Understanding the Importance of Making Your Website ADA Compliant

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, Congress was fighting to ensure to all public service, and business providers took the necessary steps to accommodate people with all disabilities.

As technology has evolved since 1990, legislation for the American with Disabilities Act hasn’t kept up with new trends in technology. With more than 52.4% of the population using the internet at least once a day, you may be wondering what steps you need to take to make your website ADA compliant.

That’s why today, we’ve created this complete guide to help you get a better understanding of how and why your website needs to be compliant with the ADA. Keep reading to learn more!

What Are the ADA Compliance Standards?

Many people commonly associate the ADA with a combination that physical businesses have to make for people with disabilities. However, websites are required to have ADA web compliance to make their websites accessible to all types of users.

Whether you’re using GoDaddy or WordPress, ADA compliance is essential. One of the common myths about ADA compliance standards is that ADA compliance standards don’t apply to businesses that have less than 15 employees. However, this isn’t true.

In addition, another common myth that website owners believe is that disabled customers don’t need accessibility anyway. Many people believe that only government agencies and federal contractors need to make their content accessible. However, these statements also aren’t true. Using an ADA compliance website checker will help you to gather a better understanding of whether or not your site meets ADA compliance.

There aren’t any clear guidelines that spell out the ADA compliance standards. Businesses that fall under the ADA Title I or ADA Title III are required to offer reasonable accessibility to disabled people. For example, your website needs to be accessible to people that have hearing loss or vision impairment.

Common Myths About ADA Compliance

To ensure that you

– Yes, the ADA can absolutely apply to you, even if you’re not an employer of 15.
– Most of Our Customers Don’t Need Accessibility Anyway!
– Only Government Agencies and Federal Contractors Need to Make Content Accessible.

What Is ADA 508 Compliance?

The ADA 508 compliance is an Amendment in the United States Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This is the federal law that mandates that all information procured, developed, or maintained by the federal government has to be accessible to people that have disabilities.

If a website doesn’t need ADA web compliance standards, a person with a disability is eligible to file an ADA website compliance lawsuit.

Is There Any Benefit to Making an ADA Compliant Website?

There are several benefits to making your website ADA Compliant. If you’re wondering if investing in ADA compliance tools or an ADA compliance audit is the best move for your business, you should take a closer look at how meeting ADA web compliance standards will benefit you.

Increase Your Target Audience

More than 50 million people across the United States have some disability. If you’re not meeting ADA compliance standards, you’re missing out on a large number of people that could potentially be a customer to your website. Without ADA compliance, these people may be unable to access your website.

Once arriving at your website, these people may struggle to navigate through what you have to offer on your website. They also May struggle to find a way to contact you, because your website doesn’t meet ADA compliance standards. This means that you may be losing out on a large number of potential customers that are going over to your competitor’s website that is ADA Compliant.

Improve Your Reputation

Not only will you reach a new number of customers that you’re able to target, but you’ll also help to improve your business reputation. Not all websites on the internet value are compliant with ADA standards. This means that it can get very frustrating for people with disabilities to shop around on the internet.

By making your website ADA Compliant, these customers will tell their friends and family how easy it was to navigate your website. Putting out this additional effort to ensure that your website is compliant with the ADA will help to put a huge difference between you and your non-compliant competition.

Avoid Possible Penalties

Making sure that your website is ADA Compliant will also help you to avoid possible ADA compliance lawsuits. Some famous brands such as Kylie Jenner have been sued because of their lack of ADA compliance on their websites.

If you’re unsure if your website is ADA Compliant, you can use An ADA Compliance website checker or Digital agency to help you complete an ADA compliance audit.

Higher Conversion Rate

Not every one that accesses your website has a disability, but that doesn’t mean that everyone can benefit from a website that’s easier to navigate. People that are accessing your website, regardless of ability, will have an easier time navigating your website to find what they’re looking for. This will help to convert more leads into sales because people can easily find what they’re looking for.

What to Do If Your Website Isn’t ADA Compliant

If you recently found that your website is an ADA compliant, you need to prioritize your website’s compliance immediately. One of the best ways that you can ensure that your website is ADA compliant is:

Hiring a Digital Agency

A digital agency will work with you to build a website that ADA compliant for your company. Some of the things that the digital agency website will work to adjust on your website include:

Proper use of HTML
Captions on all of the videos of your website
Add alt text to your controls, audit, images, video
Disable auto-play for any videos or audio on your website
Add in transcripts for any video content or audio content on your website

Working with a digital agency that has experience making websites ADA Compliant will take the pressure of knowing ADA standards off of your shoulders. You can leave all of the effort and time that it will take to make your website ADA compliance in the digital agency’s hands.