Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce site or selling products internationally? If so, you may want to consider providing your prospects with a currency conversion service.
Currency conversion software allows your customers to have the price of an international currency transaction converted into their home currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also lets your visitors see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One advantage of providing currency conversion on your site is that it lets your customers view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to currency conversion to WordPress using a plugin, allowing your customers to quickly perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your goods.
WordPress Currency Converting Plugin – Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Some of the features of this useful plugin include:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of online store plugins such as WooCommerce, Shop and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full language translation support
Important: The Currencyr plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the “Install Now” button …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress administration menu …
The plugin settings screen provides a number of configuration settings …
For example, you can select a base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu if you prefer something other than the default option ’USD’ …
You can choose any supported data provider from a drop-down menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose one of the other options, like FoxRate or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you want to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings according to your own preferences and click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
When you have configured your plugin settings, you can add currency conversion to WP pages using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Currencyr Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets without having to edit 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 an item for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To display this information, simply insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 97.00, 400.00, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode should look once you have added it to the product page …
Once the page has been published, your currency conversion will then display as seen in the example below …
Using this example, let’s now translate the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks when added to a page …
Once the post has been published, the currency conversion will then appear as seen in the example below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one selected as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when added to a post …
Once the information has been published, the currency conversion will then display as seen below …
How To Use The Plugin Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website or blog’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from the WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add 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 …
The currency converter tool will now display on the sidebar menu 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 multiple 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 a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you select another symbol and update your settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Using The Plugin With WP-Compatible e-Commerce Software
As described earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)