As the world continues to advance, more and more people utilize computers, laptops, mobile devices, and the internet every single day. In fact, in just the past 22 years, from 2000 to 2022, internet usage has increased by 1355%! Still, with this increase, only about 66.2% of the world’s population uses the internet, leaving plenty of room for growth.
With all this internet usage, it’s important for a business to capitalize on this opportunity. However, it’s important that you, as a business owner, ensure your website is accessible to all users and is 100% ADA compliant. Read on to learn why ADA compliance can affect your business in a big way and what you can do to ensure you are ADA compliant.
ADA Compliance Statistics and You
We know that your business hours are more than likely not 24 hours a day. However, your website can be. This leaves an amazing opportunity for you as a business owner. When people have questions about your company outside of business hours, they may be able to hop on to your website for the answers they are looking for.
This is great news! Once you have your company and website established, you can rest easy, right? Well, maybe. Did you know that there are around 61 million adults that live with disabilities just in the United States? In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed prohibiting discrimination against those with disabilities. Did you know that these rules and regulations also apply to websites? If you are the person designing and maintaining your website, you need to make sure you are adhering to ADA compliance standards, or your business could be in big trouble.
Does ADA Compliance Make a Difference?
ADA Compliance Statistics
Throughout the world, there are more than 468 million people that have either a vision or hearing impairment. That’s a lot of people that need and deserve some sort of accommodation to have a great experience with the internet.
ADA Compliance Statistics
Something else to consider is that 71% of website visitors with disabilities will leave a website that is not accessible. This means if your website is not compliant, you could lose out on some valuable leads and conversions. That is because, according to crownpeak, “the disabled population in the United States alone contains $500 billion in spending power, with global spending power estimated to be $1.2 trillion.”
What Can I Do Right Now?
Now that you know how important it is for all users to be able to have access to all websites, there are many things you can do to accommodate these users and avoid any ADA-related lawsuits. But we’ll start with three simple steps that you can take right now to improve your website for ADA compliance.
Add alternative text. Alternative text, or “alt text,” is used to describe images with descriptive language for those with vision impairments.
Incorporate the correct text contrast. If your contrast is too low, it makes it much more difficult for text to be easily read. Think light gray words on a light gray photo background. Meeting contrast requirements creates an easy-to-read website.
Properly label form inputs. Proper labels not only help those with disabilities, but also help clarify items on your page. This will help everyone use your website correctly.
While these are just a few steps that you can take on your own, there is much more that needs to be done. You can read even more about accessibility requirements here.
Need Help with ADA Compliance?
If you need help with your ADA compliance, GreenStar Marketing can help! We can audit your current website and help you make changes to become ADA compliant. GreenStar Marketing can even help you build out an ADA compliant website from the ground up, if that is more to your liking! Contact us today to ensure that you are supporting all internet users, potential leads, and valuable clients.
