Are you planning to set up an e-commerce web site with WordPress, or sell products globally? If so, then it’s a great idea to consider providing your potential customers with currency conversion.
Currency conversion lets your prospects convert international currency transactions into their local currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also allows visitors and customers to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
The obvious benefit of adding currency conversion to your site is that it allows customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add a currency conversion plugin to your site, allowing your prospective customers to easily perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s completely free!
This useful plugin features:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Google, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-store plugins such as WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can determine local currency automatically
- Full support for language translations
Note: This plugin requires 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. Ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
***
You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can get to the plugin’s settings screen by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress dashboard navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select a base currency from a dropdown menu if you prefer something other than the default option ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can select any supported data provider 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 select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how often you want to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WP plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, simply ignore this setting …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings to suit your needs and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when done …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP post using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, ZAR, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WP posts, pages and widgets without having to edit your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail an item on your site for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show this amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (for example, 165.49, 22.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode will look when added to the post or page …
Once your page has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
Using this example, let’s now translate the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when added to a page …
After publishing your page, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to use a different base currency than the one you have set as your 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 above shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
After publishing your page, the currency conversion will then appear as seen in the example below …
Plugin Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar section using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the example below (add any currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify the symbol 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) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you modify this symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
WP E-Commerce
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com