A website refers to a compilation of Web pages that can be typically accessed through a software package, commonly known as a Web browser (one example is the HTTP on the Internet). These pages, which are essentially documents that are in the HTML or XHTML format (HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language), are accessed from a 'common root URL' - or the website's homepage (as most people know it). From this homepage, the visitor/Internet user can browse or look through the entire website either with the use of the hyperlinks or the URLs of the different web pages.

Viewed on computers and other devices that are capable of connecting with the Internet (such as PDAs and cellular phones), websites can be grouped into numerous types, depending on their use or the services that they offer. Some of them include the following:

· Archive site - maintains and protects electronic contents that are valuable to the point of extinction.

· Business site - promotes a business or a service.

· Commerce or eCommerce site - offers goods for sale.

· Community site - allows people with related and similar interests to communicate with each other (either through chat or message boards).

· Database site - searches and displays a particular database's content.

· Development site - provides data and sources that are related to software development and web design, among others.

· Directory site - contains wide-ranging contents that are usually divided into categories and subcategories.

· Download site - allows users to download electronic contents, such as game demos and software.

· Game site - provides a 'playground' where people meet and play.

· Information site - contains data or content that have the sole purpose of informing visitors (not for commercial purposes).

· News site - dispenses or distributes news and commentaries (similar to an information site).

· Pornography site - shows pornographic videos and images.

· Search engine site - provides general information and serves as a 'gateway' for other sites and resources (can also be a web portal site).

· Shock site - shows images and other materials that aim to offend viewers.

· Vanity site - a personal site that is run or maintained by an individual or a small group, the contents of which can be of any information that the site owner wishes to include.

· Blog site or blogs - registers online readings and posts online diaries or discussion forums.

· Wiki site - allows users to collaboratively edit the contents.

Yahoo! is perhaps the most famous example of a very large website. The most popular and widely-used website, Yahoo! is a mixture of the different types of sites - it is a directory site and a search engine site, among others.

Because of the enormous (and diverse) amount of information that it contains, the Yahoo! site map is an extremely useful feature in the Yahoo! website.

A site map is a web page that lists the entire pages on a web site. Organized in a hierarchical fashion, site maps can be in textual or visual form (a diagram or an image).

The Yahoo! site map serves as a blueprint for the Yahoo! website. Similar to a book's Table of Contents, the Yahoo! sitemap makes it easier for visitors or users to find specific information or pages on the Yahoo! web site without having to browse many pages, because the site map gives an overview or a visual outline of the Yahoo! web site, with each location provided with active links to enable the user to directly move to a specific location.

In addition, the Yahoo! site map allows web developers to put out links from across their sites, making it easier for search engine robots (or engine spiders) to find these pages.

Because the Yahoo! site map improves the search engine optimization of a site, this feature can be considered a valuable tool for online marketers, whose aim is to stimulate and direct traffic to their web sites.

Note, however, that the Yahoo! site map can only give you the 'basics'. Because it is important for web marketers to 'rank high' on main search engines, an effective web marketing strategy that promotes your web site is also very much needed. Listed below are some search engine strategies to consider:

1. Write a descriptive page title at the top of your webpage that avoids 'filler' words like "the" or "and".

2. Incorporate descriptive keywords on your home page, along with your business name. This is called "keyword prominence".

3. Include a Description Meta Tag at the top of the web page. This refers to the sentences (1 or 2 lines, with a maximum of around 255 characters) that describe the content of your web page.

These are just some of the many techniques that you can employ to get more users to visit your website. The important thing is to focus on keywords - and let Yahoo! site map do the rest.

An important tip to remember every now and then is that people visit the site checking out for some information. These Surfers can be an unforgiving lot. Once they found things useful for them in a site they would definitely visit every now and then.

