What Are the Benefits of Accessible Website Design?
By: Elena Alehno
Tags: Web Design, Ada, Accessibility

It goes without saying that there are certain musts for any website that need to be followed: all the elements should be positioned nicely and logically, and the colour palette must be chosen carefully. Surely, content plays a significant role, too. But is that all? Surely not. There is one more significant aspect to take into account that you may not be even aware of. And this is web accessibility.

Web accessibility ensures that your website can be easily accessed by everyone regardless of any physical barriers. Furthermore, it allows for better and accurate navigation to people with temporary, situational, or conditional disabilities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, also known as the ADA, was introduced in 1990. According to it, businesses have to provide accommodations for people with disabilities, which allows them to be treated equally. The ADA regulation extends to the online world as well, with the company website being no exception.

It’s important to correspond to web accessibility standards because it prevents you from costly lawsuits, raises awareness of your brand, and surely contributes to your passing the ADA compliance audit. And not only that: your accessible-to-everyone website demonstrates that your business is inclusive and attentive to your clients’ needs.

Now let’s dive into details and find out what particular benefits an ADA compliant website has to offer.

It improves your Search Engine Optimization

If your website complies with all the standards, be sure that search engines will definitely like it. An ADA compliant website is regarded as more competitive in the search engine results pages (SERPs). When you include some accessibility features in your website (like image alt texts, explanatory link text, captions and transcripts for videos), your Search Engine Optimization tends to improve. This often leads to a better user experience, which is also a crucial aspect to SEO.

It contributes to better market reach

Have you ever heard that inaccessible websites lose around 20% of potential clients? This gives some food for thought, really. Once you tick all the boxes in the ADA website compliance checklist and correspond to all the requirements, you can significantly increase your market penetration. What is more, it will also grant your website users an opportunity to explore your website content and make purchases. This, consequently, can boost your sales and increase your brand’s visibility.

It allows to avoid discrimination lawsuits

What can actually happen if you don’t make your website ADA compliant? You may believe it or not but you run all the chances of being involved in a lawsuit. There were more than 2,000 lawsuits in 2018 related to web accessibility, with the Domino’s case being the most publicized.

However, once your website is ADA compliant, there is nothing to be afraid of. That’s why it’s advisable to implement and follow the accessibility checklist right now.

Designing accessible websites is a bit lengthy process and requires relevant skills. But it’s essential to comply with the ADA requirements to protect yourself from costly litigation and attract a wider audience to your business. That’s why you can always turn to a company that provides web accessibility services to take care of your website. It will undoubtedly bring you a number of benefits including positive public perception.