Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or selling products internationally? If so, then you should consider providing your prospects with a currency conversion feature.
Currency converting software allows your prospects to translate foreign currency prices to their local currency when purchasing products on e-commerce sites. It also allows visitors and customers to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
The obvious advantage of adding currency conversion is that it lets visitors see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your site visitors to easily calculate the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Converting Tool For WordPress
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Plugin features include:
- Inline converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various online shopping plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Supports full translations
Note: The Currencyr plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your web hosting support team 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 “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings section by selecting Currencyr from your WP admin area …
The plugin settings page offers you many configuration settings …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you prefer something other than the default option ’United States Dollar’ …
Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also 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) will be required …
You can select how often you want the 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 (like WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Edit the rest of the settings and click the ‘Save Changes’ button when finished …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP page or post 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 this plugin.
How To Use Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WP pages, posts and widgets with no web coding knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling an item online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display the price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your page content …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 19.95, 37.95, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks after being added to your post or page …
After the page or post has been published, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using this example, let’s also display the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode looks when added to a page …
After publishing your content, your converted currency will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like 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 website targeted to customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
Once your page or post has been published, the converted currency will then appear like this …
How To Use The Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar section using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add any currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
Your currency converter will now appear on your sidebar with the options you have specified when configuring the widget …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful 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 select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices using a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you change this symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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