The reason why site maps are indispensable is due to its helpfulness in letting the surfers understand the site program and plan and therefore, speed up the way to onset to what the site will be showcasing. This is a part of the website created where the edifice of a web site can be visible to a surfer or visitor. These visitors can choose the link to where they want to surf with just a touch of the mouse of keyboard.

Here are Significant key pointers of a good site map, which helps visitors at finding information faster on a web site:

· The site map should be the simplest page on the web site. · Keep the name "Site Map" so those visitors won't be having a hard time looking for it.

· Always avoid "dynamic" site maps. Those in which the visitors have to find their way easily to get hold of information.

· If the site map is list of text links, use the TITLE attribute of the anchor tag and include keywords inside it.

· Putting a sentence describing the page contents below the link for that page on a site map is always good.

· It should not be the primary navigation on the web site it should complement it.

· It is very important that there is a link to the site map page and all pages should carry this link. The site map link can be combined with other links in the main menu on the web site or placed at a section on the web page from which is it clearly seen.

· Other important factors on a web site should complement site maps. For example, the link color for visited links should be different from that of not yet visited links so that visitors have a clear idea which pages they have already seen and thus, save time.

In addition to the advantages a site map showcase to "living" surfers, it is also significant for robot surfers from search engines . As a web developer should be aiming to get all visible pages on the web site found in the search engine database. As expected a site map, from one page to another, should carry links to all, it is an ideal form to submit to search engines . Submission of the site map to a search engine might help in getting all web pages indexed quickly by the search engine. I may be incorrect since I have no data to support this point but it just seems logical. However, on a similar note, there is still a limit to all the information that a search engine could provide a visitor. For example, if there’s a page which is not found in the directory program of the web site, it will not be detected other search engines. With this in mind, another importance of a site map it tells the search engine instantly to go to a specifc page rather than scouting through the links.

Two important questions:

1. Will the website appear as it was planned even for robots? 2. Are the pages exact and effectively designed? Having a site map assists the creator in planning the site before he can even start creating it. Once the pages have been decided, the whole thing becomes simpler and the web pages designs are easily matched to the creator’s ideas. There are 5 important tips in making a good site map:

Good Site Must-Have 1

The logo should be linked to the website homepage.

Good Site Must-Have 2

The Site map must be place either on top or on the upper left, under the header. Unless everything’s in order already and sure about the design, never try to alter or make changes for a while.

Good Site Must-Have 3

There must be a congenial way to go around searching the web site. Do not place the site map in a location that is different from one page to another, like if it is placed horizontally on one page, it should be placed horizontally on the rest of the other pages. However, the case is different if it is a navigation system for a homepage. This could differ in homepages.

Good Site Must-Have 4

Additionally, the logo of the homepage should be linked with a “HOME” or any equivalent sign for easy work around or navigation. There should also be a “contact us,” “about our site,” pages to be visited.

Good Site Must-Have 5

The golden rule for a good site map is that the number of a visitor’s clicks should be leading him every step of the way and not jumping to other pages. It is required that the move should be as easy, reliable and above all, very user-friendly.

Generator sitemap programs can be downloaded from various sources on the Internet. Generator sitemap programs have two fundamental purposes. Generator sitemap programs help surfers navigate a site effectively. At the same time, a generator sitemap program encourages search engine spiders. Google offers one of the most popular generator sitemap programs ever to hit the Internet.

The generator sitemap of google makes it possible for a website to get listed and get updated by the google search engine. Setting up the generator sitemap helps speed up the addition of the web pages of a site to the google listing. The generator sitemap also makes it easier for a site to get noticed by online surfers. In addition, any changes made to a website that has a generator sitemap is immediately picked up by google. The generator sitemap also helps keep online information fresh and up-to-date for users.

Visibility is key to generator sitemap

Visibility is a major concern when using a generator sitemap. A website that is completely indexed has better chances of getting top search engine placement in page results. Many of the popular browsers used by searchers and that support java recognize generator sitemap programs. These include firefox and Internet explorer.

