| The internet offers freedom for visually | | | | in to reduce the experience and make web |
| impaired people and people with other types | | | | sites, in some cases, almost impossible to |
| of disabilities. It offers them the | | | | comprehend.Many web designers and SEO |
| opportunity to go shopping, talk with | | | | practitioners are not supportive of this |
| friends, run a business, and generally stay | | | | group's needs. They have been slowly coming |
| informed. This is something that not many | | | | around to the fact that great content offers |
| people with good eyesight think about. For | | | | an enhanced experience for the human visitor |
| an experience that many of us view as | | | | and for the search engine spiders. However |
| primarily visual it is hard to grasp the | | | | by taking this a step further and |
| importance of good content and a well | | | | incorporating techniques that aid assistive |
| designed site for people with these types of | | | | technology, rather than bog it down, they |
| disabilities. However for web designers and | | | | will be on their way to offering a first rate |
| SEO practitioners this should be of prime | | | | experience for all groups of internet |
| importance. Unfortunately, often it is | | | | users.Let's make a stand to help the quality |
| not.There has been great advanced in | | | | of life for people with disabilities. |
| assistive technology recently for the 10+ | | | | Whether you are a site owner, web designer or |
| million of Americans who are visually | | | | SEO practitioner become informed of the needs |
| impaired. This includes screen readers and | | | | of ALL of your user groups. Work to raise |
| Braille devices which give them an | | | | the awareness of their needs in your |
| alternative way to view a site. I was | | | | community and your industry. By making |
| involved in a demonstration of this | | | | these efforts we will be doing our part help |
| technology recently which is very impressive. | | | | to improve the quality of life for disabled |
| Unfortunately the results from badly | | | | users. Is there any more noble |
| designed sites or poorly optimized sites | | | | cause?Copyright © James PeggieJames Peggie |
| greatly reduce the user experience of the | | | | is the Director of Marketing for Elixir |
| visually impaired. Keyword stuffing, poorly | | | | Systems - a search engine marketing agency |
| written content, gibberish alt tags, stuffer | | | | located in Scottsdale, Arizona. |
| anchor text, and graphical designs all weigh | | | | |