Do you plan to sell goods online worldwide? If so, then you may want to consider providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software tools let your web visitors have the cost of a foreign currency amount converted into their home currency at the point of sale. It also lets visitors and customers view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
One benefit of adding currency conversion to your website is that it lets your customers see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to your WP site, allowing your site visitors to easily calculate the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WP Currency Converter
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WordPress website or blog.
Some of the features of this great plugin include the following:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google & European Central Bank
- 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.
- Can determine local currency automatically
- Supports full translations
Note: This 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. Alternatively, ask your web host to update your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress dashboard 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 by choosing Currencyr from your WP admin user navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default base currency is ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose a data provider from a drop-down menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can select one of the other options, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how frequently you would like the exchange rates to update 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, leave this option alone …
Edit the rest of the settings according to your own needs and remember to click the Save Changes button when finished …
Once you have finished configuring your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to WordPress pages using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets without having to mess with your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail your product online for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also display amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 47.00, 149.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when inserting it into a post …
When the page or post has been published, the currency conversion will then display as seen below …
Using the same example, let’s also convert the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to your content …
After publishing the page or post, the converted currency amounts will then appear as you can see below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to select a different base currency than the one set 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 visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
Once the content has been published, your converted currency amounts will then display like this …
Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your site’s sidebar menu using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets from the 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 in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click Save to save your settings …
Your currency converter will now appear on your site’s 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 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) …
Separates all your currency values using a forward slash as shown below …
If you select another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Using The Plugin With WordPress-Compatible e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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