So what happens after the new site is launched and you’re done celebrating?? We’re glad you asked! We’re here to offer up some essential steps you’ll want to consider to keep your website in top shape (especially if you’re a busy business owner without a full-time content team or SEO consultant). 

Add content consistently

Since your website isn’t static, it will need regular content updates. Your website users will expect that and search engines like new website content too. People are more likely to click on a new blog post, rather than a content piece that you wrote long ago, and how often Google visits and indexes pages on your site is based partially on how often your site content changes. If you update content more frequently, Google will notice and may index your pages more often. Adding new content also gives you new opportunities to optimize for SEO keywords. 

Content calendars are great tools to help you stay on track with making regular content updates. Think realistically about how often you can add new content to the site and do your best to stick to that schedule. 

Keep your software up to date

This is super important! Outdated software can lead to website hacks. It can also cause things to break on your site. 

For platforms like Wordpress, updates to Wordpress core, plugins and themes are being rolled out regularly so getting into a regular cadence of running software updates will help you avoid headaches down the road. 

Review your Google Analytics 4 data regularly

The best way to find out how people are interacting with your new website is to keep an eye on Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Your GA4 data can help you answer questions like what return you’re getting on your ad spend, if people are visiting the main pages on your site and what types of website traffic have the highest engagement rate. If you like data, GA4 is a good opportunity to geek out a bit. 

Like many things, GA4 becomes just another tool unless you use it regularly. We suggest getting into a regular cadence of reviewing your GA4 data - once a month or once a quarter can both be good options. Identify a few key questions you want to answer (such as the questions above) and spend a little time (even just 30 minutes) reviewing a few key GA4 reports to get answers.

Review Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a helpful free tool that shows you how Google sees your website and alerts you to any issues that may be impacting how you’re appearing in Google search results. It’s a good tool to review regularly to get that overall look at how Google sees your site and to address any issues that need attention. 

Set up website backups 

Just like backing up your computer, backing up your website is also important. If you need to roll back major changes on the site or if the site gets hacked, having a backup available gives you a way to restore it. 

Website hosts sometimes include backups as part of their hosting service - it’s a good idea to double check if yours does. We also recommend setting up a second backup, in case the first one fails for some reason. 

The cadence of backups depends somewhat on how often you’re making changes to your site.. Daily or weekly backups are often good options and keeping the backups for 60 days is smart. 

Learn a little SEO 

It’s a good idea to learn some SEO basics. We’ve done the hard work for you here and here. Read up on our posts so you can get some traction with SEO without giving up your day job to do it. 

We know this can feel like a lot. But you don’t have to do it alone!

If you’d like a little help, here are some high impact tasks we can take off your plate:

• Develop a website content plan (and content calendar).
• Keep your software up to date.
• Set up GA4 and help you understand GA4 reports. 
• Set up Google Search Console and help you understand Google Search Console reports.
• Set up website backups for you.
• Teach you some of the ropes of SEO so that you can run with it on your own.

Ready to learn more? Contact Emily.
 

What Google has been doing (and other algorithm news)

There’s been a lot of change this year. 

The first thing to note is that in May, portions of Google’s search algorithm were leaked to the public. The leaked data is dense - big kudos to the folks who have analyzed it and shared some general learnings with us. From our reading of the learnings, there were no fireworks in terms of SEO revelations. Instead it was more confirmation of some things we already knew. As Michelle Hawley shares in her State of SEO article, the leaked info confirmed that things like the following still matter:

• Domain and site authority 
• Backlinks
• E-E-A-T 
• Article publish dates

In other search algorithm news, Google rolled out an update to curtail spam content in March, as well as a core algorithm update that same month. The spam update aimed to significantly reduce spam content in search results (by 45%), while the core update integrated the “helpful content system” into Google’s core ranking system. Translation: what constitutes “helpful content” to Google now has multiple indicators, instead of just a single, standalone ranking signal. 

So what does it all mean? 

Assuming you’ve been writing useful content, there’s not necessarily much you need to change. As Google’s Chris Nelson said earlier this year: there’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this [latest SEO] update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people.

Write useful content for people, not search engines

The long and short of it is: be a real person and write content for other real people to help them do whatever they’re trying to do online. Okay, so you can use AI to write some of your content too, but your content still has to be useful and should follow Google’s E-E-A-T content guidelines.

