Accessibility basics for small business websites
A plain accessibility checklist for a one-person AI agency's small business sites: the six most common problems, how to check each without tools, the law.
A florist's new website looks beautiful: pale grey writing on a soft pink background, a big photo of peonies, and a small "Order" button in the corner. Then a regular customer rings. She can't read the prices on her phone in daylight, and her husband, who uses a screen reader since losing most of his sight, hears "button, button, link, image" and gives up.
Neither of them is unusual. And neither problem was hard to fix, once somebody knew to look.
Accessibility means people with disabilities can use the site too: find the opening hours, read the prices, book, call. For a small business site, most of the work comes down to six things: text colours with enough contrast, descriptions on images, labels on form fields, links and buttons that say what they do, the page language set, and a site that works with a keyboard alone. The rest of this guide shows how to check each one without special tools, and what the law asks.
What makes a small business website accessible?
The standard most checks are based on is WCAG 2.2, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by the W3C, the group that sets web standards. It's long and technical, and you don't need to read it all to start. Its ideas come down to four plain questions:
- Can people perceive it? Text that can be read, images that are described, videos with captions.
- Can people use it? Everything works with a keyboard, nothing flashes, there's enough time to fill in a form.
- Can people understand it? Clear words, predictable menus, helpful error messages.
- Does it work with the tools people use? Screen readers and other assistive technology can make sense of the page.
For a small business site with a few pages, a contact form and a booking link, getting the common problems right covers most of what visitors need.
What are the most common accessibility problems?
The same six, year after year. WebAIM, a non-profit accessibility organisation, checks the home pages of the top million websites each year. Its 2026 report, from an analysis in February 2026, found these on the largest share of pages:
| Problem | Share of home pages | What it means for a visitor |
|---|---|---|
| Low contrast text | 83.9% | Words too pale to read, especially on a phone outdoors |
| Missing alternative text for images | 53.1% | A screen reader says "image" and nothing else |
| Missing form input labels | 51% | A form field with no name, so nobody knows what to type |
| Empty links | 46.3% | A link with no words, often an icon |
| Empty buttons | 30.6% | A button with no words, often an icon |
| Missing document language | 13.5% | A screen reader may read the page in the wrong accent or language |
WebAIM says 96% of all the errors it detected fall into these six categories. That's good news for a one-person agency: fix these, and you've dealt with most of what automated tools find. Keep in mind that automated tools only find some problems, which is why the manual checks below matter.
How do I check each one without special tools?
The W3C publishes Easy Checks, a first review anyone can do in a browser. Here's a version for a small business site. Allow about half an hour.
- Contrast. Look at the site on a phone, outside or near a window. Any text you squint at fails. Grey on white and white on pale photos are the usual culprits. A free contrast checker will confirm it.
- Images. For each image that carries meaning, ask: if it disappeared, what would a visitor miss? Write that as its description ("Bouquet of white peonies in a glass vase"). Purely decorative images get an empty description so screen readers skip them.
- Form labels. Click on the words next to each field. If the cursor doesn't jump into the field, it probably isn't labelled. Placeholder text inside a field is not a label.
- Links and buttons. Every icon-only link (the phone, the Instagram logo, the basket) needs a name. Read the links on a page out loud: "Book a table" is fine, "Click here" is not.
- Page language. Check the page's code declares its language. Most builders and templates do this; custom sites sometimes don't.
- Keyboard. Put the mouse away. Press Tab from the top of the page. Can you see where you are at every step? Can you reach the menu, open it, fill in the form and press send?
Then two checks from the same list that catch a lot on small sites: every page has its own title that makes sense in a browser tab, and headings are real headings in order, not just bold text.
What does the law say?
It depends on where the business is and what it does. This is general practice, not legal advice.
In the EU, the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) applies to certain services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025, including e-commerce: selling products or services online. An online shop or a booking system that takes payment can fall under it. The Directive exempts microenterprises providing services, which it defines as businesses with fewer than 10 people and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not above 2 million euros. Many of your clients may be in that group. The Directive still encourages all microenterprises to meet the requirements, and for good reason: their customers include people with disabilities too.
Outside the EU, many countries have disability discrimination laws that can apply to websites. If a client sells online across borders, or works in a regulated field such as health or finance, suggest they get advice.
Whatever the law says, the business case is simple. A customer who can't read the prices or send the form can't book.
When should accessibility come into the project?
At the start, not the end. Fixing contrast after the design is approved means reopening the design. Writing image descriptions after launch means nobody does it.
- In the brief. Add a line such as "The site should meet the basic accessibility checks, including readable text colours and labelled forms." A website brief template has room for it.
- In the build. Pick colours that pass contrast from the start. Write image descriptions as you add images. Label every form field.
- Before handover. Run the six checks on the version you're about to hand over, as part of your website QA checklist. Once the site is live, a website care plan is how you keep running these checks every month, as paid work.
- At handover. Show the client how to add a description when they upload a new photo, and why. If your agent built the site, include this in the notes when you hand over website files to the client.
Can accessibility help your AI agency find work?
It can be a useful thing to notice, as long as you're kind about it. When you research a local business before pitching, a form with no labels or a menu that won't open with a keyboard is a concrete, fixable problem, and a better conversation starter than "your site looks old". Note it as a question, not a verdict: "I couldn't send your contact form using only the keyboard; is that something customers have mentioned?" Researching local businesses to pitch covers how to keep notes like that.
Don't sell fear. Don't promise a site is "compliant" unless someone has tested it properly against the standard. Sell what you can show: the six checks, done, with a short note of what you fixed.
The florist's site was put right with darker text, a larger "Order" button with its name, and descriptions on the flower photos. Building, reviewing and delivering client websites shows where checks like these sit in the build.