Sitemap Construction for Beginners
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) 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 give a visitor a birds eye view of
your whole website.
Use your sitemap for this page and you will get visitors that
you otherwise would have missed. Also, your sitemap will help to
guide search engine spiders through your website.