Are you planning to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell products globally? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency converting software lets your visitors convert international currency prices to their home currency at the point of sale. It also lets your visitors and customers see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their home currency.
One advantage of putting currency conversion on your website is that it allows customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add a currency converter to currency conversion to your website using a plugin, allowing your visitors to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converting Plugin For WP Websites
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WordPress site.
Some of the many features of this plugin include the following:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with various online shopping plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Full translation support
Important: The Currencyr plugin requires your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin menu …
The plugin settings section provides various configuration settings …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default option is ‘USD’ …
You can also select a data provider from a drop-down menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also select one of the other options, like FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can select how often you want the exchange rates to update by choosing 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 (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the remainder of the plugin settings and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have configured all of your options …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets with no programming skills using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WP posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail goods for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 29.95, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks after being added to your page or post …
After publishing your post or page, your converted currency will appear like this …
Using this example, let’s also convert the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
After publishing your page or post, your converted currency amounts will then display as shown in the screenshot below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you want to use a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to non-European visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
Once the content has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as shown below …
Using The Plugin Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your website’s sidebar area using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress user 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 below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency converter will now show on the sidebar with the settings you have selected …
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 the forward slash as shown below …
If you specify another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce and Shopp …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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