Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or making products available for sale online? If so, then you should probably think about providing users with a currency conversion service.
Currency converting software lets your site visitors translate foreign currency prices to their local currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also allows visitors to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One great benefit of showing currency conversion is that it allows customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for purchasers to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Conversion Plugin
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your web site.
Some of the many features of this plugin include:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Shopp.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full translation support
Important: This plugin requires 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 webhosting company to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the “Install Now” button …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your dashboard area …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default currency is ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can also select another option, like FoxRate or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how often you want the exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and don’t forget to click Save Changes when done …
After you have finished configuring your settings, you can easily add currency conversion to your WP posts or pages using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with this plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WP posts, pages and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling an item online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 97.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when inserting it into a post or page …
When the post has been published, your currency conversion will then display as seen below …
Using the above example, let’s now convert the same amount into different currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode appears when you add it to your content …
Once the information has been published, your converted currency will then appear as shown in the example below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode appears when added to a page …
After publishing the post, the currency conversion will then display as seen in the screenshot below …
Currencyr Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your site’s sidebar using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the example below (add the currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now show on your 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 allows you to 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 prices using a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you change the symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce 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)