Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or selling products internationally? If so, then it’s a good idea to think about providing your prospects with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce site.
Currency conversion tools let your prospective customers translate international currency pricing to their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also lets your visitors view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
The obvious advantage of adding currency conversion is that it allows customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s easy and simple to add currency conversion via a plugin to your WP website, allowing your prospective customers to quickly understand the cost of your products.
Currencyr – WP Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Plugin features include:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of online store plugins like WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full support for language translations
Note: This plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Ask your web hosting provider to check and upgrade your PHP.
***
You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WordPress admin user area …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can select a base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you want a different currency than the default option ’US Dollar’ …
You can specify a data provider from a drop-down menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also select another option, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how often you would like to update the currency exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates dropdown 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. WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, simply ignore this option …
Edit the remainder of the settings according to your preferences and remember to click Save Changes when you have configured this page …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP post using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WP pages, posts and widgets with no technical knowledge using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling an item on your website for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show your price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
To display this information, just add the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 22.00, 149.00, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode looks after you have added it to your post …
When the page has been published, your currency conversion will then display as you can see below …
Using this example, let’s now display the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
Once your page has been published, your converted currency amounts will then appear like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to select a different base currency than the one set as your 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 non-European visitors (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode appears when added to a page …
After publishing the content, your converted currency will then display as shown below …
Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your site’s sidebar using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your site’s sidebar with the settings you have specified …
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 change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you enter another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
WordPress E-Commerce
As mentioned earlier, the plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
And there you have it! 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:
***
"I love the way your email series "Infinite Web Content Creation Training Series" is documented and presented. It is very absorbing and captivating. The links and tutorials are interesting and educational. This has motivated me to rewrite my content following the concepts I am learning from the email series." - Mani Raju, www.fortuneinewaste.com