6 benefits of an accessible website design

We are fortunate to live in an era when technological development makes our lives easier. However, there are also people with disabilities that cannot use the technology in the same way. While technology makes things convenient for people without disabilities, it makes things possible for those who have them. If you are running a business and creating a website for your company, you need to be aware that there might be people with disabilities who also want to visit your website. You need to make it accessible and create an easy, simple, and user-friendly experience. With that in mind, here are 6 benefits of an accessible website design and why you should implement it to your website today!

The top 6 benefits of an accessible website design

While there are many reasons to make your website accessible, here are the top 6 things that can benefit your website:

  • reach a wider audience;
  • build a positive PR experience;
  • protect yourself from any legal issues;
  • improve the search engine optimization on your website;
  • fix potential usability issues;
  • improve the background quality of your website;

Let’s see how each of these benefits both helps people with disabilities and improves your business.

Open your business to a new market

If you are analyzing your bounce rate, you never know why someone left your website. A percentage of that number could be people with disabilities that had an interest in your website but could not use it. If it had been optimized, they could have already become your clients.

To avoid this situation in the future and reduce your bounce rate, work on making your website accessible. This will open a whole new market for your business and bring you more customers. You can use social media to reach out to that demographic and let them know your website is now accessible.

Even if you don’t immediately notice the change in your daily visits, the numbers will grow over time.

Improve public relations

Positive public relations are invaluable to your business. It is not something you can easily buy; you have to earn it with your actions. By making your website accessible, you let the public know that you want to offer quality service to whoever visits your website.

If you are working on becoming a brand, this type of website design will help you with branding. The crucial part of branding a business is sharing company values with the public. If you show everyone the level of effort you place in making your website accessible, they will know you care.

Discrimination and legal complaints regarding non-accessible websites

Since internet technology is a part of our daily lives, web accessibility is slowly becoming a civil right. Organizations that support people with disabilities are requesting that websites have the same level of service for everyone. In fact, there was a rise in lawsuits from 2018, and various companies were sued because their websites were not made accessible.

To avoid this potentially huge and expensive problem, it is best to make your website accessible.

Improve your SEO rating

A website’s SEO rating is affected by many various factors:

  • the type of content;
  • links;
  • code optimization;
  • website loading speed;
  • image optimization;

Besides the usual factors, Google also examines websites to see if they are accessible or not. By adding the needed features, you are getting a much better website rating.

Another benefit is that you will need to start creating content for people with disabilities and use a modern content strategy to keep up with any additional requirements. Google likes to see mixed content, so that also goes in your favor.

Track and fix usability issues

When website developers begin the project and start adding accessibility features, they will thoroughly examine the entire website. This is a perfect opportunity to fix potential usability issues you never knew existed.

It is common in programming to find an error with one thing when trying to fix the other, which can be an excellent opportunity for a complete overhaul of your website.

Improve the overall quality of your website

All websites are split into two sections: front end and back end. No matter how good the front-end environment looks, if the back-end coding is not good, the visitors will have a terrible experience. Furthermore, while you can cut corners when designing the front-end environment, even though that is not recommended, the website’s functionality stored in the back-end is not something you can fake.

Accessible websites have a complex coding structure. If you decide to implement them into your website, you will need to hire professionals who will do the job the right way. At the same time, you are improving the quality of the back-end code, which will also have a significant influence on the website rating.

ADA compliance

To make sure you are satisfying all of the requirements for your website, refer to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA went through a couple of changes in the past decade, so the requirements may have changed. Some of the basic features are:

  • the ability to navigate the website without a mouse;
  • not relying on color schemes too much;
  • consistent navigation between different pages is a must;
  • optimizing your website for different devices;
  • using simple headings and spacing;
  • providing your users with a level of control over the website;

These are just a few examples. Before you proceed with making your website accessible, make sure to consult with a professional and cover all of the requirements.

Help your community by implementing accessible website design

To give a quick summary, the reasons to make your website accessible are: access to a new market, building positive public relations, protecting your company from lawsuits, improving SEO ranking, fixing usability issues, and improving the back-end code.

All of these benefits of accessible website design are not only benefits for you. Above all, you are helping the entire community by making your products or services easily accessible even to those with disabilities. That is worth every praise. As a result, you will quickly see a rise in the number of visitors and more purchases. Accessible website design is the key to the future of the internet, so make sure you get there before your competitors!

Meta description: Here are the most important benefits of an accessible website design. Help your company to grow and your clients to get a better experience.

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