Accessibility is a cornerstone feature of the internet that levels the playing field for everyone around the globe. When the internet meets this goal, it opens doors to people with a diverse range of sight, hearing, movement, and cognitive abilities. It also provides them with increased opportunities, including education, jobs, and online shopping for goods.

However, when poorly designed websites, applications, technologies, or tools are created, enormous barriers that prevent people from accessing the internet can be present. For instance, people living with physical challenges, like blindness or hearing loss, may have issues interacting with a site if it doesn’t include the right accessibility enhancements.

You may be surprised to know that accessibility can also help those without disabilities. For instance, older people may have difficulty reading smaller fonts with different colors. Other individuals may have issues with slow connections, bad screens, and ‘temporary’ disabilities, such as an inability to read due to blurry vision caused by migraine headaches.

And, what’s good for the client is good for the business. Websites that incorporate accessibility have been found to have reduced maintenance costs and increased audience reach.

Four Reasons Your Business Should Have Accessible Websites

Are you still undecided about how ADA website compliance can benefit your business? Here are four reasons why your company should make your website accessible for everyone.

1. Reduced Litigation Risks

Businesses must ensure their sites comply with Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA’s State and Local Governments statute (Title II), these entities must protect qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination based on disability in services, programs, and activities provided by governmental agencies. 

Some legal eagles have interpreted Title III of the ADA to define websites as “places of public accommodation.” This interpretation has placed website owners at increased risk for legal action if their websites are inaccessible to people with disabilities. Lawsuits related to web accessibility are currently on the rise in the United States. And due to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts expect litigation to skyrocket in 2020 as businesses race to build new technology to handle a glut of online ordering, communication, and additional digital services.

Several major companies have already faced litigation because their sites don’t comply with ADA standards, including Dominos, Burger King, Red Lobster, T.G.I. Friday’s, Safeway, Winn-Dixie, Amazon and Blue Apron.

2. Improved Search Engine Rankings

A second reason companies should build accessible sites is to improve their search engine rankings online. When sites follow the best standards and practices of search engine optimization, they are optimizing your site and mobile apps for accessibility.

Check out these SEO tactics that support ADA website compliance.

Image Alt-Tags and Captions: These should have clear descriptions of content about images that allow screen readers to identify and read images properly. It also gives search engine bots indications of what an image is about and if it has a URL attached.

Video Transcription and Tags: Do you have multimedia on your website? To meet ADA website compliance, you must have a readable transcript for audio-only and video-only media. Spend a few minutes to make sure your text is accurate. You should also add video titles, keywords, and descriptive text that help search engines and users find your content more easily.

PDF: Small businesses should ensure that all PDF content is accessible by following Adobe Acrobat’s guide.

RELATED: 5 reasons to invest in SEO for your business.

Title-tags: These allow users to identify whether the information on your webpage is relevant to their needs. It also allows Google to crawl it quickly and determine how the page should appear in its search results.

Link-anchor-text: These should be descriptive. Text or buttons that only say “Click Here” are not ideal since they don’t communicate what the result would be. It’s recommended that you use a copy of the link to tell users and search engines what your site links to.

On-site sitemaps, table of contents, and breadcrumbs: These simple sitemaps contain links to all major sections and pages of your website. They can allow your visitors to understand the contents of your website.

3. Increased Sales and Conversions

Another benefit that accessible websites provide to businesses is increasing their website sales and conversions. When you design your website for ADA website compliance, you’ll attract a large segment of buyers that can significantly increase your website traffic. In 2019, disabled Americans spent more than $200 billion online in discretionary spending. With COVID-19, online sales and orders have exploded.

Accessible websites also improve the overall user experience (UX) for all of your users, not just people with disabilities. For instance, adding accessibility features such as keyboard-based navigation, search by voice, increased content readability improves your site’s flow. Adding accessible elements also allows search engines to discover your website more easily since you can add semantics, micro data, and ARIA tags to communicate the structure and purpose of your site.

4. Improved Corporate Responsibility

Creating ADA-compliant websites also improves your corporate social responsibility. According to the Nielsen Norman Group, which conducts research-based user experience, consumers expect companies to be clear, authentic, and transparent. They compare corporate content with third-party reviews to develop their opinions about companies before they do business with them.

The Nielsen Norman Group also found that companies that donate back to their communities are also seen as more benevolent and responsible than businesses that don’t make the same efforts. They love companies that care about people and the environment. 

RELATED: Read more by Nachum Langsner.

ADA Website Compliance is Achievable

Does your business need an accessible website that helps others within your community and improves your market reach? LocalBizGuru has professionals that can build a beautiful, ADA-compliant website design that reaches all of your customers, or audit and repair your current website to achieve ADA website compliance. In fact, full ADA and WCAG compliance and certification can be achieved in 48 hours and monitored 24/7, and maintained thereafter!

Learn more about our web accessibility solution—or to schedule an appointment, contact us today. Mention 'COSE' for an exclusive discount to wave the first year's $250 set up fee.

