As any good digital marketing agency in Kolkata will tell you, content is king when it comes to gaining a good search result ranking for yourself. No matter whether you are a business owner or a content creator unless you have unique, original, and informative content for the users who are searching for it, your page won’t get a good ranking. And one of the ways to do this is by making your content inclusive. But what exactly is inclusive content? It means you create content that can be accessed by anyone from any part of the world. This means having a universal design that will make the content:
· Easy to access for people with disabilities
· Easy to access for people with any kind of hardware, internet speed, or device
· Can be understood by people even with low computer literacy or skills
· Geographical location
· Culture
· Age
· Language
And many more.
Why having inclusive content good for you? The best SEO company in Kolkata will tell you this kind of content helps business owners or content creators gain trust, have great communication with their intended audience, and network growth. Your website will have the best marketing strategy of all— word of mouth when you create inclusive content easy to understand by everyone.
Now let’s see how to build such inclusive content.
Language and content
Give a thorough reading of your existing content. Look at the pronouns and the information you are giving. Are you consciously or unconsciously giving information to only one group of people? For example, your images and your words generally tend to use “he” or “she” instead of gender-neutral terms. Once you have thoroughly evaluated your content, you can know where your bias stands and try to remove it to create inclusive content.
Language and words used are the biggest way you can improve your content’s inclusivity. Look at your content through a lens of inclusivity. Are you using words that show disrespect to one sex or do you objectify or group people by using one term to describe everyone? Everyone has their own identity; so, unless you appeal to them from their own level, they won’t feel your sincerity and the message you want to give out.
Ableism is a real thing, and we often show bias in this regard even when we don’t mean to. Hence, instead of using words like “blind person”, use terms like “person with blindness” because many disabilities don’t take away their identity; it is something they have and not who they are. Similarly, use gender-neutral words like “take the controls” instead of “man up” or “workforce” instead of “manpower”. Don’t refer to adult women as “girls” unless you are also referring to adult men as “boys”.
Using responsive designs
Accessible web design will go a long way in making your website and content inclusive. And it is also recommended in the W3C’s Content Accessibility Guidelines. Google also follows these guidelines when indexing and ranking a website. What does a responsively designed website mean? It means your website can be used on any device and by anyone. For example, some websites on their mobile version or in their app don’t allow lock orientation or zooming in. This limits it for people with disabilities especially those with low eyesight. What are some other ways to make your site responsive? They are:
· Using link text to describe a link destination
· Descriptive and meaningful alt text
· Using semantic HTML tags describing the purpose of page elements
· Using flexible font sizes with different kinds of views.
· Labelling all fields and buttons
But don’t become complacent once you have created such a website; being inclusive is an ongoing process. As the best marketing company in Kolkata will tell you, once you make any kind of changes to your website, you have to make that the updates are still accessible for people with disability. Thankfully, there are many free accessible checkers available online which can help you keep track of your site’s accessibility.
Remember, the process of being inclusive shouldn’t be a one-time affair. If you have hired a good digital marketing agency in Kolkata, remember to talk about monitoring your content and your website all the time to be sure the features you implemented are there. Ask for suggestions and feedback from your users and visitors. Only that way, you can have a great inclusive website.
