Do you sell goods online globally? If so, then you should probably think about providing users with a currency conversion feature.
Currency converting software allows your site visitors to have the cost of an international currency transaction translated into their local currency when checking out products online. It also allows your visitors and customers to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One advantage of adding currency conversion is that it allows customers to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, you can add a currency converter to your WP web site, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your web site.
Great plugin features include:
- In-line converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various online shopping plugins such as WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Full language translation support
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 hosting company to update your PHP.
***
You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WordPress admin user navigation menu …
The plugin settings page offers you various configuration options …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you want a different currency than the default option ‘USD’ …
You can choose which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose one of the other options, such as European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how frequently you want the currency exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Configure the rest of the settings to suit your own preferences and click the Save Changes button when done …
Once you have configured your settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any WP post using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets without having to edit 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 retail your products on your site for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 22.00, 295.75, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks when added to your page or post …
When the page has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
Using this example, let’s also display the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a post …
After publishing the post or page, the currency conversion will then display as shown in the screenshot below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
Once your content has been published, your currency conversion will then display as seen in the example below …
Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets in the WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
The currency converter will now display on your sidebar menu with the settings 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 multiple currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify the symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
WP E-Commerce
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: plugin website)
And there you have it! 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:
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)