Do you plan to sell goods online to an online market? If so, then here’s a great idea: consider providing your web visitors with a currency conversion tool.
Currency conversion allows your visitors to convert foreign currency pricing into their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows visitors to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion to your website is that it lets visitors view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your visitors to easily calculate the cost of your goods.
WP Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
The Currencyr useful WP plugin includes a number of features such as:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo! and European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of online shopping plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full language translation support
Important: This plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your web host to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings screen by choosing Currencyr from your administration area …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default option is (‘USD’) …
You can choose any supported data provider from a drop-down menu. The default selection 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’, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can select how frequently you would like to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr 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 modify the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings to suit your own preferences and click Save Changes when done …
When you have finished configuring your plugin settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without having to edit code using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling your product for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, simply add the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also display amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 155.25, 22.00, 149.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks when inserting it into a post …
After publishing your content, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using the above example, let’s now translate the same amount into different currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
Once the post or page has been published, the currency conversion will then appear 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 want to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to customers in 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 inserted into your content …
Once the post has been published, your converted currency will then display like this …
Currencyr Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your site’s sidebar section using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress 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 in the screenshot below (add any currency codes you would like to display on your widget separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency converter will now show on your sidebar with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the 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 change the 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 change the symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Software
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Shopp …
(above image sourced from plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your WordPress site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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