Can You Fix It Yourself?
Absolutely. Some of it, anyway. My goal isn't to scare you into hiring me. It's to get your site fixed. Here's an honest breakdown of what you can likely do yourself versus when you'll need a developer.
Issues You Can Likely Fix
If you're comfortable editing content in a CMS like WordPress, Shopify, or Squarespace, you can often tackle these:
Missing Image Alt Text
Your media library or image editor almost always has a field for 'Alternative Text'. Simply describe the image's content and purpose.
Vague Link Text
Instead of 'Click Here' or 'Learn More', edit the link text to be descriptive, like 'View Our Pricing Plans' or 'Read the Full Article'.
Empty Headings
Sometimes empty heading tags (H1, H2, etc.) get left behind. You can usually just delete these empty blocks in your visual editor.
Issues That Need a Developer
These issues live in the theme files, templates, or JavaScript and require code changes:
Color Contrast Problems
This is usually set in your website's CSS stylesheet and requires code to change site-wide text and background colors.
Missing Form Labels
While it seems simple, ensuring a form's <label> is correctly associated with its <input> requires editing HTML code.
No Keyboard Navigation
Fixing focus order, skip links, and keyboard traps is a complex task involving HTML structure, CSS, and sometimes JavaScript.
Incorrect ARIA Roles
Implementing ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes is an advanced-level developer task.
My Honest Advice
Give the DIY fixes a shot! If you can knock out a few issues, that's a win. If you run into trouble, or if your scan results are full of developer-level issues, that's when it makes sense to get help. People who can DIY some fixes often hire me later when they hit a harder problem, and I'm happy to help then.