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Tag: ADA compliance

Web Accessibility

What Is Web Accessibility and Why It Is Essential for Your Business

Web Development

Online presence is important for any business that wants to sell more and grow. As a business, your aim is to cater to everyone who wants to use your products and services regardless of their physical limitations. In addition to being an integral part of user experience, accessibility is also a legal requirement in most countries in the world.

Making your website accessible to all users, including the ones with disabilities, can help businesses cater to a wider audience, enhance their reputation, and avoid any legal troubles.

Is your business accessible to everyone? If not, here is everything you need to know about it.

Also, you will learn how you can work with an agency offering web accessibility services to make it work.

What is web accessibility?

In its simplest, web accessibility is ensuring that every user is able to access a website regardless of their disabilities. Businesses are urged to develop their websites, content, and web technologies in such a way that it is easy to access using assistive technologies.

These technologies include screen readers, voice recognition tools, and keyboard-only navigation.

Importance of web accessibility

One of the most crucial aspects of website accessibility is that it makes the world of the internet accessible to everyone. This makes it easier for people with disabilities to take advantage of the internet, from which they have been disconnected for a long time.

As more websites become accessible, people with disabilities can have better and more opportunities to work, learn, and connect with the world.

Thanks to its importance, web accessibility has also been a legal requirement for businesses. Hence, you just need to stay clear of the legal requirement to avoid any tussle with a lawsuit.

Further, web accessibility is also a great option for businesses to serve more customers and elevate their experiences on websites. The advantages of the same are immense—from increased traffic to sales and a better online reputation.

How to make your website accessible

Many businesses have trouble understanding how they can make their website comply with those website disability standards. Here are a few ways that you can make sure that your website is accessible to everyone.

Organize and structure your website correctly

One of the first things you need to ensure that your website is accessible to everyone is by following a defined structure. This can help you move further down the line to make your website more reachable and accessible.

Use alt text for images and videos on the website

All websites use images and videos in their website to make them appealing and engaging for users. While doing so, ensure that it has got alt text for them to help people with disabilities understand them better.

Use captions for videos

Speaking of videos, you need to caption your videos for people who have hearing impairment so that they understand what the video is talking about. Captioning videos have been widely adopted by businesses to attract more customers.

Make sure to use accessible PDF

Another way you can make your website more accessible to people is to create and use accessible PDFs on your website. Accessible PDFs are documents that can be interacted with by people with disabilities.

Use adequate color contrast

Taking advantage of contrast while designing your website is another thing that you can do to make your website more accessible. You can talk to your web design company in York, PA, to make use of color contrast in your website.

Describe links

Links are another element that all websites use extensively. However, one challenge that people with disabilities face with links is that most of them do not have enough descriptions of the same. Describing the links can be a great way to make your website more accessible to everyone.

Make the website accessible with a keyboard

Making it easier for people to navigate your website using a keyboard is another way to ensure that your website is accessible to everyone. Enabling keyboard navigation and avoiding keyboard traps are the best ways to do it. You can also alternatively make the interactive elements on your website keyboard-friendly.

How accessibility helps your business

While making your website accessible is definitely great to serve a section of society that is historically side-lined from the internet, what are the benefits your business can enjoy?

Here are a few ways making your website accessible can benefit your business:

Improves the perception of the brand

Everyone loves a brand that is inclusive and looks out for people with disabilities. This positive word of mouth can translate to an excellent image for your brand, which in turn can help you in a range of ways.

Reach a wider audience

When your website is accessible to people with disabilities, it opens up new business opportunities for your business. It would be easier for them to buy from you, and you will naturally improve your revenue and profitability.

Avoid legal complications

There were instances of businesses getting legally challenged when they failed to make their website accessible to everyone. Hence, it is important that you make your website accessible and comply with the legal requirements to avoid any lawsuits.

Improve the site’s usability

Making your website accessible for everyone also renders it more usable for everyone. The little changes that you make on your website can be helpful for all your users with and without disabilities. This can spell better user experience, which will result in more traffic and sales.

Helps enhance user experience

User experience is at the center of every website. The better the user experience, the more likely businesses will be able to impress visitors and convert them into paying customers. Hence, web accessibility is another way to improve your business prospects.

Boost your website SEO

SEO is an important part of your website’s performance. If your website has a better SEO score, it will naturally show up higher in search engine result pages, and traffic will flow to your website. With higher traffic, sales can also go high.

Conclusion

Web accessibility has become an important requirement for businesses around the world. Some businesses have already taken steps to be more inclusive with their web accessibility strategies. If you are a business in the US, it is imperative that you comply with the accessibility requirement as it is a legal need in most states in the US.

As you are looking to make your websites more accessible for everyone, you must work with a web development company in York that can help you with all the ADA compliance services you need.

Having offered a range of web accessibility services for numerous businesses, we can help you too. Our team of accessibility experts will ensure that your website has everything it needs to be as inclusive as possible.

Work with us, the best agency for Web Design in York, PA. Contact us to learn more.

