Comments for The Copywriting Agency

Comment on How to get paid quicker: a copywriting tip by Peter

Peter — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:41:43 +0000

How did it go with changing the wording/colouring on the invoices? I’ve always said ‘please’ on mine, but I’m not sure how much difference it makes. Will consider colour ones though.

Comment on How to get paid quicker: a copywriting tip by David@Nexus

David@Nexus — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:49:16 +0000

I signed up as a supporter of Pay On Time (https://payontime.co.uk/). They explain clearly the legalities around late payment and what you can do. I now include these details in my terms of business (I don’t start work until the client has officially agreed to these), including the interest rates which can be charged on any late payments.

I place the Pay On Time logo at the bottom of my invoice together with the exact date by which the payment has to be made. The only late payment I’ve had was from someone with whom I actually have a working relationship, thus making it all a little more awkward! Everyone else, no problem.

Linking yourself to a larger body like this and introducing clear financial penalties can be effective.

Comment on How to get paid quicker: a copywriting tip by Ben Locker

Ben Locker — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:08:56 +0000

Great thoughts there Robert. It would be fun to do some proper testing on all these elements. One variable at a time, though, or we won’t have a clue what we’re measuring!

Comment on How to get paid quicker: a copywriting tip by Robert Hempsall - Information Designer

Robert Hempsall - Information Designer — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:04:38 +0000

I saw a recent tweet suggesting that ‘people pay color invoices 30% faster than black and white ones’. There was no story to back this up, so whether or not it was a legitimate claim, I don’t know.

I cynically suggested that what that actually meant was that people paid red invoices faster than others, but I think there may be something behind this. A few too many years spent designing electricity and phone bills have taught me a few tricks about how you can emphasise and recede information, tricks I’ve used in the design of my invoices.

From my point of view, I don’t leave the 30 days to chance, and include an actual date ‘Please pay this by 18th August’ In fact it’s the equally largest thing on the invoice, along with the ‘Thank you’ at the bottom. Giving an actual date gives no room for interpretation, and is also doing a tiny piece of work for the accounts person.

If I’m honest, the detail on my invoices is just black text (because that’s the printer I have) but I make sure it goes out on my letterhead which has a strong band of my identity colours on it. So while it’s not technically a colour invoice it does have some visual impact.

Whether or not this affects how quickly it gets paid, I don’t know, but someone recently said it was the nicest looking invoice they had ever seen. So at least it means I can do my job well, if not get paid quicker.

Comment on How to get paid quicker: a copywriting tip by Naoko

Naoko — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 09:43:35 +0000

I am so going to try this!

Comment on Business SEO tip (1): Check your headings by Age’s noob guide to SEO (Part 9) (Title and heading tags) « Age and Annie's Ramblings

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:47:19 +0000

[...] the content and are listed in order. For more information you can see this concise article over @ The Copywriting Agency [...]

Comment on Business SEO Tip (2): Precision Page Titles by Adrian

Adrian — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:33:48 +0000

Ben, have you noticed the blog says “4 Responses to “Business SEO Tip (2): Precision Page Titles” but there are only three?

Comment on Business SEO Tip (2): Precision Page Titles by Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:31:57 +0000

Oh wow, that is quite awful!

You’ve got to love “experts”. Like those people who create a website with nothing but images then wonder why it’s not ranking…

Comment on Business SEO Tip (2): Precision Page Titles by Ben Locker

Ben Locker — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:51:02 +0000

Oh, and I was planning a post on meta descriptions next, so good call…

Comment on Business SEO Tip (2): Precision Page Titles by Ben Locker

Ben Locker — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:46:46 +0000

Yes, that’s a good point. Would you buy from a copywriter who wrote titles like…

Copywriter, Copywriters, Copywriting & Business Copywriting, from Copywriting Experts in a Copywriting Agency in the small town of Copywriting in England, near Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

I’d just assume he was more interested in playing dirty tricks with search engines that producing decent copy.

Oddly enough, we’re just rewriting a site like that for someone. Some so-called expert had shoehorned in the name of practically every UK village in the footer of the home page.

Glad you like the blog. ‘Sharing is Sexy’ will be back – I promise…