Are you planning to set up an e-commerce web site using WordPress, or sell goods to an overseas market? If so, you should probably consider providing users with a currency conversion tool.
Currency converting software tools let your prospective customers translate foreign currency amounts into their local currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also lets visitors view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
One benefit of putting currency conversion is that it lets your customers view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add a currency conversion plugin to currency conversion to your WordPress website or blog using a plugin, allowing your visitors to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your site.
The Currencyr plugin features:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google & European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full language translation support
Important: This 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. Ask your web host to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings area by selecting Currencyr from your WP admin user area …
The plugin settings screen offers you a number of configuration settings …
For example, you can select your base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu if you prefer to use a different currency than the default option ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can select any supported data provider from a dropdown menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can choose one of the other options, such as European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how frequently you would like the exchange rates to update by specifying an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Configure the rest of the settings to suit your own needs and don’t forget to click Save Changes when done …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to your WordPress blog’s posts and pages using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with this plugin.
How To Use Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to posts, pages 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 WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail your product on your website for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below into your page content …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 79.45, 544.97, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks after you have added it to your post …
After publishing the post or page, your converted currency amount will then display as you can see in the example below …
Using the same example, let’s now translate the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode below (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
After publishing the content, your currency conversion will then appear as seen in the screenshot below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to select a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to non-European customers (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below shows how the above shortcode appears when added to your content …
After publishing your content, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on your 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 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, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you select another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With WordPress e-Commerce Software
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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