Are you striving to make your website more inclusive and compliant with accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.1 or 508 compliance?
As a business owner, it's crucial to consider website accessibility as an integral part of your online presence. Not only are there legal obligations for making your web presence inclusive, but it's also essential for reaching a broader audience and enhancing the user experience.
In this article, I will share proven strategies for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to improve website accessibility and ensure compliance. I will provide tips on using website accessibility checker tools, avoiding common pitfalls, and implementing solutions to achieve inclusivity.
Let's get started!
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What is Website Accessibility?
Website accessibility refers to the design and development of websites that can be accessed, understood, and used by everyone, including people with disabilities such as visual, auditory, physical, and cognitive impairments. An accessible website is one that provides equal access to all users, regardless of their abilities or the technologies they use to access the website.
This includes features such as alternative text for images, captions for videos, easy-to-use navigation, and compatibility with assistive technologies like screen readers and braille displays. Website accessibility is essential for ensuring that all users have a positive and inclusive experience when visiting a website.
Why is Website Accessibility important to SMBs?
Below are some of the many reasons why businesses of all sizes should prioritize website accessibility across their technology stacks.
- Increased Market Reach: SMBs can reach a larger audience by making their website accessible to people with disabilities. This can lead to increased traffic, sales, and customer loyalty.
- Social Responsibility: Prioritizing accessibility demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility, which can improve brand image and reputation.
- Improved User Experience: By making their website accessible, SMBs can improve the user experience for all users, resulting in increased engagement and satisfaction.
- Better SEO: Many accessibility features also improve search engine optimization (SEO), making it easier for users to find SMBs online.
- Competitive Advantage: With more businesses recognizing the importance of accessibility, SMBs that prioritize accessibility can gain a competitive advantage and differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Website accessibility is a critical consideration for SMBs that want to reach a larger audience, improve the user experience, and demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility. By implementing accessibility strategies, SMBs can create a more inclusive and accessible online experience for everyone.
Website Accessibility Strategies for your SMB
As an SMB owner, you should now understand how crucial it is to have an inclusive website that caters to the needs of all your visitors, including those with disabilities. However, making your website accessible can be a daunting task, especially if you're new to it.
Next, I will break down the three most common strategies most, it not all, businesses use when approaching website accessibility.
Native Compliance
In my experience, the most comprehensive way to make your website accessible is via Native Compliance. This begins by leveraging a 3rd party auditor such as Be Accessible or User Research International. These audits will provide you with all the details you need to go remediate all the inaccessible areas of your website page by page. While it provides the highest level of accessibility and legal compliance, it may not be feasible for SMBs due to the high cost involved as this requires professional developers and the high cost of audits.
While this strategy can be in the high 5 figures at times, this investment in accessibility and inclusivity provides not only the best experience for all users but also maintains the highest level of legal compliance.
Pros:
- Provides the highest level of accessibility and legal compliance.
- Shows a strong commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, which can improve user trust and loyalty.
Cons:
- Most expensive option by far, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Requires professional developers to remediate each page which is not only costly but time-consuming.
- Unfeasible for SMBs with limited budgets or tight timelines.
accessiBe
accessiBe is an AI-powered accessibility tool that provides a very comprehensive solution for most businesses. It offers a range of features that make your website accessible, including keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and high-contrast mode. Additionally, accessiBe is also very affordable starting at just $490/year to cover any website that is under 1000 pages.
It is very easy to install and works as a small widget across your entire website that allows users to control their interaction based on their specific needs.
One of the big reasons I like accessiBe is they are constantly working with the disabled community to continuously improve the product, making it a more user-friendly and effective solution for website accessibility. As a bonus, accessiBe provides legal support to its customers should they be a target of any compliance claims while using their tools.
Pros:
- accessiBe is AI-powered and spends 48 hours scanning your site for accessibility gaps and remediating all of the major compliance bodies including WCAG2.1, ADA Title III, Section 508, IS5568, EAA/EN301548, ACA/AODA and more.
- accessiBe is affordable and easy to install, making it a popular choice for SMBs.
- They provide legal support if any claims are filed while using their tools.
Cons:
- Not as fully comprehensive as the native compliance method.
- Some disabled users may prefer specific assistive technology that may not be included in AccessiBe's offering.
