ADA Laws Require Your Website To Be Accessible

Be Accessible Inc. supports websites that need to engage the broadest circle of people. We believe online services can be open to all and empower those with disabilities. We help organizations meet website accessibility standards that are complex and evolving.

Accessibility laws, such as the ADA and Section 508, increasingly apply to websites, treating them as places of public accommodation–that must be inclusive to those with visual, hearing, and motor disabilities.

More than 1,000 web accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2017.

How web accessibility benefits business owners

If you are a business owner, you may be familiar with the term bounce rate. The bounce rate of a website is the version of a metric that measures the rate of how long users stay on a website. Unlike conversion rates that we want to be high, our goal is to have a lower bounce rate. Following the web accessibility guidelines can significantly contribute to reducing this rate. The lower the bounce rate, the better, because it means people are staying on the website longer. This is often adhered to within various web entities and is incorporated within their policies pertaining to user retention.

On the contrary, a higher bounce rate indicates a poorly constructed site version, particularly if it fails to meet web accessibility standards. A website that ignores the importance of accessibility and lacks necessary elements would fit this description perfectly. Elements of a poorly constructed site include things like non-responsive design, lack of color contrast, and missing form labels.

Our primary aim is to keep people on our website longer so that they discover more reasons why they should choose us over our competitors. A study found that a staggering 71% of disabled web users will leave a website version that does not fulfill accessibility requirements. This is a large enough percentage to significantly impact the overall bounce rate. Hence, all business entities must incorporate accessibility requirements into their policies to avoid a potential loss of customers.

A recent study done in Canada shows people with disabilities make up a big part of Canada’s population. It says that about 1 in 5 people aged 15 and older have at least one disability. That’s over 6 million people in Canada alone!

As a business owner, you need to opt for a professional web design and development agency who is well-versed in creating accessible websites. By doing this, you avoid losing many potential customers by not being inclusive.

How web accessibility benefits developers and Google

If your web developer argues that web accessibility does not benefit them, then it may be time to seek services elsewhere. The value of web accessibility for developers, especially in today’s digital version of the age, is undeniable. Developers take pride in crafting high-quality websites and understand that cleaner code paves the way for a faster and more proficient website. If a website’s load time is slow or it fails to rank high in search results, the development team is usually held accountable. HTML elements (code) have semantic meaning, and web entities optimize their website’s accessibility and performance by using code as intended.

Apart from reducing bugs and enhancing loading speed, semantic code also aids search engines such as Google and Bing in indexing the content, thus facilitating higher search rankings. Let’s imagine a webpage version constructed to compare web development platforms like WordPress and Shopify and how its organization of content using heads and visual elements can increase its potential visibility.

Be Accessible Inc. provides your company with a 3 Step Solution that doesn’t just give you a list of accessibility errors but a roadmap to fixing website issues and compliance. We’re adept in working with developers or executives, technical or non-technical staff. Moreover, we use a combination of automated tools and our own experienced auditors to inspect your website. We then coordinate a group of visually impaired people to test and navigate your site.

Besides the full audit and recommended fixes, we also provide training to avoid future issues, information on your present legal exposure, and above all, a face-to-face relationship with Be Accessible Inc.

Get ahead of legal risk and broaden the circle that can benefit from your product. We’d like to help.