Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or making goods or services available for sale internationally? If so, then here’s a great idea: consider providing users with currency conversion.
Currency converting software tools allow your prospective customers to translate international currency transactions to their local currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also allows visitors and customers to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
The obvious benefit of putting currency conversion is that it allows visitors to view 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 really easy to add currency conversion via a plugin to WordPress, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily understand the cost of your goods.
WP Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your website.
Plugin features include the following:
- Inline converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Yahoo! and FoxRates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Translation support
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs 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 webhosting provider to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings screen by selecting Currencyr from your administration navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default option is ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose a data provider from the drop-down menu in the Provider section. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select one of the other options, like FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can select how often you would like to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can just ignore this section …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings and remember to click Save Changes when done …
When you have finished configuring your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP post using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP posts, pages and widgets without having to mess with code using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell an item on your website for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 6.95, 37.95, 1356.87, etc …)
The example below shows how the above shortcode will look once you have added it to a page …
After publishing your page or post, the currency conversion will display like this …
Using the above example, let’s now display the same amount 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 shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
After publishing your information, the converted currency amounts will then appear as shown below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to use a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to visitors in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when added to your content …
After publishing your post or page, your converted currency amounts will then appear like this …
Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your 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 change the 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 you can see in the screenshot below …
If you specify another symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Software
As mentioned earlier, the plugin integrates with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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