page …
When your page or post has been published, your currency conversion will appear like this …
Using the same example, let’s now translate the same amount into multiple currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
After publishing your page, your currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you want to select 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 site targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
Once your content has been published, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
How To Use The Plugin Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your sidebar menu 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 allows you to specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values with a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you change this symbol and update your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like 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 e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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