Supporting Economic Vitality for Small Business Owners

Originally published by Main Street America

In partnership with American Express, the Backing Small Businesses grant program supports economically vulnerable and under-resourced small businesses with community reach. This year, eligible small business owners can apply for $10,000 grants for projects that grow or improve their businesses by building community, supporting their economic viability, or bolstering meaningful change.

Applications will be accepted from 9:00 am CT on March 14, 2024, through 11:59 pm CT on April 7, 2024. The application period will end once 5,000 applications have been submitted, even if that occurs before the deadline.

What types of businesses are eligible?

Businesses must meet the following criteria to apply:

The applicant must be an owner of the business.
The applicant must be at least age 18 years or older.
The business must be in a “bricks-and-mortar” location and operate in an older or historic main street, downtown, or commercial district in the United States. The business must have occupied their current bricks-and-mortar location since January 1, 2024. (Home-based businesses, even those located in historic neighborhoods, are not eligible. Brick and mortar businesses located outside of historic downtowns and commercial corridors, including, but not limited to, office parks and shopping malls are also not eligible.)
The business must be an independent business and not part of a franchise.
The business must employ 20 or less full time employees.
The business must have been in operation on or before January 1, 2023.
The business must be a business entity in good standing in the state in which it was formed and the state in which it does business.
The business must have an active business license, if required by state or local government. (Applicants may be asked to provide documentation if selected.)

What types of grant expenses are eligible?

Eligible grant expenses include but are not limited to:

Accessibility Upgrades (Examples: ramp, menu translation, accessible website redesign for visually impaired people, etc.)
Community Events and Programs (Examples: open mic night, public educational/training workshops, hosting community fund raisers, partnerships with other small businesses)
Equipment and Inventory (Examples: point of sale device/software, purchasing of items for sale, display cases, kitchen equipment)
Marketing (Examples: investing in social media campaign, building a website, etc.)
Operational Strategy (Examples: branding package, accounting software, business coaching, and other types of support that would increase the viability of your business)
Physical Improvements (Examples: signage, awnings, painting facade, new shelving, new lighting, etc.)
Sustainability Upgrades (Examples: solar panels, rain garden adjacent to business, investing in reusable/compostable/recyclable packaging alternatives, etc.)
Technology Upgrades (Examples: building an online storefront, online ordering system, or other e-commerce platform)
Utilities (Note: Must not be more than $2000 or 20% of the requested funds)
Note that payroll expenses are not eligible.

Packerland Websites Opens Marquette Office

Participating in the ribbon cutting, from left, are Hanna Westra, LSCP Outreach and Development Specialist; Christopher Germain, LSCP CEO; Alayna Sutterland, Carnegie Higher Ed; Jennifer Lindsay, CRO Metrics; Alexa Haferkorn, Packerland Websites Web Design Specialist; Eric Lindsay, Semco Energy; Bill Koehne, Packerland Websites Founder/Owner; Erica Huss, Small Business Support Hub Project Manager; Erin Mahaney, CoLAB Manager; Bethany Cody, Veridea; and Brooke Quinn, LSCP Senior Business Development Representative.

Marquette-area businesses and nonprofits now have a new, local, digital marketing company working for their success. Packerland Websites, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, has opened an office in Marquette, Michigan, at CoLAB, 101 W. Washington St. Suite 8, Marquette, Michigan. The Lake Superior Community Partnership assisted in the opening by holding a ribbon cutting ceremony on Feb. 28, 2024.

Opened in 2011, Packerland Websites is a family-owned website development and digital marketing company led by owner/founder Bill Koehne. Koehne chose the name “Packerland Websites” because of the dominant influence of the Green Bay Packers in the Green Bay community and because of the team’s winning tradition.

“We’re excited to open our Marquette, Michigan, office, meet with businesses and nonprofits, and build winning websites across the Wisconsin, Michigan border,” he said. “Our websites are more than just a brochure on the internet. Instead, they’re developed around a marketing plan to meet specific goals.”

Website Design Specialist Alexa Haferkorn will manage the Marquette, Michigan, office. Haferkorn earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Communications from Northern Michigan University in 2016. She applies both visual design skills and marketing skills to create branding that gets results.

