Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Copywriter Built a 4000 Monthly Side Hustle in Web Accessibility Testing
Transcript
- Lucas: So last week I was trying to book a flight on a major airline's website, and I literally could not tab through the date picker. I had to pull out my mouse. And it got me thinking about a side hustle that's been quietly growing for a few years now: web accessibility testing. Luna: That's interesting. I know accessibility is a big deal legally, but I don't think most people realise you can make real money just testing websites for compliance. Lucas: Right. And the story I want to dive into today is about a copywriter named Jenna. She was working as a marketing copywriter at a mid-size software company, and one day a colleague who used a screen reader mentioned that their own homepage was basically unusable. Jenna got curious, started learning about WCAG—that's the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines—and within six months she had a side hustle doing accessibility audits, pulling in around $4,000 a month. Luna: $4,000 a month as a side hustle? That's serious. How did she get started? Did she have a tech background? Lucas: No, that's the thing. She was a copywriter, not a developer. But she realised that accessibility testing is mostly about empathy and attention to detail, not coding. You need to understand how people with disabilities interact with the web—using screen readers like JAWS or NVDA, navigating by keyboard only, checking colour contrast, that sort of thing. There are tons of free resources online, including the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. Jenna spent maybe two weeks going through the basics, then started offering free audits to small businesses in her network to build a portfolio. Luna: So she did a few freebies, got some testimonials, and then started charging? What did she charge initially? Lucas: She started at $250 for a basic audit of a single landing page. That included a report with screenshots and specific WCAG violation references. Within a few months, she raised her rates to $500 for a five-page website audit, and she had repeat clients who wanted quarterly check-ins. The key was that she focused on small businesses and nonprofits that didn't have dedicated accessibility teams but were starting to get nervous about lawsuits. Luna: Lawsuits—that's a big motivator. I remember reading that ADA website accessibility lawsuits hit a record in 2025, with over 4,500 filed in the first half of the year alone. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the market force driving demand. The 2018 refresh of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act made federal websites comply with WCAG 2.0 Level AA, but it also set a precedent. More and more state and local governments, plus private companies that accept federal funds, realised they had to get compliant. And then on the private side, plaintiffs' lawyers have been busy. So the demand for auditors is real. Luna: What about the actual work? If I'm a copywriter or a marketer, how do I convince a client I can do this? Lucas: You frame it as a specialised writing and QA skill. Jenna positioned herself as a 'content accessibility specialist.' She would run automated tools like WAVE or axe DevTools first to catch the low-hanging fruit, but the real value was her manual testing—navigating with a keyboard, using a screen reader, checking logical reading order. She was able to catch issues that automated tools miss, like unclear link text or headings that don't follow a hierarchy. That's where a copywriter's eye for language actually becomes an advantage. Luna: That makes sense. Automated tools can check for colour contrast ratios, but they can't tell if a button says 'click here' instead of something descriptive. So a copywriter would catch that immediately. Lucas: Exactly. And Jenna found that her clients—especially the small business owners—really appreciated that she could also rewrite the problematic text. She'd include copy suggestions in her audit reports. That became a differentiator. She wasn't just finding problems; she was solving them. And that allowed her to charge a premium. Luna: So what does a typical audit look like? How long does it take to audit a website? Lucas: For a basic five-page brochure site, Jenna said it takes about two to three hours for the manual testing, then another hour to write up the report. For a more complex site with forms, login flows, and dynamic content, it could be a full day. She priced her audits at $500 for the simple sites and $1,500 for the complex ones. And she was doing about three to four audits per month on the side, which gave her that $4,000 average. Luna: That's manageable around a full-time job, as long as you're disciplined. Where did she find most of her clients? Lucas: Mostly through LinkedIn and local business groups. She'd search for terms like 'website redesign' or 'digital marketing' and then reach out to the marketing managers with a personalised note. She also joined the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, which has a directory. But she said her best source was referrals from the free audits she did early on. One of those free clients was a dentist's office, and they referred her to three other medical practices within a month. Luna: That's brilliant. So it really is a classic niche play—find a specific pain point that people are worried about, learn the skills, and then offer a solution. And the timing seems perfect because more companies are waking up to this. Lucas: Absolutely. And the nice thing is, you don't need expensive equipment. A laptop with a free screen reader like NVDA for Windows or VoiceOver for Mac, a browser with developer tools, and a willingness to learn the guidelines. Jenna said her total startup cost was less than $100, mostly for a couple of books and a subscription to an online testing platform for practice. Luna: That's really low barrier. I think a lot of our listeners might be curious—what does a typical audit report look like? Is it just a list of problems? Lucas: Jenna's reports were structured around the four principles of WCAG: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. For each violation, she'd include the WCAG success criterion, the severity level, a screenshot, and a recommended fix. She also included a summary section with the top three priorities. Clients loved that because they could hand it straight to their developer. And she always ended with a positive note, acknowledging what the site was doing well. That kept the feedback constructive. Luna: I can see that being really valuable. So let's talk about the earning potential. Is $4,000 a month the ceiling, or can you go higher? Lucas: Jenna's at about $4,000 a month now, but she's only been at it for a year. She's already thinking about raising her rates and maybe offering retainer contracts for ongoing monitoring. I've seen auditors with more experience charging $200 to $300 an hour for consulting, and some full-time accessibility specialists make six figures. But as a side hustle, $4,000 a month is a solid milestone. And the demand is only growing—especially with the European Accessibility Act coming into full effect in 2025, which will affect any company doing business in the EU. Luna: That's a huge tailwind. So if someone listening wants to start next week, what's the first step? Lucas: Download a free screen reader and try to navigate your own website or your employer's website without using a mouse. You'll quickly find issues. Then read through the WCAG 2.2 guidelines—they're free online. Take a free course from the W3C or WebAIM. Then offer to audit a friend's small business site for free. Get that first case study. Build a simple website or portfolio. And then start pitching. Jenna said her first paid client came from a cold email to a local coffee shop that had a notoriously bad mobile site. She offered a discount for being her first paying client, and they said yes. Luna: I love that. It's such a concrete, actionable path. And it's a service that genuinely helps people. That's the kind of side hustle that feels good to do. Lucas: Yeah, that's one of the things that drew Jenna to it. She said it gave her a sense of purpose beyond just making money. She was helping make the web more inclusive. And that's a powerful motivator when you're putting in hours after your day job. Luna: I think that's a great note to end on. If our listeners take away one thing from this episode, it's that a side hustle doesn't have to be a grind—it can be something you're genuinely good at and that makes a difference. Lucas: Absolutely. And if this episode has made you think about a skill you could turn into a side hustle, or if you've already started one, we'd love to hear about it. That's all for today. Thanks for listening. Luna: See you next time.