How To Add Currency Conversion In WordPress

Learn how to easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website or blog using a free WordPress plugin called Currencyr …

Adding Currency Conversion To WordPressDo you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods to a foreign audience? If so, you should probably consider providing your prospects with a currency conversion service.

Currency conversion allows your site visitors to convert foreign currency transactions into their home currency when purchasing or checking out products on e-commerce sites. It also allows your customers to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.

The obvious benefit of putting currency conversion on your website is that it allows your customers to see 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, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to currency conversion to your WordPress web site via a plugin, allowing your visitors to quickly understand the cost of your goods.

Currencyr

Currencyr - Currency Converting Tool For WordPress

Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your WordPress site.

This currency conversion plugin features:

  • In-line converter
  • Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google and FoxRates
  • Support database cache driven for fast response
  • Widgetized currency table and converter
  • Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
  • Automatically detects local currency
  • Translation support

Note: 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. Alternatively, ask your webhosting company to check and upgrade your PHP.

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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …

WordPress Plugin - Currency Converter

Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you can get to the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP administration menu …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

This takes you to the plugin settings screen …

WP Plugin - Currencyr

For example, you can select a base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu. The default currency is ’US Dollar’ …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

Similarly, you can select a data provider from a dropdown menu. The default selection is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select another provider, like European Central Bank or Google Finance …

WordPress Plugin - Currencyr

Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …

WordPress Plugin - Currency Converter

You can choose how frequently you would like the currency exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WP plugins).

Unless you have a reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …

WP Plugin - Currency Conversion

Edit the rest of the settings to suit your needs and click ‘Save Changes’ when you have configured this screen …

WordPress Plugin - Currency Conversion

When your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress page using shortcodes.

See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.

Plugin Shortcodes

You can insert currency conversion into 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 WordPress pages and posts:

Let’s say that you are selling your products for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.

All you need to do is add the shortcode below to your page content …

WP Plugin - Currency Conversion

Note: You can also display pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 89.95, 47.00, 544.97, etc …)

The screenshot below shows how your shortcode should look after being added to the post …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

After publishing the post or page, your currency conversion will then display as you can see in the screenshot below …

WordPress Plugin - Currency Conversion

Using the same example, let’s also translate the same amount into different currency formats.

To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

The example below shows how the shortcode looks when added to a post …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

Once your post has been published, the currency conversion will then display as shown below …

WordPress Plugin - Currency Converter

refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.

Now, let’s say that you want to select a different base currency than the one you have selected as your default.

For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to visitors in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …

WordPress Plugin - Currency Converter

The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when added to your content …

WP Plugin - Currency Conversion

Once your page has been published, your converted currency amounts will then display like this …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

Plugin Widget

You can also insert currency conversion into your site’s sidebar menu using a widget.

To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WP dashboard menu …

WordPress Menu: Appearance > Widgets

In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets area …

WP Plugin - Currency Conversion

Configure the widget settings as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …

WordPress Plugin - Currencyr

Your currency converter tool will now appear on your sidebar with the settings you have specified …

WP Plugin - Currencyr

Additional Plugin Notes

This section contains additional information about using the plugin.

Currency Separator

The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.

You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.

So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …

WP Plugin - Currency Conversion

Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the example below …

WP Plugin - Currencyr

If you change the symbol and resave your plugin settings …

WP Plugin - Currency Converter

Your website visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …

WordPress Plugin - Currencyr

e-Commerce Software Integration

As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …

WordPress Plugin - Currencyr

(image source: plugin website)

Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress website.

To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:

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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum

Originally published as How To Add Currency Conversion In WordPress.