How to Make a Website Accessible: A Step-by-Step Guide

This guide is for developers and designers who build websites from the start. It assumes you are comfortable with web development but new to accessibility standards like WCAG. We will cover the entire process, from site structure and design choices to hosting and domain setup.

You will also explore robust testing methods and the primary tools available to ensure compliance with standards like the ADA. Our focus is on a foundational approach, not a quick audit, to help you create a site that serves every user.

Step 1: Plan Your Site Structure and Gather Content

Before you build anything, a clear plan ensures your site is organized and accessible from the ground up. This phase defines your website’s purpose and gathers all necessary components for a smooth development process, which helps prevent costly revisions later on.

First, define your audience and list the top five actions you want them to take. These actions, like a purchase or a form submission, become your priority pages. This focus ensures the most important user journeys are clear and simple to navigate for everyone.

Next, map your navigation structure. Most sites need a Homepage, About, Services, and Contact page. Keep your main navigation to seven items or fewer. More than that can overwhelm visitors and make it difficult for users with cognitive disabilities to find information.

A common mistake is to treat accessibility as a final check before launch. This often causes expensive redesigns to meet standards like the ADA. Instead, incorporate accessibility into your plan from day one by mapping out a logical content hierarchy and simple navigation paths.

Organize Your Assets

Create a shared folder using a service like Google Drive or Dropbox to centralize your materials. When you organize everything before you start, you streamline the entire project and keep your team aligned. This repository will hold all your brand elements and content.

• Brand Assets: Collect your logo files and official brand color codes.
• Photography: Gather high-resolution images of your team, location, or products. Ensure you have the rights to use them.
• Written Content: Compile all text, including service descriptions and team bios. Draft descriptive alternative text for all planned images.
• Documents and Credentials: Collect any PDFs for download and logins for tools you will integrate, like social media or payment processors.

Step 2: Choose Your Design Approach

Your design determines if visitors trust you and dictates how accessible your site will be. You have three main paths, each with different costs and technical needs. For most organizations building a new site, starting with a pre-built template is the fastest and most direct route.

Templates offer designs for many industries. Premium options from marketplaces like ThemeForest or TemplateMonster often have better code. A common mistake is choosing a template on looks alone. This can lead to inaccessible navigation, which excludes users with screen readers. Instead, test the demo with keyboard navigation before you commit.

For more control, use a UI kit. Options like Tailwind UI or Bootstrap themes provide components you assemble into pages. This approach requires comfort with code but offers more flexibility than a fixed template. It allows you to build accessible components, like forms and modals, from the ground up.

A custom design gives you complete control. A designer creates mockups in a tool like Figma for your approval before development. This is the most expensive path but ensures the final site meets your exact vision and can be built to strict accessibility standards from the start.

Establish a Style Guide

Whichever path you choose, a style guide ensures consistency. This document defines your visual language and helps maintain a professional appearance across your entire website. Reference it for every page you build to create a cohesive user experience.

• Colors: Pick one primary, one secondary, and one neutral color. Add green, yellow, and red for user feedback. Document the hex codes for your team.
• Typography: Choose two fonts maximum. A clean sans-serif from a library like Google Fonts works well for body text. Pair it with a bolder font for headings.
• Spacing: Use a consistent system for margins and padding. Systems based on multiples of 4px or 8px create a predictable visual rhythm for all users.
• Button Styles: Define styles for primary actions (solid background) and secondary actions (outlined). This helps users understand the hierarchy of actions on a page.

Step 3: Set Up Your Hosting and Domain

Your domain is your digital address, and hosting is the land it sits on. Choosing the right ones ensures your site is reliable and trustworthy for every visitor, a cornerstone of accessibility.

Register Your Domain Name

Choose a domain that is short and easy to remember. Businesses should prioritize a .com extension, while nonprofits should use .org to build donor trust. Avoid hyphens or numbers, which are hard for users to type and recall.

Use a registrar like Namecheap or Cloudflare Registrar. A common mistake is letting a domain expire, which makes your site inaccessible. Prevent this by enabling auto-renewal immediately. Also, activate WHOIS privacy to protect your personal information from public view.

