Accessibility strategy

Is your website leaving people out in the cold? Get an Accessibility Strategy

Let’s face it, nobody sets out to build a website that’s difficult to use. But in the rush to get online, accessibility often gets overlooked. The result? Websites that unintentionally exclude a significant chunk of potential users. Don’t worry, though, because Redcentaur is here to help with our Accessibility Strategy service.

Why should you care about accessibility?

You might be thinking, “My website looks fine to me,” but web accessibility is more than just aesthetics. It’s about ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can access and interact with your online content. There are some pretty compelling reasons to make your website more accessible:

• It’s the right thing to do: Providing equal access is a fundamental principle.

• You’ll reach a wider audience: By removing barriers, you open your website to a larger demographic, including people with disabilities, older adults, and those using assistive technologies.

• It’s good for SEO: Search engines like Google favour accessible websites, which can improve your search rankings.

• You’ll avoid legal risks: In the UK, there are laws and regulations that require websites to be accessible. Non-compliance can lead to hefty fines and damage your reputation.

• It makes good business sense: An accessible website demonstrates that your business is ethical and inclusive, boosting customer loyalty and brand image.

Our Accessibility Strategy service: Your path to compliance

Redcentaur’s Accessibility Strategy service provides a clear, effective, and surprisingly painless way to make your website accessible. We understand that tackling accessibility can seem daunting, so we’ve broken it down into manageable steps.

Step 1: The Accessibility Audit

We start with a thorough accessibility audit of your current website. Our experts meticulously evaluate your site against the internationally recognised standard for web accessibility, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and industry best practices. This audit pinpoints existing accessibility barriers and provides a baseline for improvements. Think of it as an MOT for your website, but instead of checking your tyres, we’re checking for things like:

• Keyboard navigation: Can you use your website without a mouse?

• Alternative text: Are your images described for screen reader users?

• Colour contrast: Is there enough contrast between text and background?

There are 38 requirements to meet the recommended level of compliance to address the most common accessibility barriers for a wide range of users. This is the level that you must meet to comply with the Equality Act, 2010. If you’re wondering, there are another 40 criteria for the highest level of WCAG, after the first 38!

Step 2: Your Bespoke Accessibility Strategy

Once we’ve identified the issues, we’ll create a tailored accessibility strategy just for your business. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution; we consider your specific business needs, existing compliance, budget, and timeline. Our strategy will outline:

• Quick wins: We’ll highlight the easiest and most impactful changes you can make right away.

• Prioritised actions: We’ll map out a phased approach to address more complex accessibility issues over time.

• Implementation guidance: We’ll provide clear, actionable recommendations and support to help you implement the changes effectively, if required.

Step 3: Achieving and maintaining accessibility

Our goal is to help you achieve and maintain compliance with accessibility standards in a way that’s:

• Quick: We focus on efficient solutions to get you results fast.

• Easy: We break down complex tasks into simple, manageable steps.

• Cost-effective: We provide a strategy that maximises your return on investment.

We also take into account the dynamics of your business, your technical skill, and the market you operate in, ensuring that your accessibility efforts align with your overall business objectives.

Why bother developing an accessibility strategy?

You might wonder why you should bother developing an accessibility strategy? Why not just take your time and make the necessary changes to your website whenever you can, until you are compliant?

There are a few problems with that methodology:

• Ad-hoc methods rarely work: Without a carefully considered and implemented plan of action, it’s easy to cherry-pick and miss essential, or prominent, issues because they might take longer, or are more difficult to resolve. By following a plan, you are encouraged to take action on each step in priority order.

• Proof of commitment to improve: By having and implementing a plan over a period of time you can demonstrate a commitment to improve your website reasonably. By having a written document, showing the reasoning behind the prioritisation given, you might have a defence in law because you are taking reasonable steps to improve your website’s existing issues.

• Missed opportunities: Without a considered plan of action, you will miss opportunities to improve your business performance through accessibility. And you can easily miss criteria and stay non-compliant despite all your efforts.

Ready to make your website accessible?

Don’t let accessibility be an afterthought. With Redcentaur’s Accessibility Strategy service, you can unlock your website’s full potential, reach a wider audience, and demonstrate your commitment to inclusivity.

Contact us today!