Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell goods online? If so, then it’s a good idea to think about providing your prospects with the convenience of currency conversion on your site.
Currency conversion software tools allow your customers to convert foreign currency transactions into their home currency at the buying or checkout phase. It also lets your visitors see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One advantage of providing currency conversion on your website is that it lets visitors view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, it’s easy to add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to quickly calculate the cost of your products.
Currencyr – WP Free Currency Converting Plugin
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your site.
Great plugin features include:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Google, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of online store plugins like WooCommerce, Shop & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- 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 are running an older version of PHP. Alternatively, ask your web hosting provider to update your PHP.
***
You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP dashboard navigation menu …
The plugin settings area provides several configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from a dropdown menu if you prefer a different currency than the default option ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can also specify any supported data provider from a drop-down menu. 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 choose Open Exchange Rates, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how often you want the currency exchange rates to update by specifying an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can just ignore this setting …
Configure the rest of the settings according to your preferences and remember to click the Save Changes button when done …
When you have configured your plugin settings, you can add currency conversion to any WP page using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets with no web coding knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail goods for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, simply insert the shortcode below to your page content …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 155.25, 47.00, 1356.87, etc …)
The example below shows how the above shortcode will look once you have added it to your post …
After publishing your page, the currency conversion will then display like this …
Using the same example, let’s also translate the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when added to a post …
After publishing your post or page, the converted currency will then display as shown below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to use a different base currency than the one selected as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European customers (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
Once your page or post has been published, your currency conversion will then display as shown below …
Using The Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now appear on your sidebar with the settings you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the Multiple Separator settings field.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you choose another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image source: plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)