Are you planning to sell goods and services online internationally? If so, then you should probably think about providing your prospects with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce website.
Currency conversion software tools allow your site visitors to have the cost of a foreign currency transaction translated to their local currency when purchasing or checking out products on e-commerce sites. It also allows your visitors to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One benefit of showing currency conversion is that it allows customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to WordPress, allowing your site visitors to quickly understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Converting Tool For WP Websites
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. And, it’s free!
Some of the many features of this plugin include the following:
- In-line converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google and FoxRates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of online store plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Important: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your webhosting provider to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the “Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your dashboard menu …
The plugin settings page provides a number of configuration settings …
For example, you can select a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default base currency is ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from the dropdown menu in the Provider section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another option, such as European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you want the currency exchange rates to update by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Configure the rest of the settings and click Save Changes when finished …
After you have finished configuring your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to your WP blog’s pages using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WordPress pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling your products for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to display this price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your page content …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 175.00, 79.45, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks after you have added it to the post …
After publishing your post, the converted currency amount will then appear like this …
Using the above example, let’s now translate the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when added to a page …
After publishing your page, the converted currency will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to specify a different base currency than the one you have 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 customers (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
Once your post has been published, the converted currency will then display as you can see in the screenshot below …
How To Use The Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now display on your website’s sidebar with the options you have specified …
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 multiple currencies.
You can change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values with a forward slash as shown below …
If you change the symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As mentioned earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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