Making your website accessible to everyone is not only the right thing to do, but it can also help improve your bottom line. WCAG 2.0 is the latest set of guidelines for website accessibility, and you must familiarize yourself with them. This blog post will discuss what WCAG 2.0 is, how it can benefit your business, and how you can make your website compliant by using tools like accessiBe and other options.
What are WCAG 2.0 Guidelines and Why Should You Care?
When it comes to website accessibility, WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the gold standard. WCAG is a set of guidelines created by the World Wide Web Consortium (WSC), an international organization that sets standards for the internet. The most recent version of these guidelines is WCAG.
WCAG was created to make the internet more accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are divided into three levels of accessibility: A, AA, and AAA. Level A is the lowest level of accessibility and requires that all content be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. Level AA is the next level up and requires that all content be accessible to people with disabilities and those who do not have disabilities. Finally, level AAA is the highest level of accessibility. It requires that all content be accessible to people with disabilities, those who do not have disabilities, and those using assistive technologies.
While all three levels of WCAG are important, most businesses should aim to meet at least Level AA compliance. This is because Level AA compliance is the minimum level required by most countries to comply with laws and regulations regarding website accessibility.
How Can WCAG Benefit My Business?
There are many benefits to making your website accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. One of the most obvious benefits is that it will allow you to reach a larger audience. According to a study conducted by Microsoft, over one billion people worldwide have some form of disability. If your website is not accessible to them, you are missing out on a huge potential customer base.
Another benefit of WCAG compliance is that it can help you avoid costly lawsuits. In the United States, there have been several lawsuits filed against businesses for not having an accessible website. These lawsuits can be expensive to defend, and they can also damage your reputation.
Finally, WCAG compliance can help you improve your search engine optimization (SEO). This is because Google and other search engines are now taking website accessibility into account when ranking websites. This means that if your website is accessible, it is more likely to show up higher in search results, leading to more traffic and more customers.
How to Make Your Website Compliant with WCAG
There are a number of ways you can make your website compliant with WCAG. One way is to use a tool like accessiBe, a piece of software that automatically makes your website compliant with WCAG. Another way is to hire a web developer familiar with WCAG who can make the necessary changes to your website.