Looking to capture new markets? Consider an accessible website
Every business owner who comes to us for a new website is looking to build her business by tapping into new markets on the web. They want to engage in tools that reach out to new users – Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the like. Yes, those are all great (and many would argue, necessary) tools for growing your online presence and turning visitors into profits. But there is another tool out there many people haven’t heard about that has the potential to quickly and easily capture over 15% of the market with spending power of $25 billion annually in Canada alone!
What’s this magic tool? It’s simply an accessible website. When a website is built with accessibility in mind, you automatically open up your market to visitors who would otherwise leave your site because they aren’t able to navigate it or get all the information they need from it. Consider these scenarios:
- a person with vision loss who uses screen reader technology to read your site
- a person with limited mobility who uses the keyboard or assistive devices instead of a mouse to navigate the web
- a person with hearing loss who needs a transcript or captioning of audio or video on your website
- a person with a learning disability who may struggle with completing long or complex web forms.
If a revamp of your website is the plans for 2011, make sure accessibility is a key requirement. Taking that step will help you stay ahead of your competition and open up your markets to new possibilities.