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Is Your Website Accessible?

Most of our content SEO clients hire us to make sure their websites are optimized for keywords, on-page SEO, and user experience. Many extend this by contracting us to write regular blogs and articles which further increases search engine traffic and allow us to showcase the brand, its personality, and add value to products and services. All fairly straight forward so far, and as content creators, we often take it for granted that once we've written something and it's been published, that everyone can access it online. But that isn’t necessarily the case.

Lately, we’ve been working with with a few tech and SaaS companies, and have become increasingly aware of web accessibility issues and pitfalls in the process.  Developing a strategy for digital inclusion is a no-brainer for business success, so these days, web accessibility factors are built into our analysis frameworks and feedback reports for our clients. 

To be clear from the start, web accessibility has nothing to do with customers simply having access to the internet. It is specifically about how user-friendly and accessible your website is for a range of people with various access needs...

Barriers to Your Website

There are four main types of barrier that make information on websites difficult to access for some users, and within your target market we guarantee you will be losing out on sales due to potential customers struggling with some of them:

  • Physical problems – Physical disabilities are the first thing to spring to most people’s minds when discussing accessibility, but this is by no means the largest group affected when discussing online inclusion. Examples of specific physical barriers that present problems for some users include motor disabilities, repetitive stress injuries, or epilepsy.
  • Visual impairments - such as partial blindness, colour blindness, and deafblindness. At least 2.2 billion people globally suffer from some form of vision impairment or blindness. That’s a lot of customers you are alienating if you are not optimizing your website to account for it.
  • Cognitive, learning, and neurological issues - like dyslexia, dyspraxia, hyperlexia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dyslexia alone is proven to affect at least 10%-15% of the population, with many more cases going undiagnosed. With this in mind, having a website that is more friendly to those with cognitive, learning, and neurological disorders is vital.
  • Language issues - this includes poor literacy in general as well as those for whom English is not a first language.

You might think that there is not much you can do about any of this, but you’d be wrong. Granted, it’s unlikely you can fix all of the above in-house without embedding an assistive technology tool that allows for individual customization. But there are definitely ways to make your website more accessible simply by changing the way content is presented.

Accessibility and Website Content

If you are having a new website built, then it’s worth asking your developer about accessibility options. Good designers should be able to advise you on best practices for increasing traffic, sales, and improving rankings through making your content more accessible.

If you’re not looking at a rebuild, there are still several ways to improve accessibility from a content perspective. Examples include:

  • Using H tags/headers in sequentially descending order
  • Using headings correctly for better-structured content
  • Using alt tags on every image
  • Having discernible names on links
  • Using background and foreground colours with sufficient contrast ratios

All of these factors make the content on your site easier to focus on, read, and digest, which is particularly helpful for those with visual, cognitive, learning, and neurological issues. Plus, it makes for a much better user experience in general.

Accessibility and SEO

Some accessibility features already form part of search engine algorithms, and indicators suggest that accessibility will become an even more significant part of SEO calculations in the near future. So making sure features on your website are optimized for accessibility is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do – especially when you consider the global figure for lost revenue due to accessibility is estimated to be nearly $3 trillion annually.

Accessibility Recourses

Not sure where to begin? We can certainly help with the basic principles to ensure your website content is more accessible. So by all means, get in touch for further details. However, you should also check:

  • The World Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - these provide minimum standards that all businesses and organizations globally should adhere to. Recommendations for many content factors are covered, including headings, colour, colour contrast, text size, and navigation.
  • Legal Compliance – Wherever your company is based your website will be expected to be compliant with the relevant regional statutes that prevent online discrimination. Be aware that fines and lawsuits are a real possibility if your website is found to be in breach. Examples include:
     - The Equality Act of 2010 (UK)
     - Americans with Disabilities Act (USA)
     - European Accessibility Act (EU)
     - Australian Disability Discrimination Act (AUS)
     - The Human Rights Act (CAN)
  • Assistive Technology Solutions – there are companies that specialize in making your website accessible and inclusive through assistive technology, most often in the form of a toolbar embedded onto your website. 

Other Communications Considerations

Aside from your website, if you want to make the most out of your potential customer pool, we recommend applying the same accessibility principles to all of your company communications. Whether it’s an email, newsletter, or a bespoke marketing campaign, the layout, structure and styling features will be much more effective if they are presented in a clearer and more accessible way.