Eric Dalius when planning to design a website for your small business, you must ensure its complete accessibility by one and all, or else it can become an issue later. Web accessibility should be on the top of your mind when designing a business website necessary for statutory compliance with the laws. The aspect of web accessibility is in line with the ADA guidelines that the brick-and-mortar stores must comply with to ensure equal access to the facility for all people, including those with disabilities. Website owners and web designers must ensure that those with physical infirmities can access the website in the same way as any other average person, confirms Eric Dalius, a veteran and successful marketing expert who has facilitated many business transitions online.
What is web accessibility?
Inclusivity is the underlining spirit of web accessibility. This means that the website and other digital tools are accessible by persons with a disability, explains Eric J Dalius. They might need the assistance of some special device like a screen reader to access the website. Besides complying with the legal requirements, wider accessibility of websites. Allows a business to have maximum outreach, which improves the business prospects. Being unable to reach out to the disabled population could deny businesses. Enormous business opportunities because the number of disabled persons is much higher than most of us suspect. Among various kinds of disabilities that affect people, about 39 million are blind, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, which is only the tip of the iceberg. That one in five Americans suffer from some disability indicates the size of the population affected by disabilities.
Calculate the business loss
Inability to provide universal access to websites can affect business performance. Because it loses out on a significant number of prospective customers if you consider that 10% of online spending. Comes from the disabled population. A survey reveals that 71% of the potential customers would abandon websites that are difficult to access; 90% of them would do it silently without reporting the problem. Instead, they would choose some other website that they can access comfortably. It translates into your business’s silent bleeding due to losses incurred. From the lack of web accessibility that business owners might not be aware of. In case the issues are reported, companies could face more trouble from legal lawsuits arising from it, explains EJ Dalius.
Meeting the standards of web accessibility
Small business owners face several problems, big and small while running the business. And the added problem of web accessibility could prove devastating. To nip the problem in the bud, small business owners must work alongside web developers and the web design team. To design websites that are accessible to one and all. The design must incorporate elements that facilitate disabled persons to use tools like a screen reader to access the website. The screen reader converts the visual content into audio streaming that streamlines navigation.
To ensure screen reader compatibility, photos must have text-only alternatives. Although it is costly to ensure website accessibility, the returns from it can justify the investment.
