Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site with WordPress, or sell your products worldwide? If so, you may want to think about providing users with a currency conversion tool.
Currency converting software lets your customers have the price of an international currency transaction converted to their local currency at the point of sale. It also allows visitors to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One great advantage of providing currency conversion on your site is that it lets visitors view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to your WordPress website or blog, allowing your site visitors to easily determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your WP web site.
Great plugin features include:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Supports full language translations
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 on your server. Ask your webhosting provider to upgrade your PHP.
***
You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you can visit the plugin’s settings screen by selecting Currencyr from your WP administration menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default currency is ’US Dollar’ …
Similarly, you can select a data provider from the dropdown menu in the Provider section. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose another provider, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can select how often you want to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WP plugins).
Unless there is a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings according to your preferences and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have finished configuring all of your settings …
Once you have configured your settings, you can add currency conversion to your WordPress posts using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets with no web coding skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail your products online for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
To display this information, simply add the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also display pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 22.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode will look after being inserted into a post …
After publishing your information, your converted currency will display like this …
Using the same example, let’s also convert the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to a post …
Once your page or post has been published, the converted currency will then display as you can see below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to use a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to non-European customers (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
Once your page or post has been published, your converted currency will then display like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar section using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP user admin 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 want displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency converter tool will now show on your website’s sidebar with the settings you have specified …
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 change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify this symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"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