How to Make a Small-Business Website More Accessible

Why Accessibility Belongs on a Small Business's List

Accessibility is about whether a customer can actually use your site: read your hours, see your prices, fill out your booking form and call you. When a page fails, the customer usually doesn't complain. They leave.

The problems are common. In its February 2026 scan of the top one million home pages, WebAIM found detectable WCAG failures on 95.9% of them, with an average of 56.1 errors per page. The most frequent issues were low-contrast text (83.9% of pages), missing image descriptions (53.1%) and form fields without labels (51%).

There is a legal side too. The U.S. Department of Justice's 2022 guidance says the ADA applies to the web content of businesses open to the public. It also says the Department has no regulation setting detailed technical standards, and it points to WCAG and the federal Section 508 standards as helpful guidance. This article is practical guidance, not legal advice.

And it is local. Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 show 12.0% of New Mexicans under 65 living with a disability, and 31.3% of residents age 5 and older speaking a language other than English at home. A clear, bilingual, accessible site serves a large share of the people already looking for you.

Fix 1: Make Text Easy to Read

Light gray text on a white background looks clean in a design file and disappears on a phone in the sun. WCAG asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

What to check:

• Body text, prices and hours sit on a solid background with strong contrast.
• Text placed over photos has a dark overlay or a solid band behind it.
• When you zoom the page to 200%, nothing overlaps, gets cut off or forces you to scroll sideways to read a sentence.

A free contrast checker will give you the ratio. Paste in the text color and the background color and read the number.

Fix 2: Describe the Images That Carry Meaning

Screen readers read an image's text alternative, called alt text, out loud. A photo of your daily specials board needs alt text that says what is on it, or the specials need to appear as text on the page. A decorative chile illustration in a corner doesn't need a description at all; it should have empty alt text so screen readers skip it.

A quick test: if the image disappeared, would a customer lose information? If yes, describe it in a short sentence. If no, mark it decorative.

Fix 3: Label Every Form Field

Contact, quote and booking forms are where accessibility turns into revenue. Every field needs a visible label tied to it in the code, such as "Phone number" or "Preferred date." Gray placeholder text inside the box is not a label; it disappears as soon as someone starts typing.

Then test the form the wrong way on purpose. Submit it blank. A good form tells you which field needs attention, in words, near the field. It doesn't rely on a red outline alone, because color alone doesn't reach everyone.

Fix 4: Make Links and Buttons Say What They Do

WebAIM found empty links on 46.3% of home pages and empty buttons on 30.6%. These are usually icons with no text behind them: a phone icon, a cart icon, a social media logo. A screen reader announces "link" or "button" and nothing else.

Give each one a name that matches its job, like "Call the shop" or "Book a consultation." Skip "Click here" and "Learn more" when the link stands alone.

Size matters on phones as well. WCAG 2.2 sets a minimum target of 24 by 24 CSS pixels for things people tap, with some exceptions. If your thumb keeps hitting the wrong menu item, your customers' thumbs do too.

Fix 5: Check It With a Keyboard

Some people browse without a mouse. Put your mouse aside, click into the address bar and press Tab over and over.

• Can you reach every link, button and form field?
• Can you always see where you are? WCAG calls this a visible focus indicator.
• Does the order make sense, top to bottom and left to right?
• Can you open and close the menu, and finish the form, with only the keyboard?

If you get stuck inside a pop-up or the highlight vanishes, that is a barrier worth fixing first.

Fix 6: Tell Browsers Which Language Each Page Uses

This one matters in New Mexico. Every page should declare its main language in the code, English or Spanish, so screen readers use the right pronunciation rules. WCAG treats that as a Level A requirement. When a phrase in the other language appears inside a page, such as a Spanish dish name on an English menu page, WCAG Level AA asks that phrase to be marked too. Proper names are an exception.

WebAIM found that 13.5% of home pages never set a language at all, and that Spanish-language home pages averaged 64.3 detected errors, about 15% above the overall average. If you run a bilingual site, check that your Spanish pages say they are Spanish.

A 20-Minute Self-Check

The W3C's Easy Checks guide is a good free starting point. Here is a short version you can run on your home page and your most important page, such as booking or ordering:

1. 1Read the browser tab. Does the page title describe the page and differ from your other pages?
2. 2Look at every image. Would a customer lose information without it? If so, does it have a description?
3. 3Scan the headings. Is there one main heading, with sections under it in a sensible order?
4. 4Check the lightest text you can find with a contrast checker.
5. 5Zoom to 200% and read a full section.
6. 6Put the mouse away and Tab through the whole page.
7. 7Submit your main form empty and read the error messages.
8. 8Confirm each page's language setting matches the language on the screen.

W3C is clear that these checks are a first look, not a full evaluation. A page can pass all of them and still have barriers. They will still catch the problems that affect the most visitors.

What Automated Tools Can and Can't Tell You

Free scanners are useful. They count missing alt text, low contrast and empty buttons in seconds. They can't tell you whether your alt text makes sense, whether the tab order is logical, or whether a customer using a screen reader can finish a booking. Use a scanner to find the obvious problems, then use the keyboard and your own reading for the rest.

Questions to Ask Your Website Provider

• Which accessibility standard do you design and test against?
• How do you test: automated tools only, keyboard testing, screen reader testing, or a mix?
• Do forms, menus and pop-ups work by keyboard?
• How are language settings handled on Spanish and bilingual pages?
• Who fixes an accessibility problem after launch, and is that included in the monthly plan?

A clear answer to these tells you more than a badge in the footer.

How RiaRai Approaches It

RiaRai uses WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the reference for designing and improving its own site, and says so in its accessibility statement. That statement also notes the site hasn't been independently audited, and RiaRai doesn't claim full conformance with every success criterion. We would rather be honest about where we are than put a badge on the page.

RiaRai Site builds custom websites for small businesses that work on phones, tablets and computers. Current pricing starts at $349 one-time plus $29 per month for a landing page, and the scope is explained before work begins. If you're planning a new site, our guides to what a small-business website actually needs and what to prepare before you start are good next reads.