Tips for Creating a Professional Website

Your AI-generated code is probably excluding many people. "a11y" is shorthand for accessibility — building digital products that anyone can use, including people with visual, motor, cognitive, or hearing disabilities. Over 1 billion people worldwide. But lots of existing websites aren't taking them into consideration. In 2025, WebAIM found that 94.8% of the top one million home pages have detectable accessibility failures. Sadly, AI does not fix this. Because AI coding tools learn from existing code on the web. And 95% of that code is already inaccessible. The models are reproducing a broken baseline. A 2025 study from Carnegie Mellon found three problems when developers use AI coding assistants: → AI doesn't give you accessible code by default (if you don't ask, AI won't prioritize it) → AI omits many important a11y attributes → AI doesn't verify compliance. Many a11y flows have to be verified at runtime The result is missing keyboard navigation, broken focus management, ARIA attributes sprinkled in for show but wired up wrong — which is actually worse than no ARIA at all. This isn't about AI being bad. It's about a knowledge gap that AI inherits rather than solves. As AI generates more of our frontend code, inaccessible patterns are scaling faster than ever. Every vibe-coded app shipped without accessibility review is another site that excludes people. If you're building for the web, start with these basics: → Use semantic HTML. A button should be a <button>, not a styled div. → Test with your keyboard. Tab through your page. Can you reach everything? → Use headless UI components like Radix, Ariakit, Base UI, etc., they have a11y features built in. → Run a11y checkers like axe DevTools or WAVE. They catch the low-hanging fruit in seconds. → Don't trust AI output blindly. Review it specifically for accessibility. Accessibility isn't charity, it's quality engineering. It should not be an afterthought.

Obsessing over keywords is so 2003. Focusing on your audience's needs is the real key to SEO success. When you create content that genuinely helps people, you'll naturally attract more organic traffic, build a loyal following, and improve your search rankings. Here's how to put your audience first: ✅ Understand your target audience: ↳ Conduct thorough research to identify their pain points, interests, and search habits. Use tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and AnswerThePublic to gather data. ✅ Create valuable content: ↳ Focus on providing solutions, answering questions, and offering unique perspectives. Don't just regurgitate information that's already available online. ✅ Promote your content strategically: ↳ Share your content on the platforms where your target audience hangs out. Engage in relevant communities and build relationships with influencers. Here's what to avoid: ❎ Keyword stuffing: ↳ Cramming keywords into your content will hurt your rankings and turn off your readers. Focus on natural language and user experience. ❎ Ignoring search intent: ↳ Don't just target keywords with high search volume. Make sure your content aligns with what users are actually searching for. ❎ Creating content for search engines, not humans: ↳ Google's algorithm is sophisticated enough to detect thin, low-quality content. Write for your audience first, and search engines second. Put your audience at the heart of your SEO strategy, and you'll reap the rewards. What's your biggest challenge when it comes to understanding your target audience? Share in the comments! #SEO #ContentMarketing

I've helped 20+ VC-backed startups drive profitable growth. One core element of that is messaging uplifts. If you're a B2B startup, here’s how to nail yours: But first, let’s unpack why startups do such a bad job with their messaging especially on websites. They try to cram everything onto it, thinking it's their most important page. But here's the reality: 🦗 Your homepage gets little traffic initially 🎯 Most visitors land on campaign landing pages instead 🕵️ Those who do visit your homepage are often referrals The solution: Reframe your homepage as a referral and navigation tool. Think of it as a one-page pitch with clear pathways to other crucial information. Here's how to structure it: 1. ABOVE THE FOLD ↳ Value prop headline - benefit led statement (under 10 words) Example: "Pay the world." ↳ 25-word max product description - what the product allows you to do  Example: "Your business and customers can send payments to—and accept payments in—every corner of the world. Instantly." ↳ CTA to "Why us" page TIP: This section gets the most attention. Make it count! 2. JUST UNDER THE FOLD ↳ Social proof (customer logos, ratings, press coverage) ↳ CTA to case studies WHY: Build trust quickly with recognizable names and success stories. 3. FURTHER DOWN ↳ 3 lead benefits (not features!) ↳ Key product distinctive capabilities  ↳ CTA to product page REMEMBER: Benefits solve problems. Features are just tools. 4. WRAP UP ↳ Final CTA (e.g., book a demo) PRO TIP: Make this CTA stand out. It's your last chance to convert! This blueprint helps your homepage quickly answer: ↳ What do you do? ↳ Who do you serve? ↳ Why should they care? Key components to include: 🎯 Clear value proposition 🤝 Social proof  💡 Benefits and capabilities  🧭 Intuitive navigation If you follow the above plan, you should get a vastly superior UI/UX and double-digit growth in conversions. What's your biggest homepage challenge? AMA in the comments 👇

Worried about making accessibility changes causing pushback? Here’s why: You’re focusing on bare minimum compliance rather than creating true inclusivity. Try this instead: ● Conduct regular accessibility audits to identify barriers ● Collaborate directly with people with disabilities for authentic feedback ● Implement changes that go beyond compliance to enhance usability for all Do this consistently. Become obsessed with the process and applying it. ● Study accessible design principles and stay updated ● Share what you’ve learned with your team and network ● Help other organizations understand how to implement meaningful accessibility practices No matter the industry, the lesson remains the same: accessibility isn’t a box to check; it’s a commitment to making everyone feel valued and included.