And, to read more, check out a more extensive LocalBizGuru blog post on this topic.

Nachum Langsner is the Co-Founder & CMO of LocalBizGuru, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Cleveland, OH. He has over 10+ years of experience in the SEO industry and is a frequent presenter and instructor of digital marketing and SEO seminars for entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Greater Cleveland area for organizations such as COSE, Jumpstart, the Better Business Bureau, Score and the Ohio SBDC at CSU.  

The Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) and our 12,000 business members continue to express our strong support for key programs and provisions found within various proposals of coronavirus relief packages that have been debated and brought forward in Washington.  Broadband affordability and connectivity, support for our health care institutions, and investments to help minority businesses and communities are among the many important issues GCP continues to highlight and fight for.

While those issues are not the only policy points that are of importance to our members, flexibility for small businesses that have participated in the Paycheck Protection Program is another issue at the top of the list of our priorities. GCP – and its small business division the Council of Smaller Enterprises – urge our elected leaders to support legislative action that provides tax deductions for ordinary business expenses and other tax incidents not be affected by the exclusion from gross income of amounts related to loan forgiveness received in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Our members’ grave concerns on this issue stems from a related Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling and clarifying guidance that would directly, negatively impact the northeast Ohio business community.  

Stay tuned for additional information on how federal activity may directly impact your business and the region.

Over 40 people interested in commercial real estate attended What’s Happening in Cleveland: A Conversation on Diversity & Inclusion in Commercial Real Estate on October 24. Hosted at GCP and presented by the Real Estate Associate Program (Project REAP), attendees enjoyed refreshments while Ken McIntyre, the project’s executive director, spoke. He noted that the program serves as a bridge between talented minority professionals and commercial real estate companies looking for talent, through educating those professionals on the business side of the industry. Angele Robinson-Gaylord, President of North American Real Estate at IKEA, was the Keynote speaker. Graduating Project REAP in 2009, Robinson-Gaylord detailed her experience transitioning from practicing law to working in commercial real estate. As a woman of color, she noted how graduating Project REAP gave her the tools to succeed in an industry historically under-represented by people that look like her.

Robinson-Gaylord then sat on a panel to discuss the current state of Greater Cleveland’s commercial real estate industry. Joining her was Michael Elliot (Program Manager of Capital Access Fund, National Development Council), Christopher Nance (Director of Construction Diversity & Inclusion Program, GCP), and Shonna White (Real Estate Manager, CBRE). After answering questions from moderator David Browning (Managing Director, CBRE), the panel opened to questions from the floor.  Questions pertained to the potential impact our local colleges and universities can have on minority participation in the industry, and how we as a region can make young minorities feel like real estate is a profession that they can and want to pursue. The evening ended with networking, as attendees had the chance to speak personally with the panel members.

For information about an upcoming REAP Academy being planned for 2020 in Cleveland, please contact Vince Adamus at 216-592-2258 or vadamus@gcpartnership.com. Learn additional information regarding the nationwide REAP program.

Last week the GCP Board of Directors officially approved of the organization’s inclusion and participation in the Coalition to Stop the Spread.  GCP is among hundreds of Ohio organizations that are coming together as part of the Coalition to Stop the Spread. 

We all have committed to mobilize our workforces, our customers, our vendors and our friends in advocating for steps we know are effective in fighting back against COVID-19. 

Check out a message directly from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine thanking GCP members for their resilience.  

Last week, GCP women and minority-owned business members participated in a roundtable discussion event hosted by state Senator Nickie Antonio. The discussion focused on the unique concerns of women and minority-owned businesses. It also served as a starting point to help strategize potential legislative solutions.

Women and minority business owners from across the state of Ohio convened for the meeting, providing valuable feedback to Ohio’s lawmakers in order to support the growth of female and minority businesses. GCP has remained committed to advancing business growth among a diversity of stakeholders. In its latest public policy agenda, GCP called for the review of administrative rules for various state programs that support growing minority and diverse ownership of small businesses.

Conversations with members who experience obstacles to growth first-hand are a critical part of engaging the state legislature to pass comprehensive solutions.

GCP offered proponent testimony for Ohio House Bill 312, which permits intrastate equity crowdfunding under certain circumstances. Securing traditional sources of capital for the small business community can still serve as a challenge. New funding opportunities that make access to capital easier can help businesses achieve greater stability and predictability, particularly in challenging economic circumstances.

The ability for businesses to leverage diverse funding streams will help bolster our state economy and make Ohio a more attractive place for entrepreneurs. The goal of HB 312 is a step in the right direction to ensure Ohio continues to make strides in maintaining an economic environment conducive to startup entrepreneurship. For startups and small businesses that do not qualify for traditional lending or need to diversify their capital streams, HB 312 will help to ensure that is possible. 

The bill, sponsored by Representative Jena Powell, has its second hearing by the Senate Finance Committee last week. It was passed unanimously by the House in late 2019. To read GCP’s full testimony, click here.