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Create a Site Map For Better Traffic

Written by: Karen Scharf

Article Overview: I think every website should have a site map since it does help in traffic generation. As the term suggests a site map is a map of the web site and can be a simple list of links or a more complex representation. The type of site map you’ll need depends on the type of website you have.

Create a Site Map For Better Traffic

I think every website should have a site map since it does help in traffic generation. As the term suggests a site map is a map of the web site and can be a simple list of links or a more complex representation. The type of site map you'll need depends on the type of website you have. Your site map actually has two audiences: the search engine spiders and your human visitors. Since spiders and humans use the site map differently, it's often a good idea to have different site maps for each purpose.

If your website is small, less than 10 pages, chances are you won't need a site map for your human visitors. More than likely, all of your pages will be linked in your main menu bar navigation that appears on every page. If your menu bar is easy to use and all of your pages are accessible in one click, there won't be any need to create a human-specific site map.

However, if your site is very deep, if your navigation is more complex, or if your menu bar is written in javascript, a site map is a great idea and it may help pull your visitors deeper into your site.

The simplest way to create this site map would be to create an HTML unordered list such as:

.Page 1

.Page 2

.Page 3

And if your site is very deep, nested lists work perfectly:

.Page 1

.Page 1a

.Page 1b

.Page 1c

.Page 2

.Page 2a

.Page 2b

.Page 3

.Page 3a

.Page 3b

.Page 3c

.Page 3d

.Page 3e

This will allow your human visitors to find anything they are looking for quickly and easily. It's also a great idea to add this site map to your 404 error page.

** Site Map For Spiders **

The most accepted format for your spider site map is an XML document. If you're not familiar with XML, don't let "technology" get in your way. There are tons of on-line site map generators; just do a Google search for "site map generator". Once you find the service you'd like to use, simply enter your URL, the service will crawl your site, and the XML document will be created. You will then need to download the document and FTP it to your web server. Be sure to add the XML document to your root directory.

In addition to the XML site map, you'll also want to create a robots.txt file, especially if you have documents or directories that you do not want to appear in the search engines. The robots file is typically the first document the spiders will look for, so it's good idea to point them toward your site map by referencing the XML document in your robots.txt.

And the final step is to keep both your site map and your robots file current at all times. Every time you add or delete a page on your site, you should update your site map. If your site is extremely large you might want to implement an automated site map update on a monthly, or even weekly, basis.

Creating and maintaining your site map is a relatively easy step that can improve traffic from both your human visitors and the search engine spiders. Why not set aside 20 minutes or so and create your site map today?

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Article Tags: 404 error page, audiences, generators, google, google search, html unordered list, human visitors, main menu bar, page 1a, page 1c, page 2a, page 2b, page 3a, page 3b, page 3c, page 3d, search engine spiders, site maps, traffic generation, xml document



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Re: SEO... - 1: Find the Best Keywords 2: Discover Your Competitors 3: Optimize Your Title 4: Optimize Your META Tags 5: Use Headings 6: Use Title and ALT Attributes 7: Nomenclatures 8: Create a Site Map Page 9: Include a robots.txt File 10: Install a sitemap.xml for Google MySQL/Oracle:
Ways To Improve Your Alexa Ranking 11-15 - 11. Create a webmaster tools section on your website. This is a magnet for webmasters who will often revisit your website to gain access to the tools. Aaron Wall’s webpage on SEOTools is a very good example. 12. Get Dugg or Stumbled. This usually brings massive numbers of visitors to your website and the sheer amount will have a positive impact on your Alexa Rank. Naturally, you’ll need to develop link worthy material. 13. Use PayperClick Campaigns. Buying advertisements on search engines such as Google or Exact Seek will help bring in Traffic. Doubly useful when your ad is highly relevant to webmasters. 14. Create an Alexa category on your blog and use it to include any articles or news about Alexa. This acts as an easily accessible resource for webmasters or casual search visitors while helping you rank in the search engines. 15. Optimize your popular posts. Got a popular post that consistently receives traffic from the search engines? Include a widget/graph at the bottom of the post, link to your Alexa post or use Alexa redirection on your internal URLs.
Re: Alexa Ranking Goals - LOL, I spoke too soon. Within a few hours of my post, Alexa updated the Traffic Rank on the toolbar. Note however that the 3 month Traffic Rank on Alexa.com has still not been updated...
Rich Schefren on Business Systems Video - Bigjim, 1. Create a systemized business 2. build accountability into your team 3. document your processes
Re: I'm A Winner!! - Thanks Tami and Ideasuniversity! Traffic is up. Forums are good places to get your message out. I also do quite a lot of article marketing and blogging etc. Still a long way to go, though, on every front!


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