One in four American adults lives with a disability. That's over 60 million potential customers who may struggle to use your website if it isn't designed with accessibility in mind.
Web accessibility means designing your website so that people with visual impairments, hearing loss, motor disabilities, or cognitive differences can navigate and use it effectively. It's not an edge case — it's a significant portion of your market.
Why Accessibility Matters for Your Business
It's a Larger Market Than You Think
Beyond the 61 million Americans with disabilities, consider older adults with declining vision, people with temporary injuries, or anyone using their phone in bright sunlight. Accessible design helps all of these users.
It's Increasingly Legal
ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuits against businesses with inaccessible websites have increased dramatically — over 4,000 federal lawsuits in 2023 alone. While most target larger companies, the legal landscape is expanding.
It's Good for SEO
Many accessibility best practices overlap with SEO best practices. Alt text on images, proper heading structure, descriptive link text, and semantic HTML all help search engines understand your content better.
It Reflects Your Values
Customers notice when a business makes the effort to be inclusive. Accessibility communicates that you care about serving everyone in your community.
Common Accessibility Issues on Small Business Websites
Low Color Contrast
Light gray text on a white background might look sleek, but it's unreadable for anyone with low vision. Text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background. (For more on choosing colors wisely, see our guide to color psychology in web design.)
Fix: Use a contrast checker tool like WebAIM's Contrast Checker to test your color combinations.
Missing Alt Text on Images
Screen readers (software used by blind and visually impaired users) can't interpret images. Alt text provides a text description of what the image shows.
Fix: Add descriptive alt text to every meaningful image. "Team meeting at our Port Huron office" is better than "image1.jpg" or blank alt text.
No Keyboard Navigation
Some users can't use a mouse. They navigate entirely with a keyboard (Tab, Enter, arrow keys). If your website can't be fully navigated without a mouse, those users are excluded.
Fix: Test your site by putting your mouse away and navigating with only your keyboard. Can you reach every link, button, and form field?
Missing Form Labels
Contact forms without proper labels are confusing for screen readers. A sighted user sees the placeholder text "Your Name" in the field, but a screen reader user might hear nothing.
Fix: Always use <label> elements associated with form inputs, not just placeholder text.
Auto-Playing Video or Audio
Content that plays automatically can be disorienting for users with cognitive disabilities and is frustrating for screen reader users.
Fix: Let users choose when to play media. If auto-play is necessary, provide an easy way to pause or stop it.
Quick Accessibility Wins
These changes take minimal effort and make a big difference:
- Add alt text to all images — Describe what the image shows
- Use proper heading hierarchy — H1, H2, H3 in order, never skip levels
- Make links descriptive — "Learn more about our services" instead of "click here"
- Ensure sufficient color contrast — Test with a contrast checker
- Make your site keyboard-navigable — Test by tabbing through your pages
- Use legible font sizes — Minimum 16px for body text
- Add focus indicators — Visible outlines on focused elements for keyboard users
Testing Your Accessibility
Free tools to audit your site:
- WAVE (wave.webaim.org) — Highlights accessibility issues directly on your page
- Lighthouse — Chrome DevTools includes an accessibility audit (press F12 > Lighthouse)
- axe DevTools — Browser extension for detailed accessibility testing
These automated tools catch about 30-40% of accessibility issues. The rest requires manual testing — keyboard navigation, screen reader testing, and real-user feedback.
Progress Over Perfection
You don't need to achieve perfect accessibility overnight. Start with the quick wins above, fix issues as you find them, and build accessibility thinking into your process going forward. Every improvement makes your site usable by more people.
Want an accessibility review of your website? Contact us — we'll identify the biggest issues and help you build a more inclusive online presence.