Wait what? (Too many acronyms!) What is E-E-A-T?

A quick overview in case you aren’t familiar with E-E-A-T - it’s a set of search quality guidelines that Google uses to evaluate the quality of content. Though it’s not technically an SEO ranking factor, it’s still very important to the SEO success of your content and one that Google places high value on. Paying attention to E-E-A-T in content helps Google serve up better search results.   

So what do the letters stand for and how do you do it well? 

• E = Experience: questions to ask: do you have first-hand experience with the topic that you’re writing about? Are you sharing those first-hand experiences in your content?
• E = Expertise: this refers to topical expertise, or the unique qualifications that you have that give you expertise in the topic that you’re writing about. 
• A = Authoritativeness: questions to ask: what is your reputation in your industry? Are you known as a leader in your field? Do people know you, know your background, and look to you as a leader in your industry? Do they accept you as a good source of information? Are other authorities in your industry linking back to your content? 
• T = Trustworthiness: this covers the creator, content and the website itself. Make sure your content is accurate and is citing sources that are legitimate. 

More Tips To Improve Your Content! 

We appreciated this article from Marcus Miller on writing “people-first content.” His process starts with defining clear content goals, then moves to clarifying who your audience is and why they would care about your content, paying attention to E-E-A-T guidelines and making content that “is different or better than elsewhere.” 

So what’s next?

The SEO field is changing fast and it requires agility to stay on top of current best practices. That said, writing high-quality content that helps your users out is the refrain that SEOs have returned to over the years. You definitely want to keep it in your toolkit. 

And if you need help with this or other SEO topics, let us know!
 

AI helps us understand what users mean

AI helps us understand what users mean when they search for something (aka, user intent). This isn’t new - AI tools have been helping search engines do this for a while now. They do it by using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to better understand details about the user’s search, such as context and semantics. AI tools are likely to get better and better at doing this over time. So you’ll want to continue using SEO tools that leverage AI to help with things like keyword research, etc. Again, not new, just increasingly important.

Web searches will get more conversational

As we get used to interacting with AI tools, Semrush suggests that our web searches will get more and more conversational. This will make understanding a searcher’s intent even more important and may start to make content built around specific keywords less effective. So be ready to answer conversational queries in your SEO content and continue writing long-form content that provides information that your users need.

We’ll start seeing more zero click searches

Moving forward, users will likely get more and more information directly from the search engine results page (SERP), instead of clicking through to a website. So having content that can easily be pulled into Google's SGE results (and also Featured Snippets) will be important. 

Tracking metrics may change

SEO expert Areej AbuAli suggests that the metrics that we use to measure SEO results may change as well, with a move toward tracking things like overall brand visibility and conversion rates, and less on more traditional SEO metrics. So over time we will likely need to change how we think about and measure the success of our SEO efforts.

SEO tasks will be streamlined

ChatGPT and other AI tools make things like generating SEO content outlines and getting initial ideas for keywords quicker. And expect new ways that AI can help us streamline SEO tasks in the months ahead. 

Next up

Web content for humans by humans! It’s more important than ever these days, with the increase in AI-generated web content. Best practices for SEO content in 2024 is our next blog topic - stay tuned!

Sources: 
https://kenpeluso.me/mastering-search-intent-with-ai/
https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-seo/
https://moz.com/blog/2024-seo-content-predictions
https://www.semrush.com/goodcontent/content-marketing-blog/ai-seo-content-marketing/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/conversational-search-here-take-9-smart-steps-seo-content-carroll

Web design & development

Your website is the face of your brand and having a modern, high-performing website is essential to business success these days. 

How we help

We design and build high-performing websites. When you work with us, you’ll get a site that you (and your website users) will love. And you’ll get a site that produces results. We’ve been designing and building websites for 20 years and know our stuff.

The results

• One recent web design client saw more than a 200% increase in conversions after going live with their new website.
• Another saw a 50% increase in website visits, including a 20% increase in traffic from search engine traffic.
• Our websites have also won design awards.

You can see examples of our work in our portfolio.

Let's redesign your website!

