Are you planning to set up an e-commerce web site with WordPress, or sell products to a foreign customer base? If so, then here’s a great idea: consider providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency conversion allows your prospective customers to convert international currency prices to their local currency when purchasing products online. It also lets your customers see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
One advantage of adding currency conversion to your website is that it allows customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, you can add currency conversion using a plugin to currency conversion to WordPress via a plugin, allowing your customers to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converter For WP Websites & Blogs
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Plugin features include:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Translation support
Important: This plugin needs 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 company to update your PHP server installation.
***
You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can get to the plugin’s settings area by selecting Currencyr from your admin user menu …
The plugin settings area provides various configuration options …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu if you want a different currency than the default option ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can select a data provider from a dropdown menu. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can choose another provider, like European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how often you would like to update the currency exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr 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 change the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and remember to click Save Changes when finished …
After 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 more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WordPress pages, posts and widgets without having to mess with your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress 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 the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert prices in dollars and cents (for example, 175.00, 47.00, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks after being inserted into your post or page …
After publishing your post, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
Using the same example, let’s also translate the same amount into different currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode below (add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
After publishing the post or page, your currency conversion will then display as seen below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to select a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, if you have specified 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 …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when added to your content …
Once your post or page has been published, the converted currency will then display as you can see below …
Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your site’s sidebar area using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the example below (add any currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by commas), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now display on your website’s sidebar with the settings you have specified when configuring the widget …
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) …
Separates all your currency values with the forward slash as shown below …
If you modify this symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now