“I design web pages, logos, and fliers to catch customers’ attention and share a unique message,” she said. With her background in graphic design and website development, Alexa brings a combination of talents to Packerland Websites.

“Aside from her technical and artistic skills, she has a knack for communicating with clients to help them create websites that meet their business goals,” Koehne said.

In addition to website development, Packerland Websites specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), geofence marketing, content writing, and app development.

“We’re excited to help Marquette organizations advance to the next level with website design and other digital marketing tools,” Koehne said.

To schedule a complimentary marketing consultation call Cheri Simonet, Sales Account Manager, at 920-265-2632.

Ensuring Email Deliverability Amid Tight Anti-Spam Policies

happy corporate man calling while typing on his laptop

Email is an essential communication tool for businesses and nonprofit organizations, and anti-spam policies help to ensure secure email delivery. E-newsletters and bulk emails keep clients and members informed of the latest news, events, and discounts. If you create and distribute an E-newsletter as part of your marketing mix, way to go! Perhaps you send emails to a customer list or membership list (like members of a Chamber of Commerce or nonprofit organization). You tapped into an effective marketing strategy to enhance communication, loyalty, and sales.

Google’s Anti-Spam Policies for Bulk Senders

When you send your next email campaign, check the bounce rate. Are your emails getting through to recipients? Recently, the ability to get your bulk emails delivered became more complex. Google tightened its anti-spam policies for bulk senders to keep inboxes spam free and safer. So, senders need to take a few extra steps to prevent emails from being marked as spam in the recipients’ inboxes.

Authentication Against Spoofing and Phishing

A critical aspect of email security is verifying that senders are who they claim to be. In 2023, Google required that emails be authenticated to prevent spoofing and phishing. Read our blog about authentication. The anti-spam measures for sending bulk emails now require a few more steps beyond authentication to ensure emails are delivered.

Constant Contact’s Role in E-Newsletter Security

Packerland Websites partners with Constant Contact for E-Newsletter marketing campaigns, and Constant Contact has authenticated customers’ mail for many years. Now, in addition to Constant Contact’s authentication, senders with email marketing campaigns are advised to self-authenticate their email. This self-authentication process works for the domains that organizations own, but not free webmail.

Self-Authentication is a Vital Step

Self-authentication can be a breeze for techies, but not for everyone. So, if you’re not a techie person but you want the latest updates for E-Newsletters and bulk emails, contact our team for assistance. If you are well-versed in email settings, Constant Contact has a DKIM/CNAME (DomainKeys Identified Mail/Canonical Name) feature update. By enabling the DKIM/CNAME feature on the settings page, Constant Contact will give you a set of records to add to your domain’s DNS (Domain Name System) host.

Delivering Legitimate Emails That Readers Want

The goal of tighter anti-spam measures is to ensure the delivery of legitimate emails. Your goal as a business or nonprofit is to deliver mail that users want to read. By creating email campaigns and messaging that recipients want to read, you build relationships and develop brand recognition.

Crafting Effective Email Campaigns

Contact us today to establish a newsletter marketing campaign or for technical assistance with self-authentication for your existing newsletter.

Protect Your Inbox: How to Handle Website Contact Page Spam

person's hand clicking device with email image representing contact page spam

Delete! Delete! Delete! How do I get rid of these unsolicited emails! Spam emails clog your inbox and take your time and attention away from more important email messages. Sometimes, our clients receive unsolicited emails that spammers sent from the Contact Page of the client’s website. The Contact Page email form allows visitors at your website to send a message quickly. Your website delivers these messages to your inbox, so you don’t miss a lead or an opportunity to answer a question. Unfortunately, sometimes the email messages are from spammers.

Don’t Mark Emails as Spam, Just Delete

Here’s an important tip when handling spam emails that come from your website Contact Page form. DO NOT mark these emails as spam, even though they are. Instead, just delete them. The fact is, someone is contacting you from your website Contact Page. The senders may be spammers, but the emails are coming from a legitimate source (your website). By marking the Contact Page emails as spam, you could be training your email system to mark legitimate emails from your website as spam. If you are getting a lot of unsolicited emails from your Contact Page, contact your website developer. Website developers use reCAPTCHA, quizzes, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a WordPress email delivery configuration), and other techniques to reduce spam. However, spam emails sometimes get through to you, despite these spam-reducing techniques.

