How to Make Your Website Accessible in 5 Easy Steps

In today’s digital world, ensuring your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, is not just a legal requirement but also a smart business move. Accessibility violations, such as missing alt text or poor keyboard navigation, can exclude millions of potential users and harm your SEO. Tools like Cheeeck scan your site for these issues in just 10 seconds, providing clear, prioritized fixes to make your website compliant with standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In this article, we’ll walk you through five easy steps to make your website accessible, improving user experience and boosting your site’s performance.

Why Website Accessibility Matters

Web accessibility ensures that people with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities can use your site effectively. Beyond inclusivity, accessibility offers tangible benefits:

• Legal Compliance: Non-compliance with ADA or WCAG can lead to lawsuits, as seen in high-profile cases against businesses with inaccessible websites.
• Wider Audience: Over 1 billion people globally have disabilities, representing a significant market.
• SEO Boost: Search engines like Google prioritize accessible websites, rewarding proper alt text, semantic HTML, and clear navigation.
• Better User Experience: Accessible design benefits all users, reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement.

Common accessibility issues—missing image alt text, non-navigable keyboard controls, or low-contrast text—are easily fixable with the right approach. Let’s dive into the steps to get your site on track.

Step 1: Add Descriptive Alt Text to Images

Images without alt text are invisible to screen readers, leaving visually impaired users without context. Cheeeck’s scans flag missing or generic alt text (e.g., “image.jpg”), ensuring you address this critical issue.

How to Fix It

• Write concise, descriptive alt text for every image. For example, instead of “photo,” use “A smiling team working at a laptop in a modern office.”
• For decorative images, use empty alt text (alt="") to skip them in screen readers.
• Update your CMS or HTML: <img src="team.jpg" alt="A smiling team working at a laptop in a modern office">.

Pro Tip

Use Cheeeck’s report to identify all images lacking alt text across your site, saving hours of manual checks.

Step 2: Ensure Keyboard Navigation

Many users rely on keyboards instead of a mouse due to motor disabilities. If your site’s menus, buttons, or forms aren’t keyboard-accessible, you’re locking them out. Cheeeck detects issues like missing focus indicators or non-navigable elements.

How to Fix It

• Test your site by navigating with the Tab, Enter, and Arrow keys. Ensure all interactive elements (links, buttons, forms) are reachable.
• Add visible focus styles in CSS, e.g., button:focus { outline: 2px solid blue; }.
• Use semantic HTML elements like <button> instead of <div> for clickable items to ensure native keyboard support.

Pro Tip

Cheeeck highlights elements missing proper focus states, with instructions to add CSS or adjust HTML for compliance.

Step 3: Improve Text Contrast

Low-contrast text (e.g., light gray on white) is hard to read for users with visual impairments. WCAG requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text. Cheeeck’s scans pinpoint low-contrast text and suggest fixes.

How to Fix It

• Use a contrast checker tool (e.g., WebAIM’s Contrast Checker) to verify your text and background colors.
• Adjust CSS to increase contrast, e.g., change color: #ccc; to color: #333; on a white background.
• Test across your site, especially buttons, links, and headers.

Pro Tip

Cheeeck’s detailed report flags specific elements failing contrast ratios, making it easy to prioritize updates.

Step 4: Use Semantic HTML for Structure

Semantic HTML (e.g., <header>, <nav>, <main>) helps screen readers understand your site’s structure. Non-semantic markup, like overusing <div>, confuses assistive technologies. Cheeeck identifies missing or incorrect semantic elements.

How to Fix It

• Replace generic <div> tags with semantic ones, e.g., <nav> for navigation or <article> for content.
• Ensure proper heading hierarchy (e.g., <h1> for main titles, <h2> for subsections, etc.).
• Add ARIA landmarks where needed, e.g., role="navigation" for complex menus.

Pro Tip

Cheeeck’s scan provides a list of non-semantic elements, with step-by-step guidance to refactor your HTML.

Step 5: Test with Assistive Technologies

Real-world testing with screen readers (e.g., NVDA, VoiceOver) or other assistive tools ensures your fixes work as intended. Cheeeck’s prioritized action items guide you through common issues, but testing validates your efforts.

How to Fix It

• Download a free screen reader like NVDA (Windows) or use VoiceOver (Mac) to navigate your site.
• Check if content is read in a logical order, forms are usable, and interactive elements are announced correctly.
• Use Cheeeck’s report to address any remaining issues, such as missing ARIA labels or incorrect form attributes.

Pro Tip

Run Cheeeck’s scan after testing to catch any overlooked issues, ensuring your site is fully accessible before launch.

How Cheeeck Simplifies Accessibility

Fixing accessibility issues manually can be overwhelming, especially for large websites. Cheeeck streamlines the process by:

• Scanning your site in 10 seconds across 50+ parameters, including accessibility violations.
• Delivering a prioritized report with clear, step-by-step fixing instructions.
• Supporting unlimited scans (with Weekly or Monthly plans), perfect for agencies or developers managing multiple sites.

Whether you’re a developer coding a new site, an agency auditing client projects, or a business owner ensuring compliance, Cheeeck empowers you to launch an accessible website with confidence.

The Bigger Picture

Making your website accessible isn’t just about checking boxes—it’s about creating an inclusive experience that benefits all users. Accessible sites load faster, rank higher on search engines, and reduce legal risks. By following these five steps and leveraging Cheeeck’s powerful scans, you can fix accessibility issues before they impact your users or your bottom line.

Ready to make your website accessible? Try Cheeeck’s instant analysis today and launch with confidence.