Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods worldwide? If so, then you should probably consider providing your web visitors with a currency conversion feature.
Currency converting software tools let your prospective customers convert foreign currency prices to their local currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also lets your customers view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One advantage of adding currency conversion is that it allows your customers to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your customers to quickly work out the cost of your products.
WordPress Free Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. And, it’s free!
The Currencyr useful WP plugin features:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo! & Open Exchange Rates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Full support for language translations
Important: This plugin needs 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 webhosting provider to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your admin menu …
The plugin settings page offers you a number of configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu if you prefer to use a different currency than the default option ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can select 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, like European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you would like the currency exchange rates to be updated by specifying an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Edit the remainder of the settings according to your preferences and click the Save Changes button when finished …
When you have configured your settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to your WP site’s posts and pages using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WordPress pages, posts 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 WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail goods online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, simply insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 6.95, 47.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks after being inserted into a post or page …
Once the page has been published, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using this example, let’s now convert the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the above shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
After publishing the information, your converted currency will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to specify a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European customers (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
Once your page or post has been published, the currency conversion will then appear as seen in the screenshot below …
Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your site’s sidebar using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress user admin 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 the currency codes you want displaying on your widget separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your website’s sidebar with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful 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 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 the forward slash as shown below …
If you enter another symbol and update your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Platform Integration
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 website)
And there you have it! Now you can go and 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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