• By Gaurav Mantrao
• Digital Marketing >> SEO
• October 17, 2018

Whether your website is new or old, you probably have the same goal as most other website owners – to increase website traffic fast.

When developing a website, we ensure checking off multiple parts like great content, engaging images, strong CTAs, optimized SEO, and fantastic navigation. However, the most common website and mobile app development part that is often overlooked by even the leading brands is accessibility. Whether you are an online retailer or offering services, you want to attract all the users, regardless of their physical conditions.

But, are you sure that your website is built keeping in mind even the customers with disabilities? As a top eCommerce app development agency, we offer the following crucial tips to create a website that meets “Website Accessibility Standards” to capture 20% more web traffic.

Benefits of Meeting Website Accessibility Standards

Websites that are created with “Website Accessibility Standards” are more likely to be accessible by online users, regardless of their physical abilities. If a website is created to work for the users even with the disability, there are more chances that the website will be clear and easy to navigate for almost everyone out there.

• You can avoid discrimination and legal complications
• You will build positive public relations
• Website will be more Search Engine Optimization compliant
• Improved usability for all types of online users
• Broadened market penetration
• Visitors will thank you and be more likely to return
• Visitors with disabilities can experience everything that others can
Top Tips to Meet “Website Accessibility Standards”

As a professional website development agency, we understand the necessity of accessible websites and hence we follow and recommend developers to use the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines. These guidelines ensure that your website is properly optimized.

Responsive Design – increase website traffic

A fully responsive (mobile optimized) website design ensures that all your online visitors and consumers will have ease of access to the website content, regardless of the size of screen or device used to access the site.

Images with Alt Tags

A larger share of online visitors relies on screen readers, refreshable Braille displays to access information on the website. But a matter of concern is that these tools can’t interpret images such as charts, pictures or graphic elements. That’s why it is important to use Alt Tag with images.

Videos with Captions

Just like adding Alt Tags with images, it’s important to use captions with videos on the website. It will give more information about the videos to the users with hearing problems. Additionally, there may be incidents when visitors may just want to see the video without the sound.

Improved Navigation

Better navigation will not just make the website easy-to-use, but also it will make it more SEO friendly. Additionally, improved navigation makes it easier for disabled users to reach to the desired location. Navigation may be improved by using intuitive and common design elements, with a focus on keyboard navigation on your site. Remember that every visitor cannot use a mouse.

A Balance of TTB Ratio

If you are in the website and mobile app development, you must have come across the term ‘text-to-background.’ This is very much important to increase the overall ability of a user to read a website. There may be times when the designers will reduce the contrast between text and background for aesthetic purposes. It may look great, but it makes the website less user-friendly for visually-impaired users. The ideal ratio per W3C is 4:5:1 and this should be used on all pages.

Spacing and Font Size – increase website traffic

Just like the ‘TTB Ratio,’ it is important to keep in mind the specific parameters that should be used for font and spacing. The perfect balance of spacing and font sizes ensure readability. Mostly developers and designers use 12 pixels of font, which should be increased to at least 16 pixels to make it easily readable. The font size that is less than 16 pixels reduces readability and comprehension.

Utilize Assistive Technology

Each website should be developed with common assistive technology tools like the screen readers and language plug-ins. The assistive technology allows the full stack web development professionals to allow maximum accessibility for web users. Also, you may try using Windows or Mac accessibility features for improved accessibility.

Final Words

The bottom line here is just a tip for the development professionals that each website should be designed and developed with all types of users in mind. Make the website accessible for not just the normal, but also the disabled users as well. The above-mentioned tips will help ensure your site is meeting the needs of each and every customer, resulting in over 20% more web traffic.