Careers for the Blind
One of our most satisfying web design – SEO projects was working with a local non profit school who trains blind and visually impaired for a career in piano tuning. They bring in students from all over the United States for training. Training is a two year program with only two months off each summer.
The School of Piano Technology for the Blind approached us to re-design their website to help them attract new students. Their old website was home made type design and was all but invisible on the search engines. They needed their new website to be completely handicap accessible for the blind. This was our first website designed for blind “viewers.”
They wanted to be highly ranked for people searching for “piano tuning school for the blind.” We asked why? You are much more than that… you are offer careers for the blind. They agreed.
We quickly learned about screen readers such as JAWS (Job Access With Speech). This software converts words on the screen into an audible voice. We added jump boxes which allow easy navigation using screen readers and the website was designed in XHTML and CSS for maximum compatibility. A high contrast viewable mode was added for the visually impaired.
The result. Their have great search engine positions on Google, they are extremely happy with how their website functions and most of all their classes are now running at capacity with new students finding out about their school and coming from across the nation.
Doug Williams, Internet marketing Consultant