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