Website maintenance

What happens next once your new website is live? High fives all around (obviously) and taking a moment to celebrate your success. Plus, because websites aren’t static, it means looking ahead at what’s needed to keep the site performing well going forward. That can mean things like regular software upgrades, building out new tools or features on the site or taking a deep dive to look at your website from an accessibility perspective.

How we help

We serve as a trusted long-term web partner for businesses and organizations just like yours. Whether it’s regular Wordpress upgrades that you need, a new eCommerce section built out, or something else, we can help. Consistent, reliable web professionals.

The results

• A new eCommerce section that we developed for a client allowed them to sell 100% of their products after its launch, a significant percentage increase over previous years. Since then, the eCommerce system has helped them achieve 100% sales of additional key products with less staff resources needed to complete sales.
• Another client came to us with a website that had outdated software and a broken design. Within a couple of weeks, their site was updated and running smoothly, the design fixed and the website is now fully showcasing their work again.

Let's get your website to shine!

Digital marketing

With an awesome website as your foundation, you’re ready to start attracting customers and clients. What that will look like, depends very much on the nature of your business, but it usually means email marketing and sometimes digital ads.

How we help

We can help define your marketing strategies, take ads management off your hands and support your email marketing efforts. We can also get Google Analytics 4 set up and show you how to use it to track results from your marketing campaigns.

The results

• One client saw a 25% in overall website conversions from our marketing work together. 
• Another client’s social media following more than doubled as a result of our work together and they now have solid engagement on their social channels.
• Yet another client saw their email list triple in size in just a few months.

Upgrade your digital marketing game.

SEO

Although most people know the importance of SEO, many struggle with having the tools, consistency, or strategy to turn it into a powerful machine. If you’re going to invest in digital marketing support, you’ll want to truly take advantage of all that SEO can deliver.

Simply put, SEO refers to strategies and actions you can take to help your website show up better in search results. Mostly this means Google Search results. Having a site that’s optimized for search is essential these days.

How we help

All things SEO: SEO audits, SEO strategy, SEO keyword research, content writing, and ongoing SEO monitoring fall under our team’s SEO umbrella....

The results

Over the years, we’ve had clients with varying SEO needs, but whether it's a one-time project or an ongoing partnership, one consistent result we bring to the table is an enhanced online presence and improved online visibility.

Let's make some SEO improvements.

Here are four signs that you may need to make some improvements to your website:

1. Your site design is old / doesn't communicate who you are 

Your website is the face of your brand. If your site has an out-of-date design people are going to notice and will likely go elsewhere to find what they need. And even if the site design is current, but the look and feel doesn’t match who you are as a business, it will still give people the wrong impression of who you are and may make you look less professional than you are. 

Generally speaking, if your website is more than a few years old, there’s a good chance that your site design is outdated or that it will be soon (things change fast in the web world). For business owners that DIY their sites initially, it’s also common for them to outgrow the look and feel of their website and as the business starts to grow, the website no longer does a good job of communicating who they are.

How to fix this

If any of this rings true for you, you'll likely benefit from either: 1) a design refresh (ie, refreshing some elements of the site while keeping the overall structure as is) or 2) a full-blown website redesign.

2. Your website doesn’t work well on mobile devices

Having a website that works well on mobile is essential these days. 

You’ve probably seen the stats about how many web searches come from mobile devices these days (it’s more than 50%) and/or you know this based on personal experience (you’re doing all of your searches on mobile). If you want people to find you online (btw, search engines care about mobile responsiveness too... it’s a ranking factor for SEO) and to stick around once they’ve found you, having a site that works well on mobile devices is essential. It sounds like a no-brainer, but there are a surprising number of websites that don’t have this box checked yet.

How to fix this

Make sure your site is built using responsive design techniques so that it will work well across device types. 

You can’t make content updates yourself or it’s overly complicated to do so 

Relying on a website developer to make even small content changes on your site can take a lot of time and be costly. And in this day and age, it doesn’t really make sense. Still, this is a pain point that we hear frequently from new web design clients. 

We’re not talking about upgrading software or building out a new section of your site (you may very well need a developer for those things), but for things like swapping out photos or adding text content, you really should be able to do those easily by yourself. 

How to fix this

Consider building a new website so you can make future content updates on your own. 

