Contributed Content Provided by WordPro SEO.
Creating a website for your brand is one of the most important parts of creating a successful business.
Your website is your brand’s identity, your platform to tell your story and your portal for customers to connect with you.
Over the last decade, our ability to create websites on our own has increased. No longer do we really need to go to coding school to build our own website or spend thousands of dollars to do so. With various website builders now accessible to us, we can create our very own website in just a few simple steps.
And while you will likely create a website that you are proud of, looks beautiful and functions great, there is one crucial part you must ensure, and that is being confident your website is compliant.
Compliant websites, in short, means you are in line with the ADA guidelines and check all the boxes to make them accessible to all.
Making your website compliant is much more straightforward than you may have initially thought. In just a few simple steps you can add a single line of Javascript, use the compliant widget to scan for accessibility throughout your website and have your content adjusted within 48 hours to make it more accessible to all.
But why does making your website compliant and so accessible actually matter? We’ve rounded up the top five reasons why it is imperative for any website to do its diligence on ensuring its website is always as accessible as possible.
- Grow Your Loyal Customer Base
Every successful company is backed by a group of loyal customers. These customers are the reason that the company was able to reach a point of success and would not exist if the customers disappeared. In general, the more loyal customers you have, the more successful your business is likely to be. Well, with nearly 1 in 4 adults having a disability in America alone, why not expand your customer base by simply making your website accessible to them as well? Nothing but positive results will come from growing your loyal customer base.
- Prevent Negative Backlash
One of the most harmful things any company can endure is negative backlash. With so many people dealing with disabilities, the risk is high that if your company does not take appropriate steps you could end up in a sticky situation. This is because, since 2011, it has actually been a law where have to make your website ADA compliant. If you have not done your due diligence with that, you risk getting sued and can cost your company thousands of dollars.
- Give Yourself an Advantage
If you go the extra step in making your website compliant, you are putting yourself that much further ahead of your competition. Especially by routinely checking all new content on your website is ADA compliant, you will be one step ahead of the game compared to everyone else in your industry.
- Make Your Brand an Inclusive One
In the world we live in today, making your brand an inclusive one is imperative. The latest generations are demanding companies to step up in terms of social responsibility and find ways to make what they offer inclusive for all. So it is in your benefit to make your website accessible to as many people as possible so that your brand identity is favorable amongst the crowd.
- Enhance Your SEO Rankings
Driving optimum SEO through your website is one of the best digital marketing strategies you can implement. When you nail the SEO of your website content, you instantly boost your search rankings and raise the likelihood of more people being driven to your website. SEO rewards websites and content that is compliant and accessible to all. You can easily achieve this by using correct headings, have a logical order in your content and provide alternate tags on your images. The little things can make a big difference with SEO.
Wrapping Up the Reasons to be Compliant
When you build a website, checking off that it is compliant should be at the top of the list. But you should also be routinely auditing your website to ensure that any new content added is also compliant as well.
By putting in the extra bit of effort to make your website accessible for all, you automatically improve your brand’s reputation, SEO rankings, competitive advantage and customer loyalty base. All these things will help you reach the business success you have dreamed of—with the magic ingredient being making your website compliant!
