When creating a website for your business, your main priorities are likely to be somewhere along the lines of making sure that it is professional-looking, on-brand and covers everything that your business offers. You know that your website should load quickly, be easy to navigate, and capture the interest of your viewers for it to be successful. Companies today need a website regardless of whether or not they are actually selling online; it acts as a hub for your online presence where consumers can go to find out more about your brand and what it offers. But, is your business website accessible to all? 

Why Does Your Website Need to be Accessible?

If your website is not accessible, you could be ignoring a huge chunk of your audience and closing the door on many potential leads. Not only is this bad for your business, but it could also damage your reputation by giving the impression that accessibility isn’t something your company is concerned with, which could even be seen as discrimination. There are many people that might suffer from disabilities and have accessibility needs that make accessing some websites difficult for them. Making sure that your website is a pleasure for them to use will not only help you expand your customer base but also help improve your reputation. Here are some top tips from accessiBe to consider.  

Conduct an Audit

Perhaps you believe that you have done everything you can to make your website accessible, or want a clear plan to follow when it comes to improving its accessibility. Either way, it’s a good idea to use the free audit provided by accessiBe with their WordPress plugin to find out more about the areas of your website that could be improved when it comes to this issue. 

Use Customizable Tools

The experts at accessiBe suggest using a range of customization tools to improve the accessibility of your website. Save time by using their suggested tools that provide you with options that allow your viewers to customize the viewing experience to themselves, including adjusting the size of text, changing colors, moving icons and more. Putting accessibility tools in place gives your individual users the freedom and control to view your website in a way that is most helpful for them. 

Monitor Compliance

It’s important for business website owners to make sure that they are familiar with the legislations surrounding ADA and WCAG compliance, which are there to ensure that websites have guidelines to follow to ensure that they are accessible to viewers with disabilities. You can use accessiBe to not only learn more about the regulations and guidelines that you will need to follow when building or updating your website, but also for monitoring your compliance over time and ensuring that you keep up to date and that any new content is compliant. 

An accessible website that considers users with disabilities will not only boost the reputation of your business, but it ensures that your brand’s online presence can be accessed and enjoyed by everybody regardless of who they are and their situation.