Are you planning to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell goods and services globally? If so, then here’s a great idea: think about providing your potential customers with the convenience of currency conversion on your website.
Currency conversion software tools allow your prospective customers to translate foreign currency prices to their local currency at the point of sale. It also lets your visitors see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
The obvious advantage of adding currency conversion to your site is that it allows your customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s easy to add a currency converter to your WordPress web site, allowing your prospective customers to quickly calculate the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Some of the features of this useful plugin include:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports several 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 various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Support for language translations
Note: The Currencyr plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your webhosting provider to update your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP 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 selecting Currencyr from your dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose a base currency from a dropdown menu if you prefer to use something other than the default option ‘USD’ …
You can also choose 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 select one of the other options, such as European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how frequently you would like to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates dropdown 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 (like WP plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and click Save Changes when finished …
When you have configured your settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any of your WordPress blog’s posts and pages using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, ZAR, etc …) in this plugin.
Using Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets without having to mess with code using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail an item on your site for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 22.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when inserting it into the post or page …
Once the page has been published, your currency conversion will appear as seen in the example below …
Using this example, let’s now translate the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
Once the post or page has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one you have selected as the default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European visitors (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when added to your content …
Once the post or page has been published, the currency conversion will then display like this …
How To Use The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress user 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 currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency converter tool will now appear on the sidebar with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the 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 section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by the forward slash as shown below …
If you choose another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and 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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"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)