Equalize Digital

Website Accessibility Consulting, Training, and Development

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WordPress VIP Partner

Equalize Digital is proud to be a WordPress VIP Silver Agency Partner, building websites and web applications from an accessibility-first approach for enterprise organizations.

Complex WordPress Websites Built Accessibly

Equalize Digital has more than a decade of experience crafting websites and web applications that drive conversions and are designed for optimal user experience. As a corporate member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, we ensure every website and app is created from an accessibility-first process and, as a WordPress VIP Agency Partner, we’ll ensure that your website is built to scale and optimized for performance.

Our approach to website engagements is an agile, guided partnership that ensures the final website will achieve your organizational objectives for branding, expanded reach, and increased sales or lead generation while being highly usable by all people in your target market. In addition to custom WordPress design and development, we also offer accessibility audits, user testing, and remediation of existing sites.

Through our partnership with WordPress VIP, your website can be hosted in a best-in-class hosting environment that is highly scalable, secure, and built for enterprise organizations. If you’re looking for creative vision, strategic thinking, enterprise experience, and accessibility expertise, you’re in the right place.

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Capabilities

  • WCAG, Section 508, ADA, and AODA compliance
  • User journey mapping, UI/UX, and user-centered visual design
  • SEO and analytics management
  • Content strategy, information architecture, and copywriting
  • eCommerce, conversion optimization, and multivariate testing
  • Custom API integrations
  • Paywall/gated content solutions and membership sites
  • Custom plugin and Gutenberg block development

Sample Past Projects

Equalize Digital has launched hundreds of custom websites over the past 15+ years, working with a variety of nonprofit, for-profit, and government organizations worldwide. We pride ourselves on delivering highly-flexible, fast, secure, mobile-friendly, and easy to manage websites that, most importantly, conform with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which will help you meet requirements under ADA, Section 508, AODA, and other laws. In addition to placing priority on delivering solutions that prioritize user experience, we also have extensive experience with search engine optimization and content marketing. Our team can handle all aspects of your new website project from design to code to content creation.

MPV Properties website on a desktop monitor and a property listing on a mobile phone

MPV Properties

MPV Properties is a well established, full-service real estate firm based in Charlotte, NC that manages a large portfolio of commercial properties. Designed and developed in close partnership with the firm’s Director of Marketing, the website features an entirely custom-built, interactive property search feature, with a map integration and numerous options for filtering, displaying, and sorting properties. The portfolio, services, and company information areas were all custom designed and built with great care to position them as a regional leader in their industry.

Resource Sharing Project website on a desktop monitor and resource directory on a laptop

Resource Sharing Project

Custom brochure website and resource directory for Resource Sharing Project, an advocacy organization that focuses on assisting sexual assault survivors, advocates, coalition staff, and administrators across the United States. The website allows users to quickly and easily access resources that are designed to assist with healing from sexual assault. Special care was taken to maximize performance, accessibility, and to avoid anything that may trigger a post traumatic response from survivors.

Campaigns and Elections website on a desktop monitor and an individual article on a mobile device

Campaigns & Elections

Founded in 1980, Campaigns & Elections is the go-to resource for professionals in the political campaign industry. Their flagship website offers articles across a wide variety of topics, as well as a full-featured consultant directory, sponsored industry reports, public events, a robust ad placement management system, and more. Thousands of pieces of legacy content had to be carefully migrated into WordPress from the previous website, ensuring a seamless transition to the new content management system.

Workforce Solutions Panhandle website on a desktop monitor and portal on a laptop

Workforce Solutions Panhandle

Website and customer portal designed and developed for Workforce Solutions Panhandle, an American Job Center network partner providing employment assistance and job training in the Texas Panhandle. The public-facing website allows WSP staff to easily manage content without developer assistance. The portal allows staff to communicate with and onboard new customers, remotely. 

CO-WY AMP Website Home Page on Desktop Computer

CO-WY Alliance for Minority Participation

The CO-WY Alliance for Minority Participation is a two-state initiative funded by the National Science Foundation that supports students, programs at individual schools, and initiatives meant to increase the number of underrepresented students in STEM. The website allows students and faculty members across 16 partner institutions to connect and provides valuable resources to minority and first-generation college students.

Friends for Life Home Page on Desktop Computer

Friends for Life

Friends For Life is a nonprofit animal shelter based in Houston, Texas. Friends For Life’s website is a major contributor to their success as an organization as they use it to feature adoptable pets, accept volunteer and adoption applications, and raise funds for the organization.

Our Approach to Custom WordPress Projects

We have decades of experience executing WordPress website projects at every scale that puts website accessibility first. We have a carefully refined discovery, design, and development process that leads to a final product that will achieve your organization’s goals and allow you to stand above the competition. In contrast to typical marketing agencies, accessibility is central to our process and every phase of the project includes accessibility reviews and refinement to ensure your final website meets or exceeds your legal requirements for accessibility.

