Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods and services globally? If so, then you should probably consider providing your potential customers with a currency conversion tool.
Currency conversion lets your web visitors convert foreign currency amounts to their local currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also allows your visitors and customers to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
The obvious advantage of putting currency conversion is that it allows customers to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add currency conversion using a plugin to your site, allowing your customers to easily perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converting Tool For WP Websites
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
This useful plugin includes practical features such as:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo! and Open Exchange Rates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-store plugins like WP-eCommerce and Shopp.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Support for language translations
Note: This plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP. Ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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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 the “Install Now” button …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WordPress dashboard navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can choose a base currency from a dropdown menu if you prefer a different currency than the default option ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
Similarly, you can choose a data provider from a drop-down menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can choose another option, such as FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how frequently you want the currency exchange rates to update by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Configure the rest of the settings and don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you have configured all the options in this screen …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP page using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with this plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell a product online for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To display this information, simply insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 197.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode looks when inserting it into your product page …
After publishing the content, your converted currency will appear as shown below …
Using the above example, let’s now convert the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when added to a post …
After publishing your page or post, your converted currency amounts will then appear as seen below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify a different base currency than the one you have set as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to visitors 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 your content …
After publishing your post or page, the converted currency will then appear as seen below …
Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add the currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your website’s sidebar with the settings you have specified when configuring the widget …
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 section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency amounts using the forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you change the symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Shopp …
(image sourced from plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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