Are you planning to set up an e-commerce website, or sell goods and services globally? If so, then here’s a good idea: think about providing users with currency conversion.
Currency conversion tools let your customers have the price of an international currency transaction converted to their home currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also allows visitors to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One advantage of showing currency conversion on your website 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 work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, it’s really easy and simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to your WP website or blog, allowing your prospective customers to quickly understand the cost of your products.
WordPress Currency Conversion Plugin – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s completely free to install and use on your WP website or blog.
Some of the features of this plugin include the following:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce & Shopp.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Full support for language translations
Note: This plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP. Ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your administration menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can choose a base currency from a dropdown menu. The default option is ’United States Dollar’ …
You can also choose which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default option is Yahoo Finance, but you can choose one of the other options, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how frequently you would like the exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Configure the remainder of the settings to suit your needs and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have configured all of your options …
When you have finished configuring your plugin settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP post or page using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets with no web coding knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell goods for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To do this, just add the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 89.95, 79.45, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks after being inserted into your post or page …
When your page has been published, the converted currency amount will display as you can see below …
Using this example, let’s also convert the same amount into multiple currencies.
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 looks when added to a page …
After publishing your information, the currency conversion will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that 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 e-commerce pages targeted to non-European visitors (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below now shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing the information, your converted currency will then display as seen below …
Using The Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress 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 below (add any currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have selected …
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 change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values with a forward slash as shown below …
If you change the symbol and update your settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As described earlier, the plugin can be integrated 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 can go and 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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"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)