What Are the Benefits of Web Accessibility for Your Business?

For people with disabilities, web accessibility is highly beneficial. They use multiple assistive technology tools that often require accessible web design and apps to function properly.

It is obvious how web accessibility benefits users with disabilities, but what about businesses? What are the advantages of building accessible sites for your company? Keep reading, and you'll discover seven key benefits of making your website ADA-compliant.

Why do companies hesitate to invest in web accessibility?

A survey of around 500 U.S. business leaders and web designers shows the main reasons behind the reluctance of some companies to make a website accessible. Most of the respondents confessed they are worried about the financial investments and potentially high costs (73.6%), while 66.9% think optimizing their sites for accessibility will require too much time.

We are here to tell you that making your website accessible for people with disabilities doesn't require too many resources, will highly benefit the user experience, and most probably keep you away from web accessibility lawsuits.

7 Benefits of Making Your Website Accessible

1. Increased traffic on your site.

There's a myth regarding accessible websites that says accessibility only benefits the visitors. However, by improving the user experience and making it accessible for anyone, you plant the seeds for:

Higher traffic rates on your site
Better user engagement
Improved search engine optimization rankings
Higher conversion rate

2. Lower risk of legal complications.

As legal requirements regarding web accessibility are getting tougher, optimizing your site for people with disabilities becomes non-optional—unless you don't mind being prosecuted. Make sure your site meets specific accessibility guidelines and pay attention to the accessibility standards required by the industry that you're operating in.

3. Bigger customer base.

Making your website accessible means addressing the needs of bigger social groups, and that, in the long term, could lead to you growing your customer base. By investing in accessible design, you can attract more visitors that are likely to engage with your brand on a long-term basis.

4. A more innovative business mindset.

Building accessible design for your website visitors challenges you to deal with unanticipated issues and thus puts your creativity at work.

The constraint of adapting your design so that it incorporates a whole set of accessibility features challenges you to... come up with innovative solutions—and to preserve that mindset for innovation in the long term.

In the current dynamic digital landscape, staying creative and ready for innovation is key to keep up with the ever-changing trends.

5. Boosted SEO efforts.

You can improve your site's accessibility by adding ALT-text to images, writing clear content, or choosing a clutter-free page layout. All of these steps also mean good SEO practices.

So, by making your website more accessible, you're also making it more SEO-friendly.

You probably already know the importance of investing in robust SEO strategies in today's digital landscape. It's all about how high you rank on SERPs and the level of visibility that your website is gaining.

6. Improved brand reputation.

Accessibility is also essential for your business as it helps grow your brand reputation.

By ensuring your website's universal design grants equal rights and easy access to your content, you raise awareness and build a positive reputation around your business.

Today, having an inaccessible website is the digital equivalent of sticking a big KEEP OUT sign in front of your business.

7. Faster page loading time.

It has been proven that if you improve a page's level of accessibility, you boost its speed score.

As modern internet users demand fast website experiences, you want to improve your page loading times to keep up with your visitors' needs.

By implementing features designed for users with disabilities, you're making your site a better place for all users.

There are many ways in which you can promote accessibility on your website.

For example, users that struggle with visual impairments benefit the most from screen readers to help them understand the content on a particular website. This is a way to make your website accessible for people with sight issues and offer some support in making their daily lives a bit easier.

Hopefully, this article sheds some light on the importance of web accessibility for your business and how building a universal design for your site can positively impact your brand. For more insights on how Optasy can help you make your website more accessible, check out our Drupal Website Accessibility services.

Photo credit: Wirestock on freepik.

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Web Design + Digital Marketing = Success

