Website Accessibility Checklist: 12 Practical Fixes for Small Business Sites That Sell to Schools and Government

A website accessibility checklist is something most small business owners never think about until a buyer asks for it. Then it becomes urgent. I’ve had more than one consultant call us after a school district procurement form asked, in plain language, whether their website meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA. They had no idea what that meant or how to answer.

If you sell to schools, colleges, hospitals, cities or state agencies, accessibility isn’t a nice extra. Those buyers have staff, students and residents with disabilities, and many of them have their own accessibility obligations. When they vet a vendor, a site that can’t be used with a keyboard or a screen reader is a quiet red flag.

The good news: most accessibility problems on small business sites are fixable in a few days, not months. This website accessibility checklist covers the twelve things we check on every site we build at Design Fly 24, in the order we check them. One note before we start: we’re web designers, not lawyers. Nothing here is legal advice. If you have a legal question about the ADA or a contract requirement, talk to your own counsel.

Why a website accessibility checklist matters for consultants and small firms

Accessibility means people with disabilities can use your site. That includes people who are blind and use a screen reader, people with low vision who zoom to 200 percent, people who can’t use a mouse, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and people with cognitive or learning disabilities. It also includes a lot of people who don’t think of themselves as disabled: older buyers with tired eyes, someone reading on a phone in bright sun, someone with a broken wrist.

For a consultant, there’s a practical business reason too. Picture a district safety coordinator reviewing three security consultants. She uses a screen magnifier. Two of the websites fall apart when she zooms in. One works perfectly. Guess who gets the call.

The standard most buyers refer to is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C. You can read the WCAG overview from the W3C for the full picture. Most procurement forms ask about Level AA, which is the middle level and the one this website accessibility checklist is built around.

For general information about the Americans with Disabilities Act, the official ADA.gov site is the place to start. Again, for anything that touches legal risk or contract language, consult counsel.

1. Color contrast you can actually read

Low contrast is the single most common issue we find. Light gray text on white, white text on a pale photo, a brand color button that looks great in a mockup and is nearly invisible on a laptop screen.

WCAG AA asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (roughly 24px regular or 19px bold). Buttons, form borders and icons that carry meaning need at least 3:1 against what’s around them.

• Check body text, links, buttons and text over images.
• Don’t use color alone to signal meaning, such as red for “required” with no other cue.
• Test your brand colors early. If your palette fails, adjust the shade slightly rather than abandoning it.

WebAIM, a long running accessibility group, has free tools at webaim.org, including a contrast checker. Paste in two colors and it tells you whether they pass. This is item one on any website accessibility checklist for a reason: it’s fast to test and fast to fix.

2. A real heading structure

Headings are the backbone of a website accessibility checklist. Screen reader users often move through a page by jumping from heading to heading, the way sighted people skim. If your headings are just big bold text with no real structure, that shortcut breaks.

• One H1 per page, describing what the page is about.
• H2s for main sections, H3s for sections inside those. Don’t skip levels for styling.
• Don’t use headings just to make text big. Use CSS for that.
• Make headings descriptive. “Services” is fine. “Our Approach” on four different pages is not.

Page builders like Elementor make it easy to pick a heading tag because it looks right. Open each template and check the actual tags. Good headings also help SEO, since search engines read structure the same way. This step on your website accessibility checklist pays off twice.

3. Alt text that describes, not decorates

No website accessibility checklist skips images. Alt text is the written description of an image that a screen reader reads aloud. Every meaningful image needs it. Decorative images (a background texture, a divider line) should have an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them.

Write alt text the way you’d describe the image to someone on the phone. “Speaker addressing a school board meeting” beats “IMG_4471” and also beats “best school safety consultant New York keynote speaker.” Keyword stuffing in alt text annoys real users and doesn’t help rankings.

Alt text for logos, charts and headshots

• Client logos: the organization name is enough.
• Charts and infographics: a short summary in alt text, with the full data in nearby text or a table.
• Your headshot: your name, and maybe your role.
• Images of text: avoid them. If you must use one, the alt text should repeat the words.

4. Everything works with a keyboard

Put your mouse in a drawer and try to use your site with only the Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter and arrow keys. This one test tells you more than almost anything else on a website accessibility checklist.

Here’s what to look for:

• Visible focus. As you tab, can you always see where you are? Many themes remove the focus outline because a designer thought it looked messy. Put it back.
• Logical order. Focus should move through the page in the order you read it.
• No traps. Popups, menus and embedded widgets should let you tab in and out.
• Menus open. Dropdown navigation should open with the keyboard as well as on hover.
• Skip link. A “Skip to main content” link at the top saves keyboard users from tabbing through your whole menu on every page.

Sliders, accordions, tabs and booking widgets are where most keyboard problems hide. If a third party widget fails and you can’t fix it, offer another way to reach the same thing, such as a plain link or phone number.

5. Forms that label every field

Your contact form is the most important page element you have, and it’s often the least accessible. Placeholder text inside a field is not a label. It disappears when you start typing, and many screen readers don’t announce it reliably.

• Every field gets a visible label tied to the input in the code.
• Required fields are marked in text, in text as well as color or an asterisk.
• Error messages say what went wrong and how to fix it, next to the field.
• CAPTCHA has an accessible option. Invisible or checkbox style tools are usually easier than distorted text.
• The confirmation message is announced, not just shown in a corner.