Be Wary of Cyber Threats in Spam Emails

Spam emails aren’t just bothersome, they can be malicious, also. Cybercriminals use tactics like spoofing and phishing. They try to trick email recipients into giving out confidential personal information, give them money, or unknowingly allow the cybercriminals to install malware on the victim’s device. Spoofing and phishing occur when a cybercriminal sends an imposter email that looks like it’s from a trusted source.

Defend Against Cybercrime with Email Authentication

You can protect against spoofing and phishing by working with your email service provider to set up email authentication for your domain. We recommend three email authentication methods for our website clients: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) helps prevent your outgoing emails from being marked as spam. SPF also protects your domain name against spoofing.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to outgoing email messages. Because of the digital signature, email servers that receive these messages can verify them as coming from the sender, not an imposter.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) aligns SPF and DKIM to authenticate an email. When used together, SPF, DKIM and DMARC help protect emails from many types of cyberattacks.

Follow These Contact Page Tips

Email from your website’s Contact Page is a valuable communication and lead-generating tool. Packerland Websites incorporates attractive, secure, and easily fillable contact forms on every website we develop. To keep the emails flowing from your Contact Page, keep these tips in mind.

Delete spam emails, rather than marking them as spam. Remember, those emails, though often from spammers, originate from a legitimate source – your website.
Protect your email against cyber threats with email authentication methods, ensuring a secure and spam-resistant communication channel.
Learn more about emails in this related article we wrote: Never Miss a Lead: Solve Your Website Contact Form Email Issues

For more Contact Form email tips or website development strategies, contact us today. Packerland Websites builds powerful, effective websites that address web traffic, purpose, needs, and goals.

Never Miss a Lead: Solve Your Website Contact Form Email Issues

A properly built website is a marketing tool and lead generator. But when leads can’t get ahold of you, it can become frustrating for both parties. Packerland Websites builds websites with simple fill-in-the-blank contact forms like this one, so website visitors can easily initiate contact.

employees by computer filling out a Contact Form Email

Ensuring that a Contact Form Email is Effective

If the contact form emails aren’t reaching your inbox, what you should do? First, find out if you really are not receiving emails from clients. Often times, we get support tickets that state, “My customer told me they emailed me, and we did not get the message.”

Addressing Email Delivery Concerns

Did they really try emailing you from the contact form on your website? If so, did they maybe miss something, like clicking the Send button? Did they fail to answer a required part of the contact form? After sending you a message from your website’s contact page, did the website confirm the email was successfully sent?

Checking the Spam Folder

One way to find out if your contact form email is working is to send yourself a test email and see if you receive it. If you do not see the email in your inbox, check your spam folder. Most of the time, a lost email can be found in your spam folder. We check the spam folder up to three times a day and recommend you do the same. Get into the habit of checking your spam folder, and you’re likely to find stray emails. Checking the spam folder saves you a lot of frustration. If you did not find the email in the spam folder, and the email has not come through, now is the time to submit a support ticket to our team.

Quick Guide: Email Delivery Troubleshooting

BEFORE seeking support, TAKE THESE 4 STEPS

Go to your contact page and fill out the contact form as if you were a visitor (This eliminates the possibility of sender error)
See if the form confirmed that the email was sent
Check your email inbox and if the email is not there, check your spam folder
If the email is not in your inbox or spam folder, then submit a support ticket.

Seeking Support from Packerland Websites

What happens when you submit a support ticket regarding email issues?

The Packerland Websites team adds our email address to the contact form email system and sends a test email from the form.
If we do not receive the test email, we initiate a series of trouble shooting measures. We check our software for connectivity. Additionally, we check the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) plugin. SMTP is a WordPress email delivery configuration that uses authentication to ensure that an email originates from the location it claims to be sent from.
We send multiple test emails to test the email form system.
If necessary, we add a secondary email to the Contact Us form on the customer’s behalf to see if the secondary email recipient can receive emails.

