Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce site or selling goods worldwide? If so, then you may want to consider providing your prospects with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce website.
Currency converting software tools let your visitors convert foreign currency pricing to their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also lets your visitors view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One great advantage of displaying currency conversion on your site is that it allows visitors to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, you can add a currency converter to your web site, allowing your prospective customers to quickly determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WordPress website.
The Currencyr currency conversion plugin includes many great features such as:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Supports full language translations
Important: This plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Ask your web host to check and 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 area and clicking “Install Now” …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you can visit the plugin’s settings area by choosing Currencyr from your dashboard area …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you prefer something other than the default option (USD) …
Similarly, you can choose which data provider you want to use from the dropdown menu in the Provider section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose one of the other options, such as 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 specify how frequently you would like the currency exchange rates to be updated by specifying an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can just ignore this section …
Configure the rest of the settings according to your own needs and remember to click the Save Changes button when done …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to WP pages or posts using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Using Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets with no coding knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you sell goods on your site for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also insert prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 165.49, 197.00, 400.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode will look after being added to a post …
When your post or page has been published, the currency conversion will then appear as shown below …
Using the above example, let’s also translate the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
Once your post or page has been published, the currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one selected 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 customers (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
After publishing your content, the currency conversion will then display as you can see below …
Currencyr Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your site’s sidebar section using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets in the WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings 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 update your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values using a forward slash as shown below …
If you modify this symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Using The Plugin With WordPress-Compatible e-Commerce Platforms
As mentioned earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your WordPress site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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