People keep talking about SEO, you think your site needs it, but you’re not sure exactly what that means or how to go about it

We can probably all agree that showing up in search results for your target website users is important. But what does that mean and how do you do it?

An important thing to keep in mind is that the building blocks of a high-performing website (think pages that load quickly, site content that’s relevant to your website users and a site structure that's easy and intuitive to use) are also important for SEO. If those building blocks aren't already in place, you should probably build a new site.

If they are in place, you might be able to focus on an SEO audit instead. An audit will help you identify other SEO items that should be addressed on your existing site (for example, identifying high-performing keywords and SEO-friendly improvements that can be made to your current website content). 

How to fix this 

We've got a great blog post on SEO basics if you want to read more. And if you're ready to get started with an SEO audit or a website redesign, contact us to talk about next steps.

Can you relate to any of the things mentioned above?

If so, it’s important to take action before it impacts your success. The good news? We can help! We specialize in designing and building websites for busineses just like yours.

Contact Emily to get started.

Over the years, here’s what we’ve learned smaller businesses tend to need:

• You need a site that is visually appealing and you may need some minor branding help.
• Your new site needs to communicate who you are, but really a pre-existing design with minor customizations will work. 
• The website needs to create a pleasant, intuitive experience for your users. 
• You may need some added functionality, like a calendar plugin for scheduling, or basic ecommerce functionality to sell a few products online.

Thinking about building a new website?

Here’s what you get when you build your site with us:

Personalized design / development services 


Just like with our custom web development services, you’ll get our expertise and personalized attention throughout the website design and development process. 

Design and branding help, if you need it 


We can design (or refresh) your logo, define the color palette for your website and recommend typography. If we’re building a Wordpress site for you, we’ll work with you to find the Wordpress theme that’s right for you.

Need help with photos? We can find good stock options for you or give you a shot list for a professional photo shoot at your organization.

Our expertise in website user experience (UX) 

Your site needs to be designed in a smart way that is intuitive and easy for people to use. We have years of experience creating visually-appealing sites that work well for website users. We know what goes into good design.

SEO

Search engines care about things like website load time and overall site performance so having a site that’s free of performance issues is very important. We pay attention to these things with every site we build and can also help with SEO-focused content writing, hands-on SEO training, SEO audits and more.

The website you need

A website that performs well and is easy for you to add content to, without a developer’s support. We want the site to work for you, so you can focus on running your business.

Ongoing maintenance 


We’re also available for ongoing support, if needed. If you need help upgrading your site’s software after go live, or have content questions, we can help.  

Here’s what we get

The opportunity to collaborate with smart, passionate professionals like yourself. We know you’re busy making the world a better place and we want to help you do that. 

We strive to make the technical accessible, even to the non-techy types out there. We want to empower you with the knowledge and experience you need to create and maintain the web presence that best represents you and your business.

Ready to get started? We’d love to tell you more. Contact Emily to get started.
 

By understanding what SEO is and how it works, you can put yourself in a much better position to achieve your online goals. But, if you’re a little fuzzy on exactly why it’s important and where to start, the subject might feel a bit overwhelming. You’re not alone. 

There’s a ton of information out there about SEO. We’re not aiming to answer all of your questions or give you everything you need to know. Instead, we’re going to share a few key points that will be helpful to keep in mind when thinking about SEO and designing an SEO strategy. 

Why SEO?

At its most basic level, SEO is all about making your website more visible to Google and other search engines

SEO is important because research shows that more than half of consumers use a search engine to research things before they buy them. It’s also important because website traffic that comes from organic search (ie, people clicking on your website link in search results) is often one of the bigger sources of traffic for organizations and businesses.

The basic building blocks of a good website are also good for SEO

When you’re building a new website, your potential website users should be top of mind. You want to build something that gets them the information they need or helps them take particular actions on your website quickly and easily. The site should be well-structured and easy to navigate. It also needs to load quickly and shouldn’t have any performance issues that slow it down or make things cumbersome for users. 

Just like your users, search engines also like well-structured sites that don’t have performance issues bogging them down. So taking good care of your website users will also help you build a good foundation for SEO.

Keyword research: your secret (not-so-secret) weapon

Keyword research is one of the fundamentals of SEO. It’s important because, as Tim Soulo of Ahrefs says: keyword research is the only way to figure out what people are typing into search engines. You need to know this to avoid creating content about things that nobody is searching for.

