The Number One Marketing Mistake
Early in my marketing and PR career many, many years ago, I had to learn HTML coding via Dreamweaver to do my job and websites were complex monstrous creatures only wizards could navigate. Now, websites are seamless integrated information tools that should not involve HTML coding unless perhaps you are the back-end developer building the website. Today, there’s been an increase in user-friendly “codeless” website technology, like Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, and Wordpress, allowing users without an advanced degree in information technology to more easily share their brand’s offerings with the world. That being said, it completely blows my mind that so many legit website companies and vendors offer templates and create websites that could be a liability for businesses and harmful to users and exclude individuals with disabilities.
According to the CDC, more than one in four adults in the United States have some type of disability; that’s about 30% of Americans. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that 1.3 billion people have some form of disability, and many of those with a disability face severe health inequities, discrimination, and invisible challenges. If you are someone who is putting a message or service out there in the world, it’s important to consider how to do so accessibly so as not to further exclude those who already feel overlooked enough.
The Most Important Rule of Websites
The most important component of a website and other communications is that someone is able to understand and access your content.
Did you know that websites and mobile apps are considered public places that legally must be accessible to people with disabilities as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
And, no, “access” does not mean just landing on the website URL. For a person to truly be able to access a website, they have to be able to see it clearly enough to comprehend the information or be able to listen to it through tools like screen readers, and site visitors have to be able to understand it. The reality today is that most people are completely unaware that their website is inaccessible and this could be a liability.
According to 2023 data from Utah State University's Web AIM Million Project, 96.3% of the top one million homepages on the internet did not comply with ADA standards, and lawsuits claiming ADA web violations have increased in recent years and are now in the thousands. This means that about only 3-4% of the internet is usable by those with disabilities.
Top Marketing and Website Accessibility Mistakes
According to published web guidance by the U.S. Department of Justice on the ADA, “Inaccessible web content means that people with disabilities are denied equal access to information. An inaccessible website can exclude people just as much as steps at an entrance to a physical location.”
Examples of website accessibility barriers include:
Overlaying text on image without a contrasting background behind the text. (See example above). It is more accessible to completely separate text from image when possible. Never overlay text directly on images; always overlay text on a high color contrast background if it is placed on an image (i.e. a “text label.”) Also, don’t place text labels on top of people’s faces or crop an image and remove half of someone’s face. It’s just not nice.
Poor color contrast or an over-reliance on color to give a message
Competing visuals make it harder to understand content
Lack of “alt text” on images. Alt text, or the purpose of an image, also known as a “text alternative,” should always be entered for images as they help people who are blind understand information.
Not enough text contrast - fonts not readable. There are many free accessibility tools that can be used to check contrast levels.
Fonts are too small: Any font used on a website should start at 16 px, which equates to 12 points in print. This is also the font size recommended by Google. Headlines should always be bigger than the body font size. Always ensure enough spacing between content.
No captions or transcripts
Site is not optimized for mobile
PDFs not optimized for accessibility
Dead links
Old, missing, or incorrect information
Forms that do not work
Too much repeated content
Confusing navigation or terminology without explanation
Pop-ups that will NOT GO AWAY
Websites launched without testing across platforms or without user testing
Images that chop off people’s body parts or are too blurry or low resolution
The Bottom Line
There are a number of fee-based website accessibility tools, like Siteimprove and UserWay, available that offer tips on website accessibility improvements, but, for many brands with larger or more complex websites, it is likely easier and a more effective use of resources to just re-build a new website with the accessibility requirements in mind. It’s also critical that marketing and PR teams be trained in accessibility best practices.
Never underestimate the power of fully meeting your audience where they are. Because having users who are engaged with you emotionally and as a brand advocate is critical to growth, trust, and engagement. What’s more, an accessible website is an essential tool for cultivating audience inclusion; we can talk about “inclusion” all day long, but if we put out information out there in the universe that no one can actually understand, particularly those with disabilities and age-related vision loss or other neurological challenges, we’re “excluding” people, end of story. And, it just doesn’t have to be that way. Take action now, and make your content more accessible for audiences to let them know that you care and avoid potential business liabilities.