Electronic Invoicing for Tradies to get Paid Quicker
Getting paid for work completed is always a hassle for tradies. The first part of getting paid is to generate an invoice for your customer.
When you are out on the job this is not that easy to do. If you have to wait until you are back in the office to issue an invoice this just causes a delay, This delay means it is likely to take longer for you to get paid.
However, there is good news if your business has a website and you have a smartphone. This is because this is all you need to get your invoices issued quickly and easily when you are out on the job.
1. What type of website do you need?
Although there are various options that generate electronic invoices, WordPress provides a great low cost solution. WordPress is a tool that is used to build websites. In fact, it is estimated that over 40% of websites use WordPress. At Dynamic Websites we mostly use WordPress to build websites for our clients as we find it is a great solution for many of our clients.
One of the advantages of using WordPress is that it has an online shopping plugin called WooCommerce. This plugin was initially built to sell products. However, it has evolved into a complete solution for ALL businesses – including tradies.
2. How does WooCommerce work to create electronic invoices?
Traditionally, WooCommerce automatically converts online purchases into orders, complete with online payment. In fact, WooCommerce provides a complete solution for people managing online shops including automatically sending an electronic invoice to customers confirming their purchase.
This same process of generating orders can be done manually inside WordPress. This is great as it means you can custom generate electronic invoices from your website via your smartphone when you are out on a job. It also means you can email the invoice directly to yourr customer. In fact, it is not just Tradies who can benefit from this, but any other type of business selling a service.
3. How does WooCommerce Invoicing help you to get paid more quickly?
When your invoice is emailed to your customer it will include a link for them to make payment. This link will take your customer to your website, where the invoice details are listed. Most importantly, it will allow them to immediately make payment through your website directly.
4. What are the payment options available for your customers?
There are lots of payment options you can consider. These range from credit card payment options (PayPal, eWay, Stripe, etc). These are a great option when you are first starting out.
However, if you want to give your customers more options, then you can offer various Buy Now, Pay Later Options. These options include ZipPay, ZipMoney, OpenPay and Afterpay (NOTE: AfterPay is now becoming available to businesses that provide services).
Buy Now, Pay Later Options are a popular new trend that means customers can access your services immediately. In addition, you are paid quickly, but the customer pays the invoice over time to the chosen Buy Now, Pay Later provider.
Dynamic Websites specialise in small business web design. We are based in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and provide services throughout Australia. We understand what it takes to get a small business online at an affordable price and with the minimum of fuss. Along with designing websites for small business, tradies and NDIS service providers we provide online marketing services. Our online marketing for small business extends to Google Ads, Google My Business, Microsoft Advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), content writing and, blog writing.
