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If you manage a bank or credit union, you likely understand the importance of being compliant. After all, failing to be compliant in numerous areas can result in fines, bad press, and can make your business inefficient. Even large firms like Bank of America and Charles Schwab have been hit with fines/lawsuits for not having or following a bank ADA compliance checklist.
You should have a process in place for fixing ADA compliance issues. This guide will go into detail regarding ADA compliance tips and bank website compliance best practices.
The American Disability Act or ADA was created to ensure that the disabled had equal access to all resources, including websites. It was intended to make day to day living easier for disabled persons.
ADA compliance mainly applies to private companies that have at least 15 employees, government agencies, and nonprofits. Even if you don’t fall into these categories, consider ensuring that your site follows ADA compliance help guidelines. If you follow these, then you’ll be able to serve more customers and strengthen your reputation.
Per ADA’s Title III, banks and credit unions must give equal treatment to all customers, including those with disabilities. Section 508 of this legislation also covers both physical locations and digital tools. These digital tools can include websites, apps, and paperless transaction tools.
You can use WAVE to evaluate your site’s alt text, page text, colors and more. It also has Google Chrome and Firefox extensions. These extensions also help you test pages that are password protected. It has APIs that let you test multiple pages at once.
Lighthouse is another free resource that can help your business with fixing ADA compliance issues. Google offers this tool and it gives scores from 0-100 on various areas like Performance, SEO, and Accessibility.
The Accessibility tab is the most important one to use when conducting an ADA audit. You can learn exactly how you can improve your page’s score. For example, this page’s photos didn’t have alt text, which is crucial for ADA compliance and SEO.
If you use WordPress to run your site; there are several plugins like Accessibility Suite or WP Accessibility Helper that you can use in conjunction with your bank’s ADA compliance checklist.
Accessibility Suite is especially useful since it helps banks, credit unions, and other government agencies stay compliant with Section 508. You can use this plugin to create an automatic scan schedule for your entire site, drill down into each error, and archive past scans.
It might seem overwhelming when first tailoring your bank or credit union’s resources for ADA compliance rules. However, knowing the following common ADA compliance issues will get you started on the right path.
Alt text can be words or pieces of HTML code that are used to describe images. These make it easier for those with disabilities to understand those graphics. Be sure to take a few extra minutes to ensure that each image on your site includes these.
Alt text is also good for SEO since search engines use it to understand photos. You can optimize this text with your target keywords, which can help your rankings as well.
If you use transcripts for videos or podcasts, consider including your keywords in these pieces of content. Yoast SEO is an SEO plugin that can show you which photos lack alt text and how to SEO optimize your written content.
You might be confused seeing this as a reason for most ADA compliance issues. Many plugins like the ones mentioned in this guide can provide ADA compliance help and improve SEO. Yet, having too many plugins can slow your site’s speed and you don’t fully control the source code for each one.
Most plugins aren’t ADA compliant and the best way to approach this is to have a “quality over quantity” mentality. Only use plugins that are ADA compliant and have the most impact on your business.
Be sure that your site has different sized headings (H1, H2, H3 tags) to make each page easier to read. H1 tags should be used for the main section of the page, while H2’s will go under each H1. Don’t have a H2 tag where there should be a H1 as this can confuse your readers.
Besides headings, ensure that your site has breadcrumbs that guide people to various pages. Breadcrumbs will be at the top of each page and can help readers trace the path back to the original page.
Sample Breadcrumbs From Walmart: Electronics -> TV & Videos -> All TVs
The right CTAs like “subscribe today” or “buy now” are extremely important for your bank ADA compliance checklist. These CTAs should have different colored buttons and clear text which tell the reader exactly what will happen next. Your CTAs should be more than just a hyperlink on the page.
Defined CTAs will also improve your site’s conversion rates. One of the easiest bank website compliance best practices to implement is to have clear, easy to understand, benefit driven CTAs on each page.