Resolving Issues with Email Providers

Generally, these email issues get resolved at this point. On rare occasions, we find some spam filters set so high that even when the website correctly sends out the contact form email, the email isn’t received. Essentially, this moves the issue to the client’s email provider. Thus, our clients resolve these issues with their email providers.

Deleting Emails Vs. Marking Emails as Spam

Here’s a helpful tip, so you receive legitimate emails: Do not mark emails coming in from your own website as spam, even if they are spam. Instead, just delete them The fact is, someone is contacting you from your website Contact Page. The senders may be spammers, but the emails are coming from a legitimate source (your website). Read more about email delivery issues. For more information about Contact Form Email tips or website development strategies, contact us today. Packerland Websites builds powerful, effective websites that address web traffic, purpose, needs, and goals.

Discover the Power of our Nonprofit Website Redesign

About the Client

Anchor of Hope TEC is Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Catholic spiritual enrichment opportunity for older teens and young adults. TEC begins with a dynamic retreat weekend at St. Joseph School in Green Bay. After the weekend retreat, retreatants continue their faith journey with the intergenerational TEC community. Catholics from throughout the Diocese of Green Bay and beyond are encouraged to awaken their faith through by Together Encountering Christ.

Anchor of Hope TEC Home page before a redesign. — Anchor of Hope TEC Home page before a website redesign.

Anchor of Hope TEC Home page after a website redesign.

Project Deliverables

Anchor of Hope TEC launched its first website in 2015, and the design was outdated and its functionality, limited. The organization cancelled several retreats during the pandemic. It also cancelled retreats after the pandemic, due to a lack of volunteers. Thus, the nonprofit organization wanted to re-engage with volunteers who run the retreats and encourage teens and young adults to attend. In addition delivering the eight website building essentials, the Packerland Websites team would also:

Design a vibrant new look to the website that depicts energy and relevance to the target audience, Catholic young people.
Develop an e-commerce, secure online payment and donation system, eliminating the need for nonprofit leaders to handle cash.
Update the written content and keywords on the website to engage the target audience and improve SEO.
Integrate a newsletter sign-up with email marketing platform Constant Contact, to encourage visitors to engage with the nonprofit off the website.
Add a news tab where the nonprofit organization can publish blogs to share the latest news and events, keeping the website fresh for visitors and enhancing SEO.
Add a keyword-rich FAQs page that answers common questions and is styled in an easily readable, scannable way
Incorporate a Members Only section with password-protected login

Website Redesign Features

More Attractive, Modern Design

Packerland Websites added more color and vibrancy to the website. Instead of old website’s bland wheat fields, fish, and sand images, the new website features bright colors and communities of young people. TEC is about building relationships with Christ and journeying together in faith, and the new website depicts TEC’s community focus. Text blocks slide into the Home page at the user scrolls, creating interest and energy.

Secure Payment Portal

Retreatants, volunteers, and donor all have an easy-to-find, secure portal to submit payments through the e-commerce website. Additionally, the four tabs under Applications explain how to apply and provide online registration forms and payment portals for retreatants and worker volunteers. The payments page is a welcome alternative to collecting cash or checks at meetings or retreats. Retreatants and volunteer workers pay their retreat fee or donation at a secure portal. Administrators can easily track payments and not worry about handling money. Additionally, TEC can add more merchandise or donation portals to the page to support the nonprofit financially.

Newsletter Sign-up

To engage with its audience, the nonprofit launched a monthly newsletter to coincide with the website launch. The newsletter is formatted with the same brand colors, images, links, and messaging as the website. Visitors can quickly sign up for the TEC newsletter. The sign-up form integrates with the email marketing platform Constant Contact.

News and Events Blogging

The two tabs under News and Events show the upcoming retreat weekend dates and stories about the TEC community. Leaders of the nonprofit participated in a training session offered via Zoom to learn how to update the retreat dates on the Events page and add blog articles to the News page. Several volunteers attended the training, which was held after normal business hours.

FAQs

The accordion-style FAQs page allows visitors to click or tap a question to reveal an answer. Not only do the FAQs provide helpful information to human visitors, the FAQ pages also are rich in keywords. Keywords enhance Google searchability and ranking on search engine result pages. So, Google will suggest Anchor of Hope TEC to people searching for a Catholic retreat for teens or young adults in Green Bay.

