Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site with WordPress, or sell goods or services worldwide? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing users with a currency conversion service.
Currency conversion software lets your web visitors translate foreign currency prices to their home currency at the buying or checkout phase. It also lets your visitors see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
The obvious advantage of displaying currency conversion on your website is that it allows visitors to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s easy to add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your customers to quickly understand the cost of your products.
WP Currency Conversion Plugin – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Some of the many features of this plugin include:
- Inline converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Translation support
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Alternatively, ask your webhosting support team to upgrade your PHP.
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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 dashboard navigation menu …
The plugin settings area offers you many configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from a dropdown menu. The default base currency is ’USD’ …
You can also choose any supported data provider from the drop-down menu in the Provider section. The default option is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another provider, like FoxRate or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how frequently you would like the exchange rates to be updated by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings according to your own preferences and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have finished configuring this screen …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WordPress posts, pages and widgets without editing your web templates using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling your product for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 165.49, 37.95, 399.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks after being added to a page …
After publishing the content, the converted currency amount will appear like this …
Using the same example, let’s now convert the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when added to a page …
Once your page has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to select a different base currency than the one set 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 non-European visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing the post, your converted currency amounts will then appear as shown below …
Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar area using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in the WP user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget options as shown in the example below (add the currency codes you want displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
Your currency converter tool will now show on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional 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 prices with the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you specify another symbol and update your settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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