Is your website accessible?
Today we’re pleased to welcome Nicolas Steenhout to Small Business Owner. Nic is the guy behind Accessibility NZ, a web accessibility firm based in New Zealand but offering most of its services worldwide. Nic is passionate about web accessibility and has some great insights to share with you. Naomi 
Having an accessible website means people with disabilities can interact with your site and access your content. An accessible website also reduces barriers to many people who don’t have a disability.
There is no way to know how many people with disabilities are using the web. We do know that approximately 20% of the Australian population has some condition that affects their activities of daily living, such as seeing, hearing, or moving. If 1 in 5 Australian has a significant disability, it makes sense to think that a large number of people with disabilities are using the web.
You can implement changes to your site to ensure you’re not cutting out potential customers. These changes will benefit other people as well. Accessibility techniques also apply to non-English speakers, folks who are colour-blind (about 8% of men), the elderly, and a growing number of people using smart phones.
Implementing accessibility doesn’t have to cost the earth. It generally is better to plan for accessibility at the design phase, because it is more costly to retrofit the website. But if you have an existing site, you can still make small changes to make a big difference. Is a small investment worth a potential increase in traffic between 5 and 20 percent? How much have you invested in Search Engine Optimisation already?
Search engines can’t index your content if it is delivered only through images, or Flash. Think of Google as the largest blind user on the internet. If you increase accessibility, you also make it easier for search engines to find your content.
Baby boomers are starting to turn 65. For many of them, small font size that can’t easily be increased or low colour contrast can be a barrier. Grey text on light grey background might be nice from a design point of view, but it is difficult to read.
The internet is a global market. Your audience is no longer simply local. You don’t know if English is your visitors’ native language. Complex sentence structures make it difficult for non-English speakers to understand your content. Simplifying your language will also make your content easier to understand for people with learning disabilities (about 7% of Australians have dyslexia).
Smart phones are growing in popularity. People use these devices to visit websites. Someone you see staring at an iPhone could be visiting your website. Does your site work on a Smartphone? Mobile data is still costly in Australia. Delivering content through Flash or Java may not be the best way, even if the phones can handle these technologies.
Were you already aware of web accessibility issues? What do you think you can do to reduce barriers?
Nicolas Steenhout, Head of Accessibility NZ
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Thanks so much for guesting, Nic. This is all news to me! Best regards, P.
You’re welcome Paul. The more we talk about these things, the better informed people will be and the more everyone benefits! Thanks for having me as a guest author
The issue for many businesses is that they are led by the designer they choose. Accessibility is unfortunately not the first thing you think of when you decide to build your businesses first website.
You do make a very valid point however, building it for everyone can help you with your overall search ranking and in particular the latest in internet devices like smart phones and tablets.
Most importantly building it with accessibility in mind will ensure that everyone has a great experience.
Yes, businesses depend in large part on their designers. Unfortunately, many designers seem not to include accessibility work as part & parcel of their work. This is why it’s important for business owners to be aware of the need for accessibility. If you know that you should ask for it, then the designer has to think about these issues.
I think the challenge is budgets. If you ask and they say 10% extra to include accessibility you then think about it. Which means less people do it. If Google came out and said that they used a check via their search algorithm to see if you met some minimum criteria then everyone would do it.
It sure would be nice to see Google use its powers for good in such a way.
How much extra will you pay your SEO expert to improve your page ranking? Obviously, cost is an issue. But can you really afford NOT to spend a bit extra, considering the large market you can reach? And it’s definitely cheaper to do it right from the get go than to retrofit. And in this, designers have a hand to play as well – they should not include accessibility as an extra cost – it should be an integral part of the service they offer.
I forgot to mention that there is a Google Accessible search. http://labs.google.com/accessible/
A good descriptions from About.com:
“Google Accessible Web Search uses relevance, but it also gives priority to pages that function well without images or will otherwise be more useful to the visually impaired. Some Web sites do equally well in both Google Accessible Web Search and in the standard Google search engine.”
Great discussion guys and something to really think about. I certainly had not considered this as part of a business strategy and it makes sense.
I’m in Singapore this week and they are certainly way ahead of us for assisting those with disabilities and the aged. It really stands out and I saw how far we are behind. That’s something I will now consider in our businessn strategy.
Thanks Malcom, glad to see you think including accessibility in your web presence strategy makes sense
What stands out to you in Singapore from assisting people with disabilities?
Excellent point, Nic.
I agree that designers worth their salt build in accessibility as standard, not an optional extra. There is no scenario in which it wouldn’t make sense. Absolutely worth spending a bit extra on a designer who is across this.
Thanks Stephen, glad you agree.