Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients?
With millions of people going online everyday the potential for your business is almost unimaginable! However, the great challenge is creating an environment that is positive, effective, and accessible to all of your potential clients.
No two people see everything exactly the same way. In addition to our own paradigms that shape how we interpret things presented to us, there are also very real obstacles that affect many people surfing the web. By removing barriers to accessibility and addressing these obstacles you open the door to new business and greater success.
"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." - Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director (Web Accessibility Initiative)
The most common obstacles facing many individuals are auditory and visual. This includes people with various levels of hearing, language barriers, color blindness, visual perception, level of sight, and complete loss of sight. Any of these challenges can render your site potentially useless to a visitor and potential client who may simply be unable to distinguish the color variation of your text on your background.
In the United States a new Bill has been proposed to legislate the web and enforce handicap accessibility standards for all government related websites. While there is currently no policy in place for the private sector, the issue has provided insight and opportunity for every business to be more accessible.
Some basic steps you can take to open your site to potential clients:
1) Make sure all of your relevant and core content is in text-based format. For example: if you have power statements as graphics embedded in your content they will not be readable by a speech synthesizer (a tool used by people to turn written content into an auditory format).
2) Make sure your images have alt tags that say what they are. If someone is using a Braille display to view the web, untagged images show up as a large blank space that could easily be interpreted as the end of the content.
3) Try changing your setting to quickly view your site in black and white. This is an option that people with color blindness in any degree often use so they can avoid missing valuable content. Check to see if your color palette allows text and hyperlinks to still be clear and readable.
New technology is bringing more and more people online everyday. Is your site ready and open to everyone?
Have a successful day! Leslie Durand, Marketing Coach and Emarketing Specialist
Leslie brings over 10 years experience in new media marketing to every project and a unique coaching approach to every client relationship. http://www.ldurandconsulting.com
top rated cleaning service Lake Forest ..If you want to make money on the web, you... Read More
Creating a sense of credibility for your product and website... Read More
Web site traffic promotion on the cheap is labor intensive... Read More
Finding the successful keywords is crucial in order to get... Read More
Though it's wonderful to get all those hits to your... Read More
People are always wanting to attract more visitors to their... Read More
This article reveal the same techniques that many Internet marketing... Read More
Successful websites extend their reach far and wide! They build... Read More
Personalized search is a hot topic especially since Yahoo! and... Read More
If you are not getting traffic at your website and... Read More
How can one get a good ranking in the major... Read More
A back-end product is a product that you attempt to... Read More
Is your website looking alittle bare? It's okay, you're about... Read More
Congratulations! You and your designer have just finished creating your... Read More
If you've ever been to a popular forum hosted by... Read More
Do you dream of running your own business? Well, get... Read More
Let's face it. Getting webmasters to link to your site... Read More
Any time you use a URL in an Article, Web... Read More
Over the past couple of months it has been quite... Read More
If you are website owner and you have begun exchanging... Read More
Content One of the best ways to encourage website owners... Read More
Promotion... also known as selling. Not an easy task in... Read More
I took a look at a new Website recently in... Read More
With learning about online promotion, there is so much information... Read More
How to improve conversion rate for your website? How to... Read More
insured cleaning company Morton Grove ..Any time you use a URL in an Article, Web... Read More
Link Value is the perceived value another site will derive... Read More
1. Directory Linking Create a directory of web sites on... Read More
Website owners and webmasters who are trying to improve their... Read More
Promoting your website can seem like a daunting, complicated task.... Read More
Let's see here... as of today Google states it has... Read More
As a small business owner are you looking at promotional... Read More
How to build the ideal website for software archives. View... Read More
We have a running joke in our office that one... Read More
Keeping in touch with other sites like Amazon.com, Buy.com and... Read More
If you have a website promoting any product or service,... Read More
Web site traffic promotion on the cheap is labor intensive... Read More
Making money with your web site is the dream and... Read More
An important question to answer when creating or revising a... Read More
1. Tell people you have a siteThis might seem blindingly... Read More
The ChallengeWebSiteMarketingPlan.com was to be a companion site to the... Read More
If you haven't visited the Google Labs lately, they have... Read More
Would you attempt to use a cell phone with a... Read More
So you have a new website but the phone isn't... Read More
I took a look at a new Website recently in... Read More
When promoting any product or service every hit to your... Read More
It's no big secret that banner ads have become less... Read More
Content One of the best ways to encourage website owners... Read More
Almost anyone who has tried submitting to free-for-all sites will... Read More
Yes, it can be done. Here are 7 ways that... Read More
Web Site Promotion |