How to Create Accessible Content That Reaches Every Audience

Creating content that’s accessible isn’t just about compliance—it’s about inclusivity, expanding your audience, and enhancing your brand credibility. For SaaS founders, marketers, and business owners, accessible content ensures your message reaches everyone, including people with disabilities. In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through actionable steps to create accessible blog posts and web content that comply with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and best practices.

Why Accessibility Matters in Content Marketing

Over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability, according to the World Health Organization. Ignoring accessibility means potentially excluding a significant portion of your audience. Beyond the ethical imperative, accessible content improves SEO, user experience, and legal compliance—helping you avoid costly lawsuits.

• Better SEO: Search engines favor well-structured, accessible content with proper semantic markup.
• Improved Usability: Clear headings, alt text, and descriptive links benefit all users, including those on mobile or slow connections.
• Legal Compliance: Many countries enforce accessibility laws (e.g., ADA in the U.S.), making compliance critical.

Step 1: Understand Accessibility Guidelines

The foundation of accessible content is adherence to standards such as WCAG 2.1. These guidelines focus on making content perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.

Key WCAG Principles

• Perceivable: Information must be presentable in ways users can perceive (e.g., text alternatives for images).
• Operable: Interface components must be navigable via keyboard and other assistive technologies.
• Understandable: Content should be clear and consistent.
• Robust: Content must work across different devices and assistive technologies.

Step 2: Use Semantic HTML and Clear Structure

Proper HTML structure helps screen readers interpret your content correctly and improves SEO. Use heading tags (<h1> to <h6>) to organize sections logically.

• One <h1> per page: Represents the main topic.
• Use <h2> and <h3>: For subsections and nested topics.
• Lists: Use ordered (<ol>) and unordered (<ul>) lists for items instead of manual list formatting.

Example:

<h1>How to Create Accessible Content</h1>
<h2>Step 1: Understand Accessibility Guidelines</h2>
<h3>Key WCAG Principles</h3>
<ul>
  <li>Perceivable</li>
  <li>Operable</li>
  <li>Understandable</li>
  <li>Robust</li>
</ul>

Step 3: Provide Text Alternatives and Descriptive Links

Images, videos, and interactive elements need alternative text so screen readers can convey their meaning.

• Alt Text for Images: Describe the image purpose concisely. For decorative images, use empty alt attribute (alt="") to skip them.
• Captions and Transcripts: For videos and audio content, provide captions and transcripts.
• Descriptive Links: Avoid vague link text like "click here". Instead, use descriptive text such as "Download our accessibility checklist."

Step 4: Ensure Color Contrast and Readability

Many users have visual impairments or color blindness. Ensure your text contrasts sufficiently with background colors for readability.

• WCAG recommends a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text.
• Use tools like WebAIM Contrast Checker.
• Avoid relying solely on color to convey information—use icons or labels as well.

Step 5: Make Content Keyboard-Navigable

Users with mobility impairments often rely on keyboard navigation. Ensure interactive elements like buttons, links, and forms are accessible via keyboard.

• Test navigation using the Tab key.
• Visible focus indicators should highlight the active element.
• Avoid keyboard traps where users get stuck on an element.

Step 6: Use Clear and Simple Language

Write in a straightforward and concise manner to aid comprehension:

• Avoid jargon and complex sentence structures.
• Use bullet points and short paragraphs.
• Provide definitions for uncommon terms.

Step 7: Regularly Test Your Content’s Accessibility

Use automated tools and human testing to ensure ongoing compliance.

• Automated tools: WAVE, axe, Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools.
• Screen readers: NVDA (Windows), VoiceOver (Mac).
• User testing: Engage people with disabilities for feedback.

Step 8: Leverage Automation to Scale Accessible Content Creation

Manually ensuring all these accessibility factors can be time-consuming. This is where content marketing automation platforms like MyContentHarbor come in.

• Save Time: Automate blog writing with built-in SEO and accessibility best practices.
• Consistency: Maintain accessibility standards across hundreds of posts without manual oversight.
• Templates: Use pre-built accessible templates like how-tos and listicles optimized for screen readers.
• Integration: Easily publish accessible content directly to your CMS.

For example, SaaS companies using MyContentHarbor report saving over 20 hours weekly on content creation while improving SEO rankings and accessibility compliance simultaneously—freeing marketing teams to focus on strategy rather than tedious edits.

Actionable Takeaways to Start Today

1. Audit your existing content using automated tools to identify accessibility gaps.
2. Add alt text and captions to all multimedia assets.
3. Revise headings and link text for clarity and semantic structure.
4. Test keyboard navigation on your site regularly.
5. Implement automation solutions like MyContentHarbor to streamline ongoing accessible content creation.

Conclusion: Why Accessible Content is a Growth Strategy

Accessible content drives growth by expanding your audience, improving SEO, and building trust with users who value inclusivity. While it requires diligence to implement, combining best practices with automation tools enables scalable, compliant, and high-quality content production.

If you’re ready to level up your content marketing while meeting accessibility standards, consider how automation platforms like MyContentHarbor can transform your workflow—saving time and ensuring every blog post you publish is optimized for all users.