SEO ADA Compliance

Optimize an ADA-Compliance Website for SEO: Here Is How You Can Do It Correctly

SEO

As a business owner, it’s essential to ensure that your website is visually appealing and user-friendly, and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Apart from being the right thing to do, it can also tremendously impact your search engine optimization (SEO) and business growth.

However, it is far from easy. You must have a strategy to get it right and follow certain conventions to improve your website’s SEO with ADA compliance.

Following the best ADA compliance practices can boost your website’s ranking in search results and make it more accessible to a wider audience.

This blog will go over the best ways to optimize an ADA-compliant website for SEO. Whether you are just starting to build your website or looking to make improvements, this guide will provide you with the insights you need to succeed.

What is ADA compliance?

ADA compliance refers to making websites and digital content accessible to individuals with disabilities, such as visual, hearing, mobility, or cognitive impairments. ADA compliance aims to ensure that everyone has equal access to information and functionality on the internet.

It has become a legal requirement in most parts of the world. Therefore, when businesses develop their websites, ADA compliance is a must for many reasons, which we will discuss briefly.

Why is ADA compliance important for SEO?

There are several reasons why ADA compliance is crucial for SEO.

One of the major reasons is that Google and other search engines have stated that they consider ADA compliance as a ranking factor, despite not being a direct one. This means that compliant websites may have an edge in search results over others that are not.

In addition, ADA compliance helps you also avoid costly lawsuits.

What are the advantages of ADA compliance to your business?

As a business, you may now be thinking if ADA compliance has any advantages. Well, there are many advantages to doing so.

Here are five key benefits:

Legal compliance

One of the main advantages of an ADA-compliant website is that it helps you avoid legal issues. The ADA is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities, including by websites and digital content.

As you make your website compliant, you are not violating the ADA and avoid any legal consequences that may occur otherwise.

Improved brand reputation

By making your website ADA-compliant, you can demonstrate your commitment to these values and improve your brand image. It shows that you are committed to inclusivity and accessibility, which can be attractive to customers and stakeholders.

Improved user experience

An ADA-compliant website ADA improves the user experience for individuals who are blind, deaf, or have limited mobility or cognitive impairments. When your website is accessible to these users, you ensure that they can fully engage with the site and take advantage of all that your business has to offer.

This will create a more inclusive digital space.

Increased traffic

Search engines like Google consider ADA compliance an indirect factor affecting user experience, and they use it for ranking. Therefore, websites that comply with the ADA may appear higher in search results than those not ADA-compliant. This is because Google wants to deliver the best user experience on their searches.

Therefore, by ensuring ADA compliance on your site, you may also improve your search engine ranking to reach a wider audience.

Potential cost savings

When your website complies with the ADA, it can lead to cost savings in the long run. If you are not compliant and receive a complaint or lawsuit, the costs of resolving the issue can be high.

By proactively making your website adhere to ADA frameworks, you can avoid these costs and potentially save money in the long run.

How to optimize an ADA-compliant website for SEO

So, how can you ensure that your website is ADA-compliant and optimized for SEO?

Here are a few key steps to follow:

Use alt text for images.

Alt text is a description of an image that appears when the image is not able to be displayed. This is paramount for individuals who are blind or have low vision, as they rely on screen readers to navigate websites.

By providing alt text for your images, you can help ensure that your content is accessible to these users.

Make your website mobile-friendly.

With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets to access the internet, it’s crucial to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. This includes ensuring that your website is responsive, meaning that it adjusts to the size of the device it is being viewed on.

Use headings and subheadings.

Use descriptive headings and subheadings to help search engines understand the content on your website. Headings and subheadings help to break up your content and make it easier to read. They also make it easier for screen readers to navigate your website.

Use descriptive link text.

Link text is the text that is used to link to another webpage. It’s vital to use descriptive link text so that users and screen readers understand where the link will take them.

Avoid using “click here” as link text, as it does not give any context about the link’s destination.

Add video and transcription tags.

Incorporating video content on your website can be a great way to engage users and provide additional information. One way to do this is by adding video and transcription tags to your website. Video tags allow you to provide a transcript of the audio in your video, making it accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing.

You can also include closed captions or subtitles for users who cannot listen to the audio.

Use sitemaps, table of contents, etc.

On-site sitemaps, tables of contents, and breadcrumbs are all helpful tools for making your website more accessible and easier to navigate.

Sitemaps allow users to easily see the structure of your website and find the content they are looking for. Table of contents and breadcrumbs can help users understand the hierarchy of your website and where they are within your site.

By including these elements on your website, you can help make it easier for users with disabilities to navigate and find the information they need.

Conclusion

By following these practices, you can ensure that your website is ADA-compliant and optimized for SEO. This will help you not only avoid legal troubles but also improve your search engine ranking and reach a wider audience.

However, optimizing your website ADA-compliant for search engines can be challenging. You need an established SEO agency to help you with the same. This is where Eco York can make all the difference to your business.

As one of the most experienced agencies offering SEO consulting Services, Eco York can make ADA compliance a part of your SEO strategy.

Talk to us to learn more about our SEO services. Contact us now.

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