These 6 website accessibility factors can have a critical impact on your website’s sales and leads. Make sure these web accessibility factors are correct.
This is part 1 of a 4-part series on increasing sales through good website design and by improving it’s usability.
We Can’t Wait To Help You Explode Your Business
Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to take a look at our ‘Website Usability’ checklist and you’ve done two things:
- Printed it out.
- Set up tracking.
As promised, I wanted to give you a high-level overview of each of the 25-point checks AND I’ll even include an AMAZING free tool you can use.
Maybe you’ve already applied a few of the good website design steps!
I want you to analyze your website structure and we’re going to focus on accessibility.
You Need To Have Good Website Accessibility
This section contains not only traditional website accessibility issues, but anything that might keep a visitor from being able to access the information on your website.
- If people can’t load your site, or the type is too small to read, all of the website accessibility in the world won’t matter.
- These are some of the most important factors in website accessibility that we look at.
1. Site Load-time Is Reasonable
People are getting more impatient. We have too much information coming at us, and as a result, we’ve become masters at making quick judgments.
A slow site = lost business. Although the internet is faster, people have less patience.
In our free marketing course, we look at how 1 second could cost amazon £1.6bn.
So, make sure you’re site is fast!
2. Adequate Text-To-Background Contrast
Nobody likes squinting trying to read text that’s a similar colour to the background.
Good, old-fashioned black-on-white is still best most of the time.
Dark gray on light gray may seem stylish, but I’m not going to ruin my eyesight to read your blog. Eyes and monitors vary wildly, so keep your core copy contrast high.
3. Font Size/Spacing Is Easy to Read
Is your text bunched up? Do you have long paragraphs that look like a soliloquy (a long monologue used by Shakespeare)?
Opinions vary on the ideal size for text but err on the side of slightly too big.
Poor readability increases frustration, and frustration leads to site abandonment. Also, make sure your line spacing is adequate – white space is a designer’s best friend.
4. Flash & Add-ons Are Used Sparingly
No matter how great your site looks,
People won’t wait 5 minutes for a plug-in to load.
Use new technology sparingly and only when it really enhances your goals. Sticking to standard HTML/CSS is also a plus for search engines. I’d even avoid using Flash altogether.
Have you ever wondered how is your website performing?
It’s easy to find out – use this 20 Point Google Analytics Custom Report Checklist.
There’s even a movement to rid the world of this plugin!
5. Images Have Appropriate ALT Tags
Not sure what an alt tag is? An alt tag is a text alternative for an image or object on your page.
The alt tag will be read by screen readers and other site readers as an alternative to the image itself.
Not only do sight-impaired visitors use ALT tags, but search engines need them to understand your images.
This is especially critical when you use images for key content, such as menu items.
To check if you’re using them, insert [wpmlfield name=”website”] into a free tool. It will show you which images are missing alt tags and you need to get these fixed. Easy!
6. Site Has Custom Not-found/404 Page
If a page on your website doesn’t exist, a white page with ‘404 Not Found’ is a good way to lose a customer.
Create a custom 404 page, preferably one that guides your visitors to content.
While this is second nature to us, some of it might be quite new. I suggest that if you’re not familiar with terms like ‘alt tag’ or ‘404 pages’ then you really should hire an expert to assist you.
Here’s An AWESOME Tool For You To Use
In fact, I’ll share one here for now for you, just share to unlock it.
Go on, head on over to this website speed test, and pop in your website. You can then see how your website performs!
Most of the tools are free and simple to use but it’s taken years to find and test them all, which is why share these with our ‘Website Review’ customers.
What’s Next?
Read our next article in the good website design series:
