The most obvious advantage of digital accessibility is that it allows people with disabilities to access the website’s content, goods, and services. However, the benefits of digital accessibility extend beyond assisting people with disabilities. Some of these advantages might surprise you.
Knowing the advantages of digital accessibility for your company, employees, and customers will not only benefit your company but will also help you learn more about the world and how you can change it for the better.
Avoiding Potential Issues and Discrimination
As the internet and other digital technologies become more common in daily life, it’s easy to argue that people with disabilities have a right to use them. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with disabilities should have equal access to public services and “places of public accommodation,” such as restaurants, movie theaters, and schools (ADA).
Even though the ADA does not specifically address digital accessibility, the law is vague enough that it is frequently assumed to apply to the digital world. The United States Department of Justice has found that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may have been violated in a number of court cases when websites were difficult to use.
If a company wants to avoid discrimination claims and lawsuits, it should use Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and other digital accessibility standards (WCAG). They can also receive a letter stating that their website was reviewed and that reasonable changes were made to allow people with disabilities to use it.
More People Should Be Aware Of Your Company’s Name And Products.
Some of the many types of disabilities include difficulties hearing, seeing, moving, and thinking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every four American adults is disabled (CDC).
Making your website more user-friendly makes perfect business sense. Even though creating a website that everyone can use is impossible, a few simple changes can make it much easier for people with disabilities to use your site. Furthermore, accessibility features such as transcripts and closed captions, compatibility with mobile devices, and a clean, simple design will benefit all users, not just those with disabilities.
People’s Perceptions Of Your Company May Improve If They Can Access It Online.
People with disabilities, those who assist them, and those who care about them all benefit from digital accessibility. You could help your company’s brand image by advocating for digital accessibility. If people with disabilities have a positive experience with your company, they are more likely to tell their families, friends, and social media contacts about it.
Writing an accessibility statement is one way to get positive press for your website. This document discusses your dedication to digital accessibility and the steps you’ve taken, such as adhering to WCAG standards, to ensure that users with disabilities can use your site.
When Digital Access Is Simple, Search Engine Optimization Improves.
An accessible website not only makes it easier for users to use but also makes it easier for people to find by improving its SEO.
SEO attempts to increase the number of visitors to your website by increasing its ranking in search engines such as Google. Despite the fact that Google’s ranking algorithm is never fully disclosed, there are some SEO best practices on which nearly all digital marketers can agree.
Most of the time, SEO objectives and digital accessibility objectives are in sync. Websites that are easier to use and have cleaner interfaces will benefit visitors with disabilities, and the number of people who leave the site will decrease.
Consider how both search engine optimization and digital accessibility expect you to provide closed captions and transcripts for your content. Text versions of video and audio files must be made available to everyone, including people with disabilities, according to digital accessibility standards such as WCAG.
Because Google and other search engines primarily seek text, they cannot search through the voice in your video and audio files. Closed captions and transcripts aid SEO by containing language that Google and other search engines can understand and index. This makes it easier to find relevant content on your website.
Another advantage of having digital access is that it makes things easier to use.
Usability and digital access go hand in hand, just as SEO and digital access do. Making things, places, and services more accessible for people with disabilities is what accessibility is all about. As a result, accessibility is related to or overlaps with the concept of usability, which is concerned with making a product or service easier to use and better for the user.
Websites, for example, must adhere to digital accessibility standards such as WCAG in order to be usable and navigable. More people will use your website if it is simple to use with a keyboard. If this condition is met, it means that your website’s navigational elements are organized in such a way that all users can easily find what they’re looking for.
If you add more digital accessibility recommendations to your website, it will be easier to use in general. People with slow Internet connections can read the information before it is completely loaded by using alternate text for images and other parts of a website. A glossary of acronyms, uncommon phrases, and technical terms can benefit everyone, including those with cognitive disabilities or who speak English as a second language. It is also possible to learn more advanced business strategies thanks to online courses like master’s in marketing degrees and other global business programs.
Improves Code Reliability
Writing better code will benefit your website in a variety of ways, including improving the user interface, reducing bugs, and making the site load faster. This will also improve your SEO ranking. Investing in accessibility is thus an investment in the future of your company and code base.
This may be the most frightening part, particularly if your IT department is small or if you are the IT department. In this case, it is best to contact a digital accessibility team such as QualityLogic. We can assist you in continuing or beginning your journey toward full accessibility. Whatever you require, we are here to assist you.
Conclusion
One of the most common misconceptions about digital accessibility is that it only benefits disabled people. As we discussed in this post, digital accessibility can help you gain more customers, improve how people perceive your company, climb the search engine rankings, and make your website easier to use. All of these are significant business benefits that also aid in the discovery of your website.
Many of the things you can do to make your site more accessible also benefit people who are not disabled. You must be able to work with digital tools. Learn more about our services by clicking here.
