Are you planning to sell products online to a global audience? If so, then you may want to consider providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your site.
Currency conversion software lets your visitors have the cost of a foreign currency amount converted to their home currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also allows visitors to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
The obvious benefit of providing currency conversion is that it allows customers to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add a currency conversion plugin to currency conversion to your web site via a plugin, allowing your visitors to easily determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, 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.
Plugin features include the following:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Google and Open Exchange Rates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various online store plugins like WP-eCommerce & Shopp.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Full support for language translations
Note: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Ask your webhosting provider to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
When the plugin has been installed and activated, you can visit the plugin’s settings area by selecting Currencyr from your WP administration area …
The plugin settings screen provides various configuration settings …
For example, you can choose your base currency from a drop-down menu. The default currency is ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can specify which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also choose another provider, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how often you want to update the 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 (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings and click Save Changes when you have finished configuring this screen …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress page using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) in this plugin.
Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WP posts, pages and widgets without touching your web templates 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 sell goods online for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 197.00, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode should look after you have inserted it into a post …
After publishing the information, your converted currency will then display like this …
Using this example, let’s also translate the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
After publishing the content, the currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you want to select a different base currency than the one you have selected as the 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 (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing your post or page, the currency conversion will then display like this …
How To Use The Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your site’s sidebar area using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click Save to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now display on your sidebar with the options you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to 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 the forward slash as shown below …
If you choose another symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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