How To Create A Sitemap?

By: Jeremiah Patton

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.

Navigation

By: John Farina

Finding your website is one thing, but knowing what to do once you get there is quite another. In this article we will discuss the importance of website navigation and how it can make or break your site.
The aim of a web site's navigation is simply to allow users to get to the content they require. For sites that have a large number of sections and web pages (and information sites can be one of these) the navigation plan has to be properly researched and designed. You have to consider different types of visitors and simulate the most common steps they would take to find what they want on your site and the navigation plan has to optimize this movement. For example the steps required from searching a catalog of items, selecting from the catalog, adding them to a shopping cart, proceeding to check out, to entering the payment particulars is a specific sequence that should be facilitated by the navigation system. If the sequence is haphazard, it could lead to frustration or the user may miss an important step and you would have an aborted sale.
To find their way about, users need to know two things:
Where they are now
How to go elsewhere
Navigation does not exist in isolation; good site organization is a prerequisite for a coherent navigation system.
Objectives of a Navigation System
Navigation can be broken into two primary types, Location Indicators and Navigation Controls
Location Indicators
Location indicators let users know where they are in the site at the moment. It needs to be borne in mind that users coming from outside your site can enter at any page, not necessarily on a 'main' page. They need to be able to orientate themselves.
Equally it is important that users navigating around your site have a clear idea of where they are both in absolute terms and in relation to other content.
Location information should appear on every page of the site, in the same place and in the same style. Location indicators should tell the user precisely where they are and this should be clear even to a user who has entered the site at an internal page. The location indicator should be identifiable for what it is and make sense in the context of other navigation.
In simple sites a page banner - text or graphic - naming the page will be sufficient. For this to work the page name should also appear in the main navigation so that it is relevant within the overall structure of the site.
Color can be used. For example a different color background, contrast color or sidebar in each part of the site. To be really effective the color change should be reflected in the navigation.
Using ‘breadcrumbs’ on every page is a good idea. Breadcrumbs show you a series of hierarchical links that you have used to go from page to page within a section. Using breadcrumbs is like leaving a trail of the path you have followed. The breadcrumbs appear at the top of the content section, just below the main navigation template. Each element in the breadcrumb is a link to that section or subsection. This helps in avoiding a series of back buttons allowing the user to directly go back to the main section page or another sub section. More importantly, it always shows the context of the page that is being viewed and how it belongs to a section or sub-section.
Navigation Controls
Navigation controls are the main navigation links; they allow users to move around the site. Whether they comprise images or text they should be predictably located in the same place, and with the same appearance, on each page.
These have several purposes
To allow users to move about within the site
To tell users what information is available at the link
To work with location indicators to orientate users
A good navigation control:
Is clear: it looks like navigation
Leads to obvious content - users have a good idea what they will find if they click
Is consistent with other navigation controls
Is predictable in its style and location on the page
There is no mystery to usability. It simply involves creating a site, which is accessible to the majority of people, is easy to use and get around and delivers on its promises. You can have a site that meets the most important standards of usability by planning it well and always keeping the end user in mind. Remember that web sites should not be designed for their owners - they should be designed for their users.
Problems with usability could be said to stem from just two sources: the site itself and the user. In fact the site is always at fault; if a user, however experienced or inexperienced, has problems navigating, getting information or understanding the site.
While websites have become far more complex, web users have become less rather than more experienced as more and more people go online. It is a mistake to think that the majority of users will be web or even computer savvy and will understand subtle clues about content. Most will not.
So take these words of advice and review/plan your navigation links accordingly. Just remember - if the customer gets lost, so will your sale.
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Increase Conversion Rate In No Time!

Identifying your site’s conversion rate is vital to determine whether your site is surviving the internet business or not! Conversion rate refers to the number of site visitors that are converted into customers. The higher your site’s conversion rate is, the higher is its sales and return on investment. Sales and ROI are directly proportional with the conversion rate. Along with your efforts of improving your website, you should also consider improving your site’s conversion rate. Here are some of the effective strategies you can use in ensuring that your site gets the best conversion rate it could possibly have.