“Marketers need to build digital relationships and reputation before closing a sale.” - Chris Brogan, Chief Executive Officer of Owner Media Group. And how else can you build brand reputation in the digital era than with a robust online presence? Today, leading companies are leveraging web design to sustain their digital marketing efforts and are seeing remarkable business results. The following article provides a clearer picture of how digital marketing and web design can work together to deliver digital-readiness and build long-term customer relationships. What makes a great web design strategy? User-friendly web experiences. One of the primary purposes of a website is to build brand awareness, attract, and retain customers. Consequently, when crafting your web design strategy, the user experience should be a top priority. Think big: accessibility, usefulness, credibility, value, desirability, usability, ease-of-use. All of these are core elements of what attracts website visitors to turn back to your site and, ultimately, become your customers. Search engine optimization (SEO). An SEO-centric web design approach will help you build a solid online presence and a long-lasting brand image. When thinking of SEO, you must consider your long-term objectives and adjust your optimization techniques according to these objectives. On-page and off-page optimization methods, meta descriptions, catchy headlines, alt tags in images, etc., are just a few of the elements in the arsenal of a solid SEO strategy. Content optimization. This is the backbone of your website, and it can work well in tandem with SEO. When done right, your content will be easy to read, accessible, comprehensive, and informative. You don't want to overwhelm website visitors with too much text, so keep it short and concise. And don't forget about engagement. Think from your audience’s perspective—what would you like to learn from the content displayed on your website? Streamlined navigation. It might sound basic, but the truth is many websites could use some serious work when it comes to navigation. A user-friendly website allows visitors to quickly move from one page to another without 'getting lost'. A site map can prove to be really effective for this purpose, offering interactive and functional features for the users to know exactly where they are on the website and how to get to the desired location. Branding. Your website should reflect your brand's identity, your business’s culture, and the way you relate to your customers. You can create this brand-website link by investing in visually connecting your logo, print material, and brick-and-mortar location. In this way, you'll add an extra layer of credibility and enhance your brand’s overall image. “Your website is the center of your digital eco-system, like a brick and mortar location, the experience matters once a customer enters, just as much as the perception they have of you before they walk through the door.” - Leland Dieno. What makes a great digital marketing strategy? Content management and planning. To be successful in digital marketing, you need to set realistic frameworks from the beginning. There are plenty of strategies and tools that can help you with this, such as content mapping, editorial calendars, or timelines. At this point, you want to plan smartly and organize your project with well-defined outcomes in mind. However, nothing is certain in life, especially in business, so leaving room for uncertainty can be a productive mindset. Set your key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensure that they match your overall business goals. Choosing the right KPIs. 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In business, as in life, it is always wise to leave room for uncertainty. That means building a strategy that is flexible and can adapt to new, unexpected scenarios. In other words, leave some unfilled spots in your timeline so that you can, later on, incorporate things like viral competitors' articles, trends, and current events, or unforeseen expenses in new technologies. To build flexibility, ask yourself these questions from time to time: Where could I improve my strategies? Which tools should I choose to keep the business in line and better organized? Where is the business getting the most traffic from? What KPIs am I interested in at this stage? Measure your content's performance and see where it is heading. In digital marketing, you always want to know where the business is standing. That's why visualizing a clear direction and planning accordingly to reach your goals is essential. That means being aware of each stage of your funnel and adapting your strategies to match your current activity’s needs and demands. Why web design and digital marketing should work together? The impact of web design on your digital marketing outcomes is substantial. The way you design your website speaks volumes about your brand, and it plays a vital role in how your overall business is perceived and engaged with. Elements like the website experience, SEO, social media outreach, and branding are essential components of your digital marketing ecosystem. Blending web design and digital marketing is a modern approach that takes digital businesses to the next level. “Websites promote you 24/7: No employee will do that.” - Paul Cookson. What are your thoughts on the importance of connecting digital marketing and web design in a holistic business approach? If you want to leverage the full power of the digital, have a look at Optasy's services and see how our web development and digital marketing agency in Toronto can craft a personalized digital strategy that will suit the needs of your business. Let us build your roadmap to digital success! Photo credit: edhoradic on Unsplash. ... Read more

