Creating Accessible Websites: Ensuring Inclusivity

In today’s digital age, a website is often the first point of contact between a business and its customers. For small businesses, this online presence is crucial for reaching a broader audience and competing in a crowded marketplace.

However, many small businesses overlook an essential aspect of their online presence: accessibility. Ensuring that your website is accessible is not only a legal requirement in many countries but also a moral and business imperative. Accessible websites ensure inclusivity by allowing everyone, including people with disabilities, to interact with your business online.

Why Accessibility Matters

Accessibility means designing and developing your website so that anyone can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with it effectively. Anyone needs to include and accommodate any individual who could have a visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor impairment.

There are several reasons why accessibility should be a priority for small businesses:

  1. Legal Compliance: Many countries have regulations that require businesses to make their websites accessible. For example, in the United States, the ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’ mandates that websites must be accessible to people with disabilities. Non-compliance can result in lawsuits and fines, which can be financially devastating for small businesses. This underscores the urgency and importance of prioritising website accessibility.
  2. Expanding Your Audience:  WHO estimates that approximately 16% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. By making your website accessible, you open your business to a larger audience. This can increase traffic, customer satisfaction, and higher sales.
  3. Building a Positive Brand Image: Accessibility demonstrates that your business is inclusive and values all customers. This can enhance your brand’s reputation and foster customer loyalty. In an era where consumers increasingly prefer businesses that prioritise social responsibility, accessibility can set your business apart.
  4. Improving SEO: Many accessibility practices align with search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices. For example, providing alternative text for images not only helps visually impaired users but also improves your site’s visibility in search engines. This can help your small business rank higher in search results, attracting more organic traffic.

Steps to Creating an Accessible Website

Creating an accessible website might seem daunting, but breaking it down into manageable steps can make the process more straightforward.

  1. Start with a Solid Foundation: Choose a website platform or content management system that supports accessibility. Many popular platforms offer themes and plugins designed with accessibility in mind. Ensure that the theme you select is responsive, meaning it adapts to different screen sizes and is optimised for screen readers.
  2. Use Clear and Simple Content: Ensure that your website’s content is easy to understand. Use plain language and short sentences, and avoid jargon. This not only helps users with cognitive disabilities but also makes your content more accessible to everyone, including those for whom English is a second language.
  3. Provide Text Alternatives: All non-text content, like images, videos, and audio files, should have a text alternative. This allows users who cannot see the content to understand its purpose. For images, use descriptive alt text; for videos, provide transcripts or captions.
  4. Ensure Keyboard Accessibility: Some users rely on a keyboard rather than a mouse to navigate a website. Make sure that all interactive elements, such as menus, links, and forms, can be accessed using a keyboard alone. Test your website by navigating it with the tab key to ensure that all functionality is available without a mouse.
  5. Design for Readability: Use high-contrast colours to make text easy to read, especially for users with visual impairments. Ensure that your website’s font size is large enough and that there is sufficient spacing between lines of text. Avoid using colour alone to convey information, as this can be problematic for users with colour blindness.
  6. Test Your Website: Regularly test your website for accessibility. There are various tools available online, such as the WAVE Accessibility Tool  and Axe, that can help identify accessibility issues. Additionally, consider conducting user testing with people who have disabilities to get direct feedback on how your site performs.

Creating an accessible website is an investment in the inclusivity and success of your small business. It ensures that all potential customers, regardless of their abilities, can engage with your brand. By prioritising accessibility, you not only comply with legal requirements but also expand your reach, enhance your brand image, and improve your website’s performance.

Using a KitStart website will give you peace of mind knowing that your future business website will have everything you need to set it up to make it accessible.

In accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the BaseKit platform which powers your KitStart website, has an AA accessibility rating. It also includes features such as responsive design, alt text for images, keyboard navigation and customisable templates which will help you build a website that is accessible for all.

Get started today with your 14 day free trial.

 

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