A Beginners Guide to Making a Sitemap
By: Gene DeFazzio

The importance of a sitemap

You wouldn't think of going on a vacation trip without a map or guide to refer to but many websites present a rich source of information without a sitemap. Your visitor needs a roadmap of your website if they are going to find what they are looking for and that is the primary job of a sitemap.

By providing your visitors a sitemap you help them to focus on the subject matter of your website. A visitor should have a ready reference to the nuts and bolts of your site which, in turn, will help them to hone in on the subject matter that they are seeking.Your sitemap is a key element of your website navigation scheme. Every website should have a sitemap that complements and provides a backbone for site navigation.

Consider the frustration that your visitor will experience if they must wade through page after page looking for the desired content. It won't take long for them to grow bored. If your customer can not navigate your site to find what they want, they will go elsewhere. Limit the choices and direct your customers through a thought process.

Building the sitemap

Like a table of contents in a book you should construct your sitemap as an outline of what's inside your website. Constructing a good sitemap takes effort, patience and a thorough understanding of the website. The steps given below show a outline of how to construct a sitemap.

1) Understand the complete scope of the website.

Have a clear picture in your mind of the structure of your website and what you are trying to present to your visitors. Draw a diagram of your site and go from there.

2) Find websites which have similar content and view their sitemap.

How do they present their sitemap? What type of layout do they use? Are their links arranged in some logical order? Try and answer these questions. Then, take notes to add to your website journal or design model.

3) Make a list of all the main categories that make up your website.

Break down the main categories into subsections. These subsections should become your site index or navigation tree.

4) From your subsections break down your pages.

Each subsection should follow a particular topic which you will cover in your individual web pages. Group your pages into clusters that cover each aspect of the main topic. This is where your visitors will find the detailed content of your website.

5) Write a short description of each category and sub-category.

Add these to your sitemap outline. Your visitor will be able to locate what they are looking for quickly and move deeper into your website.

6) Upload your website sitemap to the internet

Once you are satisfied with your sitemap build the webpage and upload it to your website.

Use the sitemap as your default page

By using your sitemap as your default page you increase the exposure of your website. By default page I am referring to the error page (i.e. 404page) that is served up when your visitor clicks on a badurl (i.e. broken link).

Your webhost should have this feature available to you to modify as you see fit. Use your sitemap as this page and you will give your visitor a birds eye view of your whole website. By using your sitemap for this default page you will get visitors that you otherwise would have missed. Also, your sitemap will help to guide search engine spiders through your website and improve your website's ranking.

Always use absolute links on your sitemap. (i.e. the complete website address -http://www.xxxxx.xxx) This improves search engine indexing of your website when the spyders crawl your sitemap on the internet. Absolute linking insures that they will have a positive path to each page of your site.

Website Navigation and Layout

Sitemaps and SEO

For those who don't devote too much time on the SEO of their site - this is a good place to start. By submittíng a sitemap to various search engines, you are telling them that you exist and what pages your site has to offer the World Wide Web.

How to Make Easy Website Navigation

Navigation is how visitors get around your site. If your navigation is unclear then your visitors will get frustrated and go away.

Navigational Options for Your Website

There are many types of navigation methods to choose from. You must carefully consider the layout of your site so you can choose the system that will work best.

Web Site Navigation Best Practices

A great user experience will bring visitors back. Navigation is a key element in the user experience.

Developing a Theme for your Website

Every website should have some type of theme or a way of giving your site an identifying look. When visitors come to your website they should be presented with an experience that they will remember.

Website Navigation and Theme

Have you ever visited a website where you keep clicking on links, hoping you are going to find that information you're looking for, only to be led to more pages of links.

Tips for Improving Website Navigation

In order for visitors to find the right information, a website's navigation path needs to be clear.

Professional Webpage Layout

The layout of your webpages says a lot about you and your message. Good webpage layout is the key to a successful website.

Web Site Design Layout - Five Common Elements

Your web site design layout largely depends on the type of website you're building. A sales page, for example, has different requirements than a landing page, and a landing page has different requirements than a niche web page.

Web Page Design Ideas - How to Use Graphics Creatively

Keep your web site design simple, and never lose sight of what you want your visitors to do when they arrive.

Website Design - 3 Pointers For Color You Must Consider

The correct use of color in your website design is paramount to ensure your site is not plain and uninteresting or on the other spectrum too busy, glaring and difficult to look at for a period of time.

Creating a Basic Web Design Template

A "template" is simply a design format which you can apply to all (or most) of the pages in your web site.