Raluca Olariu / Mar 18'2021

Design Tips Web Design

”Why Would I Use Shopify to Start My Own Online Store?” Top 7 Reasons

You either ride the wave or drown in it (yes, I am talking about the new e-commerce reality that COVID-19 has brought). So, you’ve decided to go ahead and open up your own online shop and you ask yourself: “Why would I use Shopify?” Why not... BigCommerce, for instance? And you know that going through this digital transformation is going to be painfully challenging since you’ll need to: go through the entire process of building your online store (obviously!) make sure the servers will withstand huge (hopefully) amounts of traffic actually ship your products handle those scenarios where customers return their products handle all the marketing of your online business … With so much on your plate, the last thing you need is a complex or a too rigid eCommerce platform. One that would make setting up and managing your store even more cumbersome. But still: why Shopify? Here’s why: 1. You Can Start Your Own Shopify Store with… Zero Technical Skills And this is one of the key reasons why it’s the best eCommerce website builder, particularly for small businesses. Shopify handles all the technical stuff for you: backups, security, web hosting, updates. Unless you need some more advanced features than the ones it provides you with out of the box. Otherwise, you’re good to go: you can set up your store in no time, with no computer science degree. Talking about empowering entrepreneurs, right? 2. “Why Would I Use Shopify?” Because It’s the Easiest to Use The question "Can I build my own eCommerce website?” has one simple answer: Definitely! With Shopify, you can set up your storefront and start loading in products in a few hours.You have an intuitive interface “at your service”, enabling you to get everything up and running with… no single line of code. It’s conveniently easy to use, with your store ready to go pretty much right out of the box. 3. You Get Everything You Need to Run Your eCommerce Business And I’m talking here about: web hosting deep insights into your customer behavior via its easy to navigate dashboard (Are they abandoning carts? How long are they hanging out in your online shop? Which social media channels do most converted customers come from?) advice on the measures you could take to boost your sales transaction management a dedicated payment gateway: Shopify Pay (while it also integrates smoothly with Amazon Pay, PayPal, Stripe, Worldpay) integrations with Google and Facebook and other platforms, as well In short, Shopify takes care of everything online store management-related for you. 4. You Get a Fast and Low-Cost Shipping Service “Why would I use Shopify for my eCommerce store?” Because you get access to a network of thousands of third-party logistics providers. And this is gold particularly for small eCommerce businesses (with big plans), who don’t have a global logistics network. 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Adriana Cacoveanu / Jul 13'2020

Design Tips Web Design

How to Improve Internal Site Search and Boost Your Conversion Rate in 12 Easy Steps

