Build a Site Map In Less Than 60 Seconds!
– by Ginette Degner

Building a site map has always been a time consuming chore. However, since engines like Google rely on finding links to unknown pages, a site map is an indispensable component to search engine optimization. And, even though most high-end web page editing and design programs have mapping abilities, it can be a real pain to use them especially when working with a site you didn't initially create.

In case you're wondering, a site map is a web page that lists all of a site's other pages – it's a directory of your web site that also works as a navigation aid for the SE spiders that crawl, and index, your site. In most cases a site map will make every page on a site accessible within a single click from a single page.

Generally speaking, the links on a site map are most effective from the user standpoint when they identify pages by title and description. Yet, if I were to create such a site map for a content-rich existing site manually, it's a huge job! It could (and usually does) take me several hours to give the site map page the look I want.

So, in my search for an easier way to map a site, I downloaded and tried several site mapping tools. Only one did everything I wanted without having to spend any time viewing the help files and without taking a bite out of my wallet.

Site Map Pro was so simple to learn I had my first site map done in under a minute and it looked pretty spiffy too! The program is entirely wizard-based, and consists of nine fairly self-explanatory steps. Click the screen shots below to take a "tour" of the step-by-step wizard – you'll see what I mean by easy!