Do you plan to sell products online internationally? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing users with a currency conversion tool.
Currency conversion software allows your visitors to have the cost of an international currency amount translated into their local currency when purchasing or checking out products on e-commerce sites. It also allows customers to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One advantage of displaying currency conversion on your site is that it lets visitors see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s simple to add currency conversion via a plugin to your WordPress website or blog, allowing your prospective customers to quickly and easily work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Converting Plugin For WP Web Sites
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique converter tooltip. It’s also free!
This currency conversion WP plugin includes a number of features like the following:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with a number of online store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin requires your server to be running 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 web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP 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 selecting Currencyr from your WordPress admin user area …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose your base currency from a drop-down menu. The default base currency is ’US Dollar’ …
Similarly, you can select 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 select one of the other options, such as European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you would like to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can simply ignore this setting …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings to suit your own preferences and remember to click the Save Changes button when you have configured this screen …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to your WordPress site’s posts using a shortcode.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WordPress pages, posts and widgets with no technical skills or knowledge using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell goods for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
To do this, you simply need to insert the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 22.00, 399.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode should look when inserting it into the post or page …
After publishing your post or page, the currency conversion will appear as you can see in the screenshot below …
Using this example, let’s now translate the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (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 a post …
After publishing the content, the converted currency amounts will then display as you can see below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one you have set as your default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode looks when added to a page …
Once the content has been published, the converted currency will then display as seen below …
Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your site’s sidebar using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add any currency codes you want displaying on your widget separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter will now show on your site’s sidebar with the settings you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the Currencyr 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 section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices with the forward slash as shown below …
If you change the symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: 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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