Website accessibility maintenance plan for small businesses: who owns it and what to check each month

Fixing your website's accessibility once is a good start, but sites change. A new blog post with unlabelled images, a plugin update, a holiday pop-up or a new booking widget can bring problems back within weeks. The businesses that stay on top of it don't spend much time. They just give the job to one person and use a short routine.

1. Name one owner

Pick the person who already updates the website: you, an office manager or your web designer. Write their name in your accessibility statement contact line or your internal notes. If nobody owns it, nobody checks it. The W3C's Planning and Managing Web Accessibility resources make the same point for larger organisations: assign responsibility and build accessibility into normal work.

2. Check before you publish (2 minutes per change)

• Every new image has useful alt text, or empty alt if it's decorative. See alt text examples.
• Headings go in order and the page has one main heading.
• Links say where they go ("Download the spring menu", not "click here").
• New videos have reviewed captions. See video captions.
• New PDFs (menus, forms) also exist as a web page or a tagged PDF. See accessible PDFs and menus.
• New pop-ups and banners close with the keyboard and Escape. See pop-ups and chat widgets.

3. A 30-minute monthly check

1. Run a free scan (5 minutes). Use our free homepage snapshot or another free checker on your homepage and your busiest page. Compare with last month.
2. Keyboard pass (10 minutes). Tab through the homepage, menu and contact form. Can you see where you are and reach everything? See the keyboard test.
3. Phone and zoom pass (5 minutes). Pinch-zoom on a phone and check that nothing is cut off. See mobile zoom and tap targets.
4. Contact form test (5 minutes). Submit it empty, then with real details. Do the errors make sense, and does the message arrive?
5. Third-party check (5 minutes). Booking, ordering, chat and payment widgets update without asking you. Try the main task once with the keyboard.

Every few months, add a short screen reader test.

4. When something changes a lot

A redesign, a new theme, a platform move (for example Wix to WordPress) or a new online store needs a bigger check across all your key pages, not just the monthly routine. Ask your designer the questions in questions to ask your web designer before the work starts, and re-test after launch.

5. Handle feedback quickly

Give visitors a way to tell you when something doesn't work: an email address or phone number in your accessibility statement and footer. When someone reports a problem, reply within a couple of business days, offer another way to get what they needed (phone, email, in person), and fix the issue or tell them when it will be fixed. W3C's guide to accessibility statements covers what to include.

6. Keep a simple log

A spreadsheet with four columns is enough: date, what you checked, what you found, what you fixed. It helps the next person who takes over the website, and it shows your web designer exactly what to look at.

7. A realistic budget

• Do it yourself: free, about 30 minutes a month plus a couple of minutes per new page.
• Your web designer: ask them to include the monthly check in their care plan, and to say which checks they run.
• Altwise monthly monitoring: $49 a month, cancel anytime. We re-scan up to 10 pages each month and email a plain-English report with copy-paste fixes for anything new. It covers the automated part of step 3; the keyboard, phone and form checks still need a person.

What a scan can and can't do

Automated checks, including ours, find only part of accessibility barriers. They catch missing alt text, unlabelled fields, low contrast and nameless buttons quickly, which is why they suit a monthly routine. They can't tell whether alt text is accurate, whether a booking flow can be finished, or whether a pop-up traps keyboard users. No tool or service can promise that your site is or stays compliant with the ADA or any law.

Want the first round of fixes written for you?

Start with a free homepage snapshot. The $149 Fix-Pack scans up to 10 pages and gives copy-paste fixes for your platform within 48 hours, with a 14-day refund promise. See a sample report first.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify compliance with the ADA or any law.

Related guides

• Webflow accessibility fixes: a practical checklist for small-business sites
• Is your small business website AI-ready? The accessibility basics AI agents rely on
• Login forms, one-time codes and CAPTCHAs: WCAG 2.2 Accessible Authentication for small-business sites
• WCAG 2.2 explained for small-business websites

All guides

This guide is general technical information, not legal advice. Following it does not certify ADA or any legal compliance. Automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.