Are you planning to sell goods online globally? If so, then here’s a good idea: think about providing users with a currency conversion service.
Currency converting software tools allow your customers to have the price of a foreign currency transaction translated to their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also lets customers see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One benefit of showing currency conversion is that it lets customers see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s quite easy and simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to quickly and easily work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Converting Plugin
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
The Currencyr plugin features:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo! & Open Exchange Rates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, Shop and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Translation support
Important: The Currencyr 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 update your PHP.
***
You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking “Install Now” …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can get to the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your 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 ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can also choose which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default selection is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose one of the other options, like European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how often you would like the exchange rates to be updated by selecting 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 (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, simply ignore this section …
Edit the rest of the settings according to your own preferences and click the ‘Save Changes’ button when done …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any WP post using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with this plugin.
How To Use Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling your products for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show this price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To display this information, simply insert the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 19.95, 197.00, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode will look once you have added it to the page or post …
After publishing the content, the currency conversion will display as shown below …
Using the same example, let’s also translate the same price into different currency formats.
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 above shortcode appears when inserted into a post …
Once your content has been published, the currency conversion will then display as shown below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to use a different base currency than the one you have set as the 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 (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
Once the post has been published, the currency conversion will then appear like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar area using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
Your currency converter will now show on the 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 plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify the symbol 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, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you change this symbol and resave your settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Platform Integration
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group