Website accessibility for small businesses

What website accessibility actually means

An accessible website is one that disabled people can use without hitting a wall. That covers a lot of people: someone with low vision who zooms to 200%, someone who is colour blind, someone with a tremor who can't use a mouse, someone who is deaf watching your video, someone using a screen reader that reads the page out loud.

It also covers everyone else on a bad day. Bright sunlight on a phone screen. A broken trackpad. A noisy train with no headphones. Good accessibility is just good design that doesn't assume everyone is sat at a big monitor with perfect eyesight.

For a small business, the point is simple. If someone can't read your prices, can't press your "call" button or can't fill in your enquiry form, they don't become a customer. They go to the next result on Google.

WCAG 2.2 AA in plain English

The standard everyone measures against is WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C. The current version is WCAG 2.2. It has three levels, A, AA and AAA, and AA is the one most organisations aim for. It's built around four ideas:

WCAG 2.2 added a few newer checks that matter on phones especially. Two worth knowing: things you tap should have a target of at least 24 by 24 pixels (or enough space around them), and when something has keyboard focus it shouldn't be completely hidden behind a sticky header or cookie banner.

The Equality Act 2010 and your website

Here's the careful bit, because I'm a web person, not a lawyer. Under the Equality Act 2010, businesses that provide goods and services to the public have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people aren't put at a substantial disadvantage. That duty is generally understood to apply to websites and online services as well as shops and offices. It's also anticipatory, which means you're expected to think ahead, not wait for someone to complain.

What's "reasonable" depends on the size of your business, the cost and the difference it makes. The Act doesn't name WCAG, but WCAG 2.2 AA is the yardstick most people use to show they've taken it seriously. Public sector websites have their own, stricter regulations; this guide is about private small businesses.

This isn't legal advice. If you need a firm answer for your business, check the Equality and Human Rights Commission's guidance or speak to a solicitor. The practical takeaway is the same either way: fix the obvious stuff, and you're in a far better place.

The practical accessibility checklist

Work down this list. Most small business sites fail on three or four of these, and they're usually quick fixes.

1. Colour contrast

• Body text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 against its background.
• Large text (roughly 24px, or about 19px bold) needs at least 3 to 1.
• Buttons, form field borders and icons that carry meaning need at least 3 to 1 too.
• Pale grey text on white is the classic fail. So is white text on a light photo.
• Don't use colour alone to say something. "Fields in red are required" doesn't work if you can't see red. Add a word or symbol.

2. Alt text on images

• Every meaningful image needs alt text that says what it shows, in context. "Rope access technician cleaning a tower block window" beats "IMG_4402" or "image".
• Decorative images (swirls, background shapes) should have empty alt text, alt="", so screen readers skip them.
• If an image contains words, like a menu or an offer, the alt text should include those words, or the words should be on the page as real text.
• Don't stuff keywords in. Write it for a person.

3. Keyboard use

• Put your mouse away and press Tab. Can you reach every link, button and form field, in a sensible order?
• Can you open and close the mobile menu, and any pop-ups, with Enter, Space and Escape?
• Do you ever get stuck inside something and can't Tab out? That's a "keyboard trap" and it's a serious fail.
• Add a "skip to content" link so keyboard users don't have to tab through the whole menu on every page.

4. Visible focus

• As you Tab, you should always be able to see where you are: an outline or highlight on the focused item.
• Lots of sites remove the outline because a designer thought it looked ugly. Put it back, or style a better one.
• Check the focused item isn't hidden behind a sticky header, chat widget or cookie banner.

5. Headings and structure

• One H1 per page that says what the page is about.
• Then H2s for sections and H3s inside those. Don't skip levels just to get a smaller font.
• Screen reader users jump between headings to scan a page, the same way you skim. Good headings help them and help Google.
• Link text should make sense on its own. "See our boiler servicing prices" beats "click here".
• Set the page language (English) in the code so screen readers pronounce things properly.

6. Forms

• Every field needs a visible label. Placeholder text that disappears when you type isn't a label.
• Error messages should say what's wrong and how to fix it: "Enter a phone number, like 07123 456789", not just a red box.
• Use the right field types so phones show the right keyboard (number pad for phone numbers, @ for email).
• Avoid CAPTCHAs that make you read squiggly letters. There are friendlier spam filters.
• Make sure the submit button is a real button and works with the keyboard.

7. Video and audio

• Videos with speech need captions. Auto-captions are a start, but check and correct them, especially names and prices.
• Don't autoplay video with sound. If anything moves for more than five seconds, give people a way to pause it.
• If a video is the only place important information lives, add it as text on the page too.

8. Phones and zoom

• Zoom your browser to 200%. Does everything still work, with nothing cut off? At higher zoom the page should reflow rather than make you scroll sideways.
• Don't block pinch-to-zoom on mobile.
• Make tap targets big enough and far enough apart that thumbs don't hit the wrong one.

How to test your own site in 20 minutes

1. Run Google Lighthouse. In Chrome, right-click, Inspect, then the Lighthouse tab. Run it on your home page and a key service page. The accessibility score flags missing alt text, low contrast and missing labels.
2. Do the Tab test. Tab through each page from top to bottom. Note anywhere you lose the focus or get stuck.
3. Zoom to 200%. Check nothing overlaps or disappears.
4. Try a screen reader. Macs and iPhones have VoiceOver built in, Windows has Narrator, Android has TalkBack. Listen to your home page for a minute. It's eye-opening.
5. Fill in your own form badly. Leave fields empty, type rubbish. Are the errors helpful?

One warning: an automated score of 100 doesn't mean the site is perfectly accessible. Tools can tell an image has alt text, not whether the alt text is any good. Do the manual checks too. My own sites score 100 for accessibility on Lighthouse, and I still do the Tab test by hand. For the speed side of things, see how to get a Lighthouse score of 100.

Common accessibility mistakes on small business sites

• Menus or prices only in an image, so screen readers get nothing.
• "Buttons" that are actually styled boxes and can't be reached by keyboard.
• Light grey text because it "looks clean".
• Cookie banners that trap keyboard users or cover the page.
• Phone numbers that aren't tappable links on mobile.
• Page builders that add five H1s to one page.
• Carousels that spin forever with no pause button.

How I can help

Every site I build on my £25 a month website plan is built with proper HTML, readable contrast, keyboard-friendly menus and labelled forms from day one. If you take a site with me, the SEO, speed and accessibility tune-up is £100, paid once, and gets it to the same Lighthouse standard as my own sites. Accessible sites tend to be tidier and easier for Google to read too, which pairs nicely with the local SEO checklist.