B a c k   T o   T h o u g h t s

Just as brick and mortar stores must adhere to specific ADA guidelines and regulations, so too must any brand with an online presence. 

Referred to as digital accessibility, designing a website while taking into consideration individuals with visual, hearing, and physical impairments, as well as cognitively challenged people like the elderly, is not only just the right thing to do, but it’s also a legal responsibility.

Unfortunately, less than 1% of websites are actually fully ADA compliant. As x, that denotes a rather large demographic that is unable to properly view or use 99% of Internet websites. Ensuring that your brand’s site is ADA compliant is important from both a legal standpoint and from a business standpoint, as an ADA compliant site offers many benefits and enables you to maintain an edge over your competitors.

Expand Your Customer Reach

With an ADA compliant website, you’ve just enabled access to a massive demographic, many of which are likely part of your target market. This digital inclusion expands your reach and increases your online visibility. More importantly, by providing web accessibility, you could be luring a significant part of the target market away from competitors who have yet to design a website that is ADA compliant.

Avoid Expensive Lawsuits

If one individual with a disability were to complain that they could not access or view information on your site, they would have grounds for a lawsuit. A lawsuit can be detrimental to your business financially, and often your reputation. Our web design agency can help you avoid expensive lawsuits by implementing a widget on your website that has built-in features available to meet a variety of accessibility needs such as a screen reader that supports over 30 different languages, keyboard navigation for those who rely on assistive technology, light and dark mode viewing, inverted colors and customizable text sizes and spacing for users with dyslexia and other visual impairments.

Overall, it's financially beneficial to invest in a tool that allows more users to view your website successfully. Additionally, having an attorney draft an accessibility policy also looks good. Doing so costs pennies compared to the potential thousands you might lose as the result of a court settlement.

Inclusion is the Standard for 2020

2020 has brought a lot of craziness, but one strong theme that has emerged is the inclusion of all people. Diversity in business has always been a hot topic, but in today’s societal mindset it is more important than ever. If your brand is able to recognize that diversity also includes people with disabilities, you’ll likely garner more support and instill brand loyalty.

Having a website in ADA compliance showcases your digital inclusion and commitment to diversity, and your support for everyone, regardless of race, orientation, ability/disability, etc. Today, finally, this is speaking volumes.

Set the Right Example for Others in your Industry

When your organization focuses on web accessibility and ADA compliance, you set an example for others to follow. More importantly, you establish your brand as a credible source of compassion in providing everyone with equal opportunities in the digital space.

If you aren’t sure how to transform your site for ADA compliance, contact our web design agency for assistance. We’ll ensure your website is properly updated to allow for full digital inclusion.

Improves SEO

From a marketing standpoint, an ADA compliant website will also enhance your website’s SEO. Search engines tend to rank ADA compliant sites higher than others because they are optimized for crawls. Adding alt text to your photos, transcribing audio files, providing text and audio descriptions for videos, adding video captions, descriptive H1s, and more can all benefit your search optimization efforts and more importantly, allows visitors with disabilities the opportunity to learn what is appearing on a website they may not be able to see.

More Opportunities

Millions of potential customers feel as though they are undervalued simply because of a lack of website accessibility. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to grow your customer base — become ADA compliant and improve digital inclusivity. The large demographic will appreciate it and it increases the chances of more fulfilling business opportunities.

In Conclusion

When you consider that over 50 million people in America have a disability, it just makes sense to be ADA compliant. As brands in all industries are becoming more aware of the importance of website accessibility, many are rapidly adjusting their own websites to be ADA compliant and accessible to those who have vision, hearing, learning, and cognitive impairments, as well as other disabilities. Don’t be left behind and most importantly, don’t neglect your business’s commitment to the inclusion of all people.

Becoming ADA compliant is not a long process, nor is it expensive. For a nominal, annual fee, our experienced web design team will ensure ADA compliance on your website, which often results in a significant ROI. Contact our creative team today to learn more about why having an ADA compliant website will benefit your brand and improve your online visibility.

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