So you have an amazing idea for a website, and it's going to be bigger than Facebook or maybe even more famous than Twitter. You have it all planned out in your mind. You know what will appear on each page, how people visiting the site will navigate it, and you know exactly what the user experience is going to be like. All you need now is to hire a developer and launch your site. The only problem is, how are you ever going to explain your new concept to another person? Well, the first step could be to create a Sitemap.

There are a few different kinds of Sitemaps that each have their own purpose, but basically they're all very similar. Google suggests you create an XML version of a Sitemap so that they're able to navigate your site and see everything it has to offer. Some websites may have an HTML version to help visitors find their way around. They all do pretty much the same thing in slightly different ways which is to list all the pages and provide a little bit of information about them.

Our Sitemap is going to be created by using a simple spreadsheet. This spreadsheet is broken into four columns. Each column describes a little bit more about the website you're creating. Below is a link to download this spreadsheet.

Sitemap Spreadsheet

Column One - Categories

In this first column we're going to break the website into categories. Be sure to leave a few empty rows between each category, since we'll need these for the pages in the next column. The first category in this column might be something like “General Information” or “Registration and Login”. This category might be used to describe the services the site provides or provide a method to sign up and create an account. The next category might be “Profiles and Settings”. This would include an area for people who have already logged in, and may need to personalize their accounts. Another example might be “Market” or “Store”, where people can browse items or make purchases. In this column continue to list each category that fits your website.

Column Two - Pages

This column is where we'll begin to list as many pages as we can think of. For now, keep the names of the page simple. The important part here is to create a list that you can understand and use.

The first page is usually pretty easy since most websites begin with “Home” or some other landing page. Next, you'll want to list all the other pages that belong to each category. If your site is used to build a community you might list pages such as “Registration”, “Login”, “Password Help”, or “Terms of Service”. If your site is selling products this column might include “Products”, “Description”, or “Prices”.

Column Three - Titles

Once you have all your pages listed, it's time to give them each a title. This column becomes a little more difficult because the title of a page is so important. Anyone that's ever done a search on Google knows that the title of the page is probably going to be the first thing people are going to read about your website.

Here are some tips you should keep in mind when creating a page title.

  • Limit the title to 60 characters or less. Search engines usually won't display more than 60 characters for a page title so that should be your maximum length. You can use our Count Characters tool to help you stay within the limit.
  • Be sure to describe the content of the page. Search engines will use your title as a method of finding keywords to direct people to your site, so you want to make sure your title describes what is actually on the page.
  • Avoid putting the title of your company on every page. Try to imagine the page title as a chapter in a book. Most books wouldn't begin the chapter title with the name of the book and neither should your web page.

Column Four – Meta Tag Descriptions

The last column will be used to write a short description for each of the web pages you have listed. Web pages will usually have a hidden description within the code called a meta tag. It isn't visible to the people that visit the page, but search engines are likely use them to display information in their search results. Similar to the page title, the description is used to bring people from the search engine page to your website.

Also, similar to the page title, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind when creating your descriptions.

  • Limit the length of the description to 150 characters. Search engines will usually only display the words that are found with the first 150 characters, so you should try to keep it short.
  • Keep the description clear and comprehensive. People may read these descriptions to determine whether or not to visit your website, so make sure it clearly explains the contents of the page and is easy to understand.

You now have a Sitemap that can be used as a foundation to the development of your website. Not only will your web developers and designers have a better understanding of your vision, but you will have also given them a valuable tool that can help with the online marketing your new website.