Are you planning to set up an e-commerce site, or sell goods internationally? If so, then here’s a good idea: think about providing your potential customers with a currency conversion service.
Currency converting software tools let your site visitors convert international currency transactions to their home currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also lets visitors and customers see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion is that it allows visitors to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to WordPress, allowing your visitors to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WordPress website or blog.
This useful WP plugin includes many great features like:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & European Central Bank
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Full language translation support
Important: The Currencyr plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP server installation.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress administration area …
The plugin settings section offers you several configuration settings …
For example, you can select your base currency from a dropdown menu if you want something other than the default option (USD) …
Similarly, you can choose a data provider from a dropdown menu. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also choose another option, 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 often you would like to update the currency exchange rates 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. WP plugins).
Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can simply ignore this section …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings according to your preferences and click Save Changes when you have finished configuring this screen …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily start adding currency conversion to your WordPress site’s posts using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with this plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without having to edit your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WordPress posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling your product on your website for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To display this information, just add the shortcode below to your page content …
Note: You can also display pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 79.45, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode looks after you have added it to a post …
After your page has been published, your converted currency amount will then display as you can see below …
Using the above example, let’s also translate the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
Once your post has been published, the currency conversion will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to specify a different base currency than the one you have set as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to visitors in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below shows how the shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
After publishing your information, your converted currency will then appear like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your site’s sidebar area using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress user 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 below (add the 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 display on your sidebar with the settings you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify the symbol 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) …
Displays your currency values separated by the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify the symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
WP E-Commerce
As stated earlier, the plugin integrates with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your WordPress site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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