Test the form with a keyboard and a screen reader. Submit it empty on purpose and listen to what happens. A broken form costs you leads from everyone, including users with disabilities, which is why it sits high on our website accessibility checklist.

6. Captions and transcripts for video and audio

Consultants and speakers use a lot of video: demo reels, keynote clips, explainer videos, podcast episodes. Every one needs captions, and audio content needs a transcript.

• Use real captions, edited by a person. Auto captions are a starting point, but they often mangle names, acronyms and technical terms.
• Add a transcript below podcast episodes and long talks. It also gives search engines text to index.
• Don’t autoplay video with sound. If anything autoplays, give a clear pause button.
• If the video shows important information only visually (a chart, a diagram), mention it in the narration or in text nearby.

For a speaker website, captioned clips matter even more. Event planners at universities and public agencies notice. Of everything on this website accessibility checklist, captions are among the quickest fixes to show a buyer.

7. Link text that makes sense on its own

Link text is the most overlooked line on a website accessibility checklist. Screen reader users can pull up a list of every link on a page. If that list reads “click here, click here, read more, learn more, here,” it’s useless.

• Write links that describe the destination: “read our school safety assessment case study” instead of “click here.”
• If you use “Read more” buttons on blog cards, make sure each one has accessible text that includes the post title.
• Say when a link opens a PDF or a new tab.
• Make links look like links. Underlines help, especially within paragraphs.

8. Text that resizes and reflows

People with low vision zoom in. A good site still works at 200 percent zoom, and at 400 percent it reflows into a single column without sideways scrolling. If you’ve built a properly responsive, mobile friendly site, you’re most of the way there.

For this part of your website accessibility checklist, zoom your browser to 200 and then 400 percent. Watch for text that gets cut off, menus that overlap and sticky headers that cover half the screen. Also avoid setting text in fixed pixel heights inside boxes, which is a common cause of clipped text.

9. Documents and PDFs

This one catches a lot of consultants. Your website may be fine, but the capability statement, sample report or brochure you link to is a scanned PDF with no text layer. To a screen reader, that’s a blank page.

• Create PDFs from Word or InDesign with headings and alt text, then export as tagged PDF.
• Avoid scanned image PDFs. If you have to use one, run OCR first.
• Where possible, put the key content on a web page instead of in a PDF.

School and government buyers often download these documents and pass them around internally. Make sure your website accessibility checklist covers your downloads as well as your pages.

10. Testing tools for your website accessibility checklist

Automated tools are a great first pass through a website accessibility checklist. They’re fast, free and catch obvious issues. But they can’t tell you if your alt text is accurate, if your heading order makes sense or if your form is actually usable. Use both automated and manual testing.

The Lighthouse documentation on Chrome for Developers explains how to run an audit. A perfect Lighthouse score doesn’t mean your site is accessible, but a low one usually means it isn’t.

A simple website accessibility checklist testing routine

1. Run WAVE on your homepage, a service page, your about page, a blog post and your contact page.
2. Fix every error it flags, starting with contrast and missing labels.
3. Tab through the same pages with no mouse.
4. Turn on a screen reader and listen to the homepage and contact form.
5. Zoom to 200 and 400 percent.
6. Repeat whenever you add a new template, plugin or major page.

Accessibility isn’t a project you finish. It’s a habit you keep every time you publish.

11. Avoid quick fix overlays

You’ll see ads for widgets that promise to replace a website accessibility checklist and make any site compliant with one line of code. We don’t recommend relying on them. Many disability advocates and accessibility professionals have criticized overlays for not fixing the underlying problems and sometimes making things harder for screen reader users who already have their own tools set up.

A toolbar that lets people change font size is not a substitute for working headings, labels and contrast. Fix the site itself. That’s what this website accessibility checklist is for.

12. Publish an accessibility statement

The last item on our website accessibility checklist is a statement: a short page that says what you’ve done, what standard you aim for and how people can reach you if something doesn’t work. For school and government buyers, it signals that you take this seriously.

A good statement includes:

• The standard you’re working toward (for example, WCAG 2.1 Level AA).
• What you’ve done: testing methods, tools, when you last reviewed the site.
• Known limitations, such as an older PDF or a third party booking tool.
• A phone number and email for people who run into problems, and a promise to respond.
• The date it was last updated.

Keep it honest. Don’t claim full compliance unless you’ve had a thorough audit. Have counsel review the wording if you’re worried about legal exposure. Link the statement in your footer so it’s easy to find.

Keeping your website accessibility checklist current

Sites change. A new blog post goes up with an image and no alt text. A plugin update changes your form. Someone on your team picks a new button color. Accessibility slips quietly unless someone is watching.

Add a short website accessibility checklist to your regular upkeep. Our WordPress maintenance checklist covers the routine, and our WordPress maintenance services include it if you’d rather hand it off. If you’re planning a bigger change, put the website accessibility checklist into your website redesign checklist from the start. It’s far easier to build accessibility in than to fix it after launch.

We build accessible sites for consultants who sell to schools, healthcare and public agencies, including several in the security field. See our work, or read our guide to security consultant websites for more on what those buyers look for.

Frequently asked questions

Make your site work for every buyer

An accessible website is easier for everyone to use, and it shows school and government buyers you’ve done your homework. Start with contrast, headings and your contact form this week. Then work through the rest of the website accessibility checklist one item at a time.

If you’d like help, Design Fly 24 can review your current site or build accessibility into a new one through our website design services. Contact us and we’ll walk through what your site needs, in plain language.