An online consumer that searches for a specific content on the web can immediately be directed to any one of the web pages of a particular site. The generator sitemap makes it easier for a search engine to provide accurate results from web pages they are familiar with.

Who can benefit from a generator sitemap?

A generator sitemap is highly recommended for websites that often do repeated modification of their web pages. A generator sitemap can be used for websites of any size, regardless of the number of web pages a site may contain.

Although using a generator sitemap is not a guarantee of increased site rankings, it does however provide a website a better opportunity of getting listed on a search engine.

Working with a generator sitemap

Most of the available generator sitemap programs available on the web make use of extensible markup language or XML. Similar to hypertext markup language or HTML, XML is used widely in blogs and syndicated feeds on the Internet. Each line of a XML code for a generator sitemap has a specific purpose.

The location or <.loc> identifies the name of the web page of a website. The line <.lastmod> indicates when the web page was last modified. The format for <.lastmod> can either be dd.mm.yyyy, dd.mm.yyyy hh:mm, dd/mm/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm. Shortcuts can also be used to simply the assignment of dates to the cell.

<.changefreq> advises the search engine of a specific time frame when the web page is regularly updated. This can either be done on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. For web pages that are not updated, the value 'never' is used. <.priority> indicates the level of priority that a search engine should give a particular web page of a website. These levels range from 0.0 for least priority to 1.0 for high priority.

Creating a dynamic generator sitemap

Creating a dynamic generator sitemap is useful for websites containing various web pages. The google search engine makes it easy for users to adapt their google sitemap with the help of a python script.

The python script generates a sitemap using sitemap protocol. This creates a sitemap from either access logs, URL lists or from web server directories.

Tips for using a generator sitemap from google

As one of more popular search engines offering a generator sitemap for websites on the Internet, google offers a few tips for its loyal users. Using the google sitemap url encoder/decoder is helpful for submitting sitemaps to google. For websites that have numerous web pages, creating a sitemap can be a tremendous task. For this situation it is best to click on the column title in order to make it easier for a URL list to get sorted.

The google generator sitemap allows users to save their settings after creating a sitemap. Users can use these saved settings as a guideline for succeeding generator sitemap updates. The generator sitemap also recognizes the use of robots.txt files.

Using a generator sitemap is a positive move in getting top ranking on the Internet's top search engines as well as high visibility among online users.

A sitemap of a website is similar to the table of contents of a book. Sitemaps are important because it guides web surfers to the particular part of the website they have a point of interest in. With it they would save time following links and get right to the point instead.

Sitemaps are also where search engines look at if somebody is looking for a particular keyword or phrase. If you have a site map, you can most likely be searched.

Creating a sitemap, now with software technology surging in, is relatively easier than before. You need not be a programming guru to be one. All need is a notepad, a program editor, and some patience. Here’s how you do it:

Create the listing on a notepad.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a notepad. Any word processing program will do. First off, make sure to type in all the parts and pieces of your website. Include all pages and all links you have. Create it as if you listing the contents of your book. Make a draft first. You’re sure no to miss something out this way.

Create a new page for your sitemap.

You can insert the sitemap on your website on one of its pages or you can create an entirely different page for it. Using your notepad, incorporate all tags necessary to it to make another webpage. Open up your website creator program and tag your sitemap using it. If you have created your website on your own, this will be easy for you. Create a link for the sitemap.

You won’t be able to view the sitemap if you won’t put a link for it, of course. Create the link on the front page of your website so that visitors can view it right away and be directed appropriately.

Check your work.

It is important to validate the functionality of the links you created on the sitemap. Test each and every one in there and if you get an error, be sure to fix it accurately. Run through every single page to make sure that all are accounted for.

Upload your work.

Place the sitemap now on your live browser and double check it. It should function as smoothly as the dry run. Error should be minimal at this stage since you already have verified it locally.