In your research, you want to find the terms that your website users are using in their searches and also do your best to understand the search intent of those users. (Just like it sounds, search intent is the type of information a user is looking for in their search…for example, are they mainly looking for information? Or perhaps they’re wanting to buy something and are looking for a deal?) 

There are lots of how-tos out there about doing keyword research (this is a good one from Ahrefs) so we’re not going to get into that here. Likewise, there are lots of options for keyword research tools (a good free one is Google Keyword Planner), or you can get help from a pro to do keyword research for you. 

Once you’ve found the keywords to target, you can start incorporating them into your website content. You’ll want to target specific keywords on specific pages on your site and you’ll need to include them in metadata fields (like title tags, meta descriptions, etc.), as well as the content that your users are viewing on your site.

High-quality content is a must for SEO

Pages must be well written and have substantial quality. That’s what Search Engine Land’s SEO Periodic Table has to say about page content and “quality” is one of the items with the highest score of +5 on the periodic table.

Search engines want to return the best, most relevant results for people and publishing high-quality content on your website helps them do that. 

One way to think about this is by using what is referred to as the E-A-T guidelines when creating content. E-A-T is one way that Google evaluates the quality of content: E-A-T = Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.. ie, content should:

• Be created by an expert.
• Be posted on an authoritative site.
• Be trustworthy.
• Be updated regularly. 

Don’t worry if you don’t consider yourself to be an expert in your field yet, or your site isn’t the highest authority in your field. Just focus on publishing good quality content that will be relevant to your potential users.

All of the points we've covered are important for building a strong SEO foundation for your website. Keyword research is essential to understand what users are searching for and how they’re searching, high-quality content is key to providing value and relevance to your users, and making sure your website is well-structured and easy to navigate will keep both your users and search engines happy. If you can focus on creating quality content that meets the needs of your target audience, you’ll be well on your way to improving your SEO ranking.

Ready to jump into an SEO strategy or improve your current strategy? Contact us today.

Tunnel 7’s President, Emily, has been running the business for 2 years now. And while everyone’s experience is vastly different, we know each business owner deals with ups and downs when it comes to entrepreneurship. Emily has shared some of her learnings below - we hope they're helpful! 

1. Learn The Flow And Plan For it.

Every business has its own unique ebbs and flows. For example, at Tunnel 7, we expect the fall to be website upgrade heavy, while the rest of the year is more focused on new website builds. 

While dialing into the rhythm of your particular business may take some time, especially in the early years, it’s incredibly important to understand and trust the flow as soon as you begin noticing it. If you can do this, you’ll be better equipped to ride the waves, take steps to bring in more work when needed and know when to expect a slow period.

2. Accept Self-Care As A Necessity, Not A Luxury. 

As a business owner, your energy and motivation are a key part of what drives your business. In order to show up fully present each day, it’s important to take care of yourself. While this is important in all types of work, it’s especially true as a business owner.

Working to exhaustion, not getting enough sleep, skipping time off and spending your entire work day fueled by caffeine will take a toll over time. Find a way to maintain your energy. For example, find daily routines that help you maintain energy throughout the day and schedule your favorite flavor of regular self-care. Vacations, massages, hiking, or anything that helps you feel good can work in this scenario.

3. Recognize When You Need Support. 

Managing your time and energy, and keeping yourself resourced, is vital for your success. Whenever possible, spend your energy on the things you’re good at and find support for tasks that are challenging or take more time and energy for you. For example, Emily finds that getting accounting help and being part of a content writing group for Tunnel 7’s marketing help free her up to focus on other aspects of the business.

4. Play Hard. Work Better.  

Hobbies are a no-brainer way to ensure your work is sustainable over the long haul. Find some interests and spend time pursuing them. And while the amount of time you’re able to dedicate to your hobbies will change from time-to-time, even 30 minutes a day can help break that cycle and give your brain a break.
 
In Emily’s case, she’s found rock climbing to be something that forces her to unwind and unplug. It’s not possible to worry about a work project while also doing the crux move of a challenging climbing route.  
 
This might sound obvious but focusing outside of work will help you focus better while you’re working.