- While accessiBe's AI technology is effective, it may not be perfect, and some manual adjustments may be necessary to ensure full accessibility compliance.
Freemium Plugins
This strategy involves using an inexpensive or free accessibility plugin that promises to make your website accessible quickly and cheaply. Unfortunately, many of these plugins are not effective and can even be harmful to your website. They often rely on automated tools that generate inaccessible code, which can lead to poor user experiences for disabled visitors. Relying on plugins alone to make your website accessible can be risky, as it may not meet the legal requirements for accessibility.
Pros:
- Affordable, possibly even free.
- Easy to install, no developer needed usually.
- Possibly suitable for very basic websites with simple structure and design.
Cons:
- Often not effective and may even harm your website and SEO score.
- Automated tools used by these plugins may generate inaccessible code, leading to poor user experiences for disabled visitors.
- May not meet the legal requirements for accessibility.
- May be perceived as a lack of commitment to inclusivity and accessibility by users and potential customers.
Tools and Resources for Website Accessibility
At this point, you might be wondering how does one gauge the accessibility of their own website? Fortunately, there are several free accessibility website scanners provided by reputable non-profit or educational institutions that you can use to not only understand how accessible your website is but also keep you updated on the latest technologies and regulations around web and accessibility standards.
Website Auditing and Scanning Resources
Ensuring that your website is accessible to all users is crucial in today's digital age. In this section, we will discuss some of the best website accessibility checker tools available. These tools can help you audit and scan your website to identify accessibility issues and ensure that it complies with ADA regulations.
- Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE): WAVE is a free website accessibility checker that provides a detailed report of the accessibility issues on your website. The tool checks for errors in your HTML code and provides suggestions on how to fix them.
- AChecker: AChecker is a free online tool that checks your website for accessibility issues. It provides a comprehensive report that includes a list of all accessibility errors, warnings, and suggestions on how to fix them
- WebAIM: WebAIM is a non-profit organization that provides resources and training on web accessibility. They offer a free web accessibility evaluation tool that checks your website for compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Compliance and Regulations Resources
Ensuring your website is accessible to all users is not only the right thing to do but also a legal requirement. In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act mandate that businesses make their websites accessible to people with disabilities. In Canada, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires organizations to make their websites accessible. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) also mandates that certain products and services, including websites, be accessible to people with disabilities.
To help you ensure compliance and in addition to the website accessibility checkers provided above, I have compiled a list of helpful resources including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and other major accessibility regulations around the world.
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): The WCAG is a set of guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that provides a standard for web accessibility. The current version, WCAG 2.1, includes guidelines for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities, such as providing text alternatives for non-text content, ensuring sufficient contrast, and making content navigable with a keyboard.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The ADA is a US federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. Title III of the ADA requires that businesses provide "full and equal enjoyment" of goods and services to individuals with disabilities, which includes ensuring that their websites are accessible.
- Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA): The AODA is a provincial law in Ontario, Canada that requires organizations to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities. The AODA applies to both the public and private sectors.
- Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: Section 508 is a US federal law that requires federal agencies to ensure that their electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. It also applies to any organization that receives federal funding.
- European Accessibility Act (EAA): The EAA is a European Union directive that requires member states to ensure that certain products and services, including websites and mobile apps, are accessible to people with disabilities. The EAA applies to both the public and private sectors.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, website accessibility is a critical consideration for small and medium-sized businesses that want to reach a larger audience, improve user experience, and demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility.
By implementing accessibility strategies, SMBs can create a more inclusive and accessible online experience for everyone. As I have shared in this article, website accessibility can be achieved through different methods such as native compliance, AI-powered accessibility tools, and freemium plugins.
If you are an SMB on a limited budget, my recommendation is to give accessiBe a try, they have a free trial period and a great support and onboarding team.
It's important to choose the right approach that meets your business needs, and the provided tools and resources can help you gauge the accessibility of your website and ensure compliance with regulations. Prioritizing website accessibility not only helps SMBs stay legally compliant but also makes their digital presence more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
Need Help? If you're interested in learning more or have any questions, please feel free to visit my consulting page for more information. I'm here to help you achieve your goals and overcome any technical obstacles you may encounter in your business
