Do you plan to sell goods or services online internationally? If so, you may want to think about providing users with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software tools allow your prospective customers to have the cost of a foreign currency transaction converted into their local currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also lets visitors and customers see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One advantage of putting currency conversion is that it allows visitors to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add currency conversion using a plugin to currency conversion to WordPress via a plugin, allowing your customers to easily perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s also free!
The Currencyr useful WP plugin features:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google & European Central Bank
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Ask your webhosting provider to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking “Install Now” …
When the plugin has been installed and activated, you can access the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress administration menu …
The plugin settings page provides several configuration options …
For example, you can select your base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu if you prefer a different currency than the default option ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can specify which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose another option, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can select how often you would like to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this setting …
Edit the rest of the settings to suit your own needs and don’t forget to click Save Changes when finished …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to your WordPress site’s pages or posts using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, CAD, etc …) in this plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WP 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 WP posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling a product online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 155.25, 47.00, 129.10, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks after being inserted into a post …
Once the page has been published, the converted currency amount will then appear like this …
Using the same example, let’s now convert the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
Once the post has been published, the converted currency will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify 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 e-commerce pages 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 looks when inserted into your content …
Once your post has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
Currencyr Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your site’s sidebar using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the example below (add the currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional 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 specify another symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and 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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