Best Tools for Invoicing, Accepting Payments, Sending Receipts
-
Hey All!
I recently started my business about 1.5 years ago and am loving it, doing well, and learning new things every day! I am very curious what others in the industry use for proposals, invoicing, accepting payments and sending receipts. What we are doing now seems like a lot of trouble and we are using different platforms for almost all of it.
Since starting, my goal has been to use as little paper as possible, so I do almost everything over the computer.
- We send out proposals using Quoteroller and that has been very useful because clients can click to the proposal from their email and they can also accept proposals through that link.
- We invoice clients from Quickbooks Online (QBO) and can have those sent directly to clients' email inbox.
- We have to manually create a payment link through one of Bluefin's payment platforms. We can send this link through email or add it to the proposal email sent from Quoteroller.
- After they accept proposals (hopefully!), and make payment, we have to go back into QBO and "receive payment" and this does not send out a receipt to the client. Maybe someone knows a way to fix it to where it does send an automatic receipt when we "receive payment?"
- If client requests a receipt, we must go into QBO and generate a "sales receipt."
So, now that you know our process, are we making ourself work too much? Is there a more simple approach?
-
We have been using http://www.getharvest.com/ for the last few years.
It's decent, but I think we'll move away from it shortly as we no longer really use time tracking.
I'll be looking at something that integrates into Xero, or if Xero does recurring invoices, I'll just use that.
-
If client requests a receipt, we must go into QBO and generate a "sales receipt."
Not sure why you would need to create a sales receipt since you have already created an invoice. Once you "receive payment" the invoice will be marked as "Paid" by QB and you can simply email that to the client.
Intuit does have a payment link for online payments as well. Not sure if it works with QBO but does with premiere. When you send the invoice the link is included. You might want to check out the QB support forums for more info.
Good luck!
-
I have since moved to Freshbooks, because I wanted a light weight billing system, but I did use a pretty powerful one once. What I used was WHMCS, it is what web hosts use. It has a ton of features and it is all hosted on your server. You can set it up with say a Namecheap api and offer domain registrations through your billing too. Since I am a developer more than an SEO guy, I recommended and developed a site for a client that shudders sells alexa ranking increases. I talked them into using that and they love it. It has a very large payment gateway support, it can suspend accounts, charge late fees, and a whole host of other things. It might be something to look into.
One I would not recommend is box billing. I tried it for like a week, it double charged every single client.
-
Hi Ben,
Based on the volume of transactions, you might want to consider FreshBooks. Although not as comprehensive an accounting solution as QBO, it is very focused on invoicing and payment and is an ideal solution for small agencies/businesses providing services. I've provided a link to their features list below:
Cheers,
SEO5
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Latest Info-graphic Best Practices
This is a good "problem" to have. My client is a consortium of web companies. It has just produced a terrific info-graphic on the the latest European data policies. The author is a leading lawyer in the field and the content is outstanding, authoritative, and current. The issue is how to best use the info-graphic for both SEO and general marketing purposes. We will publish the info-grahic on our own site. But what else should we do? (1) The info-graphic already contains the website name. Should we make this a hyperlink on our own site, with or without keyword rich text? (2) We can certainly do handcrafted outreach to likely sites, who might republish. Should we just ask them for backlinks and hope for the best? Or should we embed? (3) We can also send the info graphic as an Eblast to a wider list. Same questio:n Should we just ask them for backlinks and hope for the best? Or should we embed? The site already high DA and a diversified link portfolio. There is no need for risky tactics or "Hail Mary" passes. OTOH, it seems a pity not to make the most of this. Ideas on the above? Other thoughts?
Industry News | | DanielFreedman0 -
Seo audit tool recommendation and advice anyone?
Can anyone recommend a good SEO Audit tool for my site? I have 3 top level domains with duplicate content so am looking for some international advice as well... Thanks advice would be much appreciated.
Industry News | | edward-may0 -
How to remove the inbound links of a website from Google Webmaster Tools?
Hello viewers, One of my projects (BannerBuzz.com) is having linked with this Site: http://www.article-niche.com/ and we can see so many inbound links in our Webmaster account from this site, we have already disavowed this site but still it is found in our Webmaster Tools and we don’t have option to mail them as the site is down, so kindly anyone help us out how to remove this back-links and I want to remove it from my Webmaster account as well as from “Search Results” as the site is down. Currently as this site is show down from long time and because of its back-links, our website (BannerBuzz.com) has been penalized by Google.
Industry News | | CommercePundit0 -
Best Places to Post SEO/Marketing Jobs?
I have several colleagues in the industry (and some fellow marketers) who have asked me where the best places are to look for and post SEO job opportunities. I personally like InBound.org and LinkedIn. Where do you recommend marketeers look for job opportunities? D
Industry News | | danatanseo1 -
Best ranking Magento sites?
What would be your top 10 Magento sites in terms of SEO and ranking? I'm looking for examples of Magneto sites that have been set up correctly and are ranking well. Especially recently launched sites that have managed to get themselves ranking well in competitive markets! Cheers
Industry News | | OnlineAssetPartners0 -
What is the best site-map software?
I am in the beginning stages of building a website and would like to know the site-mapping software for organizing my company's ideas. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Industry News | | canadianplum0 -
Which one is THE BEST seo book
For you guys which one is the best SEO BOOK?? Maybe this one? http://www.amazon.com/Ranking-Number-One-Essential-Results/dp/1452849900/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1309247497&sr=8-4 Thanks in advance!
Industry News | | augustos1 -
What is the Best Way To Structure A Growing Internet Marketing Firm?
I have been asking a lot of personal friends (who own SEO companies) this question and have found that it seems to be on all of their minds. From BlueGlass to a small start up consulting firm, it seems that everyone is doing things different and constantly shaking it up. I am wondering what SEOMozers are doing/have done for their company structure?
Industry News | | NiftyMarketing0