The steps provided herewith is the manual way of creating a sitemap. These days, if you search hard enough on the web, you will find online programs that will do all these work for you. All you have to do it type in the URL or the link of your website and they will create the sitemap with click of a button.

Of course that method is generic. All of you who have created their sitemap that way will have an end product that is all the same, plus there’s that possibility that something else will be inserted in there too. Then again, the process is less taxing and way, way simpler.

But if you want a more personalized output, and you are pretty good with computers and programming yourself, better make one of your own. And since you made your website anyway, creating sitemap is just like creating any other page on the website. Other than you’ll know for sure the links are accurate, you can organize the links the way you prefer it to be. Major parts of the site are emphasized compared to less significant. This is important especially if you are selling products or offering services online.

Sitemap is vital to a website. People search the web a lot for something. If your website has what that particular person is looking for, and your sitemap reports it, then you have a new customer looking at your items. Not only that, they will see some other things up for sale that they might be interested in as well.

Sitemaps, be it generated by a program automatically or you made it yourself, presents the same purpose. That is to lead your visitors to where they’re likely headed, and for you to be seen on the World Wide Web through search spiders. So with these, make sure your website has a sitemap of its own, lest make one.

One of the first deliverables in a website design project is the sitemap. This seemingly simple document, usually no more than a page in length, often causes a great deal of confusion. The sitemap is a critical piece of every website, so it's important to understand it.

The sitemap is the spine around which your website will be built. The sitemap dictates-or rather, it demonstrates-the navigational structure of your new website. Here's a breakdown of what the sitemap contains:

• Parent Pages: These are the pages that appear in the top-level navigation. The pages that appear in the navigation bar are those that your clients are most likely to be interested in. Remember, it's a hard fact of business that clients and prospectives care more about themselves than they do about you. Having one parent page about your company is good-having three relating only to you, not so good.
• Child Pages: These are the pages that belong "under" the parent pages. Sometimes a child page can have its own child page. Anything beyond a "grandchild" page is unadvisable, as it can make your website look messy. Make sure the child page is a good fit for the parent page. Putting your Team Bios under the Services page is a sure-fire way to confuse your visitors.
• Top Links: This is typically reserved for social media links. We won't discuss here the pros and cons of the various social networks. Suffice it to say that you should only post a link to social media accounts if you plan to update them regularly. A Facebook page that hasn't been updated since February 2010 is worse than not have a Facebook page at all.
• Bottom Links: These links are typically overlooked. They include pages like Privacy Policy or Legal. While you may think no one reads this information, it's important to include it nonetheless. Your visitors have a right to know what information (if any) you're collecting from them and how you're using it. A Privacy Policy is especially important if you have a contact form or an email newsletter sign-up.

Even if you aren't developing the website, it is just as important that you understand the purpose and value of the sitemap. Every website project should start with a sitemap. Without it, you risk your website becoming a wobbly, unstructured mess. When selecting a web designer be sure that a sitemap is included in the project plan.

Emily VonSydow, Project Manager at Bop Design Bop Design is a San Diego Web Design and Marketing Agency Bop Design is a boutique marketing communications firm. We express your business' values through branding, advertising, print design and custom web design and development. We also help attract your ideal customer through affordable seo services and search engine marketing. Our focus is on small businesses that want an external team of marketing specialists to help give their brand an edge in the marketplace.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Emily_VonSydow http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Sitemap:-The-Backbone-of-Your-Website-Design&id=6723961

Related Posts

Learning beginner web design is a pretty nice way to hone your skills in this area. Whether you plan on designing websites all on your own or you want to be a part of a company, learning beginner web design is the best way to increase your skills and progress at a much faster pace.

What most people don't seem to understand is exactly where they should actually learn: online or offline? This is a tough question to ask yourself, especially since both teach you the same things. So, learning about the different benefits and cons of each one could easily help you to decide which way is best for you.

