Are you planning to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell your products online? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your website.
Currency converting tools allow your prospects to have the cost of an international currency amount translated into their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows your visitors to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One 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 purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s simple to add a currency conversion plugin to your website or blog, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily work out the cost of your goods.
WordPress Free Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. And, it’s completely free to install and use on your WP web site.
Some of the many useful features of this plugin include the following:
- Inline converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Full language translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your web hosting provider to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP 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 choosing Currencyr from your WP dashboard navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu if you prefer to use a different currency than the default option ’USD’ …
You can also select a data provider from the drop-down menu in the Provider section. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also choose another provider, like European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can specify how frequently you want to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down 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 WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can just ignore this section …
Edit the rest of the settings and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when done …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets with no programming knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you sell your products on your website for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, simply add the following shortcode to your page content …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 188.35, 97.00, 149.00, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode will look after being added to the page …
When the content has been published, the currency conversion will appear like this …
Using the above example, let’s now display the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to your content …
After publishing your page or post, your converted currency amounts will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to select a different base currency than the one selected as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site 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 post …
Once the page has been published, the converted currency amounts will then display as shown in the screenshot below …
Using The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area 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 update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your sidebar with the settings you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you change the symbol and resave your settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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