A practical guide from Cider House Media to help small business owners understand why accessibility matters — and how to make their websites easier for everyone to use.
At Cider House, we believe the internet should be accessible to everyone, regardless of any physical or cognitive limitations they might have. Accessibility isn’t just about compliance — it’s about inclusion, clarity, and respect for all visitors.
Accessibility means making sure people of all abilities can use and understand your website.
That includes visitors who:
An accessible website ensures that no one is excluded from reading your content, contacting your business, or buying your products.
Accessibility isn’t just a legal or ethical issue — it’s also good for SEO.
Search engines read websites similarly to screen readers: they depend on structure, clear headings, and text-based descriptions.
A well-structured, accessible site often loads faster, ranks better, and converts more visitors.
It also protects your business from potential ADA compliance issues — something more companies are being held accountable for each year.
One of the biggest mistakes web designers make is using headings as a design element rather than a content outline.
Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) should create a logical hierarchy that explains how your content is organized — just like chapters in a book.
A proper heading structure looks like this:
This helps users — and Google — understand the relationships between topics. It’s the foundation of both accessibility and SEO.
There are great tools that can automatically scan your website for accessibility issues:
These tools flag missing alt text, color contrast problems, heading misorder, and more.
Check your site monthly — or after any major redesign.
Accessibility overlays can make your site easier to navigate for visitors with specific needs.
For WordPress, there are several reliable plugins that add accessibility controls or automatic enhancements:
While these plugins help, they don’t replace proper design. Think of them as supplements, not substitutes, for accessible code and structure.
Make sure your text has strong contrast against its background — black on white or dark gray on light backgrounds works best.
Avoid relying on color alone to communicate meaning (for example, don’t make “required fields” red without also adding an asterisk or label).
Use tools like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to confirm your colors meet WCAG standards.
Every image on your site should include alt text — a short, accurate description that explains what’s in the picture.
Good alt text:
Example:
“Owner of Cider House Media meeting with a local business client in Easthampton office.”
This helps screen reader users understand your content and gives search engines more context.
“Click here” or “Read more” doesn’t help anyone using assistive technology.
Instead, use specific link text that tells users where they’re going:
“Learn more about our web design services” or “Download the full SEO checklist.”
Descriptive buttons and links also improve SEO and usability for everyone.
Anyone should be able to move through your site using only a keyboard — using Tab, Shift + Tab, and Enter to navigate menus and forms.
If your menus, pop-ups, or buttons trap focus or require a mouse, that’s an accessibility problem.
Check this manually or ask your developer to test for keyboard-friendly navigation.
Accessibility isn’t a one-time checklist.
Whenever you add a new page, image, or feature, take a moment to confirm that it works for everyone.
Your web designer or SEO partner should include accessibility in every phase — from wireframes to content creation to site testing.
At Cider House Media, it’s built into our process because inclusion is part of what makes the web better for all of us.
Prepared by Cider House Media