Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce web site or selling products internationally? If so, then here’s a good idea: think about providing users with a currency conversion tool.
Currency conversion tools let your visitors translate foreign currency transactions into their local currency at the buying or checkout phase. It also allows your visitors to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion to your website is that it allows visitors to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s quite simple to add currency conversion via a plugin to your website, allowing your site visitors to quickly work out the cost of your products.
WordPress Free Currency Conversion Plugin – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WordPress website or blog.
Great plugin features include the following:
- 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
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins such as WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can determine local currency automatically
- Support for language translations
Note: This plugin requires 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 web host to upgrade your PHP server installation.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the “Install Now” button …
When you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your dashboard navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can select a base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu. The default base currency is ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can also select which data provider you want to use from the dropdown menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can choose another option, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how frequently you would like the currency exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the remainder of the plugin settings and remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you have finished configuring this screen …
After you have finished configuring your plugin settings, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress page or post using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, ZAR, etc …) with this plugin.
Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WP posts, pages and widgets with no programming skills or knowledge using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling a product for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show your price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, just insert the following shortcode to your page content …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 97.00, 400.00, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks after you have added it to the page …
After publishing the post, your currency conversion will display as shown below …
Using the above example, let’s now translate the same amount into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
After publishing the page or post, the currency conversion will then display as seen in the screenshot below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one you have set as the default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to customers in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a post …
Once your post has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as shown in the screenshot below …
Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now show on your website’s sidebar with the options you have specified when configuring the widget …
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, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values with the forward slash as shown below …
If you enter another symbol and resave your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
e-Commerce Software Integration
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(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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