If we were to say to you: 'An accessible website will make you more money', and 'An accessible website will save you money', then the first question might be 'Well what's accessibility?#39;.

Accessibility is simply making your website usable by as many visitors as possible, whether they have different browsers, or are disabled, or slow connections. The important thing is that you reach as many people as possible.

Take a look at how you could benefit directly from a more accessible site:

1 - Your website will be easier to manage - A well designed accessible website seperates the content from the design, so that visual changes can be made easily across the whole site.

2 - Your website will be compatible with new browsing technologies - This same separation of content and design allows the content to be styled for new browsers as they appear, reducing ongoing development costs.

3 - Your website will appear higher in search engine rankings - Typically search engines are unable to 'see' images, flash and other multimedia content. An accessible site provides alternative content for these, and this will allow search engines to make better sense of your website.

4 - The download time of your website will be improved - Well written, accessible code is more compact and reduces download time.

5 - The usability of the site will be improved - Consistent navigation, fonts and layout all aid usability, as do features such as the ability to resize fonts.

6 - Having an accessible website will make for good public relations - Make your website available to all, and you can certainly shout about it!

7 - Your website will comply with current disability legislation - The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission) have been exerting pressure on both commercial and government entities to make their Websites accessible.

8 - Your website will reach a much wider audience -

• There are 8.6 million registered disabled people in the UK, totaling 14% of the population (source: DRC)
• One in 12 men, and one in 200 women, has some form of colour blindness, totaling 9% of the UK population (source: Institution of Electrical Engineers)
• Two million UK residents have a sight problem -- that's 4% of the population (source: RNIB)
• There are 12 million people aged 60 or over -- some 21% of the UK population (source: UK government)

Now, there's bound to be some overlap between these groups, but if you add up the numbers, you get a total of 48% of the UK population. That's right - 48% of the population of the UK, not to mention those of other countries, could potentially face problems using your website.