5. Design Your Schedule For Your Rhythm.

Whenever possible, design a work schedule that fits your personal rhythms. Do you work best on a 9-5 schedule, eating lunch at your desk so you have your evenings free? Or will a longer day with a real break for lunch be better for you?

It may sound selfish to do this, but when we actually work within our natural rhythms, we often stay more engaged in our work and are more productive overall, as opposed to constantly trying to make ourselves conform to a schedule that isn't working.

It might take some time to learn when your energy is best and what times of the day you tend to be able to focus on different types of projects. Pay attention to your needs and preferences and design accordingly.

6. Celebrate Your Wins, Big or Small. 

It’s surprising how often we forget to do this! We reach a milestone and immediately move on to the next thing. It can make a big difference in your overall outlook and productivity to take time (daily, if possible) to celebrate your successes, individually or as a team.

7. Bonus! 

See if you can come up with at least a short list of successes each day. Over time, your list of successes will probably become easier to create. Feeling successful and effective on a regular basis can provide a huge boost to our energy and motivation at work.

Navigating the entrepreneurial journey can be a bumpy ride, but with the right tools it can also be an incredibly rewarding experience.

And by the way, if web design, website maintenance and digital marketing aren't in your wheelhouse, we’re here to support you. Contact us today to get started on your website or marketing project. 
 

What do we mean by website security? It's all of the items in place on your site, as well as specific actions that you take, to keep your website from being vulnerable to hackers and other attacks.

Our 7 security practices will help you get started in thinking about and implementing stronger security measures on your site. 

1) Keep your software up to date

Why it’s important

Running out of date software on your website creates vulnerabilities that can be easy to target.

What to do

Make sure you stay up to date with the latest versions of your content management system (CMS), plugins and themes, particularly when version updates involve security fixes. What you need to update (and how often) will depend on how your website was built and what (if any) CMS you’re using. For example, with popular platforms like Wordpress, updates are being rolled out continuously, including important security fixes, so regular updates will be needed. Other platforms may not require such frequent updates.    

2) Back up your website regularly 

Why it’s important 

If your website is compromised, a website backup will be a huge help in restoring the site. 

What to do

Host providers often include website backups as part of their hosting service - it’s a good idea to double check with yours about this. Having your site backed up daily is a good practice and keeping the backups for 60 days is smart. You may also want to have a second form of backup in place, in case the first fails for some reason.

3) Make sure your site has an SSL certificate installed

Why it’s important

SSL (or “Secure Sockets Layer”) certificates ensure that your website sessions are secure by encrypting the connection between your website server and the user’s browser. 

What to do

Not sure if your website has one installed? Check to see if there is a padlock next to your website’s address in your browser. Also, if you’re visiting a website that doesn’t have an SSL in place, you’ll often be shown a warning screen by your browser before you can access the site.

SSL certificates are widely available and if you need to install one, many website host providers provide them for free. 

4) Set up security monitoring 

Why it’s important

The quicker you catch an issue, the better. Website security services and plugins will regularly monitor your website for any issues, and some even include malware removal as part of their service.

What to do

Talk to your web developer to see what they recommend for your specific website. There are many plugins available, or you can set up a stand-alone account with a service like Sucuri. 

5) Provide lower levels of access whenever possible

Why it’s important

Lower levels of website access can help lower your vulnerability. 

What to do

You may have a few different people who need access to the backend of your website, your hosting account and others. Only give out the level of access that is needed. For example, the person writing your blog may just need enough access to post new content, while your web developer will likely need super admin access in order to make adjustments to code or to run a website upgrade.

Review your current permissions and make sure you’re not giving out more access than is needed.   

6) Consider turning on multi-factor authentication 

Why it’s important

Multi-factor authentication helps protect your accounts from unauthorized access, which could lead to your website being compromised. 

What to do

Multi-factor authentication is standard practice these days and all of the accounts related to your website should provide an easy way to set this up.  

7) Consider setting up a website firewall

Why it’s important

Firewalls filter out website traffic from malicious sources, which can keep hackers from ever reaching your site. 

What to do

Many website host providers provide some firewall protection so it’s a good idea to find out if yours does and to get any recommendations that they have regarding firewalls (for example, if they recommend a secondary firewall). There are several different kinds of firewalls to choose from and your host provider may be able to give you some suggestions about which kind you need.