Request A Proposal

1) Initial Consultation

We gather key information on your business and define expectations for the project. This preliminary discussion helps us to understand the problems you’re trying to solve, the resources at our disposal, and any limiting factors that may exist. Out of this discussion we’ll create a proposal for your approval.

2) Discovery

Once a proposal is accepted, the project officially begins with a discovery phase. The discovery phase allows us to gain a clearer understanding of business and customer goals, desired design aesthetic, and create a full scope of content needed. We’ll also establish the specific accessibility laws/guidelines which may apply to your organization. During this phase we’ll create user journey maps, navigation structure, a site map, and generate both a content request document and design brief.

3) Content

The content phase is when your team will supply us with all of the content (text, images, CSV files, PDFs, etc.) that will be needed for the website. If desired, we can help you to draft content and can supply stock images. Once all content is ready, we’ll perform a first accessibility review to make sure there are no accessibility problems in the content supplied.

4) Design

Following the content phase, we design the home and interior pages needed for the site. We focus heavily on ensuring that your website design positively represents your brand and puts the information your customers are seeking right at their fingertips, regardless of their abilities. All designs receive an accessibility review to ensure proper color contrast, proximity, etc. By focusing on accessibility early, we create clean, easy-to-navigate designs that draw in visitors and maximize user experience quality.

5) WordPress Development

Development begins after designs are approved, though our WordPress developers are heavily involved at every stage of your project. Regular check-ins with our developers throughout earlier phases ensures that we are able to execute your project on-time, on budget and within scope. During development, your team will get a break while we turn your designs into a working WordPress website that is fully accessible.

6) Test & Debug

Every WordPress website project includes a rigorous testing & debug phase, during which our team tests every feature, performs a visual check on every page, checks the website’s performance in all major browsers, and reviews project scope to ensure we’re delivering everything promised. These tests are performed by multiple people and any issues uncovered are compiled into a change list for our development team. We often involve our clients heavily in the testing phase — the more eyes, the better has always been our policy. During test and debug, we’ll also run a full accessibility audit on the completed site and remediate any discovered issues.

7) User Testing & Remediation

For clients who want to go the extra mile to ensure the accessibility and usability of their website, we include a user testing phase towards the end of our test and debug period. In this phase we’ll have real-world blind and visually impaired users navigate the site with keyboards and screen readers to identify any additional items that need to be fixed.

8) Launch & Training

Once all testing items are complete, it’s time to launch your website! As your website is launched, our team runs through a final checklist that includes over 30 items — everything from setting up SSL encryption, to configuring Google Analytics conversion goals. This ensures that every website we deliver meets our rigorous internal standards and is delivered securely, in compliance with all current best practices. Following launch, we provide training in the use of your new website, including specialized training in how to maintain the accessibility of the site.

9) Ongoing Support

Post launch, Equalize Digital is your partner in the continued success of your website. We provide unparalleled depth of service and WordPress expertise that your team can tap into on a regular basis or as needed. Ongoing accessibility monitoring and reporting is available in the dashboard with our Accessibility Checker plugin, and we’re happy to provide on-demand manual accessibility testing and auditing of new content as desired.

Work With Us

Whether you’re concerned about WordPress accessibility or need a complete rebuild, our team is ready to see your project through to completion and beyond.

Because every website is unique, our proposals are tailored to suit your specific requirements. Please fill out the form below to start the conversation.

New Website FAQs

Can you make existing WordPress plugins accessible?

If you have specific WordPress plugins that you need or want to use on your website but that are not accessible, yes, we can typically resolve the accessibility issues in those plugins by building another plugin to “patch” them. Some WordPress plugins have such a large number of accessibility issues that we may suggest an alternative or suggest that we build something from scratch.

How long does a new website project take?

Website projects typically take a minimum of 5 weeks and can take up to 16 weeks or more for very large projects.  Generally, the amount of time a project will take is dependent upon the size of the website, if there is any complex functionality to build, and how quickly the client is able to respond to questions or provide us with needed content.

If your need is urgent, check with us to see if a rush option is available.

Do you respond to RFPs?

Yes, we do occasionally submit responses to RFPs for new website projects depending upon the scope of the project and timeline. If your agency or organization has an RFP that you would like us to review and respond to, please email it to sales [at] equalizedigital.com. Please note, we do have a strong preference toward responding to RFPs that list a budget.

Do you host websites?

For enterprise websites with high traffic or complex needs, we recommend WordPress VIP hosting. As a WordPress VIP Agency Partner, we can advise you on if this is the best hosting platform for your needs and connect you personally with a WordPress VIP representative to learn more.

Do you provide support post-launch?

All website proposals include 30-90 days of unlimited support following the launch of the website. At the conclusion of your included support period, you may elect to purchase a monthly support package or can receive support on an a la carte/as-requested basis.

Easier, Faster Accessibility Testing

Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker gives you real-time accessibility feedback in the WordPress editor. Learn accessibility and make fixes earlier in the dev and content creation process. Full-site accessibility scanning without the per page fees.

Get Accessibility Checker