Select the Right Hosting

Your hosting choice affects site speed and uptime, both of which impact accessibility. For most organizations, managed hosting from providers like Kinsta or WP Engine offers the best balance. They handle technical maintenance, so your site stays fast and secure for all users.

If your budget is tight, shared hosting from companies like Bluehost is a starting point. All-in-one builders like Webflow bundle hosting with their platform. Cloud options such as Vercel or Netlify work well for sites with fluctuating traffic.

• SSL Certificate: This is non-negotiable for security and trust. Most hosts provide a free one from Let's Encrypt.
• Automatic Backups: Daily backups let you restore service quickly after an issue, maintaining access for your users.
• Uptime Guarantee: Look for a 99.9% uptime promise. A reliable site is an accessible site.

After purchase, connect your domain to your host by updating the nameserver settings at your registrar. Your hosting provider will give you the correct addresses and instructions for this process.

Step 4: Build Your Site With Replit

Instead of code, you can use an AI development environment to construct your website. A platform like Replit uses plain language to build a functional site. This approach removes the need for deep technical skill and lets you focus on your vision and user needs.

How the AI Agent Works

You direct the build process with simple instructions. For example, tell the Replit Agent to "build a nonprofit website with a donation page and event calendar." The AI generates the pages, backend logic, and database connections, then tests its own work for errors before deployment.

A common mistake is to give the AI vague prompts like "make the site accessible." This often results in generic outputs that miss key details. Instead, provide specific commands like "ensure all form fields have labels" or "use a high-contrast color for the primary navigation menu."

Key Capabilities for Your Build

This agentic approach gives you control without the need to manage complex code. You can iterate with feedback like "make the donate button more prominent" and the AI will modify the site. This method streamlines the creation of an accessible and functional website from the start.

• Build from Prompts: Describe your site in natural language, and the agent creates the pages, forms, and navigation.
• Automatic Backend: Replit sets up infrastructure for user accounts or payment connections through Stripe, which is ideal for donation forms.
• Instant Deployment: Your site goes live on a Replit subdomain immediately, with an option to add a custom domain later.
• Design Imports: If you have mockups from a tool like Figma, the agent can implement the design directly.

Step 5: Integrate Accessible Third-Party Services

Your website connects to services that handle specific functions better than you could build yourself. Choose tools built with accessibility in mind to extend your site’s capabilities and serve every user. Set up accounts for these integrations before you need them.

Streamline User Interactions

Use a dedicated form builder for contact forms or surveys. Options like Jotform or Tally offer accessible components that work with screen readers and keyboards. This saves you development time and helps with compliance.

A common mistake is linking out to a separate page for a form. This disorients users and causes them to leave. Instead, embed forms directly on your pages to maintain a consistent experience and keep visitors on your site.

For appointment booking, embed a widget from a service like Calendly or Cal.com. These tools manage time zones and reminders automatically. This prevents confusion and makes scheduling simple for a global audience, such as for nonprofit volunteer signups.

Understand and Engage Your Audience

Integrate tools for analytics and email to understand user behavior and stay in touch. The data can reveal accessibility barriers you need to fix, while email platforms offer compliant ways to communicate with your audience.

• Analytics: Install Google Analytics 4 to track visitor behavior and identify pages where users struggle. Privacy-focused alternatives include Plausible and Fathom.
• Email Marketing: Add signup forms from a platform like Mailchimp or Buttondown to your footer. This allows you to build a subscriber list and send newsletters.

Step 6: Build and Populate Your Core Pages

Work through your pages systematically, starting with the ones that get the most traffic. Each page must have a clear purpose and guide visitors toward a single action. This focus creates a logical and accessible user journey from the start.

Structure Key Pages for Clarity

Visitors scan websites, they do not read them word-for-word. Organize your content to be scannable with clear headings, short paragraphs, and lists. This helps all users, including those with screen readers, find information quickly and efficiently.

• Homepage: Act as a triage station. State what you do with a clear headline and call-to-action. For a nonprofit, this means a prominent donate button and impact statistics to build immediate trust.
• About Page: Tell your story and introduce your team. Avoid corporate jargon. This is where you connect with visitors on a human level and build credibility for your mission.
• Contact Page: Make it simple to reach you. Include a clickable phone number for mobile users, an address, and a contact form with minimal fields. Every extra field reduces submissions.

