Sitemap
Posted on | January 17, 2010 | View Comments
This is a simple guide for setting up a site-map. More elaborate websites will need a more complex site map.
A site map is the backbone for the layout of your website. It defines the pages you have and how they relate to each other.
The key to making a sitemap is:
- Know the reason for creating your website
- List everything that helps you reach that goal
- Add content that fulfills the first two points
Depending on your personality I suggest two methods to creating a sitemap.
Method One: Dump and sort.
Write down “everything” you want to put on your website. The needs, wants, and whatever else you want to have on your website. For everything you have listed write one to two paragraphs explaining what you’ve listed, focus on the benefits. Each of these writings we will call content.
For each piece of content try to identify keyword or phrases that explain the content. Write those words on the same page as your content. We will call those categories.
Take all the content with the same categories and bunch them together. Next see if you have categories that have similar words. See if you can work them together into one word.
Once you categorize everything the categories themselves may be the pages you need. Imagine your website having your business name, your tagline, and the categories you made. Do you think you can find your content under these categories?
Next Step: “Now What?”
Method 2: Set-up a framework
The idea is to start building a frame to help guide you as you build your content.
Write down the pages you want. Start with: Home, Services (product), About, and Contact. Add any other pages you think you need.
Next, for each page listed write content for each page.
Read over everything you have written. Does this content and the pages you list cover the goals of your website?
Now what?
Next, write down what makes you unique or different. What would someone expect to see when coming to your website? (Restaurants: Menus, Repair Places:Services/Prices, Doctors Office: Insurances taken, etc.) Add this to your Sitemap
After you have written everything you want on your website, try to categorize what is the most important.
For Extra credit: Draw Bubbles with lines, Use lists with bullet points or just draw doodles on a napkin. Whatever you need to express how the information on your site is tied together. (One of the best site-maps I saw was in purple pen and on a thick weight eggshell white paper napkin.)
What about the items that have multiple categories? Easy draw lines from each item to the other page they could go to.
Is all the important information you want available easily found on your sitemap? If not make it so.
Congratulations your site map is done.