Members Only

Members of the TEC organization have password-protected access to outlines, lists, and other information 24/7 from any internet-enable device.

Member login page for Anchor of Hope website

Content Marketing

Paragraphs, heading, and subheadings are conversational, informational, and optimized for human visitors and search engine ranking. Webpages have approximately 300 words to tell the nonprofit’s story. The two tabs under About go to Testimonials and About Anchor of Hope TEC. Visitors can read authentic first-hand accounts on the Testimonials page, whereas the About page contains TEC history and background information. Catholic teens, parents, and young adults interested in making a retreat can learn about the weekend before registering.

We Love Rebuilding Websites

TEC (Together Encountering Christ) is a dynamic Catholic retreat experience, and now Anchor of Hope TEC has a website to show just that! Green Bay-based TEC took a giant leap forward in technology and vibrancy with a redesigned website. The redesigned website truly represents how Together Encountering Christ can awaken spiritual growth and create disciples who strengthen the Catholic church.

Contact Us for a Website Redesign

Contact Packerland Websites to learn how a website redesign can breathe new life into your nonprofit or business website.

Stay Ahead in SEO: Strike a Balance with AI-generated Content

For those of us who specialize in marketing. Artificial Intelligence presents so many opportunities. AI can produce video scripts, news releases, blog articles, Facebook posts, and so many other types of marketing collateral. Imagine the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) impact that AI-generated content can have. For example, we have seen companies publish multiple blog articles loaded with targeted keywords. Reading through the articles, it’s obvious they are AI-generated blogs written to manipulate SEO and not geared to a human audience.

Avoid Black Hat Tactics with AI-generated Content

In the industry, we call this Black Hat SEO – finding loopholes in SEO to gain artificially high rankings. The better choice is White Hat SEO – high-quality content and other techniques that maintain a website’s integrity. Essentially, White Hat SEO compels us to use ChatGPT and other AI resources wisely. AI is a useful tool for brainstorming and generating content but should not be a stand-alone SEO and blog-writing solution.

Read What ChatGPT Says About AI & SEO Ranking

Going a step further in our AI and SEO research, we asked ChatGPT for its response to the question: How is the impact of SEO ranking by Google affected by having so many blogs written by ChatGPT? We purposely posed a neutral question, and ChatGPT generated an insightful response.

How is the impact of SEO ranking by Google affected by having so many blogs written by ChatGPT?

The impact of SEO ranking by Google when many blogs are written by ChatGPT or similar AI tools can be complex and depends on various factors. Here are some potential effects:

Content Quality: If the AI-generated content is of high quality, provides value to readers, and is relevant to search queries, it may positively impact your SEO rankings. However, if the content is low-quality, lacks originality, or is irrelevant to user queries, it can have a negative impact.
Keyword Stuffing: AI-generated content may overuse keywords or phrases, leading to keyword stuffing. Google penalizes this practice, so it can harm your SEO rankings.
User Engagement: Google considers user engagement metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and click-through rate as ranking factors. If AI-generated content fails to engage users, it can lead to lower rankings.
Duplication Issues: AI-generated content may produce duplicate or substantially similar content, which can result in duplicate content issues. Google may choose to index only one version of the content, affecting the visibility of your pages.
Lack of Authority: AI-generated content may lack the authority and credibility that human-authored content can provide. This can impact how Google perceives the trustworthiness of your website.
Content Strategy: An effective SEO strategy involves creating content that aligns with user intent, addresses their needs, and fits into a larger content strategy. Relying solely on AI-generated content may miss the mark in terms of strategy.
Competitive Landscape: If many other websites are also using AI-generated content, it can create a competitive landscape where everyone is producing similar content. This can make it challenging to stand out and rank well.
Algorithm Changes: Google’s algorithms are constantly evolving. While AI-generated content may work well with current algorithms, it may not adapt effectively to future changes, potentially impacting rankings.
User Trust: Some users may be skeptical of content generated by AI and may prefer content created by human experts. Building trust with your audience is essential for SEO success.

