Ask yourself these core questions.
Has anything CHANGED in your business/positioning since you last updated your website; what do you want to draw more attention towards and why?
Who is your core AUDIENCE/CLIENTELE, and what massive value/transformation do you offer them?
What are your core PRODUCTS/SERVICES and what does the sales journey/cycle typically look like? How do people usually find out about you, what makes them purchase, and what else do they tend to purchase?
What kind of MARKETING are you currently doing to drive traffic to your website, or to stimulate sales?
What are your business/marketing GOALS in the next 3-12 (or 24-36) months, and what else should we be aware of?
Next-Gen Website Accessibility Elements
- Images - Many used the ‘alt text’ area of images to optimize and add the SEO keyword - but that is not its purpose. Alt text is an accessibility tool that screen readers read aloud for those with vision impairments. It needs to describe the image to a reader in such a way that they understand the reason for the picture and how it relates to the content. Google also uses the alt text to understand an image and its relevance, and to index and rank your images. Yes, you want your pages to rank, but having the images ON those pages rank is helpful too.
- Keyboard functionality - you need to be able to navigate through your website using just the keyboard’s tab key to move and enter key to click. Some cannot use a mouse and must navigate your site solely using keys.
- Video and audio - they all have captions and transcriptions. Having written transcriptions of your videos or audio - especially when used in blog posts, not only helps the user but gives your SEO a boost. It also allows visitors to view your content in noisy areas, or in private.
- Navigation - clear and logical navigation helps your website visitors understand what you want them to do next, and to move through your content. Your page layouts, the depth of your menu (how many dropdowns do you have) and things like that become even more important to those who visit your site.
- Descriptive links - no more ‘click here.’ Links are being read by screen readers and they need to be descriptive and say exactly where they are going.
- Colour contrast - there needs to be sufficient colour contrast between text and background colours to help those with visual impairments - everything from partial blindness to colour blindness. Stark white can also be draining for anyone with eye issues.
- Forms with labels and instructions - again, forms need to be able to be navigated using keyboards, but the form labels must also be understood by screen readers. All form fields must have descriptive text, and error messages and feedback areas must be easily read and understood by someone who cannot see the form.
- And finally - using the proper page structure. Headings, text areas, section breaks etc. allow screen readers to understand HOW the page is to be read to the user. It allows them to skip to the main content directly and avoid listening to an entire page of content before realizing what they want is not on this page.
Lead generation tools
For quizzes audits and other lead generation tool, we recommend interact for those without a WordPress site, and the Smart Quiz Builder is our favorite. That said, it is a good idea to make sure that what you choose integrates with the tools you already have. If you are not sure, just reach out and I will help you figure it out!
Website References
Pibworth’s free mini-SEO audit and website checkup https://pibworthps.com/free-seo-audit/
If you want to boggle your own mind when it comes to accessibility requirements - visit https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/ (but don’t say I didn’t warn you)
Blog series on quizzes and lead generation https://pibworthps.com/category/quizzes/
If you would like to discuss websites, lead generation or any number of elements in your business’s digital ecosystem -