Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell goods online? If so, you should probably consider providing users with currency conversion.
Currency converting software allows your customers to have the cost of a foreign currency amount converted into their home currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also lets visitors see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
One great advantage of showing currency conversion is that it allows visitors to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your site visitors to quickly determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Conversion Plugin
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. And, it’s also free!
Some of the many useful features of this plugin include the following:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your web host to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion 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 choosing Currencyr from your WP administration area …
The plugin settings area provides various configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from a drop-down menu if you want a different currency than the default option ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can select any supported data provider from a drop-down menu. The default selection is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose another provider, such as European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how often you want the exchange rates to be updated by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings and remember to click Save Changes when finished …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily start adding currency conversion to WP pages using a shortcode.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets with no technical skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WordPress posts and pages:
Let’s say that you sell goods for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 6.95, 79.45, 400.00, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode should look after you have added it to a page or post …
After publishing the content, the converted currency amount will then appear as you can see in the example below …
Using the same example, let’s also translate the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when added to a page …
After publishing your page or post, the converted currency will then display as shown below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify a different base currency than the one 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 visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a post …
After publishing the content, the currency conversion will then display like this …
How To Use The Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress admin 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 below (add the currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency converter will now display on your site’s sidebar with the options you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify a symbol of your choice 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) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you select another symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
e-Commerce Platform Integration
As described earlier, the plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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