fbpx
Tap To Call

Ask Your Digital Marketing Agency About Site Accessibility

Wordpress site on laptop our digital marketing agency is designing
Our digital marketing agency can help you make your website more accessible.

As a digital marketing agency, one common question we get asked is whether the websites we build are accessible. With more and more people aware of accessibility in many different arenas, it’s no wonder that you might be thinking about accessibility for your business’ website. Let’s talk about website accessibility and how our team helps ensure your website is accessible for all.

Why You Should Ask Your Digital Marketing Agency About Your Website’s Accessibility

Is your website accessible? If you don’t know the answer, it’s time to ask. Website accessibility is essentially how well people with disabilities can use your website. For instance, without accessibility for your site, people with disabilities like vision impairments, color blindness, dyslexia, hearing impairments, and dexterity issues may have a hard time using your website. 

Many sites on the web today are not accessible. Yet, an estimated 1 in 4 Americans living with some form of disability according to the CDC. An inaccessible website can have huge implications for your business. It blocks potential customers from interacting with your site. Also, it may have an effect on your search engine rankings. Therefore, if you’re not sure whether your website is accessible, talk to our digital marketing agency. We can audit your site and identify potential issues as well as offer suggestions on how to resolve them.

What is Accessibility for Websites? 

Website accessibility is basically building and maintaining your site so that people with disabilities can use it. For instance, for those with vision impairments, some accessibility actions might include using alt text to describe all the images on your website. To be accessible to those with hearing impairments, you might include text transcripts of videos and audio files. The fundamental idea is to provide ways to use your website so people with disabilities can visit your site.

Importance of Site Accessibility

Having an accessible website for your business is important for many reasons. For instance:

Allows Your Website to Reach a Wider Audience

As a digital marketing agency, we are here to help you reach as wide of an audience as possible to increase sales and business growth. Well, an accessible website can help with that. Remember how we mentioned that about 25% of Americans are living with disabilities? Without an accessible website, you could be losing out because  some people can’t use your website. It’s just bad business to use an inaccessible site for your company. 

Helps Protect You from Legal Troubles

Another reason to invest in an accessible site for your business is because it can help you avoid legal issues. While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t specifically mention websites, many legal experts interpret websites as “places of public accommodation.” This is important because public spaces must be accessible under the ADA. So, you might be breaking the law with an inaccessible website.

In fact, there have been several lawsuits regarding website accessibility. For instance, Domino’s was sued for an inaccessible website and mobile app that wasn’t screen reader friendly. Because the site and app weren’t accessible, it prevented some people from ordering pizza online, opening them up to a lawsuit. As you can see, you might be opening yourself up to potential legal trouble if your website isn’t accessible. 

May Help Your Houston SEO Strategies & User Experience

Now, before we get into how accessibility and SEO overlap, it’s important to note that Google has said in the past that accessibility isn’t a direct ranking factor (yet). However, many of the things we do for Houston SEO and the things we do for accessible websites are the same. For instance, including alt text for images on your site. Alt text not only provides context for people using screen readers, but also provides more information to search engines to help categorize and rank your site. So, it’s like killing two birds with one stone when you work with our digital marketing agency to make your website more accessible.

Also, accessibility standards are all about making your website easier to use. This helps everyone, people with and without disabilities. Any time a website is easy to read, understand, and use, it improves user experience. This is important for SEO because user experience can have a huge impact on your search engine rankings. 

Ways Your Digital Marketing Agency Uses Accessibility for Your Site

Now we know some of the reasons why you need an accessible website for your business, let’s talk about a few ways our Houston internet marketing agency makes your website accessible to those with disabilities. Here are some of the things we help with:

Our Digital Marketing Agency Designs Websites that are Easy to See and Use

Accessible web design is an important part of making sure people of all ability levels can use your site. For example, consider how difficult it would be for someone with vision impairments to read gray text on a black background, or to use on-page buttons that are really small. Even the code of your website can make or break accessibility for people who use common tools like screen readers. We work hard to make your website easy to use for all. 

Using Accessibility Tools to Describe Visual Elements

Another way our digital marketing agency helps with accessibility is by offering text alternatives to visual elements like images. Alt text is a big one. These provide descriptions for images if a person can’t see the picture. Alt text also labels buttons, logos, and other important visuals on the page. This makes it not only easier for people to understand what’s on the page, but how to interact with your website. For instance, having a “click here” button doesn’t help much if the person doesn’t know what they’re clicking for. Instead, our teams work to make it clear what buttons do so everyone can easily use your website. 

Our Digital Marketing Agency Creates Readable Content for Your Audience

Another way we help make your website accessible to a broad audience is creating content that is easy to read. This includes many different things, but you can think of it as making everything easy to skim and comprehend. Of course, different businesses have different audiences, so we customize this to your needs. However, simple things like using clear titles and headings and making content easy to digest for people at many reading levels helps. This makes it easier for people to find the information they’re looking for, whether reading on the page or using a screen reader. 

Total Digital Marketing Solutions from Bizoipa: Your Trusted Houston Internet Marketing Agency

Ready to up your marketing game on the internet? Our team at Bizopia is here to help you take your marketing strategies to the next level. We work with small and medium sized businesses throughout the Houston area to increase visibility online through expert website design, SEO services, online advertising, and social media marketing. We have an entire team of experts standing by to help you create a strong presence online and start gaining new customers online. Reach out now for a free website and marketing analysis from our pros to learn how we can help your business.