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Website Accessibility, Optimisation and Testing:
Why you won't sell a thing without them

Fact: 95% of businesses don't realise a positive return on their web design investment. Accessibility; Optimisation and Testing: three words to keep at the front of your mind when setting up or promoting a website; because if any of them are overlooked, it's as near as certain that your business will not form part the 5% that goes on to enjoy business growth and commercial success.

Whether it's an online retail outlet, a social networking platform or a simple showcase for products or services, a website can make a huge difference to any company's turnover; that is providing it works.

Just because your website looks good to you and you can browse the pages perfectly well doesn't necessarily mean the next person is having the same happy online experience. And it doesn't mean the search engines are finding it either.

Think about ACCESSIBILITY. Think about who can use your website:

1. Are you sure that your website is accessible to everyone?
2. Have you considered whether those with disabilities such as visual impairment can use your site?
3. What about those with web browsers other than Internet Explorer? More and more people are using alternative browsers these days such as Mozilla Firefox. Does your website work on those?
4. How about surfers who are unable to use a mouse and rely solely on their keyboard functions - can they successfully browse your site?
5. Are you communicating with your overseas visitors effectively? Do you offer a choice of languages?

There are two things that you need to check when choosing a website designer:

1. That they abide by the strict guidelines set down by the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3).
2. That they adhere to the Disability Discrimination Act 1997.

One of the primary goals of the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) is to make the social benefits of the internet "available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability."

It is absolutely vital that you are not alienating certain groups of visitors by making your website inaccessible to them due to any of these factors.

Next think about OPTIMISATION. What has been done to ensure your website can be found by the search engines and used successfully by your visitors?

1. Was your site created by a developer with specific search engine and website optimisation experience?
2. Are your pages quick to download?
3. Have your keywords been researched and expertly selected?
4. Has your website copy been written by a professional copy writer? Does it work with the search engines and appeal to your visitors?
5. Has your site been submitted to search engines and web directories?
6. Are you running an on-going link exchange programme?
7. Are you pulling visitors into relevant parts of your website by sending them e-mail newsletters?
8. Are you running an online article and press release submission campaign?
9. Are you analysing your website statistics?

Now think about TESTING. Are you absolutely sure that your website actually works?

1. Has your website developer taken a good deal of time to thoroughly check your site using different screen resolutions, browsers and operating systems?
2. Have you asked colleagues, staff or friends to check through the site as if they were a visitor and report back to you? Ask them:
   • How did they find the navigation? Was it straightforward?
   • Were they happy with the page download times?
   • Could they view all images and any multimedia presentations such as videos with ease?
   • How did they find your search facility?
   • Did they enjoy the online shopping experience?
   • Were they able to create an account quickly and easily?

Fact: 95% of businesses - especially SMEs - don't realise a positive return on their web design investment.

Accessibility; Optimisation and Testing: three words to keep at the front of your mind when setting up or promoting a website; because if any of them are overlooked, it's as near as certain that your business will form part of that 95%.

The internet is an integral part of most people's lives these days, so don't miss out on the opportunity to reach the widest audience possible by closing off your online presence to certain groups of visitors and hiding it from the search engines!

Core Media Design is dedicated to making sure you are in the 5% of businesses that enjoys a positive return on their website investment. They guarantee:

• Full compliance with W3C guidelines
• Adherence to the Disability Discrimination Act 1997
• Pure expertise in website and search engine optimisation
• Comprehensive website testing across all platforms

It's not just how your website looks; it's about how well it works.

For more information about their range of web development services, contact Core Media Design.