Website accessibility: a step-by-step plan for your existing site

Making your existing website accessible is not about rebuilding everything, but about deliberately solving a series of concrete problems on the pages you already have. You first map where visitors get stuck, you remove the biggest barriers first, you test the result and you record it in an accessibility statement. In this article you get a practical step-by-step plan for a live site, plus how to write a statement that actually holds up.

What does website accessibility really mean?

Website accessibility means that your site is usable by as many people as possible, including those who see poorly, do not use a mouse or browse with a screen reader. The international reference framework is WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) from the W3C, built around four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. In practice, level AA is often taken as the target, the middle one of three conformance levels.

Important to know: accessibility is almost always simply good UX for everyone. Better contrast also helps the visitor standing in bright sunlight. Clear button text also helps someone in a hurry. You improve the experience broadly, not only for a niche group. And because excluded visitors never become customers, it directly affects your conversion. Someone who cannot fill in your form does not fill it in.

Does your company have to comply?

For many B2B organisations the answer is: probably in part, but have it checked legally. Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act (EAA, directive (EU) 2019/882) applies. This European law requires a broad group of products and services, such as webshops, banking services, e-books and certain telecom services aimed at consumers, to meet accessibility standards. The technical bar is set by the EN 301 549 standard, which closely follows WCAG 2.1 level AA.

Not every organisation falls under the same obligations. For the smallest companies an exemption usually applies to services, and the exact scope depends on what you offer precisely and to whom. We do not give legal advice here. What is clear: accessibility is shifting from “nice to have” to “expected”, and the steps below move you in the right direction either way. Have a specialist check whether and how the EAA applies to your situation.

Which steps do you follow to make an existing site accessible?

The good news: you rarely need to rebuild your site. Most errors are targeted adjustments to existing pages. Work in this order and you will book visible gains quickly without getting lost in details.

Step 1: map the problems

Start with a quick check of your own, because it makes the pain points obvious immediately. Navigate your entire site using only the keyboard (tab, enter and the space bar) and check whether you reach every button and every form with a visible focus outline. Then turn your screen brightness down to spot contrast problems. Add an automated scan to this. A free tool such as the WebAIM Contrast Checker checks colour contrast, and a browser-based audit like the one in Google Lighthouse gives you a first list of issues. Note: automated tools catch only part of the problems, so the manual check remains necessary.

Step 2: tackle the low-hanging fruit

A large part of the gain sits in a handful of basic errors that recur on almost every site. These are the classics, and they are usually quick to solve:

• Alt text: give informative images a descriptive alt text and decorative images an empty one (alt=""), so a screen reader skips them neatly.
• Colour contrast: make sure normal text reaches a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 and large text at least 3 to 1. Be especially critical of buttons and forms.
• Keyboard operation: make everything clickable reachable with tab, with a visible focus, and add a “skip to content” link at the top of every page.
• Form labels: link every field to a visible <label>. Placeholder text does not count, because screen readers often skip it.

You will find a deeper overview of these pitfalls in our guide to the most common web accessibility mistakes. Because your forms are your conversion engine, it pays to get those flawless first. Feel free to combine this step with your work on accessible, conversion-focused forms.

Step 3: solve the structural issues

After the quick fruit come the slightly deeper points. Give your pages a logical heading structure (one h1, then tidy h2 and h3 levels), so a screen reader can scan the page like a table of contents. Write link texts that describe where you end up instead of “click here”. Keep tables simple with correct headers. And make sure dynamic components such as menus, pop-ups and notifications also work with the keyboard and a screen reader. This is the part where custom work and technical knowledge make the difference, and where it pays to involve a developer.

Step 4: test with real tools and real people

Check your fixes again with your audit tools, but do not lean on them entirely. The most valuable test is letting someone use your site with a screen reader or only a keyboard. Within minutes you see what a scan will never find. Also keep an eye on your technical foundation, because slow or unstable pages are a barrier in themselves. Work on Core Web Vitals and accessibility reinforce each other.

How do you write a valid accessibility statement?

A valid accessibility statement is a public document that honestly describes to what extent your site meets the accessibility standards, what does not yet comply and what you are doing about it. It is not a marketing text and not a tick box. Its strength lies precisely in the honesty: you may name open items, as long as you attach a plan and a deadline.

A usable statement generally contains these parts:

1. The scope: which website or application the statement applies to.
2. The compliance status: to what extent the site meets WCAG 2.1 level AA, often expressed as fully, partially or non-compliant.
3. The non-accessible parts: which parts do not yet comply, why, and which alternative you offer in the meantime.
4. The test method: whether you did a simplified or thorough review, with a reference to the audit report.
5. Date: when the statement was drawn up and last updated.
6. Contact details: where visitors can report an accessibility problem, and who follows it up.

For the Belgian public sector there is a fixed template that refers to EN 301 549. For private companies under the EAA the exact form is less strictly described, but the same logic and transparency apply. Put the statement in a fixed, findable place (in your footer, for example) and link it to your contact page, so reporting stays low-threshold. Update it at least annually, and immediately whenever something changes. A statement that is no longer accurate is worse than no statement at all.

How do you keep your site accessible after the first clean-up?

Do not treat accessibility as a one-off clean-up, but as a fixed part of your process. Every new page, campaign or plugin can introduce new barriers, so include the checklist by default with every change. Plan a light re-check at a fixed moment, for example every quarter or with every major release. And if you are considering a larger intervention anyway, build accessibility in from the start rather than afterwards. Read more about that in our approach to a website redesign.

With us, accessibility is standard in every serious project where we build a website, not an afterthought. We are a small, senior team and we always steer on the same question: does your website deliver more usable pages and more leads? Accessibility that does not lead to more conversion is half the job. If you want the bigger picture, you will find it in our guide to B2B website development.

The short summary

Making your existing website accessible is not a rebuild, but a targeted route: map the problems, fix the basics first (alt text, contrast, keyboard, form labels), then tackle the structural points, and test with real people. Record the result in an honest accessibility statement with a date, contact details and a plan for what is still open, and keep everything up to date with every change. That way you not only meet the expectations around the EAA, you also convert visitors you are quietly losing today into customers after all.

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