Once you know how to create an invoice for different industries, you will need to know how to create invoices for specific jobs that pertain to your business, such as invoicing for web design services.
When it comes to creative jobs, creating the invoice for the work you have completed definitely won’t be the most exciting part of the job. However, creating a well-put together invoice is a necessary part of any job, as it is the only way you’re going to get paid.
Look & Feel
The look of an invoice for web design should reflect your brand – your website, business cards, etc. Include all of your professional information, including the name of your company (or yourself) should be in the header, along with your logo.
Contact information
Next up is all of the contact information for yourself, including the street address of your business, your phone number and email address. All of this same contact information for your client should be included as well. If you are a VAT registered business, then you will include your VAT number here.
Invoice date and reference
Next, include the date the invoice was issued as well as any payment terms, such as “Net 30”, which means the client has 30 days to complete the payment of the invoice. If you client is not familiar with this type of jargon, then just include the actual payment due date, along with any information about late fees.
Then include the unique invoice number, which will help you and the client keep track of the invoice and whether or not it has been paid.
Define the list of services
Next is the bulk of the document, which is the itemized list of services that were completed. This is not the place to be vague; be detailed about each piece of work you did so that there are no questions when the client receives the invoice. Make each service a new line item, such as, one line for “design of the home page for example website” and then a new line item for “design of the products page for example website”.
Each line item should have the date that it was completed, along with the amount of hours it took to complete the line item (if you are charging by the hour, also include the hourly rate), and the amount owed for each line item.
Subtotal, taxes and total
At the bottom of the list, include a subtotal, and then create a list of any fees, taxes, credits, or any discounts that will affect the final total. Then add everything up to show the complete, final total amount that is owed. Feel free to make this number bold, or colored so that it stands out from all of the other numbers in the list. Before sending the invoice, make sure all of the math is correct – the last thing you want to do is send out an invoice that is full of mistakes.
Invoice footer
Toward the bottom of the invoice, you may want to include a comment box to include a short thank you note for your client, or any additional information they will need regarding how to complete the payment. Below this box, some freelancers like to include a line for their signature and to date the invoice, but this is up to you.
Include your policies
On the back of the invoice, or in fine print, you must include information about any of your policies regarding method of payment, late payments, or no-show payments.
Once you send off your invoice, it’s time to keep track of it. If the client is approaching the payment due date you have outlined, reach out and make sure they are planning to pay. If they aren’t, or if the due date passes, then you must stick to your policies and institute a late fee or any collections operations.
Once you create your first invoice and define all the core information, you can use that as a template.