Making your website accessible to everyone is not only a moral duty, it’s a legal obligation. Many organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, have been sued for not making their websites accessible enough. With 50 million Americans suffering from some disability or other, improving your site’s accessibility makes clear commercial sense too.
It’s not just those labeled as ‘disabled’ who stand to gain either. Research suggests that 57% of adult computer users will benefit from enhanced accessibility of some kind. Only 19% of websites currently meet the most basic accessibility requirements, so you can really stand out from the competition by making a few changes to your site.
In this article, we explore 12 ways in which you can make your site more accessible. Some methods are very cheap and quick to implement, others require a little more time and financial investment, but you should think of them as business opportunities. With the internet so central to all of our lives these days, it’s unfair that some people are being left behind.