Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell goods and services online? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your site.
Currency conversion software tools allow your prospective customers to translate international currency transactions into their local currency at the point of sale. It also allows your visitors to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion to your website is that it allows customers to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s quite simple to add a currency converter to currency conversion to your web site via a plugin, allowing your prospective customers to quickly and easily determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your web site.
This currency conversion plugin features:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Google, Open Exchange Rates and European Central Bank
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce & Shopp.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Translation support
Important: This plugin requires your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your web host to upgrade your PHP server installation if required.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking “Install Now” …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your administration area …
The plugin settings area offers you many configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from a dropdown menu if you prefer something other than the default option (USD) …
You can also 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 also choose another provider, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can choose how frequently you want the currency exchange rates to be updated by choosing an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and don’t forget to click ‘Save Changes’ when done …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to your WP blog’s pages or posts using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WordPress pages, posts and widgets with no programming skills using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell goods on your website for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
To display this information, you simply need to insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also display amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 89.95, 47.00, 400.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks after you have inserted it into your product page …
After publishing the content, the currency conversion will display like this …
Using the above example, let’s also convert the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing the information, the currency conversion will then display as shown in the example below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you want to select 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 e-commerce pages targeted to non-European visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
Once your page has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as you can see in the screenshot below …
Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add the currency codes you would like to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now appear on your website’s sidebar menu 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 lets you specify the symbol 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 the forward slash as shown below …
If you change this symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
WP E-Commerce
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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