Though more than 57 million people are living with disabilities in America today, accessibility is often still an afterthought when insurance agency's develop websites. Images are left untagged, making it impossible for the visually impaired to experience important elements of sites. Videos and podcasts are posted without transcripts, making it impossible for the hearing impaired to enjoy multimedia.
However, increasing awareness of the technology issues faced by the disabled have led to improved accessibility options. It’s easier than ever to develop a website that caters to your entire audience, including the very large portion who struggle daily with hearing, visual, physical, and learning impairments.
Consider these three easy steps towards building your insurance agency’s web presence in a way that meets the needs of all of your prospects.
A well-designed website should include each of the following elements to improve the experience for disabled users.
Increased white space to improve legibility, comprehension, and navigability
Readable fonts that are available across devices and browsers
Elimination of distracting elements such as flashing, blinking, and overly stylized elements
For those who are unable to scan through content visually to find the most important parts or who rely on a keyboard to navigate, finding the information they’re looking for can be a challenge. Include means by which your site can be made more navigable for people with disabilities.
Use bullets, headlines, and other organizational elements to improve flow and usability
Employ tools like skip navigation to make it easy for those using keyboards and screen readers to move directly to valuable content
Be consistent in placement of navigation elements, sidebars, and other elements to improve ease of use
Many disabled users are unable to access the full sensory experience of websites without a little help from developers and web managers. Most of this help is easy enough to provide, and some even improves the SEO of your website.
Be sure your site supports screenreaders
Tag all images and non-text elements for users reliant on screenreaders
Provide transcripts of all videos and podcasts
If you’re not sure whether your insurance agency’s website is accessible to the broadest audience possible, contact the insurance marketing experts at AgenciesOnline. We’ll work with you to provide all of your clients and prospects with a rich web experience.