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Website Design:  The ABCs of Accessibility

Surfing the web and jumping from one website to another is probably easy for you, but some find it more challenging.  Accessibility plays a critical role in determining both the short and long-term sales of your company.  What’s often forgotten is that not all potential customers are endowed with the same physical capabilities and, as a result, need special considerations when it comes to gaining access to a website.  For instance, if someone is burdened with a visual impairment, their needs will be different from what you may view as the “average consumer”.  The same is true for those who are challenged in the area of a hearing or physical capabilities.  If you’re truly interested in serving the public and setting your company up for a greater sales potential, then you’ll need to make sure that your website offers the highest level of accessibility – just don’t rely on specialized software or hardware to make that dream a reality.

If you think that it would be too much of an effort to equip your website with accessibility tools, then consider the fact that more than 10% of the world’s population has some type of disability which would make traditional navigation difficult for them.  When you do the math, that works out to a potentially significant loss of sales...and that’s only one side of the story.  For those who are afflicted with these disabilities, inaccessibility to a site is tantamount to rejection, since their needs haven’t been considered.  Is this really the image that you want to project?

Don’t make the mistake of thinking of the target audience as simply those who are young and healthy.  Due to medical breakthroughs which offer an increased lifespan, the average age of the world’s citizens has increased, as well.  What this means is that you’re far more likely to have a large number of older individuals visit your website.  Since the effects of age can often bring restrictions in the areas of sight, sound and dexterity – to name a few – the number of consumers who will have easy access to your website decreases...again.  Combined with the more than 10% of the other set of individuals who are challenged in some way, you’re losing a lot of money by remaining inaccessible – especially when you work the fact that senior citizens often require the internet to meet their shopping needs into the equation.

In order to meet the needs of these customers, smart women business owners make arrangements for those with special needs to access their websites through Web TV or kiosks, mobile phones and other types of devices that will allow ready access to those who rely on their use.  In addition, they don’t restrict access through limited bandwidth or speed-reliant connection scenarios, but they do make accommodations for a wider range of computer hardware and software.

If you haven’t already taken steps to make your website more accessible to users with special needs, then you may find that you won’t have a choice for very much longer.  There are a number of governments that require websites to conform to specific guidelines in the area of accessibility.  Before you fret about what it might entail to make these changes, however, keep in mind that you’ll not only fall within the necessary governmental guidelines and very likely gain significant sales as a result of those changes, but you’ll also get more traffic as a result of web searches.  Accessible sites are far easier to locate through this online tool, which will result in a great number of visits to our website.

If you’re not already fully accessible, you may be worried that these changes will have an overall impact on the design and usability of your website to the general population.  There’s no need to be concerned, since the integration of the necessary tools will have virtually no effect of this kind.  The only changes that will be apparent are positive ones, such as allowing those who have the need of assisted screen readers and those who need to rely on specialized input devices to access your website.

To be more specific, you’ll give them the opportunity to resize the content to match their comfort level, have the option of text instead of graphics and animations, read text messages about hyperlinks, have sufficient contrast between font and background color, access simplistic layout design for easier navigation and see oversized hyperlinks that are designed for easier reading.  Without making any major changes to the meat of your website, you’ll allow others to gain easier access – and consumers always appreciate the fact that a business owner has taken the necessary time and effort to address their specific needs and keep them in the proverbial loop.

Since accessible websites are easier to find within search engines, that means that your site will get more exposure on an international level.  In addition, your site will be easier to maintain and you’ll reduce your hosting costs.  All in all, upgrading your site to become more accessible provides a multitude of benefits to potential customers and to your company, as well.

For help with the design – or redesign – of your website, you might find that it’s beneficial for you to contact a professional.  One of the best in today’s market is DivaDesignWorld of Portland, Oregon DivaDesignWorld offer state-of-the-art web design and a reputation for a progressive, creative approach to their development of websites for companies of all sizes.  Known for their high rate of success, customer satisfaction and visionary tactics, the members of DivaDesignWorld offer high-quality, professional results without the hefty price tag that usually accompanies such qualifications.