"I want to make a website like yours. How should I start?" A young teen asked me this some weeks back. I opened my laptop, went to divyathakur.me, and walked him through the unglamorous but real steps that built it. The posts, research, and all. 1. Know your site’s true purpose Mine started as a place to document my Behavioural Science PhD journey and EdTech research. Now it also archives my invited talks like “Learning by Doing” for UGC-MMTTC and Design Thinking at SVKM’s UPG. The clarity? It’s for educators, researchers, and the curious. 2. Pick a platform, but keep it light I use WordPress with a fast, minimal theme. No clutter just enough plugins to track engagement (Google Search Console) and keep it running smoothly. 3. Solve problems, don’t chase keywords My post on “Make Your First Move Count: Crafting Abstracts that Win Reviewers” ranks well not because I stuffed keywords, but because it gave researchers a tangible before/after example with my own MOOC abstracts as proof. https://lnkd.in/dA7ckAxq 4. Think mobile-first When someone lands on my CalculateMyDahej.xyz blog, it loads instantly, images are compressed, and menus are thumb-friendly. If your site can’t do that, you’ve lost them. https://lnkd.in/dg3nA3wg 5. Design with kindness My Invited Talks page has clear dates, topics, and links to slides — no hunting required. The “About” section is short enough to read in an elevator ride. 6. Give value to get traffic Sharing my post “Why Awarapan Still Has My Heart” in a storytelling group brought in 2x more traffic than any SEO tweak. Collaborations, reposts, and community sharing drive far more visits than passive hope. https://lnkd.in/dRhghWA2 7. Treat updates like brushing your teeth 👉 Weekly: Backup + update plugins 👉Monthly: Check top blog analytics (like From Newbie to IIT Insider) and refresh content 👉Quarterly: Test all forms + optimize your most visited pages Content Idea Triggers (Credits: Search Console insights tip) 📌 Google Related Searches: Use 'People also asked' & 'Related searches' for fresh angles. 📌Search Console Insights: Check your site's top and trending queries in Google Search Console Insights and consider creating more related content to strengthen your reach. 📌Google Trends: Track topic popularity. You don’t need to be a coder (I’m from social sciences ✋). You just need to be curious, consistent, and willing to publish what you wish existed when you started. My sandbox is always open: divyathakur.me #WordPressTips #WebsiteDesign #WebsiteStrategy #DigitalPresence #SEO2025 #AcademicBranding #PortfolioTips

♿💻 Accessibility isn’t just “nice to have” — it’s what makes a website usable for everyone. When we design or build, every detail matters: 🔹Text: readability, contrast, resize without breaking layout 🔹Headings (H1–H6): logical hierarchy, one H1 per page 🔹Alt text: meaningful descriptions for images 🔹Hover & focus states: visible indicators, no “hidden focus” 🔹DOM order: ensure keyboard navigation follows a logical path 🔹ARIA labels: add context where HTML alone isn’t enough To guide us, WCAG uses 3 compliance levels: 🔹 A (Must have) – The basics. Without this, many people simply cannot use your product.
 Examples: keyboard navigation, alt text for images, sufficient text contrast. 🔹 AA (Should have) – The standard most organizations aim for. It balances inclusion with practicality.
 Examples: focus visibility, resizable text, clear headings, captions for live audio. 🔹 AAA (Nice to have) – The gold standard. Harder to achieve everywhere but amazing if you can.
 Examples: sign language interpretation, extended audio descriptions, very high contrast text. #Accessibility #A11y #WCAG #UXDesign #UI #InclusiveDesign #WebDevelopment #ProductDesign

Your customers fall into two psychological categories... and your website is probably only designed for one of them. Meet Alex, a CTO researching project management software. He opens dozens of tabs. Compares every feature. Reads technical specifications for hours. Alex is a maximizer. He needs to find the absolute best option. Then there's Emma, a small business owner looking for accounting software. She evaluates a few top-rated options. Finds one that meets her core needs. Buys it. Emma is a satisficer. Good enough really is good enough. Most websites are designed for only one type. Digital experiences built for maximizers overwhelm satisficers with too many choices and complex comparison tools. Digital experiences designed for satisficers frustrate maximizers who need detailed information and comprehensive options. The result? You're losing roughly half your potential customers. Maximizers abandon sites that don't provide enough detail for informed decisions. Satisficers leave sites that make simple purchases feel complicated. The companies that win understand both psychology types. They provide clear primary recommendations for satisficers, then make available (but don't put front-and-center) detailed comparison tools for maximizers. They offer quick purchase paths and comprehensive research options on the same page. Your conversion problems might not be about your product or pricing... they might be about serving only half your customer psychology. Design for both types and watch both conversion rates climb.

