Your business has a website so you can easily be found online and attract visitors who want to learn more about your business, service or products. Website accessible means that a website is designed so that people who have disabilities can use it without any barriers. Accessibility is good for SEO: Search Engine Optimization. And having an accessible website means that your site is available to all users and has a good user experience – key Google’s ranking criteria.
Making your website more accessible to users with disabilities also happens to overlap nicely with improving the all-round user experience, and with boosting your site that much higher up the search rankings.
Title III of the ADA (American Disabilities Act) says that companies cannot discriminate against disabled people “in the full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations.” In the past couple of years, many lawsuits have been filed against small businesses, galleries, hotels, universities, restaurants and other businesses claiming their websites are not compliant with ADA guidelines.
Website accessibility strategies address a wide range of disabilities that include:
- blindness
- deafness
- colorblind
- repetitive stress injury
- dyslexia
“Mobile-friendly” is not the only feature mobile websites need, mobile accessibility means that your mobile site and apps are readable and navigatable by people with disabilities.
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) helps businesses understand best practices and standards in creating a truly accessible website. Extra traffic from search engines due to user experience, website accessibility and higher rank is a good thing – and so is not getting sued for discrimination against disabled users.
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11 Website Accessibility Tips for Small Business Owners
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11 Website Accessibility Tips for Small Business Owners
