Are you planning to sell products online globally? If so, then you may want to consider providing your web visitors with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce website.
Currency converting software allows your prospects to convert international currency transactions into their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also lets customers see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One advantage of displaying currency conversion on your website is that it allows your customers to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s easy to add a currency conversion plugin to your website or blog, allowing your visitors to easily work out the cost of your goods.
WP Free Currency Converting Plugin – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s free!
Plugin features include the following:
- In-line converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Google, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various online store plugins like WP-eCommerce and Shopp.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Supports full translations
Note: This 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 hosting company to check and 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 “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose your base currency from a drop-down menu if you prefer to use a different currency than the default option ‘USD’ …
You can also specify any supported data provider from the dropdown menu in the Provider section. The default option 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 select Open Exchange Rates, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how frequently you want the exchange rates to be updated by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this setting …
Edit the rest of the settings to suit your preferences and don’t forget to click Save Changes when done …
After you have finished configuring your plugin settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP page using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in this plugin.
Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WordPress posts, pages and widgets with no web coding skills or knowledge using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling your product for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
To display this information, you simply need to insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 165.49, 22.00, 400.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks after being added to a post …
When the post has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as you can see below …
Using the above example, let’s also convert the same amount into different currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing your page, the converted currency will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
Once the content has been published, your currency conversion will then display as shown in the screenshot below …
Using The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar area using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add the currency codes you would like to display on your widget separated by commas), and click Save to save your settings …
Your currency converter will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
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, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices using the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you change this symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With WP e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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