The Hidden Cost of Your Website You Never Considered
The Lesson Many Businesses Learned The Hard Way
The Americans With Disabilities Act provides for accomidations for people with disabilities. Most often people think of the typical issues like wheelchair ramps or handicapped accesible restrooms for employees and customers. But there are other non physical items that can bring the full weight of the legislation down on your business.
During the past several years many businesses have been targeted due to the fact their website is not accessible. That's right, your website must meet certain criteria to be compliant with the ADA. This can cost you tens of thousands of dollars and also damage your brand in the process.
This 7 minute video highlights the reasons for developing an accessible site.
Enhance Your Brand and Extend Your Reach
Today the internet is a vast resource and provides an opportunity to those who have barriers that may be limited permenantly or temporarily by a physical or mental disability. Failing to address the accessibility of your website can block access to individuals who are unable to adequately use your site.
There are several advantages to having an accessible site:
- Removing barriers allows more people to use your site and increases the potential audience
- Compliant sites are more search engine friendly
- Minimize the risk of legal action related to people with disabilities
What Can You Do
The best and most cost effective answer is to incorporate web accessibility into your design when developing your site. Keeping this in mind during the development phase will save time in the future. There are a variety of resources available on the internet that can guide you through the process.
If you are not developing the site internally you should consider including this as a part of the the development process and ensure that the team you choose can provide an accessible site.
If your site has already been developed it's not too late. Although this can be an involved process it is possible to handle it in stages. Focusing on the most important areas first will make a difference and reduce the risk of legal action.