In summary, the impact of using AI-generated content on your SEO rankings depends on the quality of the content, how it aligns with SEO best practices, and how it compares to the content produced by competitors. It’s essential to use AI-generated content as a tool within a broader content strategy, complementing it with high-quality, human-authored content that provides value to users and aligns with your SEO goals. Additionally, monitoring the performance of AI-generated content and making adjustments as needed is crucial to maintain and improve SEO rankings over time.

Unlock the Power of Google Jobs with Packerland Websites

In today’s ultra-competitive market for labor, organizations are looking for every advantage in job recruiting. When one of our clients, a metalworking company, wasn’t getting enough applicants from its Indeed career listings, the client contacted our team. She wanted us to help her utilize Google Jobs to reach qualified candidates. She needed our help because employers can’t post jobs directly to Google Jobs. Instead, Google “crawls” websites (uses robots to scan the code) to find job listings and adds the job openings to Google’s database.

Structured Data: Your Key to Google Jobs Success

In order for Google to recognize a job posting on our client’s website, we needed to set special indicators in the code. These indicators create what we call “structured data.” Structured data can be recognized and interpreted easily by Google’s robots.

WordPress Advantage: Powerful Recruitment Features

Packerland Websites builds sites on WordPress, a platform that powers 43% of websites on the internet. To optimize job postings for Google Jobs, our team is adding a Google Job-specific WordPress plugin to websites. Packerland Websites offers this add-on technology for any business looking to recruit and hire qualified personnel with help from Google Jobs.

Google Jobs Integration: Transforming Job Recruitment

Once we incorporate these Google Jobs features into a website, employers can fill out a simple, user-friendly form to create a job posting. The plug-in automatically adds the special indicators for structured data. So, put simply, the plugin enables the client to make a Google Jobs-optimized job posting with as little effort as filling out a form.

Job Posting Optimization: A Guide for Employers

Tips for optimizing a job posting:

Post the job on your company website
Create a new page for each job posting. WordPress websites are set up so that every post in the blog looks like a new page to Google
Make sure postings can be crawled and indexed by Google. Packerland Websites includes this feature in every website through the Google Search Console
Use structured data. The above-mentioned plug-in automatically adds structured data as extra code to a post.
Use Canonical URLs. Packerland Websites includes and manages Canonical URLs on all of our WordPress websites.
Include location, descriptions, expiration, etc. These fields can be managed with the above-mentioned plug-in.

Partner with Packerland Websites

Small businesses that struggle to get fill job openings now have a new web tool to leverage. Packerland Websites provides this affordable product to connect business websites with Google Jobs to expand recruitment potential. Optimize your job listings for Google’s search algorithms with minimal hassle and minimal cost. Contact us today to get started.

Discover the Heart of Packerland Websites: A Culture of Generosity

Packerland Team at the Business Recognition Luncheon 2023

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Theodore Roosevelt

This quote really struck home with the Packerland Websites team. The Know, Like and Trust Factor is a marketing concept that rings true in our experience as website developers. People are more likely to buy from a company that they are familiar with and have an established relationship. Our Packerland Websites’ team knows a ton about website development, marketing, Search Engine Optimization, cybersecurity, and more. Like President Roosevelt said, all that knowledge doesn’t matter if you’re all brains and no heart. Before we build a website, we build a relationship.

Managing 81 Nonprofit Websites

Some of our most rewarding relationships are the partnerships we develop with nonprofit organizations. Altogether, Packerland Websites manages 81 nonprofit websites. These include the local community theater , churches, schools, business associations, and nonprofits related to youth, veterans, suicide prevention, cancer support, and other interests.

Donating $76K in In-Kind Services

The fact is, our team likes helping people. Simple as that! Nonprofit organizations typically don’t have the financial resources, staffing, or marketing background to develop, launch, and manage their own website. So, we sign on as their partners, walk them through the process, and produce an attractive, secure, and navigable website that meets their objectives. Best of all, we do this at a highly discounted rate. In the past 12 months, we donated $76,438 in services to nonprofits. Generosity is a hallmark of our small business.

Helping Businesses & Nonprofits Succeed

When we have the opportunity to help others, it becomes an opportunity to feel good about ourselves and our work. Helping someone becomes a goal. Work becomes less of a task to be completed and more of a mission to be fulfilled. The motivation to help others makes the actual work more pleasant. As a result, the motivation makes us more productive. Work is more meaningful when you care about others, not just yourself.

