Blog Post

Improving Your Website’s Accessibility

Amber Blevins • Feb 18, 2022

“User experience” is a phrase that’s frequently used in the digital marketing world. If you’re a business owner, you’re certainly aware of how important user experience is on your own website.

However, there’s an aspect of user experience that’s often overlooked—accessibility.

In the US, there are approximately 56.7 million people living with a disability. Many of these people have difficulty interacting with websites that are not optimized for accessible use. It’s easy to imagine the scenario. A potential customer visits your website, finds it lacking in accessibility tools, then clicks away to your competitor's site.

According to the US Department of Commerce, companies without accessible websites are losing $6.9 billion a year to competitors with accessible sites.

Understanding Web Accessibility

Web accessibility is the practice of ensuring people with disabilities can successfully navigate and use your website. In this context, a disability can be any number of things, ranging from physical disabilities, learning disabilities, situational disabilities, or socio-economic disadvantages.

In other words, anything that is a barrier to effectively using a website is considered a disability.

Accessibility puts tools and technologies in place to enhance your website’s user experience for those with disabilities.

Challenges Some Users Face

When we hear the term “disability,” we often assume it’s a physical challenge. But in fact, as mentioned above, disabilities can come in many forms and pose a variety of challenges when trying to interact online.

For example:

Users may not be able to hold a mouse or use a track pad
A visual impairment may prevent users from seeing the screen clearly or at all
Users with dyslexia may struggle with blocks of written text or the use of certain fonts
Some users may not be able to tolerate flashing lights or blinking images
Users with poor access to the internet may find the site impossible to use if it’s slow loading or laggy

This is just a short list of challenges your site visitor may face. And while it’s impossible to anticipate every potential disability, a handful of accessibility tools can open up your website to a vast number of people.

Accessibility Tools for Your Website

Here at Locallogy, we recognize the importance of making business websites accessible to everyone. In general, we appreciate the significance of an inclusive online experience. And from a practical standpoint, we know that increasing your website’s accessibility and reaching a new customer base can grow your business and revenue.

We’re excited to now offer our clients website accessibility tools through Userway. Userway’s tools fit seamlessly in with your existing website and make your site accessible to more users.

We think Userway is such a great tool, we’re using it, too! Head over to our website and check it out. With a simple click, tab, or keystroke, our site visitors can access Userway’s tools to enhance their interaction with us.

If you’re interested in learning more about accessibility or how Userway can work on your site, give us a shout! We’re ready to help.