Accessibility is crucial in building your website, but any business owner knows that you get what you pay for. You must adequately budget enough money to make your website accessible: too little and an inaccessible website might just come back to bite you. Deciding to skimp on quality accessibility assistance could cost you more in the long run.
So what do you need to do to budget for good website accessibility properly? There are three major steps in budgeting for a website, but we’ll focus on the accessibility portion of the budget. Creating specifications, seeking proposals, and aligning your expectations are the steps you need to take to budget properly for an accessible website.
Creating specifications
Specifications refer to what you want from your website, such as design. How simple versus how complicated will the website be? Will WordPress work for you, or do you need a website built from scratch? What kinds of images do you need? You need to make sure you have answers to these questions so that you can build accessibility into the design of the website.
For example, once you know the images you want to use, you have to know what alt text you’ll use. Alt text is the descriptors used for images and non-text content on a site to make the content accessible to people who use screen readers and other assistive technology. Alt text is something you’ll need to budget for and not something you can skip, as it is accessibility essential.
Specifications also refer to content and functionality. What is the purpose of your website? Will you conduct e-commerce, or is it more informational? Where will your contact forms be, and how will they be laid out? Knowing the answers to these questions will also help build accessibility to your site.
If the primary purpose of your site is e-commerce, for example, you’ll need to know how best to make that experience accessible. There should be a budget for an accessibility evaluation from an accessibility expert to ensure your website meets all the WCAG criteria for accessibility. After the review, you must make the changes recommended to have a truly accessible experience for all your customers.
Seeking proposals
A large part of budgeting is accepting bids to do the necessary work. This relates to “you get what you pay for.” You most certainly will get lowball offers. While it might seem tempting to skimp on accessibility, remember that lack of access ultimately makes your website inaccessible – and results in lawsuits.
To avoid inaccessibility and lawsuits, approach proposals with your list of needs ready. Regardless of how you proceed, web development agencies or freelancers will need to know exactly what you want out of your website. The proposals are rarely exact: rather, they will have a range depending on the changes made to the project.
Don’t be afraid of changes! Sometimes, the developer has ideas to either reduce costs or increase accessibility. The right developer knows what they’re doing – that’s why it’s important to choose a developer with experience in website building but also experience in digital accessibility. You didn’t come all this way to cut corners.
There might be more than one proposal round, which is also okay. Maybe the first round didn’t have anyone that sparked your interest or fit your needs. Finding the right developer shouldn’t be a situation where you settle – take the time to find someone eager to give your project the attention it deserves and passionate about making your website accessible.
Aligning your expectations
Expectations versus reality: sometimes, what ends up happening is not what we envisioned. You must understand that some project factors might not turn out how you wanted, whether it’s the final design or the budget. Many projects go way over their allotted budget, and then it’s time for a meeting to decide what aspects of the project need to change to bring the project back down to a manageable level.
Images are often the culprit. Photos get expensive if you are using photography for your site: some estimates can range from $25-$125 per copy. Depending on how many photos you use, that might eat up your budget before considering things like formatting and programming the photos. Graphics are even more expensive: hiring a graphic designer can be up to $300 an hour!
In terms of graphic designers, outsourcing is the biggest budget drain. And, since ensuring accessibility in your website often requires outsourcing, you might see your website costs skyrocketing. Things like accessibility audits and website testers can be costly, but it’s crucial that you use them.
In the face of the rising costs of building a website, it might be tempting to cut corners on accessibility. Remember, though – if you don’t build accessibility into your website from the beginning, you will face more expensive problems down the road. Consider other ways to ease the budget burden instead.
Conclusion
When building a website, budgeting is crucial. What’s even more crucial is including accessibility in your budget. Don’t skimp on quality assistance in building accessibility into your website: remember, you get what you pay for. An accessible website will help prevent problems in the future, like lawsuits.
Comments