They're not there for the looks, you know. Users come to your website to search for... something — a product, a service, information. Its role is to make it easy for them to find that "something" via its search engine. But how to improve internal site search and "shorten the time between query to conversion"? What are some best practices when adding search functionality to your website so that: it serves up the most relevant search results? it reduces user-friction? it provides the best search experience? it helps users to convert faster? Here's your 12-step checklist to an effective on-site search: Why Site Search Is Important? "Adding on-site search to your website increases conversions by 480%!" (Neil Patel). Just think about it: The user's found your website (your SEO efforts have paid off). It's something specific that he's looking. Or he at least has some idea of the type of products/services that he's there for. Now, why would you want to make him go over... 5 different pages of results before he reaches that service/product page that he was looking for in the first place? Instead, your website's search engine should help him out with: search suggestions autofills real-time preview of search results Like Office Depot here, whose on-site search engine gave me plenty of search suggestions when I looked for a "chair": Step 1: Put It Front and Center One of the powerful internal site search best practices. But also the most ignored one. Don't be that website owner. Instead, put your search box where users can see it the instant they get on the web page: besides the navigation right below the navigation, as a distinctive element above the navigation in the header Take Zara's example here: how long does it take you to find the search box on this page? Step 2: How to improve internal site search: Make It Easier to Navigate And what better example than Google's Search Engine itself? You just can't miss it on the page. Moreover, search results are grouped into different categories — images, videos, news — lifting some of the burdens off your shoulders as an online "searcher". It'll even turn your misspelled search queries... Key takeaways: consider using tabs by categories to make the user search experience as breezy possible make the most of keyword matches ... and assistive technologies It's all about shortening the time from the user's query to... conversion, remember? Step 3: Boost Your Site Search Engine with Product Metadata "How to improve search functionality?" By forgetting all about the "meta tags have no impact on SEO" principle and starting to add relevant product metadata. For yes, they do not count for traditional search engines, yet they have a huge impact on the way that your on-site search engine finds any product in your inventory. So "feed" it metadata: titles, tags, attributes, categories, descriptions, specific keywords that your target customers will enter... Step 4: Cater to All Kinds of Searches There'll be users who know exactly what they need. So they'll be typing the exact product/serial number in the search box. And there'll be users who have heard of an innovative, newly launched product in passing and will misspell its name. Make sure your on-site search will serve up relevant results for both types of user profiles: turn the product/serial number into a search criterion make sure your on-site search turns relevant results on "misspelled queries", as well Step 5: "Fuel" Your Internal Search Engine with Long-Tail Keywords "How to improve internal site search?" By optimizing your website copy for long-tail keywords (3-5 words). The more you use, the more power you'll inject into your search engine. Let's take this example: You go to Office Depot's website looking for an office chair. Chances are that you're trying to find something more specific than a "chair". You want it to be... grey, ergonomic, made of leather or mesh. You get the idea. You're not looking for a generic "office chair". Now, switch from your role of potential customer to that of an online owner and start optimizing your website copy for long-tail keywords. They still have most of the search volume. Step 6: Give Users Multiple Filtering Options via Faceting Add multiple categories to help users filter through generic query results. This way, you enable them to make their way to more specific results. This internal site search "best practices" becomes a must-have if it's an: eCommerce website with a large inventory ... that you have. A customer won't spend half a day looking for a "green cotton t-shirt for girls size XS", digging through dozens of result pages. Take H&M's example here: they're using faceted search options to help me narrow down my options when I type a generic query like "shirt". Step 7: Tailor the Search Experience As Per the User's Location "How to improve internal site search?" Localize your website content. Or, in plain English: add regional dialect and idioms to your copy. And you'd also want to include "popular searches in your... (name of the region)". The whole idea is to: personalize the search experience, making it more user-friendly help the user find what he's searching for faster (and to convert faster, as well) Even if he's using a dialect-specific word or phrase as a search query. So, start building a list of synonyms for your search queries and use them to improve the search functionality on your website. Step 8: Implement In-Search Filtering Go beyond autocomplete if you want to provide the best search experience to your potential customers. In this respect, advanced in-search filtering is one of the most powerful on-site search features. Take this example: Someone enters "sneakers" in your search box. You'd want to give him/her more search options, more specific suggestions like "sneakers in men's clothes" or "sneakers on sale"... Again, a must-have on-site search feature if it's a large eCommerce website that you have. Step 9: Add Informational Content, As Well Not everyone on your website is there to buy something from you. Some of them are looking for specific information on your products. So, another effective way of improving search functionality on your site is to you ensure there's enough info-rich content for these users to dig into. Step 10: Serve Targeted Search Results Based on User Behavior Data Here's another answer to your "How to improve internal site search?": Make the most of previous user behaviour to serve targeted search suggestions. Rely on users' profile log information to: identify distinctive patterns and tailor your recommendations accordingly identify regional phrases (e.g. "soda" instead of "coke") and use them to personalize your suggestions Step 11: Give Users More Control Over the On-Site Search Results How? By giving them: categories to filter through their search results drop-down menus brand names that they could use as search criteria a personal search results page where they can keep track of their past activity and use quick search options based on their past behavior Step 12: Serve Relevant FAQs on Every Search Another effective and easy way to optimize search function on your site is to display FAQS at the end of each search This way, users get more information about the product features/price/specific fees/brand that they're interested in. Tailor these lists of questions to the user's past behavior and query data and turn personalization into your most powerful ally. The END! Maybe you do want to increase the conversion rate on your website, but without having to: optimize heavy of loads content for long-tail keywords get tangled up in user data to track down all the regional words variations write metadata for... hundreds of different product pages We get you. And we've got your back. Just drop us a line and let's improve your on-site search so that you stop leaving conversions on the table. ... Read more

Adriana Cacoveanu / Jun 26'2020

What Are the Benefits of Web Accessibility for Your Business?

Why do companies hesitate to invest in web accessibility?

7 Benefits of Making Your Website Accessible

Recommended Stories

Web Design + Digital Marketing = Success

”Why Would I Use Shopify to Start My Own Online Store?” Top 7 Reasons

How to Improve Internal Site Search and Boost Your Conversion Rate in 12 Easy Steps

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What Are the Benefits of Web Accessibility for Your Business?

Why do companies hesitate to invest in web accessibility?

7 Benefits of Making Your Website Accessible

Recommended Stories

Web Design + Digital Marketing = Success

”Why Would I Use Shopify to Start My Own Online Store?” Top 7 Reasons

How to Improve Internal Site Search and Boost Your Conversion Rate in 12 Easy Steps

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