� Benefits of online school

One of the main benefits to going online is the fact that you can easily take your classes from the comfort of your own home. So, instead of having to leave home every single day, you can learn from your computer and send in your work there.

I suggest having a good computer or laptop that can potentially handle the rigorous downloads on your computer, as most downloads just won't work on an ordinary netbook. Online schools are great to join, but the price can be a bit more expensive concerning the fact that it is more convenient than an ordinary traditional school.

� Benefits of going to a traditional school

When you go to an ordinary school, you'll learn everything that you will learn online, but instead of just learning from home, you'll get to meet other like-minded people who are also interested in the same things as you.

The truth is that ordinary school is hard to get to, especially when you realize that you'll have to leave home and possibly leave your kids everyday if you have any. Traditional school is great, but it's good to outweigh all of the possible cons as well.

� Making this your career

No matter what you decide to choose, it's important that you know how to make a career out of this once you finally finish off your training. You can work individually and possibly make your service known to several companies on your own if you'd like.

However, nothing beats working with a professional company who will provide for you a good salary. These people will probably pay you based off of your experience and education, so it's vital for you to have a good education to rely on to show your expertise in this field.

Learning beginner web design is very easy to do, but it's even easier to get jobs and make a good career as a web designer when you have lots of training under your belt.

Remember that an investment is going to be needed for your online tools and possibly for that new laptop if you need one, so don't take this too lightly. If it's something you really want to do, then you should really try to get started as soon as possible. The investment is surely going to be worth it once you start making a lot of money.

Find information about the ways for learning beginner web design by checking out webmastercourse.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Pardue


http://EzineArticles.com/?Learning-Beginner-Web-Design&id=6752690

Related Posts

In other words a blog can be termed as a kind of website or a part of website that is regularly updated with new and fresh content. Often blogs are run by individual with regular updates in the form of commentary, news about events, sports, books, tips & tutorials, technical stuff and many more. Entries made to a blog are mostly displayed in a reverse chronological order. The content that is added to a blog is called blog post or entry and person that makes entries to a blog is the blogger.

Blogs are regarded as the fastest growing form of mass communication on the internet today. Following are the effective ways that should be implemented to create a good blog:

1. First of all, you need to carry out a research to find a good topic by looking at the other successful blogs. This will help you find out what your interests are and what you really want to write about. 2. Search and find out the blog sites that are related to keywords and topics that you have chosen and check out the features that attracted you to those web blogs. 3. Select a domain name for your blog which is relevant to the theme or the content of the blog. 4. Decide on a design for your blog keeping in mind that it should be fresh, easy to navigate internally and appealing to your target audience. Minimalist design is becoming more and more popular. It is advisable to design the blog according to your theme. Say you have a software technology blog, then you can have a computing or software oriented design. 5. Do a good research on relevant keywords for your blog, write some good post related those keywords and use those keywords in the content of the blog too. 6. While adding a post, remember to preview it to make sure no errors have been made and then confirm. Also remember to add relevant keywords to the post so that your blog is able to appear on major SERPs. 7. Share your posts on various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in order to make users read them. 8. Make a webmaster account on Google and Bing and track various user activities like traffic, page views, bounce rate, visit duration, etc. on webmaster tools like Google Analytics.

After the creation of the blog, it's most important that you write new article and publish them regularly on the website, especially if you are using that blog as a marketing tool. Blogging has become a vital part of business marketing for many software development companies and is also vital in bringing traffic to your site. Once there is a regular flow of visitors on your blog you can interact with them through commenting. Try to encourage users to post comments on your blog by your informative content and try to connect them and engage them in ongoing conversations, this make the site interesting.

If these tips are followed your blog will soon be very popular and lots of users will be engaging on it.

Kevin James is the author of this article. He has been demonstrating his writing skills by writing the articles for software technology blog like Q3 technologies from last two years. He also has a keen interest in writing stuff for software development companies related firms.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_K_James http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-for-Effective-Blogging&id=6749352

Related Posts