Jul 14, 20223 min read

Is Your Law Firm Website ADA Compliant?

Accessibility In Law Firm Websites And How To Incorporate Them

A considerable portion of Lawyer SEO discusses content readability, navigation, and access. In addition, you're given tips on how to make your law firm website load faster, format your blog posts, and use keywords, headlines, and descriptions. The easier people can consume and interact with your website and content, the better your lead generation capabilities will be.

That said, accessibility isn't just a concern for law firm digital marketing experts. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) can apply to several modern technologies and services even after years of passing. So not only should you consider site accessibility in the context of marketing, but also accommodate more people in your target audience.

How Does ADA Compliance Work?

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990 and put into effect to help persons with disabilities overcome institutional and technological biases that prevent them from accessing information, is referred to as ADA compliance.

According to the ADA, all electronic technology and information, including websites, must be accessible to people with disabilities.

Which Websites Need to Comply with the ADA?

Nearly every other business must adhere to ADA laws because they apply to all public spaces in the US. In addition, the ADA is applicable to all information-gathering technologies, companies, and web-based software. Particularly, ADA compliance concerns:

Institutions of state and local government
Businesses that are regarded as places of public accommodation
Organizations that serve the general public
Private companies with above 15 staff members

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a road map and collection of instructions on how companies and organizations can optimize their websites for accessibility, are essential for ADA compliance when it comes to websites.

WCAG recognizes three degrees of accessibility compliance: A, AA, and AAA. The accessibility of the website must be at least level AA to be considered ADA compliant.

Law Firm Website Accessibility Checklist

Accessibility can be achieved through even the slightest changes in the site design. For example, most able people don't have to worry about font styles, spacing, navigations, and text sizes, but it might be a huge deal to people with visual impairments. However, there's so much you can do to boost website accessibility, but it can be hard to keep track of.

Here's a simple checklist to help you make sure your law firm website is accessible to your audiences:

Read the ADA guidelines
Every image and map file should have an "alt" tag
All online forms should incorporate HTML tags
There should be descriptive anchor text on every link
All text content (like blog posts and landing pages) must be organized with appropriate heading tags
All videos need audio descriptions, transcripts, and subtitles
Your website's color contrast should allow for readability
Every font must be readable
All HTML tables must provide cell information, row identifiers, and column heading
Your website should include textual captions for each audio recording
The names of all CTA buttons on the website should be readable
Support keyboard navigation
Provide contact information that is simple to find so that users can ask about accessibility
Check the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines to see if your website is accessible
Automate website accessibility testing to avoid overlooking accessibility issues

To boost accessibility on your site, consider the user experience. Does it load fast? Is the text hard to read? Are there design flaws you need to address? These considerations are a great start.

Hire The Best Law Firm Marketing Agency.

LLM is comprised of experienced experts and legal content writers to help you with content and SEO marketing for law firms. We offer our services to lawyers and law firms, helping them get more clients and increase digital visibility.