Do you plan to set up an e-commerce website with WordPress, or sell goods worldwide? If so, then it’s a good idea to consider providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency conversion lets your customers have the cost of an international currency amount translated to their local currency when purchasing products online. It also allows your visitors and customers to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion is that it allows visitors to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to currency conversion to your website or blog using a plugin, allowing your customers to quickly and easily understand the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Some of the useful features of this great plugin include:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, Shop & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Supports full language translations
Note: The Currencyr plugin requires 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. Alternatively, ask your web host to update your PHP server installation if needed.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the “Install” button …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings screen by selecting Currencyr from your admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default base currency is ’US Dollar’ …
Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another provider, 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 choose how often you would like the currency exchange rates to be updated by selecting 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 (like WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the rest of the settings to suit your own needs and click Save Changes when done …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can add currency conversion to your WP pages using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, ZAR, etc …) in this plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets with no coding skills 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 are selling goods on your website for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display the amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To display this information, simply add the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 89.95, 79.45, 295.75, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode looks once you have inserted it into the post …
After the page or post has been published, the converted currency amount will appear as shown below …
Using the same example, let’s now convert the same amount into multiple currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when added to a page …
After publishing your post or page, the converted currency will then display as shown below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to use a different base currency than the one you have 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 …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when added to a page …
Once the page has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as seen in the example below …
Using The Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your site’s sidebar section using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘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 conversion tool will now show on your site’s 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 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) …
Separates all your currency amounts with a forward slash as shown below …
If you select another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to 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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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)