Avoid Common Pitfalls

A common mistake is to hide important information. For example, nonprofits often bury their donate button below other content. This frustrates high-intent donors. Instead, place your primary call-to-action, like a donation link, in the header so it is visible on every page.

For legal compliance and to show commitment, include a Privacy Policy and an Accessibility Statement. You can use services like Termly or TermsFeed to generate a starting point for these documents, which should live in your site’s footer.

Step 7: Test Across Devices and Get Real User Feedback

Testing reveals problems invisible during development. Budget time for this phase, as a rushed launch with broken features damages credibility. For a nonprofit, a broken donation form means lost funding. This step ensures your site serves every visitor reliably from day one.

Test on Multiple Devices and Browsers

Your site must work flawlessly on mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. A common mistake is to rely only on emulators. These tools miss real-world touch interactions and performance issues on older devices, which can prevent a potential donor from completing a gift on their phone.

• Mobile Phones: Verify that text is readable without zoom and buttons are easy to tap.
• Tablets: Check both portrait and landscape modes, as layouts often break at these widths.
• Desktop Browsers: Resize the window to watch for layout breaks on very wide or narrow screens.

Check All Functions and Accessibility

Systematically check every part of your site. Click all links and submit every form, especially critical ones like a donation page. Verify that integrations like an embedded event calendar load correctly. This ensures every user can complete their intended action without frustration or error.

Next, run an automated accessibility audit. Tools like WAVE or axe DevTools find issues with color contrast or missing alt text. Manually test keyboard navigation by tabbing through every page to confirm all interactive elements are reachable and have a visible focus indicator.

Gather Feedback From Real Users

Automated tools cannot replace human experience. Ask three to five people unfamiliar with your project to complete specific tasks. For a nonprofit site, ask them to find volunteer information or make a test donation. Watch them without help to see where they get stuck, and use their feedback to fix confusing navigation.

Step 8: Launch Your Site and Establish Ongoing Maintenance

A website launch is not the finish line. It marks the start of a long-term commitment to your audience. A thoughtful launch process and a consistent maintenance schedule ensure your site remains effective, secure, and accessible for every user long after it goes live.

Run a Final Pre-Launch Check

Before you announce the new site, perform one last walkthrough. This final check confirms that all placeholder content is gone and every feature works as intended. For a nonprofit, a broken donation link on launch day means lost revenue and damaged trust with supporters.

• Content and Media: Confirm all images have descriptive alt text and that your favicon appears correctly in browser tabs.
• Links and Forms: Test every link to ensure it works. Submit all forms to verify they route to a monitored inbox.
• Metadata: Set unique meta titles and descriptions for each page to improve how they appear in search results.

Announce Your Launch and Submit to Search Engines

Coordinate your launch announcement across all channels. Send an email to your subscribers, post on social media, and update your URL on platforms like your Google Business Profile. This ensures your community can find and use your new, more accessible website from day one.

A common mistake is launching a redesign without redirecting old URLs. This creates broken links, which frustrates users and makes content inaccessible. Instead, map every old page to its new equivalent to preserve navigation paths for all visitors, including those using assistive technology.

To accelerate indexing, submit your sitemap file through tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This tells search engines about your new pages so they can appear in search results faster.

Schedule Regular Maintenance

Websites require active upkeep to prevent decay. Set recurring reminders for maintenance tasks. Monthly, use a tool like Dead Link Checker to find and fix broken links. Quarterly, review all pages for outdated information and check that third-party integrations still function correctly.

Use a service such as UptimeRobot to monitor your site and receive alerts if it goes down. A reliable site is an accessible site. Review analytics data to find pages where users drop off, which can indicate accessibility barriers that need attention.

Want a shortcut?

For a more direct path, a platform like Replit uses an AI agent to build your site from plain language. You can bypass manual code creation and instead provide specific instructions like "build a nonprofit site with a high-contrast donation button." The agent generates the code, backend, and deployment configuration automatically.

This approach helps avoid common accessibility errors from the start. The AI tests its own work and allows you to refine the site with simple feedback, which removes technical hurdles. Your website goes live instantly on a Replit subdomain. Sign up on Replit for free to build a functional, accessible site today.