Here are three lines of CSS that exclude millions of people. CSS can make your site beautiful - or completely unusable. Here are the ones I see most often that break accessibility: outline: none; Removes the visual focus indicator that keyboard users rely on to navigate. Without it, they have no way of knowing which link or button they're about to activate. color: white; background: #999; Fails color contrast requirements. People with low vision or color blindness can't read your text. :hover effects without :focus Works great with a mouse, but keyboard users never see your helpful tooltips or navigation hints. These aren't obscure edge cases. They affect millions of users who navigate with keyboards, use screen magnifiers, or have vision disabilities. The fix? It's usually just one more line of CSS: • Use colors that meet contrast ratios (4.5:1 for normal text) • Never remove focus indicators without providing better ones • Ensure :focus works as well as :hover states Small changes. Huge impact. Accessibility isn't just about compliance- it's about building things that work for everyone. #accessibility #webdevelopment #css

You don’t have to be born an accessibility expert to do meaningful accessibility work. People who consistently create accessible web experiences rarely start with deep technical knowledge. What they develop over time is a way of thinking about users, content, and impact that shapes every decision they make. Here are ten patterns I see in people who become strong web accessibility practitioners, regardless of their role or background: 1️⃣ They assume human diversity by default. They do not design for a single “typical” user but expect differences in perception, attention, reading style, navigation method and cognitive processing. This assumption shapes how they structure content and interactions from the beginning. 2️⃣ They care more about how something is experienced than about whether it technically passes a checklist. Understanding matters. They ask whether a user can orient themselves, find meaning quickly, and move through content without unnecessary effort. 3️⃣ They think in sequences rather than screens. Instead of focusing only on how a page looks at rest, they consider the order in which information is encountered, what comes first, what follows, and what happens if a user stops partway through. 4️⃣ They treat structure as a human concern, not a technical one. Headings, landmarks, and reading order are not just markup decisions. They are the tools people use to build a mental model of what they are interacting with. 5️⃣ They regularly challenge their own assumptions. They know that familiarity with a product or layout can hide complexity, so they actively ask whether something would still make sense to someone encountering it for the first time or using it in a different way. 6️⃣ They consistently choose clarity over cleverness. They understand that predictability reduces cognitive load and that feeling oriented is more valuable than being impressed by a novel layout or interaction. 7️⃣ They aim to reduce effort wherever possible. They simplify structure, group related information, and avoid forcing users to remember things across sections or screens. Good accessibility conserves energy. 8️⃣ They listen carefully to feedback from people who use assistive technologies. Not to defend decisions or explain intent, but to understand friction they cannot experience themselves. 9️⃣ They see accessibility as a shared responsibility. It is not a phase at the end of a project or the job of a single specialist, but a collective practice embedded in design, development, content, and decision-making. 🔟 They believe accessibility is learnable. They do not wait until they feel like experts. They improve through curiosity, reflection, and small, consistent changes over time. Great web accessibility is about choosing to design and build with care for how other people experience the web. That choice is available to everyone who works on it. #WebAccessibility #A11y #InclusiveDesign #UXDesign #CognitiveAccessibility #HumanCenteredDesign

If I had to rewrite our homepage with confidence in the next 30 days, this is how I’d research the ICP first. Step by step. 1. Pull the last 20 to 30 closed won deals. Not the logos. The actual buyers. Titles, team size, deal size, sales cycle length, what triggered the conversation. If you don’t know why they bought, you have no business rewriting your homepage. 2. Pull the last 20 closed lost deals. Same drill. Look for patterns in hesitation, timing, and confusion. Lost deals are usually way more honest than wins. 3. Read every discovery note and sales call summary. I’m looking for language, not insights. Exact words they used. The phrases they repeat when they’re frustrated. If your homepage doesn’t sound like this, it’s lying. 4. Talk to sales like an adult. Not a survey. Not a Slack poll. A real conversation. Ask them where deals stall, where buyers get skeptical, and what objections come up before pricing. Sales hears the truth way earlier than marketing wants to admit. 5. Scan LinkedIn for people who look like your buyers. Same titles. Same company size. What are they posting about? What are they complaining about? What are they tired of? That emotional context matters more than features. 6. Re-read your current homepage. Line by line. Circle anything that could apply to 50 competitors. If it sounds safe, it’s probably useless. 7. Map pain before solution. If the first thing your homepage talks about is you, it’s wrong. Buyers should feel understood before they feel sold to. Clarity beats clever every time. 8. Pressure test with one simple question. If a buyer read this homepage, would they say: “Yep, this is for someone like me” or “Cool, but not sure if this is actually for us” If it’s the second one, back to step one. 9. Write like you’re explaining it to one person. Not a committee. Not a persona doc. One real buyer who is busy, skeptical, and doesn’t care about your category language. 10. Ship something imperfect. You don’t learn from polished copy. You learn from reactions. Homepage messaging is a living thing, not a brand artifact. You can do all of this in a few focused sessions if you actually block the time. Or you can rewrite your homepage based on vibes, internal opinions, and whatever your competitors are saying and then wonder why conversion stays flat. I’ve tried both. One works