While this list isn’t an exhaustive list, we hope it will serve as a starting point in your conversations about website security.

And if you are a current client needing help implementing any of these tips, please get in touch!

In 2020, our friend and colleague Emily Robertson gave a helpful analogy in a presentation on accessibility for the New England Museum Association. She had us imagine a building with a set of stairs to the main entrance. If there isn’t a ramp to that entrance, a person who uses a wheelchair won’t be able to get into the building at all. Similarly, a website that isn’t accessible means that people using assistive technology devices can’t “get in the front door” and won’t be able to access the website fully. 

Accessibility Nuts & Bolts

The Web Accessibility Initiative of WC3 establishes internationally-recognized guidelines for accessibility in several different areas. The set of guidelines that covers website content is what we’ll be focusing on here - these guidelines are referred to as WCAG, or the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

WCAG covers a wide variety of items including things like font sizing, color contrast, closed captioning on videos, and the simplicity of a website’s navigation so that screen readers can easily understand the site. 

There are three levels of WCAG compliance: A, AA and AAA. Each level builds on the last and AA tends to be the level that many web developers aim for when building an accessible website. AA achieves quite a lot in terms of making a website accessible and compliance is achievable for many websites. AAA guidelines, by contrast, are much stricter and achieving compliance is more difficult (if not impossible) for many websites. 

Why Is Accessibility Important?

Equity

Having a website that doesn't meet accessibility guidelines is an equity issue since it makes it impossible for website users with disabilities to fully access your site. If your organization is prioritizing diversity and inclusion, website accessibility is an important consideration.

Your Bottom Line

It also makes good business sense. According to the CDC, 61 million Americans live with a disability. Not addressing accessibility issues on your website means you’re locking out 61 million potential customers who could be benefitting from your products and services. 

In late 2021, a Forbes article predicted retailers would lose $828 million in Christmas sales because of website accessibility issues. 

Liability

There have also been some major lawsuits over the past several years that have ruled in favor of parties who brought cases against companies with inaccessible websites. So liability issues are another consideration.

Where Do Things Currently Stand With Accessibility? 

WebAIM Million, a project of Web Accessibility In Mind, conducts an annual review of the top one million website homepages and in February 2021, they found some pretty stark results. They found over 51 million accessibility errors (averaging 51 errors per webpage) in their review and the errors they identified would likely keep the sites from conforming with WCAG A & AA standards. Translation: users with disabilities are likely to face significant challenges in using these sites.

I’m Convinced - What Should I Do Now?

As with most complex topics, it depends. If you have a website that you’re currently happy with, next steps for you will look different than someone looking to build a new site right away. So the first step is knowing where you are. 

Scenario 1: I’m happy with my current website and would like to continue to use it.

Find out where you stand - get an accessibility audit.

Getting an accessibility audit is a great starting place. There are many expert firms (including Tunnel 7!) that review websites for WCAG compliance and can let you know what is needed to meet accessibility guidelines. Audit reports will generally give you an overview of how your website is doing in meeting WCAG guidelines, and will provide you with a list of action items that need to be completed in order to meet WCAG standards. 

Depending on the audit findings, making accessibility fixes to your current site may make sense. For example, if all that’s needed is to add an alt text field to your images so that screen readers can identify the image, that may be something that you can easily fix yourself, or with the help of a developer. 

If, however, the audit returns a long list of items that need to be fixed, it may not be cost effective to do that work, and you may want to go with Option 2 instead: building an accessible website from scratch.

Need Help Getting Accessible? Get a Tunnel 7 Accessibility Audit.

Scenario 2: I’m already planning to build a new site and need it to meet WCAG guidelines.

If you’re already due for a redesign, or the accessibility audit finds a long list of compliance issues, starting from scratch and building a website with accessibility in mind can be a smart and cost-effective approach. 

Given that website accessibility applies to foundational items like color palette, website navigation and other basics of website architecture, keeping accessibility guidelines in mind from project launch will serve you well. If you’re going to hire a web designer, it’s best to hire a firm that already has experience building accessible websites.

When considering accessibility, most websites have room for improvement. 

Want support figuring out where to put your attention? Hire Tunnel 7 to Build Your Accessible Website.