Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell any products worldwide? If so, then here’s a good idea: consider providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency converting software tools allow your prospects to translate foreign currency transactions to their local currency when purchasing products on e-commerce sites. It also lets customers view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
One advantage of showing currency conversion on your site is that it allows visitors to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s simple to add currency conversion via a plugin to your website or blog, allowing your site visitors to easily calculate the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Conversion Plugin
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s 100% free to install and use on your WP site.
Useful plugin features include:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of online shopping plugins like WP-eCommerce & Shopp.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Note: 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. Alternatively, ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP server installation.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area 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 WP administration menu …
The plugin settings section offers you a number of configuration options …
For example, you can choose your base currency from a dropdown menu. The default base 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, such as European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how frequently you want to update the currency exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …
Configure the remainder of the settings to suit your own needs and don’t forget to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have configured this screen …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily start adding currency conversion to your WP posts using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail a product online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display your 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 display pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 155.25, 47.00, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode should look after you have added it to your page or post …
After your post has been published, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using this example, let’s now display the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below now shows how the shortcode appears when added to a page …
Once the page or post has been published, your converted currency will then display as you can see below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you want to use a different base currency than the one selected as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below now shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
After publishing the post or page, the converted currency amounts will then appear like this …
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 menu, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency converter tool will now display on your sidebar menu 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 multiple currencies.
You can change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by the forward slash as shown below …
If you specify another symbol and resave your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image source: plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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