Promoting a Service-Focused Corporate Culture

Packerland Websites bases its corporate culture on serving others, and we encourage other small businesses to do the same. When business leaders foster a supportive, service-focused corporate culture, everyone benefits – owners, employees and clients alike.

Ready to Help Your Business or Nonprofit

At Packerland Websites, we believe that “Your Success is Our Success.” Visit our portfolio to see samples of our work. Our portfolio page showcases the ways we help businesses and nonprofits succeed. Contact us today to get to know our team and learn how we can work together to advance the mission of your nonprofit or business. With offices in Green Bay, Marinette, and Abrams, we specialize in website development, digital marketing, and Search Engine Optimization.

4 Tools to Ensure Website Accessibility, ADA Compliance

people pointing to the screen of a laptop computer to represent website accessibility

Only 3 percent of today’s websites are compliant the Americans with Disabilities Act. Yet that low percentage doesn’t necessarily safeguard your organization from potentially being sued for ADA noncompliance. Packerland Websites believes that following ADA guidelines doesn’t just avert messy court cases; it’s also the right thing to do. (Read our blog, ADA Compliance for Websites: Stay Accessible and Out of Court.) ADA guidelines give people with disabilities the same opportunity as everyone else to engage with your website.

Accessibility Guidelines & Common ADA Errors

Businesses and nonprofits have four essential tools to make their websites better comply with ADA guidelines. The first resource gives website owners a directory of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to follow. The quick reference lists WCAG 2 requirements and gives advisory techniques, examples of usage situations and examples where the website failed to meet the guidelines. Unless you are a website developer, this quick reference probably seems daunting. So, we’ll simplify this list and name the most common issues we see on websites that aren’t ADA compliant. Most commonly found ADA errors:

Low color contrast ratio of text, so text blends into the background, making it difficult to read
Alternative (alt) tags are missing for images. Alt tags are needed because screen reader software reads alt tags aloud, so users know what the image shows.
No announcement when the user navigates away from a website
A website isn’t navigable with keyboard only
Nondescript buttons like “Read More” or “Learn More” don’t include background code to tell the user where the button will take them
No Accessibility Statement which states the website owner’s efforts to be ADA compliant and a process to follow if a user experiences an ADA issue

Real-Time Evaluation & Feedback

The second resource is a browser extension to add an ADA guideline tool to a website. One extension we find helpful is the WAVE Evaluation Tool browser extension (link for Chrome users). This ADA tool evaluates web accessibility and provides feedback regarding accessibility issues. Additionally, WordPress plugins are sometimes added to a website for accessibility. Although they help a lot, WordPress Plugins are NOT a silver bullet for becoming ADA compliant.

Another online FREE option with nothing to download is https://www.experte.com/accessibility. We rarely endorse many third-party websites. With the EXPERTE.com Accessibility Test you can determine the accessibility your website. The tool crawls your website and checks for each subpage if it can be correctly displayed by screen readers. We really like that it will check multiple pages one scan and give screen shot results

Brand-Specific Accessibility Statements

The third resource is an Accessibility Statement Generator. An accessibility statement is an official, written commitment to support accommodations for all individuals with disabilities. The statement includes contact information for accommodation requests and remediation. The accessibility statement should be placed in the footer of every page of your website. We recommend using the Web Accessibility Initiative resource as an Accessibility Statement Generator tool.

Packerland Websites Offers ADA Services

Are the first three ADA-compliant website tools a bit over your head? We get it! The fourth and final resource is the Packerland Websites team. Packerland Websites created an ADA Compliance Report Card, so we can evaluate our clients’ websites and recommend ADA-accessibility updates. Because our team uses industry-leading practices to build websites on WordPress, our websites adapt well for people with disabilities. However, only a thorough evaluation of a website can show ADA accessibility for certain.

Websites that Engage People of All Abilities

These ADA-compliance resources are the Top 4 accessibility checking and standards tools that we recommend. The fourth resource, the Packerland Websites’ team, is the best of the four. Contact us link regarding a website review and ADA-accessibility report card for your website. We look forward to assuring that your organization meets ADA-compliance standards, so your website engages people of all abilities.