Mediaboss Marketing

What's This? Associations Now Brand Connection provides opportunities for advertisers to connect with the Associations Now audience. All content is paid for by the advertiser. The Associations Now editorial staff is not involved in creating this content.

if youre in the midst of a website refresh, dont forget to put web accessibility on your list of priorities, writes DelCors Tom Jelen. Making your website accessible means designing it in a way that makes it usable for all people, whatever their hardware, software, language, location, or ability.

Not only is accessibility strategically important, but its also the right thing to do, Jelen argues. According to the World Bank, 15 percent of the worlds population, or 1 billion people, have some form of disability, making them more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes.

Your association can help lessen those adverse outcomes by ensuring that everyone can access your associations digital experience, Jelen says.

Striving for better web accessibility will also improve your contents performance, since good SEO practices go hand in hand with accessibility.

In the same way that persons with disabilities may require alternative text descriptions of images, easy-to-follow headings, and clear link titles, search engine spiders (the computer programs that index the web) need that information, too, Jelen says.

Beyond strategy, web accessibility may even be a legal requirement for your organization.

There is a growing legal consensus that if the Title III requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply to your association, you may be required to make your website accessible, Jelen says.

When it comes to advertising your products or services, word-of-mouth is extremely beneficial. According to Nielsens Global Trust in Advertising report from 2015, 83 percent of consumers completely or somewhat trust recommendations from people they know, and 66 percent said the same for reviews posted online.

We are simply more likely to trust someone we knowor even a stranger, so long as they dont work for whoever would benefit from our business, writes Chelsea Brasted of Association Success.

How can organizations take advantage? Generate word-of-mouth buzz with a well-placed member testimonial that showcases the impact of your organization. In the same vein, keep an eye out for positive reviews online. When you see one, help spread the word.

Pick out the real gems, have a conversation with the member who shared it, thank them, and then ask if you can publicize their experience more broadly, Brasted says.

Nonprofits doing advocacy for controversial issues may face online harassment. There are several ways to deal with it, writes Hannah Brennan in Beths Blog.

Have an emergency remote work plan? Work strategist Cali Williams Yost breaks down the steps to put one together in the Harvard Business Review.

Does diversity and inclusion training work? A recent post in the HR People + Strategy Blog explores its benefits and potential shortcomings.

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

View post:
Daily Buzz: The Importance of Web Accessibility - Associations Now