WCAG 2.2 Quick Wins for SMB Websites
Small businesses face mounting accessibility lawsuits and frustrated customers due to preventable website design mistakes. This guide compiles twelve actionable fixes drawn from WCAG 2.2 standards and validated by accessibility professionals. Each recommendation addresses common pain points that drive up support costs and legal risk for small and medium-sized businesses.
Replace Dropdowns to Cut Support Emails
One of the best things we did at ShipTheDeal was running routine Lighthouse audits. It's built into Chrome, so there was no training needed. We swapped out old dropdowns for keyboard-friendly ones, and our support emails dropped by a third. The issue is usually old design patterns creeping into new features. A quick check each sprint catches that stuff before it becomes a problem.
Increase Tap Targets to Curb Lawsuits
The lightweight WCAG 2.2 accessibility measures include automated tools, human validation and a review process. In case of small businesses, I would recommend using axe DevTools for starting scans, as it quickly finds key issues. On the contrary it only picks out about 30% of problems. To deal with the remaining concerns, I conduct manual testing using assistive technology which is essential. The most impactful component I swapped was the Target Size Minimum criterion in the button designs. With increasing the button sizes, I find a dramatic reduction in ADA demand letters and support complaints. With this simple change not just improved user experience but ensured my site was compliant. The blend of accessible design with impressive testing ensured inclusivity, which effectively reduced legal risks.
Fix Modals with Proper Focus Traps
I'll run a quick Lighthouse audit in Chrome, then try navigating the whole site with just my keyboard. The biggest change for us was replacing our old modal popups with accessible, focus-trapped ones. Our ADA complaints basically vanished after that. My go-to is the axe DevTools extension. It's simple and points you right to what needs fixing. Honestly, for most smaller sites, just cleaning up navigation and button labels solves the biggest headaches.
Ditch Hamburger Menus for Semantic Navigation
The easiest way to check a site isn't with some fancy software--it's what I call the "No-Mouse Challenge." Just put your mouse away and try to get around the page using only the Tab and Enter keys. You have to be able to see exactly where you are on the screen at every second. If that focus indicator disappears or gets lost, you're basically inviting a lawsuit under the new WCAG 2.2 standards. It's the biggest red flag I look for.
If you want to stop getting demand letters, you have to fix the navigation. I see so many small businesses using these over-engineered, JavaScript-heavy "hamburger" menus. They look sleek, sure, but screen readers usually can't even tell they exist. We've had the most success swapping those out for simple, semantic HTML5 elements with the right ARIA attributes. When you stick to a native-first pattern, the site's core structure is accessible by default. That one change usually shuts down the bulk of the user complaints we hear.
For tools, I'm always running the Axe DevTools extension for real-time audits. We recently had a client who was terrified of those "drive-by" demand letters that target small shops. We used Axe to clean up their color contrast and basic labeling errors in a single afternoon. It's really a numbers game. The WebAIM Million report consistently shows that over 96% of homepages have detectable failures. If you just fix those common errors, you're already way ahead of the pack and much less of a target.
Small business owners often get paralyzed because they think accessibility requires a total redesign. It rarely does. Most of the legal risk stems from a few recurring technical slip-ups that are actually pretty easy to fix if you know where to look. Prioritizing how a user navigates and communicates isn't just a legal safeguard--it's just a better way to run a business.
Use Native Button Elements over Divs
When I audit sites for SEO, I also look at accessibility. The simplest change I make for my Shopify clients is swapping clickable divs and spans for actual button elements. This one thing cuts down on ADA complaints and support tickets almost immediately. For a quick check, the WAVE browser extension is my go-to tool. It handles the basic stuff every time.
Apply ARIA Labels and Prefer Plain Links
The Siteimprove browser extension is our go-to for quick accessibility checks. It catches the obvious issues on our SaaS CMS sites and tells us exactly what to fix. After we started adding ARIA-labels consistently and switched from image-based navigation, our accessibility support tickets dropped significantly. Our developers needed some extra training at first, but now building accessible components is just second nature. If you're constantly pushing updates, automating these checks is a smart way to prevent old problems from returning.
Name Icon-Only Actions Clearly
For quick checks during development, I just use axe DevTools. It catches missing labels and contrast issues fast. At AthenaHQ, we added text to our icon-only buttons, and the number of support requests from screen reader users fell off a cliff. Seriously, start with the basics. Good semantic HTML and proper labels will solve most of your problems before you even think about those heavy-duty compliance tools.
Write Alt Text for Every Image
The easiest way to check accessibility on a small business website is to run a Lighthouse audit in Chrome DevTools. It is free. It takes about 30 seconds. And it gives you a clear score with the exact issues listed out so you know what to fix first.
The one fix that makes the biggest difference almost every time is adding alt text to images. Most small business sites have zero alt text on any of their images. That means screen readers skip right over them, so anyone with a visual impairment gets nothing. It also means Google has no idea what those images are about, which hurts your search rankings for no reason.
Adding alt text is simple. It takes a few minutes per page. And it helps with accessibility, legal risk, and SEO all at the same time. I tell every client it is not an extra step. It is the bare minimum.
Adopt Standard Select Controls
For our SaaS apps, the biggest accessibility fix was simple: we replaced our custom dropdowns with standard HTML selects. We kept getting complaints about keyboard navigation, and native browser controls just work. This was an easy change for developers, and our satisfaction surveys showed users were happier. I still run Lighthouse for quick checks on alt text and labels, but that dropdown swap made the real difference.
Restore Visible Outlines on Forms
or a small business site, I keep the first accessibility pass very practical.
I start with keyboard-only navigation and basic contrast checks. If someone can't tab through the site in a logical order, see where focus is, and use the main forms without a mouse, you're going to get complaints. Forms and navigation are where issues show up fastest.
The fix that made the biggest difference was swapping custom-styled buttons and form fields for accessible components with proper focus states and visible outlines. A lot of sites hide focus rings or use animations that make focus hard to track. Restoring clear focus styles and tightening form labels and error messages reduced "I can't submit the form" type support tickets almost immediately.
For tools, Lighthouse and WAVE are usually enough for a lightweight audit. We've used that combo to catch issues quickly, then re-tested after changes to make sure we didn't fix one thing and break another.
Test Checkout with NVDA and Provide Context
A couple years ago, our legal team flagged a trend in ADA demand letters targeting e-commerce sites. The claims weren't about missing alt text or color contrast anymore. They focused on checkout flows, specifically screen reader compatibility during payment.
So we ran our entire Shopify checkout through NVDA, the free screen reader, and discovered our "Apply Coupon" button announced as "button" with zero context. A customer using assistive tech had no idea what it did.
We swapped that button for one with proper ARIA labeling and tested every interactive element the same way. Many months later, accessibility-related support tickets dropped to near zero. And we haven't received a single demand letter since.
From what we've seen, the industry seems to be moving toward checkout-specific audits because that's where plaintiffs attorneys are looking now. We spent maybe 20 minutes running a screen reader through our own purchase flow. That small investment probably saved us $15,000 in settlement costs.
Fix Issues Manually and Skip Overlays
I use AccessibilityChecker.org to do sitewide scans to identify accessibility issues and I fix the issues manually. I don't use accessibility overlay widgets because many studies have shown that they cause more issues than they fix. Most people with visual impairments block them. So it's better to fix accessibility issues manually. It requires coding knowledge and takes time, but it fixes the root of the issue instead of slapping a band-aid on it.
