Are you the proud owner of a meticulously crafted WordPress website? If you are constantly searching for new ways to modernize your online efforts, optimize your digital store, beautify your content, or generally make your site stand out in all of its glory, introducing a greater level of accessibility is a must.
No matter what you want to achieve with your site, whether it happens to be selling products, writing articles, or delivering a service, the more people you can reach, the greater the chance you can make your presence known.
Now the technology and techniques exist, making your website more accessible to everyone is perhaps easy than it ever was before. Here are some top tips to help you get started.
Accessible Video Content
By utilizing some great audio description for accessibility, you can start to add an entirely new dynamic to your video content, one that can increase its overall value. This is a superb way to make sure that online users with visual impairments are able to benefit from your content and that your site is more inclusive in general. By working with professional describers that give concise and accurate descriptions of the visual images on your website, everyone can enjoy your content.
Plus, there is a good chance that your SEO can benefit from this undertaking, as it essentially adds keywords to your video content, enabling it to, in theory, have a better shot of getting noticed by the various search engine algorithms.
Video content is still a highly effective way of marketing a brand in many instances, which might be why 86% of businesses implement it in some way. It can be particularly useful when it offers an audience an extra layer of interactivity – the more brand engagement, the higher the odds of leaving a lasting impression, provided the content is high-quality, of course.
Consider the Nature of the Theme
One of the many reasons that WordPress is famous is for its vast number of themes, many of which are catered specifically for accessibility or at least possess accessibility options. Similarly, thinking about the nature of your current theme in terms of accessibility can help you carry out an assessment of your entire website.
For example, is the font easy to read, and if not, is there a way for the user to change it without difficulty? Is the color scheme obscuring the content? Are the pages easy to navigate?
Asking yourself some simple yet important questions is a good way to carry out a strong and reliable assessment, and thanks to the ease in which WordPress websites can be altered, it is worth doing on a fairly regular basis.
Working with Colors
It is estimated that there are over 350 million colorblind people in the world, many of whom will likely be internet users and even your potential site visitors. Suffice to say, making your website more accessible could benefit not only your content but a huge number of the world’s population.
Taking care when using colors is a must, as failing to pay attention to this side of website building can inadvertently exclude a great number of people from accessing your brand.
Optimize Your Site for Voice Search
Optimizing your website for voice search is a superb way to make sure people who are visually impaired can still reach your content. This is a wonderful way to increase inclusivity while allowing your site to hopefully climb the search engine rankings at the same time.
20% of all searches in the Google App are done by voice, which is a huge number of searches, many of which could be heading your way if you decide to put the right measures in place.
A few ways to increase your site’s voice search optimization include:
- Longer Keywords (longtail keywords) – Utilizing longtail keywords might help your content connect more with the nature of the standard voice search.
- Localize Your Content – Voice search is often specifically catered to pick up local businesses, and local searches may even end up being more valuable leads.
- Answer Questions – Voice searches tend to consist of direct questions, many of which take place in a conversational tone. Answering these potential questions on your website is a good way to increase optimization.
Ultimately, accessible websites benefit everybody and make the digital world a more inclusive place, so it should certainly be a concept to keep on your radar.