• Maintain honesty in dealing with your customers.




More often than not, online customers appreciate honesty. If you are running out of a particular product, tell your customers right away so they won’t expect for it. Just imagine what your customers will feel if they go on the usual procedure of adding the product to their online cart only to find out that the product is out of stock? This could be a reason enough for your customers to be annoyed and purchase from your competitor instead.




Even when it comes to pricing, be very honest with your customers. Avoid the idea of hiding additional charges – like shipment charges. Tell your visitors right away if the price is inclusive or not of shipment charge and other additional costs. It can be frustrating enough to have budget your money then later on find out you still need to pay for additional costs, right?



• Don’t waste your visitors’ time.




Online shoppers and users are usually the busy ones. Don’t waste their time by letting them fill up too many boxes just to be able to purchase your product or service. To ensure they will purchase from your site, ask only for the most relevant information. If they see that they need to fill up pages of forms, they might just leave your site and transfer to other sites where less information is required.



• Offer a reasonable return policy.




Admit or not, there will be an instance wherein the customers are not fully satisfied with your products – for instance a dress doesn’t fit. When instances like this happen, what guarantee can you give to your customers that they won’t end up being the loser in the transaction? In these cases, the return policy becomes beneficial. It makes your customers more at ease in pursuing the purchase.



• Provide your customers various payment alternatives.




It will be a whole lot easier and comfortable for your customers if they will be given various alternatives when it comes to payment. There may be customers who don’t have a credit card so provide them with a different alternative. This will increase the number of your site’s customers; thus, increasing your site’s conversion rate, as well.



• Identify your Unique Selling Point.




From the name itself, USP or Unique Selling Point is your business’ unique edge over your competitors. It is the factor that lets your customers decide to purchase from your site instead from your competitors’.

Simple as they may seem, these strategies actually work and they can really be trusted. Follow these simple strategies and your conversion rate is bound to boom in no time!

What Is Web Usability?

by JONATHAN COOK

Web Usability. It sounds very simple. "It’s just how to use the Web, right? I already know how to do that." That’s not exactly right. In fact, Web Usability is the layout, construction, structure and navigation of your website. Does that sound simple now?

Web Usability - A Real World Comparison

You can compare a website to an actual store. Let’s say you walk into one of those big retailers, looking for a new baseball glove. Now, you’ve never been there before. So, you first need to find the Sporting Goods section. This store is huge. And with all the shelves and displays up front, you can’t see the layout of the remaining 80% of the space.

The store might have a guide/map up front for you to check out. Then again, if it’s the chain I have in mind, they probably don’t. Instead, you’re going to wander around looking for signs. You also might use past experience in stores to make an educated guess. For example, you probably would look for the Pharmacy in the same area as the medicine and vitamins. That’s where they usually put it.

Notice I didn’t say anything about asking someone who works there? That’s because it wouldn’t fit our example. Websites don’t have disgruntled slackers or underpaid clerks roaming around. Your sense of where you are and where what you want to go is dependent on the web designer. The hierarchy and site layout is created by them – and used by you.

Easy To Use = Easy To Profit

The ease of site use by your visitors is the same as the visitors to our store. How easy is it to find different sections of the site? Is there an easily located sitemap for them to look consult? Do they have a sense of where they are in the site and how to go back to a page they visited before? Without using the browser ‘Back’ arrow?

A frustrated customer might keep going back to the ‘real’ store in our example just because they’re the only game in town. Or they have the best price. But those advantages are few and far between on the Web. Chances are there is a viable competitor ready to take your frustrated visitors only a click or 2 away. And people do leave web sites when the get frustrated.

In a nutshell, Web Usability is making your site easily navigable, understandable and intuitive. It’s marketing, whether you realize it or not. Why? Because it’s a part of your image, your presentation, your place in the mind of the prospect. That’s why it is so crucial to success. Especially online, where you face a world of competition. Keep your visitors on your site and you’ll keep their business there, too. Now, that is simple.