Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods and services worldwide? If so, then you should probably consider providing users with a currency conversion feature.
Currency conversion software tools let your prospects have the cost of a foreign currency transaction translated to their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows your customers 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 lets visitors see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s easy and simple to add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily calculate the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Some of the many useful features of this great plugin include the following:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with a number of online shopping plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Supports full translations
Important: This plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Ask your webhosting company to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking the “Install Now” button …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you can get to the plugin’s settings screen by choosing Currencyr from your admin navigation menu …
The plugin settings area offers you a number of configuration settings …
For example, you can select a base currency from a dropdown menu. The default currency is ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can specify any supported data provider from the dropdown menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default option is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose another provider, such as European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how often you want to update the exchange rates by choosing 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).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can just ignore this option …
Configure the rest of the settings to suit your needs and remember to click the Save Changes button when done …
After you have configured your plugin settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any WP post using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) in this plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without touching 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 for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also insert prices in dollars and cents (for example, 155.25, 97.00, 129.10, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode should look after being inserted into a post …
After publishing the page, the converted currency amount will appear like this …
Using this example, let’s now convert the same amount into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
After publishing the information, the currency conversion will then appear as shown below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you want to select 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 website targeted to non-European customers (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the shortcode looks when added to a page …
Once the post or page has been published, the currency conversion will then display as seen below …
Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your site’s sidebar menu using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now display on your site’s sidebar menu with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional 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, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices with the forward slash as shown below …
If you change this symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As described earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of 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 currency conversion to your WordPress 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)