Accessibility means people can use your site regardless of how they browse. Some visitors use a screen reader that reads the page aloud. Some navigate with a keyboard instead of a mouse. Some need higher contrast, larger text or captions on videos. Many people fall into one of those groups at some point, whether permanently, temporarily or just because they are on a phone in bright sunlight.
DIY and AI-built sites often look polished and still have gaps here. Builders make it easy to design visually and easy to skip the parts you cannot see, like image descriptions, form labels and heading order.
Accessibility is not a separate version of your site. It is your site, built so more people can use it.
Why it matters
The first reason is people. If someone cannot read your hours, fill out your form or find your phone number, you have lost a customer who wanted to do business with you. The second reason is clarity. Accessible pages are usually better organized, easier to scan and easier for search engines to understand. Good alt text, clear headings and descriptive links help both screen readers and Google.
What people miss
- Alt text. Images that carry meaning need a short description. Decorative images should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them. “image1.jpg” is not alt text.
- Color contrast. Light gray text on white, or white text on a pale photo, is hard for many people to read. WCAG sets minimum contrast ratios for text.
- Keyboard navigation. Every link, button, menu and form field should be reachable with the Tab key, in a sensible order, with a visible focus outline. Pop-ups and menus should be closeable without a mouse.
- Form labels. Placeholder text that disappears when you type is not a label. Each field needs a real label, and error messages should say what went wrong.
- Heading structure. Headings should follow a logical outline: one main heading, then sections and subsections in order. Picking a heading level because of its size breaks that outline.
- Link and button text. “Click here” and “Learn more” make little sense out of context. Say where the link goes.
- Captions and transcripts. Videos with speech need captions. Auto-generated captions are a start, but they should be reviewed.
- Icon-only buttons. A hamburger menu or a search icon needs an accessible name so screen readers can announce it.
- Motion. Autoplaying carousels and heavy animation can be distracting or uncomfortable. Give people a way to pause them.
How AftUp handles it
We review your site against the common issues above using automated tools and hands-on checks, like navigating with a keyboard. Automated scans catch some problems but miss others, so we do both. We work inside your existing builder.
- Starter includes one small content change a month, which can cover something like adding alt text across a page or fixing a contrast issue. Your monthly report notes accessibility gaps we spot.
- Growth gives you up to 2 hours a month of fixes, enough to work steadily through labels, headings, link text, focus states and captions over time.
- Scale offers up to 6 hours a month for larger improvements, such as reworking navigation or forms, and a quarterly strategy call to plan what to tackle next.
We improve accessibility in real, practical ways. We do not certify sites or promise legal compliance. If you need a formal audit or have legal questions, we recommend working with a specialist and a lawyer. You can pair this work with an accessibility statement, covered on our legal pages page.
Do it yourself
Try these checks this week:
- Put the mouse away. Use Tab, Shift+Tab and Enter to move through your homepage and submit your contact form. Can you always see where you are? Can you reach everything?
- Review your images. In your builder, open each important image and write a short, plain description of what it shows or does. Leave purely decorative images blank.
- Check contrast. Use a free contrast checker on your main text and button colors. Adjust anything that falls short.
- Read your headings as an outline. Do they make sense in order, without the rest of the page?
- Label your forms. Make sure every field has a visible label, not just placeholder text.
- Turn on captions. Add or review captions for any video with speech.
- Run a free scanner. Browser-based accessibility checkers will flag many common issues and explain each one.
Many of these fixes also make your site faster and clearer. See speed and performance for the overlap.
If you would like to know where your site stands, a free site check includes a look at the accessibility basics.