How To Make Your Content More Accessible And Thus Appealing To A Wider Audience?

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Accessibility and inclusivity are two very important buzzwords that modern businesses and marketers should have burned into their lexicon.

After all, when you make your content more accessible, you are promoting inclusivity. Which is a very powerful way to not only appeal to a wider audience, but demonstrate to the world that you care about providing value to your customers.

Everybody wins.

The question is, how can you make your content more accessible and thus appealing to a wider audience?

Read on and let’s find out.

Simple language wins. All of the content and copy associated with your business should be accessible to a 9-year old.

Certainly, in some industries there will be a need for complicated language and an element of jargon. However, for the most part, businesses who make a commitment to use simple language in their content are more successful (look at Apple and Coca Cola as an example).

This is something I am forever telling my fellow writers in a Facebook group for aspiring authors. Too often do I see people share snippets from their WIP that reads something like:

“The gentleman ostentatiously nestled himself into the plush leather armchair with a reluctant sigh. His children eagerly awaited his grand and wonderful stories so that they could be whisked off into untold lands of amazing splendour as they always enjoyed. The father beckoned them over with a regal wave of his arm like a wizard casting a spell and his doting children obliged.” 

Unnecessary.

Sure it sounds pretty but it is completely over the top.

Good writing isn’t using fancy language; it’s using simple language to paint fancy pictures.   

  • Shorter sentences and paragraphs

Keep it short and sweet.

If you write overly long sentences and exhausting paragraphs, you lose people.

Remember, not everyone can read as well as you can. Not everyone is a professional writer! 

  • Structure your content for ease of consumption

The way you structure your content is arguably more important than the quality of the content itself.

For example, if your website visitors are greeted with a giant wall of text, it doesn’t matter how good the writing is, most people will be immediately turned off.

  • Utilise white space.
  • Break the text up.
  • Upload clever imagery.
  • Use bulleted lists.

  • Transcribe your blog posts into audio

Another wonderful accessibility feature that is growing in popularity today is transcribing blog posts into audio.

While some people might simply prefer to sit and listen to your blog posts because they are either too lazy to read or like to multi-task; other people might struggle to read because they are dyslexic or are visually impaired.

Write it down and then have someone do a voice over. Feature the transcribed audio at the top and you’ll be making your content far more accessible.

  • Check for colour contrast and font size / legibility

And don’t forget to check for colour contrast. Ideally, you should stick with black text on a white background. Yes, gold text on a black background might fit your brand better, but is it really necessary?

Similarly, using fancy fonts in a smaller size will make your writing much harder to consume.

Put it this way, when it comes to the UX design of your website: if something looks good at the expense of making it illegible – it’s a poor design choice.

Conclusion

The above points are just a small handful of the many ways in which you can make your content more accessible. If you want to put your best foot forward at all times and attract a wider audience, it may be worth considering hiring the professionals.

For example, an SEO expert in Texas can not only help you optimize your website for higher rankings in Google (thus attracting more ‘ready to spend’ traffic), but they can also help you redesign your website and associated content in such a way that makes it easier to consume – ultimately leading to more conversions.

By going out of your way to provide more value to your customers, including a superior on-page user experience, you’ll have a much easier time building loyalty and trust. Want to attract brand ambassadors who will promote your business to the masses? Make your brand one that is worth talking about!