Designing for Accessibility – Why It Matters and How to Do It Right

As a small business owner, your website’s goal is simple: attract customers, make sales, and grow your business. But did you know that by making your website more accessible, you can open your doors to an even wider audience? Ensuring your site is accessible not only improves the experience for people with disabilities but also helps you reach more potential customers—and that means more sales.

In this post, we’ll explore why accessibility matters and how you can implement best practices to make your website easy to use for everyone, regardless of their abilities. The best part? These adjustments are easy to make, and they’ll benefit all your visitors, making your site more user-friendly overall.

Why Accessibility Matters for Small Businesses

When we talk about accessibility in web design, we mean creating a website that people with disabilities can use just as easily as anyone else. This includes visitors who may have visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. By making your website accessible, you’re ensuring that all potential customers can navigate, read, and interact with your site.

Why This Is Important for Your Business:

• Reach More Customers: Roughly 1 in 4 people in the U.S. live with a disability. If your site isn’t accessible, you could be missing out on a significant portion of potential customers.
• Build Trust and Loyalty: A website that works for everyone shows that your business cares about all customers, helping to build trust and long-term relationships.
• SEO Benefits: Search engines like Google favor websites that are well-structured and easy to navigate, and many accessibility features overlap with good SEO practices.
• Avoid Legal Issues: In some countries, businesses are legally required to ensure their websites are accessible. Ensuring your website meets accessibility standards can help you avoid potential lawsuits.

How to Implement Accessibility Best Practices

Now that we understand why accessibility is important, let’s dive into some practical ways you can make your website more accessible. These steps are easy to follow and can make a big difference for visitors with disabilities—while also improving the overall user experience for everyone.

1. Add Descriptive Alt Text to Images

What It Is: Alt text is a written description of an image that helps screen readers describe what’s on the page for visually impaired users. It also helps if an image fails to load by showing the text instead.

How to Do It: When you upload an image to your website, always include a clear, concise description of what’s happening in the image. For example, if you’re showcasing a product, the alt text could be: “Black leather handbag with gold accents.”

Tip: Keep the alt text short but descriptive. Focus on what’s most important about the image. For product images, highlight key features that a customer might want to know.

2. Use High Contrast for Text and Background

What It Is: Contrast refers to how much text stands out from the background. Low contrast (e.g., light gray text on a white background) can make it hard for anyone—especially those with visual impairments—to read the content.

How to Do It: Make sure there’s enough contrast between your text and the background. Black text on a white background is ideal for readability. If you’re using colored text or backgrounds, tools like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker can help you ensure your color combinations meet accessibility standards.

Tip: Don’t use color alone to convey important information (e.g., “click the red button”). Use text or symbols alongside color to ensure everyone can understand.

3. Ensure Your Website Is Keyboard Accessible

What It Is: Some users rely on their keyboard instead of a mouse to navigate websites, often due to motor impairments. A keyboard-accessible site allows users to interact with all features (menus, buttons, forms) using the “Tab” key and other keyboard shortcuts.

How to Do It: Test your website by navigating through it using only the keyboard. Can you access every link, button, and form? Focus on making sure the “Tab” key moves logically from one element to the next. If not, you may need to adjust the HTML code or use plugins that improve keyboard navigation.

Tip: A good keyboard experience often overlaps with improving mobile navigation, so this step can also enhance the usability of your site on mobile devices.

4. Provide Captions and Transcripts for Multimedia

What It Is: Captions are text versions of spoken content in videos, while transcripts are full-text versions of audio files or videos. These tools help visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those who prefer to read rather than listen.

How to Do It: For any video content, make sure you provide captions (either auto-generated or manually added) so that users can follow along without needing to hear the audio. For podcasts or other audio files, provide a written transcript alongside the file.

Tip: Many platforms, like YouTube, offer automatic captioning, but it’s a good idea to review and edit them for accuracy.

5. Design Forms with Accessibility in Mind

What It Is: Forms are an essential part of many websites—whether for collecting customer information, processing orders, or newsletter signups. An accessible form ensures that all users can easily fill out and submit their information.

How to Do It:

• Label Your Fields: Clearly label each form field so that users know what information is required. For example, instead of just having a blank box, label it as “First Name.”
• Use Large, Clickable Targets: Make sure that checkboxes, radio buttons, and form fields are large enough for users to click on easily.
• Provide Error Messages: If a user submits a form with missing or incorrect information, provide a clear error message that explains what needs to be fixed.

Tip: Test your form by filling it out yourself and seeing if the process is easy to follow. You can also use tools like the WAVE accessibility checker to identify any issues.

6. Use Accessible Fonts and Readable Text Sizes

What It Is: Some fonts are difficult to read for people with dyslexia or visual impairments, and small text sizes can make it harder for anyone to read content on your site.

How to Do It:

• Choose Readable Fonts: Stick with simple, sans-serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana. Avoid overly decorative fonts that may look nice but are hard to read.
• Set a Minimum Font Size: Use a minimum of 16px for body text to ensure that it’s large enough to read comfortably, even for visitors with visual impairments.

Tip: Test your text by reading it on a mobile device. If it’s too small or hard to read, increase the font size and adjust the spacing.

7. Make Sure Your Site Is Responsive

What It Is: A responsive website automatically adjusts its layout to fit different screen sizes, whether visitors are using a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Responsive design is essential for accessibility because it ensures that all users, including those who rely on screen readers or mobile devices, can easily navigate your site.

How to Do It: Most modern website builders (like Wix, WordPress with responsive themes, or ZipWP) offer built-in responsive design. Be sure to check how your website looks and functions on different devices. Make sure buttons are large enough to tap on mobile, and content doesn’t get cut off on smaller screens.

Tip: Test your site using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to ensure your website works well on all devices.

8. Test Your Site for Accessibility

Finally, the best way to ensure your website is accessible is to test it! There are several free tools you can use to check for accessibility issues and get suggestions for improvement.

• WAVE Accessibility Checker: This free tool helps you identify accessibility problems on your site and provides tips for fixing them.
• Lighthouse: Built into the Google Chrome browser, Lighthouse allows you to run accessibility audits and see where your site needs improvement.

Tip: Regularly test your website as you make updates to ensure that it remains accessible to all users.

Final Thoughts: Make Accessibility a Priority

Designing for accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also smart business. An accessible website improves the experience for all visitors, opens your business up to a wider audience, and can even boost your sales. By following these simple best practices, you’ll ensure that your website is usable by everyone, including those with disabilities.

Making your website more accessible is an investment in both your customers and your business. And the good news? Many of these changes are easy to implement and will benefit all of your visitors.

Ready to get started? Try applying just one or two of these tips today and watch how it improves both your website and your business!