Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods and services internationally? If so, then you should probably think about providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your website.
Currency converting tools allow your web visitors to have the price of an international currency amount converted into their local currency at the point of sale. It also allows visitors and customers to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One benefit of putting currency conversion is that it allows your customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to WordPress, allowing your visitors to quickly perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your goods.
WordPress Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your WordPress site.
Plugin features include the following:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Google & European Central Bank
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with various e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Full support for language translations
Note: The Currencyr plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
***
You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings section by selecting Currencyr from your WP administration area …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can select your base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you prefer to use something other than the default option (USD) …
Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from the dropdown menu in the Provider section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose one of the other options, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how frequently you would like the exchange rates to be updated by choosing 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 (such as WP plugins).
Unless there is a reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings to suit your needs and click Save Changes when you have configured all of your settings …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to your WP posts or pages using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WP pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WordPress posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail goods on your site for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
To do this, just insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 155.25, 189.00, 295.75, etc …)
The example below shows how the above shortcode will look when inserting it into a page or post …
When the post has been published, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using this example, let’s also translate the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
Once the page has been published, the converted currency will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to use a different base currency than the one you have set 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 visitors (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing your page or post, the currency conversion will then display as you can see in the screenshot below …
How To Use The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar area using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now appear on your website’s sidebar menu with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using multiple 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 amounts with the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify the symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With WordPress e-Commerce Software
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as 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 WordPress 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